Oldhammer Weekend 2017: Tony Ackland's Sketchbook: Unpublished Advanced Heroquest, WFRP and Confrontation

One of my personal highlights of the Oldhammer Weekend, as I suspect it is for many, is speaking with the Grand Master of Chaos himself, Tony Ackland. As in previous years, Tony had brought with him a new batch of illustrations from his long GW career, including quite a few pieces he had recently uncovered. 

One of these pieces was the illustration above: another one of those evocative landscapes that Mr.Ackland produced for the Warhammer mythos that conjures up imaginative thoughts of unlimited adventure. Well, dear reader - do you notice anything familar about the unpublished (as far as we can tell) illustration above?

Have a closer look at the four figures contemplating the ramshackle conurbation below them. Do they ring an adventurous bell?

Of course, they are the four player characters from Advanced Heroquest. Tony couldn't remember anything about this particular sketch so I spoke to Oldhammer's authority on all things Heroquest, Geoff Sims. He instantly confirmed these were the characters from the game before checking through his leatherbound edition of the AHQ publications. We couldn't find any sign of this illustration so it's pretty safe to say this is its first public airing. 

Isn't it fascinating?

We are pretty sure this illustration is also previously unpublished, though with the sheer amount of WFRP material out there we could well be wrong. Please correct me if this is the case. Tony could remember more about this illustration: it is a pirate player character from WFRP's career section. For whatever reason, this character (and a number of others, apparently) didn't make the final cut of the game and wasn't included in the rulebook. 

I wonder if anything else has survived like this waiting to be discovered, eh?

This famous illustration certainly made the grade and appeared a number of times in print, most notably in the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay rulebook. I always loved this picture, and after recent events in my life really strikes a chord. I really know how that guy is feeling! 

These illustrations also caught my eye and I am pretty sure I have seen them before in print. Anyone recognise them? The two illustrations are separate peices, with the first depicting some kind of beastman while the second is a rather swarthy looking hobbit, probably sneaking into someone's kitchen for a quick second breakfast. 

The remaining images from this post are all from Tony's six month sojourn to Necromunda. I am not enough of an authority of these materials to state if they have been been previously published, but I certainly cannot recall seeing any of them before. 

All of the images represent the different denizens of the underhive and I know little more about them than that. Enjoy them and wonder what might have been if this project had ever seen completion. 

As always big BIG BIG BIG thank you to Tony Ackland for unearthing this artwork and bringing it to Newark for fans to appreciate, and for spending many, many hours with curious collectors and their questions. 

If you want to know about Tony and his artwork, why not have a look at the two interviews I did with him in years past, both of which are packed with loads of his recollections and artworks. 

http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/an-interview-with-tony-ackland-grand.html

http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/the-grandmaster-returns-second.html

More interesting artwork in my next post. 

Speak soon.

Orlygg

WFRP'd: Tony Ackland's hidden GW portraits in the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay rulebook

The author of this blog with the Grand Master of Chaos himself.

Here is a short and very sweet post in part of my WFRP'd series, celebrating 30 years of the seminal Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. As many enthusiasts have pointed out, nothing conveys the look and feel of the Warhammer World in 1986 like Tony Ackland's artwork. As the prime illustrator of so much of the early Warhammer mythos, his work illuminates the world we love like no other. The sweeping landscapes, the grimy backstreet taverns and the dank, desolate dungeons of the Old World spring to life (stirring our imaginations with myriad possibility) with each stroke of his pencil. 

Having had the pleasure of meeting this remarkable man several times now, I consider myself privileged to have spent some hours in his company. He is very much a walking, talking version of one of his wizardly drawings. The long beard, the twinkling eyes and the chaotic cackle that serves as his laugh. He remains a man of endless story, absentminded genius and anarchic, subversive humour. 

These elements are often present in his work, if you know where to look. If you get the chance to spend any time with Mr. Ackland and he has his portfolio of work with him you can expect detailed explanations for each piece. Some of these explanations reveal trinkets of knowledge that will fascinate the enthusiast of Old School Warhammer, others will reveal amusing anecdotes of life in the Design Studio and the (sometimes rather dubious) goings on in the background of things. 

At other times they reveal what modern folk call 'Easter Eggs', little hidden facts and tributes in artwork and background, often secreted away in pieces of work we have been familiar with for decades. When these hidden secrets are revealled to us those pieces of work suddenly take on a new and unexpected light. 

I have three such pieces for you today! 

All of us are probably familiar with the careers section of the WFRP. If you were anything like me, you'd spend hours perusing through the entries imagining characters with prolific careers in agitating, tomb robbing or coach driving. For me, it was the sheer normality of so many of the careers that made them so appealing, you could imagine people like this living in a fantasy world far more than a bunch of longhaired tight wearing men with impossibly white teeth. 

It was the artwork that accompanied these careers that would often fire the imagination, with some of the illustrations speaking more about that career path than any amount of text could. Well it seems that a number of these illustrations were caricatures of well know Citadel staff. Tony Ackland explained to me:

TA: "There was Richard (Hal) Halliwell as a beggar, Rick Priestley as a scribe, John Blanche as a cripple, and Bryan Ansell as I can't recall what. Richard Ellard was a cleric wearing the amulet of the double Volkswagen. He had two Golfs at the time. John Stallard was also featured. I can't recall any others offhand."

Now, Tony still has three of these caricatures in his possession and I can share then here with you thanks to him.

Rick Priestley the scribe. I love the tiny xerox gag on the edge of the table. 

The double Volkswagen endowed Richard Ellard masquerading as a cleric.

The mighty John Blanche brought low as a cripple. 

As for Bryan Ansell, Richard Halliwell or John Stallard I have yet to discover which illustrations they may be. Or indeed if any other GW alumni lurk amongst the pages of WFRP waiting to be discovered. 

Perhaps YOU dear reader could be of help? Get flicking through that rulebook!

Thanks to Tony Ackland for his contributions to this post. 

Orlygg.

Oldhammer Weekend 2016: Overview

So as the dust has now settled on another Oldhammer Weekend I find myself once again faced with the very pleasant task of writing a swift overview of the event. As in previous years, I spent the majority of the Saturday and Sunday socialising, taking photographs and pouring through the blister packs of gorgeous Foundry models, though I did play one game - the culmination of the Tale of Four Gamers with Steve, Paul and Chico-chops.

As always, the creativity and passion exhibited by fellow Oldhammerers astounded me and there were a great many sights to behold and marvel and I present a small selection of those below. It was also fantastic to see so many familiar faces and chat to many new ones, too.

First up we have a photograph of 'Coldhammer' a Warhammer Fantasy Battle 1st Edition mash up of Frostgravesque extravagance. I chatted to Norse and Harry who were busy for most of the Saturday playing through this scenario and I enjoyed admiring the many characterful and amusing models they had selected for the game. The 'Christmas Elves' (created by painting the cloaks of Skarloc's elves red and white) were my personal favourite but there were a great many quality models here for the enthusiast and the scenery was fascinating too. At the top of the shot you should be able to make out the enormous fortress wall, heavily defended by stouty dwarf warriors.

As far as I could ascertain from the mad ramblings of Norse, the scenario involved a goblin attack on a frozen dwarf hold somewhere in the darkest (and I would imagine, coldest) north. I asked Harry about his incredible homemade dungeon tiles (based on many pieces from ancient GW publications) and he was very humble about his achievement. They looked incredible and like many great endeavours were very simple, yet incredibly effective. My personal favourite piece would have to be the Egyptian-style tomb sections complete with 3D skeleton carvings. You can just make out the piece bottom left.

On the other side of the Marquee stood the astonishing spectacle that was the 'Rise of Morcar'. The game has to be the largest I have yet witnessed at the imagination and variety behind many of the units was extremely impressive. There were war mammoths, killer sheep and chickens and loads of fantastic 'homemade' figures based on toys and models produced for non-wargaming purposes. I really do admire the gamers who can turn a child's toy into an unique and interesting figure. How many can you spot in this picture?

Among the many impressive units taking part in the 'Rise of Morcar' was this little tribe of barbarian types. I never did catch the name of the enthusiast who produced these fine looking models but I loved their painting style. The rich tones and varied colour choices really brought the many models to life, and the addition of Thrud (and my favourite rendition of him too) was really the icing on the daemonic birthday cake.

A superb unit!

Inside the stable building, I stumbled upon a frantic clash between some beautifully completed Praetorians (lovingly collected and painted by Lead Balloony's Alex) and the orks of Waaagh-Badlugg. I spent quite sometime admiring Alex's collection and was deeply impressed with the high level of finish he had achieved with his Praetorians. He had brought along an entire army of them and I can honestly say they were the finest examples of the Imperial Guard regiment I have ever seen fielded.

Superb!

The Foundry had done us proud again and produced a beautiful set of event models named the 'Time Warped Wizards'. We had spotted these being prepared for last year's event and I was extremely excited about getting my hands on them, after winning several of the models in previous painting competitions at the Foundry.

Look out for a more detailed post about these models shortly!

Garbage Pail Kid (who grew up) Chico Danks and the ever-ingenious Richard Legg put together a fast paced Judge Dredd game complete with fantastic scenery. The Mega-City Block came complete with a Saddamesque statue, bridge and even a local Games Workshop store. The imagination and thought behind the game was clear to see and I wish I could have played a game on the set up myself.

This was the Chaos warbands game run by the thrice cursed Stuart Bannister (along with three mutant wretches known only by the dark and evil names of Greg, Ian and Steve) entitled 'The Storming of Perlsea Fort'. Having played in many of these scenarios myself, it was pleasing to see others getting the same level of enjoyment out of Slaves to Darkness. I didn't tarry as long as I should here due to the rather restrictive space around the game, but I greatly admired the scenery - especially the fort itself, which rumour has suggested was a fifteen quid kid's toy converted up especially for the scenario.

Incredible work if that rumour is true!!

While wandering around the gaming tables in the stable buildings I was suddenly accosted by a strange figure whose face was obscured by a heavy cowl. Without speaking a word he held forth a skeletal figure and beckoned me forth into a dark and dingy area of a Foundry that no Oldhammerer would dare set foot (the Napoleonics section). In mute silence he opened a black, velvet lined box and spread these obscene fantasy figures across a nearby table - apparently some twisted version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (yes, I know there is a eighth dwarf) the sculptor of these mind-shattering models remains a mystery...

While on the subject of strange figures, I was lucky enough to be invited deep within the blasphemous bowels (the Casting Room) of the Wargames Foundry by Marcus Ansell. alongside Steve Casey (pictured) and Stuart Klatcheff. Here we were given the opportunity of seeing a second batch of the 'Time Warped Wizards' being cast up as the previous run had nearly sold out. It really was a special privilege to witness Marcus working the mould and pouring the hot metal into the spinning machine. He made such a skilful job look incredibly easy and the models cast looked crisp and bright. It was a special moment to be able to hold previously unreleased Citadel models from the Golden Age in my unworthy palm whilst they were still hot!

I wonder what unlucky chap took that set of models home?

As I said in my previous post, the truly legendary Kev Adams returned to complete a second marathon sculpting session for charity, this time for the MacMillian Cancer Relief. He worked continuously throughout the Saturday on model after model, tirelessly. Massive respect to Kev for doing this again and he told me that he hopes to spend TWO days sculpting next year to try and keep up with the demand.

I found a suitably small figure (a tiny snotling) for Kev to sculpt my flabby face onto and marvelled (like a great many others) over his skill.

Graham Apperley, Chris Webb and Curtis Fell slugged away at each other during this Warhammer 40,000 second edition game. There were some great models here, especially the pre-1994 Imperial Guard stuff that Chris had lovingly painted to a very high standard indeed.

Steve Beales brought along his Epic collection and set up a game involving both Adeptus Machanicus and Space Marine. I loved handling the old AM polystyrene buildings and they brought back many great memories of my early '90s Space Marine games. Hs opponent was none other than the Citadel Collector, Steve Casey, who arrived with some hideously well converted Nurgle titans - more of which, later!

Tony Yates was up to his usual mischief all weekend, telling stories and sketching the wild demands of any who would ask. It is always a pleasure to see Tony and his pal, Alec, who really do embody the spirit of the Grognard like no-one else. They give us 'youngsters' plenty of inspiration with their bizarre and wacky ideas, not to mention Tony's unique collection of wargaming models. I was lucky enough to get my hands on one of his strange mekon like castings on the Sunday. I will attempt to emulate his super fast painting style and heavy highlighting method when I come to paint it up.

As an aside, the picture he is drawing here (entitled: busty female magic user) was for my wife. She loved it so much she has decided to frame it and hang the piece of art in her office!

Geoff aka Fimm McCool brought along his impressive Fimir army and leatherbound Warhammer publications (just so you know, he learnt the art of book binding and put the volumes together himself) and was also responsible, or so I heard, for this year's Oldhammer miniature. Inspired by a comic book rendition of the Heroquest villain, Morcar apparently. Any left over models will be shipped off to the US and later Australia for our distant, colonial cousins.

Paul Golgfag (who may or may not consume men when angered) attended and was involved in many a game. Here he contemplates with which monstrosity to best crush his enemies, see them driven before him and hear the lamantations of their women.

Scalene put on a beautiful Rogue Trader scenario outside of the Marquee on the Sunday. The natural light and wonderful scenery, modelling and figure painting really helped bring this game alive. Inspirational and the best looking game at the show, by far!

A glimpse at Steve Casey's uber-horrible Nurgle titans from the Epic game on Sunday. After speaking to him at length, he explained that the models were a mix of modern Forgeworld Plaguefly pieces and classic plastic titans. Here, his Deathguard advance towards Imperial lines with far more prowess than his Slann army later on. These were the standout conversions of the show for me.

Do us all a favour Steve and do a post about these on your blog!! (;

The Grand Master of Chaos, Tony Ackland, was in attendance again and judged the painting competition on the Sunday, aided and abetted by show organiser, Garth James, Tony Yates and Curtis Fell. Curtis was kind enough to hand out many models he produced at Ramshackle to attendees for free, exhibiting the Oldhammer spirit at its best.

The outdoors Rogue Trader games in full flow. The loquacious James Holloway can be spied on the far right, and I had a pleasant Saturday evening chatting with him back at the Deincourt Hotel.

Much of my weekend was spent in the company of the old wizard, Tony Ackland, who as always was full of amusing stories and discussions about literature, art and history. He introduced me to the depraved etchings of Franz von Bayros and Victorian decadence among many other things. Here he is deep in discussion with Stuart about his artwork.

This was an impressive undead game whose organisers I didn't catch the names of. There were some lovely scenery pieces here with all number of weird and wonderful models on the table. Have a closer look and see which pieces you can recognise!

Another chap I met was playing a match up with his boy. The game included these beautiful old school dwarfs and I couldn't resist taking a snap of some of these wonderful models as they set up.

Big bad Erny , his brother Snickit and a mate played through a 4th edition game that would not have looked out of place in a mid '90s edition of White Dwarf.

Steve and Paul got stuck into a game of Spacefleet on the Sunday. Now this is a game so rare that I hadn't even seen a copy before and the ships are certainly interesting models to be sure.

And who is this spotted in Bryan's cabinet of chaos?? Is that Greedo from Star Wars? There were all manner of weird and wonderful models as always.

Harry explores some of Bryan Ansell's treasures. As always, the Mighty Avenger brought forth a massive amount of work in progress pieces for viewing, including several very ancient pieces he produced years past. Kev Adams' Warmonger orcs were also in attendance.

It wasn't just old school gaming on offer either. Exhibition games of Tomahawk's new game, Congo were being played through on the Sunday using models from Tony Yates' collection. I had a good look at the publication and it looks to be of a particularly high standard, as you would expect.

For some, the experience of three days of solid Oldhammer was just too much to bear. He we see an exhausted gamer passed out at the Foundry on the Sunday afternoon as his companions gamed on.

As always, we have so much to be grateful for from the Ansell family. Bryan, Diane, Marcus, Emma and Maria were incredible hosts and kept us all fed and watered over the three day event, held in their beautiful home of Stoke Hall.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR GENEROSITY AND KINDNESS! The Wargames Foundry really is the greatest venue in the wargaming world!!

Wholesome regards and abundant thanks must also go to Garth who organise the chaotic mess that is a Bring Out You Lead and ensured that everyone involved had the gaming tables and scenery that they needed.

Orlygg

Fancy owning a Tony Ackland original?

Tony Ackland has long been associated with the Oldhammer Community. He has been interviewed twice (here and here) for this blog, contributed to countless discussions through social media and even gone as far as travel the near length of England to attend third Oldhammer Weekend. 

After so much interest in his portfolio, Tony has decided to put some of his original art up for sale. As you will know, the other Tony (he who is known as Hough) did much the same in past years and many enthusiasts were delighted to own a piece of Citadel history. 

Nothing is for sale yet, but I have offered space on this blog to Tony to create a little gallery of his work on sale with details of cost and billing. 

As soon as I hear more expect to see more information here. Until then, why not enjoy a few lovely images from his extensive collection.