Episode 00 - Introduction

Welcome to Episode 0. “Why is it called Episode 0?”, I hear you ask. Well, quite simply this is a little bit of an introduction to this new series and what it is all about. Plus there’s a bit of talk about what the focus for our first episodes. It also gives Adam and Mick a chance to say, “hi” and share a little bit about themselves. Well more about Adam than Michael, actually. But they’ll share some more about themselves here.

If you would like to get straight into the painting tips without delay, then jump into Episode 1. The first series of vidcasts are on the step by step process that Adam used to paint a converted Typhon Warrior from the WarGods of Egyptus Range by the American company Crocodile Games. This miniature is part of a modelling project Adam has on the go to build a Tomb Kings army for Warhammer, in which he is substituting the Typhon Warriors for Tomb Guard.

About Michael
“I actually put the blame for my mad fascination with gaming squarely on my father’s shoulders. As a kid he always read me stories at bedtime, sharing with me tales of adventure, fantasy and legend. He even wrote his own bedtime story for me, which I have to say is one of my most cherished experiences as a boy. Thanks, Dad! ? This probably happened as a result of my father’s Irish heritage. I guess you just can’t take the urge to tell stories out of the Celt. Anyway, this lead to him reading me Lord of the Rings, and pretty much ever since I have been hooked on the fantasy genre. A few years later at age 12 I met a friend, Wayne, who came to Australia from Canada. He used to play D&D back home and introduced it to me. I remember that he bought himself a copy of the old basic D&D boxed set and we’d sit down and play together on raining days when we couldn’t get out and about in great Australian outdoors. It’s funny how you get anchored to things and rainy days even still, some 25 years later, make me feel like gaming.

Over the next couple of years I met some other friends that roleplayed and we’d spend time on most weekends paying Rolemaster, Robotech, Call of Cthulhu, James Bond (the first RPG I bought – I still have it!), Judge Dread and Battletech amongst others. It was during this time that I stumbled across miniature wargaming. I found a copy of Warhammer 40,000 Rouge Trader in the local games shop. When I say local, I mean the only games shop. I lived on the Gold Coast in Queensland at the time and it was still a smaller regional area, and didn’t have much for a budding gamer like me. Sadly our one and only store at that time was not very good. Not so much for the lack of stock, but really because of the attitude of the guy that owned it. I think he just didn’t understand the gaming market/culture or the people that populate it, which is a shame as it didn’t win him any friends and didn’t encourage what is now a thriving community in Australia. I didn’t really get into wargaming much then, mostly due to the cost of the miniatures. But they were definitely shiny.

Those early times were great years for me, with so much free time to spend as I liked. Then it was onto finishing school, going to university and starting work full time. I kinda flittered in and out of the hobby as demands on my time ebbed and flowed. Then when I stopped spending all my time chasing girls, I started to get back into hobby. I found that in later years it was more rewarding. I didn’t have as much time to devote, though I really got a lot of satisfaction out of it. The hobby aspect was more apparent in that it was a great pastime, and a fantastic escape. For me it was far more enjoyable than sitting on the Playstation or computer because of the social interaction of the games, even though I still do that. ? I got back into roleplaying, playing AD&D with some new friends when I moved to Brisbane in around 2000, mostly playing in an awesome campaign created and run by Adam. I even dusted off my Rolemaster to run a Middle Earth campaign. Now days most of my time is spent wargaming. I suppose this is case as it’s less time hungry than roleplaying and I get to enjoy the modelling side of it too. But I still wistfully flick through my collection of RPG books and talk about running a small campaign again… Maybe one day.

The thing that I have enjoyed the most over the years is watching the growth of the gaming community in Australia and across the world. It’s amazing now just how many people out there play. The gaming hobby has really matured in Australia. Maybe that’s because we have a number of generations of gamers, and maybe computers have legitimised it more. Definitely companies like Games Workshop have dragged the hobby out of the closet. Whatever the reason, it’s been a boon for anyone interested in gaming. There are so many clubs, tournaments, conventions and internet forums now that you can find like minded people that suit your personality and style no mater where you live. I am pleased to say that I have been a part of that growth in setting up the Gold Coast’s first even club, Dominion, in around 1995 and being on the committees for other clubs like Brisbane Independent Gamers and Queensland Gamers Guild. I’ve also run a quite a few events and tournaments, most notably Ork-toberfest since it began in 2003 until 2007. I even ran Brisbane’s Grand Tournament for Games Workshop for two years (2004 & 2005 I think) – having never worked for the company that was an unusual occurrence.

It’s only been in the last few of years that I’ve really started getting into the tournament scene for wargaming for myself. I don’t think I’m a natural at playing strategy games like some of the freaks out there, but I am definitely getting better with practice. I am currently (2007 standings) ranked 100 in Australia’s Warhammer Rankings, which is pretty good for a bloke who doesn’t know what he’s doing. I’ve been involved with WarPuppy now for about 3 years with Trent, and more recently Adam has joined us. We’ve got a lot of plans for the ‘Pup and I am waiting impatiently to see them com to fruition.”

About Adam
“I can’t remember when I made the step from Sci-fi to fantasy fanatic....a secret forever lost in the mists of time. I might just add a note here to our younger readers, you may need to google some of the more archaic past times and objects I talk about. ? For as long as I can remember I had always been a sci-fi fan (I still am to a lesser degree). I remember going to the drive-in to watch Star Wars: Return of the Jedi when it was released as well as films like Dune. I had a massive collection of Star Wars figures and recreated the movies in my bedroom universe many times over. At some point (possibly my early teens) I discovered Conan comics, which led to me watching the movies and then on other “fantasy” genre movies. I’m sure it was the story lines, acting and special effects that attracted me to these movies......really. ? I was, and still am, a vivacious reader and thought I’d give Lord of the Rings a go. I was completely blown away by these books. From that point on I was totally hooked. I read any fantasy book I could get my hands on. Another one of my all time favourite series is The Dragonlance Series. These books installed in me a love a dragons, which is still with me today. (Read...I have a Star Dragon in my High Elf army!)

Re-reading these books for the umpteenth time, I noted that they were a part of the Dungeons & Dragons world. The topic came up with my group of friends and, being a likeminded bunch of guys, we decided to give Dungeons and Dragons a go. I remember regularly going to a mates place for the weekend to play, since it was banned at school. Living in country Queensland I didn’t have access to any hobby shops, so our games were totally pencil and paper role playing. Towards the end of High School my brother and I got “Heroquest” and my transition from painting model aeroplanes to painting miniatures began. About this time, I noticed White Dwarf in the newsagent. The issue had a free plastic Khorne Chaos Space Marine on the cover. This was my introduction to the Games Workshop universe.

At this point Games Workshop hadn’t made the leap to Australia yet and mail order hobby stores were still a few years away. At uni my role playing took off and I played Rifts, Dungeons & Dragons and Robotech on a regular basis. My miniature collection was also increasing at an alarming rate. I continued with hobby after uni, through work, marriage and children. Moving to Brisbane had given me access to a few hobby stores and I was getting in deeper and deeper. This also meant I had greater exposure to many different game systems and tried out many, many games. Over the years, I’ve played DBM, Warhammer Ancients, Panzerfaust, Flames of War, Blood Bowl, Necromunda, Warmachine, Confrontation, AT-43 and the list goes on. Of all the games I played it was Warhammer Fantasy that appealed to me most. I remember it wasn’t until the Grand Opening sale at Chermside GW that I actually brought the Warhammer rules.

I collected the Empire army that came in the Army Box and slowly painted it up. I met a regular gaming buddy on my on-line through the old GW opponent locator. This was the first time I would regularly play Warhammer. I finished painting the Empire army and moved onto High Elves, as everyone knows elves are the coolest of all the fantasy races. Little did I know that they were an exceeding difficult army to play. Since I hadn’t played any tournaments I collected all the units that looked cool. Needless to say, my units of Swordmasters and Phoenix Guard didn’t see the light of day until this edition of the rules. ? I persisted with the High Elves for a few years and took them to my first tournament, run by none other than Mick and Trent. I picked up best painted at this tournament. From here I joined Queensland Gamers Guild (QGG) and started gaming on a more regular basis.

At this point, I must say that I am terrible and playing Warhammer (I am currently ranked somewhere around 150 in Australia’s Warhammer Rankings), but, I love the game and my little toy soldiers, so my repeated losses do nothing to diminish my enjoyment of the game. ? It is this fact that I try to point out to my kids; it doesn’t matter how good you are at something, as long as you enjoy it. Hopefully, they are listening..... I started playing in more and more tournaments and not only has my game play improved, I have meet some great mates. For the last few years I have been involved in running QGG and organised Ork-toberfest 2008.

Over the last few years a thought had been growing in the back of my mind that I’d like to do what I loved as a hobby as a job. So, I began doing contract painting. I was lucky enough to do some work for Mongoose Publishing, in their “Babylon 5” and “Lone Wolf” ranges. This work stopped as I picked up more and more local private commission work. The recent opportunity to join WarPuppy was too good of an opportunity to pass up, so here I am. I am extremely excited about the possibilities that future holds for WarPuppy.”

Remember, you can email us at sales@warpuppy.com if you want to have a chat about anything in the episodes, or have an idea for a future episode.

Cheers,
Mick and Adam