Thursday, 11:03 pm, 07 August 2003

With 3/4 day to go, Fred Reed emailed me a snap of the figures. Fred complained of poor lighting, but I think they are stunning!

Exploring Time

Through fumbled means, I have written about exploring time.

I had a flash back today to meeting an Apple engineer at Denny's. He was a rather senior fellow, not an engineer at all. But in the hardware divisions and relatively close to the top. He drove a Lincoln towncar which I thought was impressive - like a hovercraft.

I would think my ability to remember something would remain relatively constant, yet relatively recent events don't remain with me. My memory of my childhood remains fleeting in places. With the recent Orks purchase I have been thinking about the way I want the figures painted. There was a number of transitions of painting styles particularly with Orks. From the way they were painted when the models I have came out, 1987 - 1993 to present. When the figures came out they would do green and yellow mixes on the flesh. It produced an almost comical quality which fitted well with the figures and the time. Now it is all green over black, producing a much more menacing feel and also the feeling of size. So the question Fred posed to me today - do I want an old-school paint job for them. I can't pick half of one kind and half the other. It will just look wrong.

So this example of the colours reminds me of two things. First, the key change in music in the 19th century where they moved from fractional tuning to logarithmic tuning. This was a huge move musically. Bach and Handel when played with the old tuning sounds very different. The image we have of Classical music and early music is totally false. The tuning has changed.

Memories are exactly the same. Half my memories are painted yellow and green and the others are extra black and green. I can't put the two together. So I have personally chosen the yellow and green in my mind. The rest are just put away.

My preference for the Orks are to paint them in the modern way. Black and green. Painting them in the old-school way seems fraudulent. Reality is about now. I want to say to someone with an eye for these things, that these Orks were painted in the early half of this decade. The irony is that GW seems to be moving in a totally different direction with their Orks although this has only come from their new painting guide which has a very strange example of an ork in violet-white with blood stained teeth. I like the dark element. Light skinned orks just seem wrong.

When I showed my wife, she thought the comical way was the only way to do it. Another point my wife made was that I have dropped my usual evening of the white paper and Noble Ape. I am taking a holiday from both. A summer mental clean up. Good night.

Friday, 11:33 pm, 08 August 2003

So Long Games Workshop Trafford

I went to the Trafford Centre with my wife tonight. The GW store is closing on Monday and I wanted to pay my respects. I bought my signature figure case (four purchased so far) and a Space Orks Codex for inspiration for my new purchases. I had a good chat with the fellow who normally serves me. All the employees are being transferred to other stores. He asked me where I would be shopping in the future. Perhaps Stockport, more likely online.

Trafford was my primary local store. A sad day.

Friday, 07:37 pm, 15 August 2003

Introducing the fantasy industry...

I bought some White Dwarf (mag)s off eBay recently of the 1987 era. Very interesting in terms of the information on the original magazine and environment. I didn't know Games Workshop was founded by Jackson and Livingstone and one other, Peake. Jackson and Livingstone are the kings of role playing games in the UK. Second only to Gygax (sp?) - the founder of Dungeons and Dragons - in the world.

It was such a different world in 1987. I had forgotten the role playing environment back then. I don't think I would feel comfortable with role playing games as an adult. I don't even know if I feel comfortable with modern WH 40k wargaming - although my miniature collection has swelled in the past year and a half.

I like the aesthetics but the practicality of finding a group and dealing with the personal dynamic. It all seems too much.

But it was strange to see the faces of role playing in Britain in 1987. Ten years on from when they founded Games Workshop. I was a little saddened that the names had created Games Workshop. The actual creative authors like Rick Priestley and Jervis Johnson didn't feature. It all has boffin connotations. Good night.

Wednesday, 09:10 pm, 17 September 2003

Slowing Down on the Hobby

When I have been up in the past couple of days, probably four hours at most, I have been reading through my White Dwarf magazines. Since I started this log, I have been tracking my re-discovery of my childhood Warhammer poverty. In fact, in reaction to my lack of small figure armies in my early teens, I have been buying a number of miniatures from my childhood and have seen that they are professionally painted.

Aside from this, I have purchased a small forest of White Dwarf magazines from my childhood until the present. Through all of this, I still haven't played a single game, nor have I found anyone interested in playing in my area. So the question over the past couple of months has been, can I continue a collecting interest in this without any external feedback? All the figures, bar a small number, I would ever want professionally painted, I had professionally painted. I have three shelves stacked with White Dwarf. No external feedback. No Hobby?

I purchased 24 White Dwarfs today for GBP5.40 (about USD8). Clearly they have no long term collecting value. Do I sell up? Do I stash them?

I guess it serves as a reminder about what my childhood should have been. Or what I saw for a brief couple of hours occasionally on a Sunday rather than going and spending time with my step-mother and father.