Memory Lane: Part 16 - After School Clubs & The 'Rigged' Painting Competition.

 So, as we all know by now, I was, with Alan, beginning a journey from which only Alan would return, some 45 years later.

I was a lost soul, and would never return to the world of the mundane, but getting myself thus damned was fun, so I don't think I had any thoughts of Alan as we drifted apart a couple of years later. But that reader, is not for the telling today.

One overcast morning in 1982, we were standing outside Games Workshop a half hour before opening (quite late by my standards), looking at the window displays, when we noticed that there was a 'Warhammer Painting Competition' advertised alongside a small spread of Chivalry & Sorcery products.

* (C&S was apparently a favourite of one of the staff, the late John Steele, who was allegedly a heavy drinker and one of the old guard of local gamers, whom I never saw at any of the clubs at the time, having I assume, drifted out of the public eye, much as I have done in the last 10 years. He was amicable, had nicotine stainedfingers and beard, always wore the same corduroy jacket and did smell of the demon drink a lot of the time - the perfect early 80s man in many ways. His figure collection sadly ended up 'junked' in a local game store a few years ago)*

Now, we both knew already that C&S was unplayable and elitist, and so we focussed on the Warhammer painting competition. The gist of it was that each entry was a 'regiment' for something called Warhammer.

Now, here is the rub...

Warhammer had been in the shop for about 3 days, so the whole idea that there would be loads of entries of fantasy 'Rregiments' was a bit of a stretch. But, this was the 80s and this was the original Games Workshop, thinking on it's feet.

Members of staff and trusted friends were hurriedly coerced into painting a few figures, basing them for this new game, and then entering them in the competition. Said competition was judged faster than the vetting process for a UK Ambassador to the U.S.A.

Let the record show, that one John Steele was a winner! 

Bitter? Nooooooo. I was not yet a painter in the true sense. I knocked out my figures, flat and fast. I was more taken with the idea that all of these fantasy models I'd been buying for a year or so, could be used for something other than D&D. Thus, Warhammer was investigated and purchased for( I.I.R.C) £7.99.

Alan and I had got quite a few models. Alan was really into the Ral Partha Goblins whilst I was a slave to the R.P Orcs, which later branched out to the Citadel FTO range. I bought as many as my pocket money would allow, and had around 90, plus the Orc War Machine, which allowed for a reasonable little force (at the time). I painted them in the ruddy flesh colour scheme that the late Pete Armstrong adopted for the models in the GW cabinet, and which to this day, is still my favourite colour. Later they would be overpainted in green enamel, as 'greenskins' became the norm... What was I thinking?

We played dining table games, and started to take our Warhammer games to the Monday night club, curated and run by Steve Roberts of S.W.S.

We probably used tables which were too large for the forces we had, but sure enough, it started to take over from our D&D sessions, with the other kids in our group starting to play with the one set of rules (belonging to your correspondent) getting some serious creasing along the way.

Steve was probably happier at this turn, because it was at least a tabletop wargame, after all.

And so, the second of the three keystonesof my gaming future were falling into place. I had the RPGs and the fantasy wargaming sorted. I was admittedly already playing historical games, but still needed to find my own period. It would not be long in coming...