Thursday 12 July 2012

Oldhammer Vintage Rally (cooler name pending)

Well. It appears that young Mr Orlygg has galvanised the internet! Oldhammer T-Shirts? Check. Custom Oldhammer figures? Check! Oldhammer Painting Competition? Check.

I guess we should expect to see the formation of a hair metal band shortly? Possibly the lesser known Bolt Thrower tribute act, Stone Thrower? Organ Gun, perhaps?

Anyway, seeing as how a movement appears to have occurred, I thought I'd pile onto the bandwagon. And, seeing as how our little community quite organically has picked different areas to focus on, I was quite surprised to see the gentle suggestion surface, but not actually be 'grown' any further.

Fortunately, this one has been quite close to my heart, so I'll take it.

I've made reference to the idea of a classic car warhammer rally before. I believe I've even referred to this on some forums, but I cannot find those discussions right now. Seeing as how all the other stuff is moving along, though, it now seems prudent to suggest just such a thing.

Essentially, a meet up. A classic, warhammer/gw/80's rally. At the end of the day, the thing we all want to do (I suspect) is to actually play these games. I realise that there are others, focussing just on collecting, but I would imagine we would all find kinship if we found ourselves in the same place at the same time.

So heres how I thought about it:

The first problem is that everyone is, well, everywhere.Skarsnik's map will tell you that.
The second problem is that most of us have our own little miniatures at home, who need to be fed, bathed and generally looked after.
The third problem is that a meetup may require some serious logistics - its not just about figures - its about scenery. Tables. Toilets. Parking. Food.

So, intriguingly enough, the answer I ended up with was Warhammer World.

Now I'm not saying that's the only option. That's just the thing that popped into my mind. Let me explain:

I think (if there were enough of us) they would be most forgiving of the older model ranges, including the other non-citadel products that they used to sell at the time. They have the tables, parking, toilets and food that we need, in vast abundance. Although many of us are suspicious of the evil empire, it would be some sort of homage (Pilgrimage? yes I know, it should be to Hammersmith, but they don't have that store anymore) to a different time and I would imagine that it would be garner no small amount of interest from anyone where on the day. I daresay that if we alerted them to what we were doing, GW may even be interested in proceedings.

Also, the fact that they have a pub on site means that we could literally stay there until they close, talking, playing, trading and generally reminiscing of a different time.

Yes, we'd all have to apply for a weekend exit visa, and probably have to pay some money to stay in the dodgy little travelodge next to Warhammer World, but I think if we make an event out of it, it could be done. I've started laying the groundwork with Her Excellency, The Grand Minister of the Interior, and I haven't been shot down yet.

To be clear: not a tournament!

Very much like a classic car rally, really.

So, to put it to the forum: how about such an event? Is it worth it? Would you go? If not Warhammer World, where else?








10 comments:

  1. Best way to gauge interest for this kind of thing would be first off through a facebook group, or through meetup.com maybe.

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    1. The bonus they have over the opponent finder is that they are searchable, and therefore reach a larger audience.

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  2. I would suggest a school hall for such an event (cheap, toilet facilities, good parking etc) rather than WW. I can well imagine what the Warhammer police would make of us! I think what you are suggesting is the ultimate goal of us all. Perhaps we should try meeting at another event first, such as Salute? Plenty of time for planning and army building that way! Imagine it now, eh? Old school scenery on an old school table. Two armies clash (good vs evil) with each of us responsible of a part of the army!

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  3. Salute is an excellent idea, especially if you organise a flagrantly retro game for the day.

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  4. Ah 1 Dalling road, those were the days...
    There is a show in derby every october, which is more central than salute. If theres time to organise a meet?

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  5. Warhammer World would be muchos fun - GW police be damned!

    School or Community halls would be a cheaper option and had crossed my mind.

    Heard loads about Salute and would love to go - Vapnartak in York isn't of quite the same scale but its round the corner form me ;)

    Seriously though if the majority decision was to go darn Sarf it would be worth it, although somewhere in the middle would always be appreciated.

    The other thought I had, in particular to hosting a rematch of Orc's Drift in its entirety up here in York, was approaching local wargames clubs - having never been involved with any previously I don't know how receptive they generally are of being invaded by a bunch of yahoos for one off binges of 3rd ed fun?

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  6. Given our respective ages I'd say that WCs are a priority (even before shelter and terrain)... If it's not too far flung - I'm in Devon - I'd be up for something like this.

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  7. Very cool. I really love where this little movment, community, whatever is going. You guys have really been an inspiration. Been hesitant to post on blogs, but will be more open and comment in the future. Keep up the good work. Your site was the flood gate to the WFB3 community treasure I ahd been looking for. =)

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  8. I'm the chair of my local wargames club. I have access to a hall with loads of terrain on site and decent size tables. Some of the terrain is a bit ropey but nothing that couldn't be sorted. Cambridge is reasonably central and the cost for the hall would be minimal....

    Oh the name, as I've suggested before would have to be Oldhammer Contact.

    I'm proposing we collate all our thoughts on these movement ideas on the following blog that we all have authorship for:

    http://old-hammer.blogspot.co.uk/

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  9. I had a chat to the manager of Warhammer World today, and he said he would be happy to have us there playing 3rd ed. There are already a couple of groups that meet there regularly to play other oop GW games. The only things to bear in mind would be that all minis would have to be GW and rulebooks etc would have to be originals (no printed out PDF's).

    That would mean terrain ready made, bar and food on site and a central location. Seems like a perfect solution.

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