Some Actual Oldhammer: Games Day 86

Zhu Bajie

Baron
Came across the Games Day 86 programme on Alegisdownport:
https://alegisdownport.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/games-day-86-programme.pdf

And noticed a few Warhammer games/demos being played:

Warhammer (Stand 59)
Gary Chalk will be taking on the Players Guild in a massive 20'x8' battle of battles, promises to be spectacular, and bloody.
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Warhammer (Stand 60)
The appropriately named Severed Head Society will be presenting Blackfire Pass, featuring a Dwaren Armoured Car, a Ratcopter and specially-constructed scenery.
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Warhammer (Stand 70)
The Portal of Power is the scenario written by thePhoenix Games Club in which Dwarf 7the Aircav Paratroopers are attacked by the Orc Kamikazee Rocket Troops
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An interesting thin slice of the Warhammer scene in late 2nd Edition, pre-RH . Seems gamers were really expanding what Warhammer could do, and the games seem very science-fantasy orientated, rather than pseudo-medieval / renaissance. Not sure if that's the first mention of Black Fire Pass, which seems to be a thing in Newhammer, don't know if they kept the Ratcopter! Think there are some photos of the Gary Chalk / Players Guild game out there, not sure about the others.
 
Found some photos - they were on Nico's blog and originally published in La Herut Citadel, the french Citadel/GW magazine, have to track down which issue...

Warhammer (Stand 59)
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The wonderful flying boat on the right there looks like Gary's Banedon’s Skyrider model from the Magnamund Companion (1986)

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Lovely, surreal, theatrical dreamlike quality.

Warhammer (Stand 60)

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Nico identifies this as the 1986 games day, and we can see the Stand 59 game in the background. I think this is the Black Fire Pass because it looks like a mountain pass with the walled sides, but would need to check the magazine to be sure. Unfortunately no sign of the Ratcopter I can see.
 
Really great looking table, amazing seeing all those townscapes buildings (built ones I would assume rather than the card ones, early Dave Andrews work?).
 
nice. If that B&W photo is the blackfire pass, then there are a couple of arieal units I can see but not clearly at all.
 
Look at the width of the table, you could almost use those 96" range catapults there.
 
The B&W is definitely Gary Chalks game, as there are other photos which have him playing it - so it included a flying boat not mentioned in the program. Airborne things seem very much the order of the day in 1986!

Good spot there, Fimm, the Black Fire Pass game is using Dave Andrews models from Orc's Drift and Blood on the Streets (both 85) - the Townscape compilation of the WFB2 buildings, sans scenarios, was a few years after this. Looks like they've added some features to the base models. The Players Guild set-up looks entirely scratch built, but there might be some ready-made pieces in there?

A bit more digging, and found that Games Day 86 was quite widely reported:

  • Le Héraut Citadel #2 - (Nov 1986) multi-page Games Day 86 report with photos (en français)
  • White Dwarf #83 (Nov 1986) "Fracas" - mentions "Warhammer demonstration (complete with stunning balloon*)" but no Warhammer photos.
  • Crash Magazine #34 (Nov 86)
  • Amtix Magazine #14 (Dec 86) - more photos, same text as Crash
  • Jeux et Strategie #42 - (Dec 86) nice but small colour photo of Stand 59 (en français)

*maybe they meant the airship? or maybe there's even more aircaft!
 
Some more photographic evidence of high flying weirdness. Tabletop Heroes, High and Dry (White Dwarf #61, January 1985) by Joe Dever and Gary Chalk (via. Project Aon) contains these awe inspiring images:



The article text states:

As promised, we are featuring some ‘alternative technology’ perpetrated by the Players’ Guild of Nottingham. Any reader who attended this year’s Games Day will have no difficulty in recognising the orc hot air balloon shown in Fig 1. The gas envelope is an ordinary plastic ballcock (of the type found in most WC cisterns), with a wicker-work basket scratch-built from textured modelling card. The whole contraption is sup- ported by a piece of thick wire cunningly disguised as the rope that leads to the winch below, where an orc crewman from the Citadel Orc War Engine Set (TA4) is busy at work. Details such as the patched gas-bag and the cauldron of oil really enhance the ‘orcishness’ of the model; a clean, new balloon would simply not be as convincing (unless, perhaps, it was crewed by elves?).

Figs 2 and 3 show the fearless dwarven gliders Blue Stratos and Von Gimli, closing for the kill. The hang gliders are constructed from paper glued to a frame of cocktail sticks. The flying dwarves are casualties taken from the Citadel diorama set C34/1a, and are already sculpted in the correct pose for this sim- ple conversion. This novel idea could equally be applied to several other role- playing scenarios. James Bond uses a hang glider in Live and Let Die, the SF villains in Spacehunter swoop down to collect captives from a planet’s surface, and even Rogue Trooper (2000 AD) employs a neatly-camouflaged hang glider in this year’s 1985 annual.
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So these made an appearance at Games Day 85 - and maybe 86 as well, if the White Dwarf #83, Fracas article is to be believed... wonder whatever happened to these Players Guild models, and the players themselves?
 

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Flying machines in fantasy can be either fun or just very stupid.. depending on how things are done i find.. In the real word.. mm.. who invented the first flying machine.. some USA idiots like to say the Wright brothers which only did an 'airplane' kinda.. the Montgolfier brothers were a good 200 years earlier.. but it's normally seen a either ancient greeks who had limited flight or the old chinese who mostly did gliders but then, you had man-carring kites for way earlier then the Montgolfier.. but it's soo confusing and tricky thing to look up.. Wright Brothers were kinda important, but not as big as some like to claim (and no.. da Vinci was pretty late in the day.. even ornithopters were worked on before him..)

why i think some flying machines can be stupid is when people try to go heavy steam gear or steam punk (big difference) and put it in much earlier fantasy stuff.. it's like one problem i have with some warhammer armie lists.. you have alot of groups which seam very protective of their tech cause.. HUGE difference in levels.. it seams some races don't share tech with allies, or even seam to allow others to capture or steal them either ^_^;

but the kit bashing and stuff can always be fun
 
Yeah flying troops are a staple of literary fantasy from Tolkiens Nazgul and eagles in Lord of the Rings to Moorcocks ornithopters and pink flamingos in Hawkmoon, and the Dragon Lords of Melniboné in Elric, so it's great to see gamers doing their own take on the theme of fantasy air combat using Warhammer (which IIRC had Orcs on War Wyverns in 1st edition).

It's notable, I think, that none of the Warhammer stands are being officially run by Games Workshop Ltd. or Citadel Miniatures - they're all independent games clubs, although Gary Chalk did freelance illustration work for them.

Outside the strictly Warhammer stuff, Stand 69 is the Players Guild Mega City 1 model that featured in White Dwarf 78 - June 1986, being used for Rick Priestly's Judge Dredd RPG, first seen at Games Day 85, which the forum did some amazing Leadspotting on a while back: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10050
 
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