Mini nostalgia

I thought i'd try something a bit different with this post and write about when I first got into minis. It's inspired by Punktaku's thread over on the Yaktribe forum - 'When did you fall?'.  For me, it was when first seeing the box art for the original RTB01 plastic Space Marines, drawn by a chap named John Sibbick.

This is going back 30 something years - I was around 9 - while shopping with my dad. I was bored and when we passed by a model shop he took us in to check out the tanks and planes we were into at the time. And there they were, three boxes of:

RTB01 Space Marines

This was before GW existed anywhere nearby and I had no idea what Space Marines were - other than that they were goddamn awesome! The picture in particular blew my mind and he must have seen the longing in me as he bought a box there and then, no questions asked, and that night we started painting them with the Humbrol paints we used for model aeroplanes. This is one of my fondest memories.

Pretty soon after my tastes changed. There'll always be a soft spot for beakies, but it was all about Orcs, then Blood Bowl, and then I found my calling with Necromunda. John's picture stayed with me, though, and about a year ago I tried to source an original ..

Look at it - it's glorious

.. with no luck at all. Which isn't surprising given they were printed back in 1987. I did manage to get an anniversary reprint from a nice guy on the Oldhammer Community page, which is cool and will be framed as soon as the new hobby room is finished, but I thought i'd give it one last shot and contacted John Sibbick via email. As expected, they were all long gone. He did, however, have an early sketch that he passed on for nothing and said he had no trouble with it being shared. So here it is. What a dude!

Where it all began (note the Ork head was present)  ..

Of course, and most significantly, this image also went one to become the front cover for the first 40k rulebook and the rest is history ..

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader

So that's it - a bit of history about the picture that started it all for me and probably a bunch people. BTW - if you have an original for sale, or know of someone that does, let me know. You'll get a good price and and a life time's worth of gratitude!

Part 2: Spike, Moobs and Big Lennie

Spike

Moobs

Big Lennie

Spike was on patrol, which is Scavvy for scrounging or stealing stuff.

"Hey Spike," said Moobs, jogging to catch up and falling into stride.

"Watcha Moobs. You good? Hell of a scrap last night."

"Sure was, mate." Moobs took a deep drag on a rollie and offered it over. "You see Donny and that poor sod with the shield?"

"Yeah," said Spike, taking the rollie with his weirdly long blue fingers. "Hell of a way to go that. Might have won us the fight, you know."

"Haha yup," Moobs laughed. "They totally bottled it. All started retching and puking - like they never seen someone get shit sticked before! And Donny afterwards. Gods, you never seen someone looking so proud. The way he turned round to make sure we'd all seen it, big dumb grin on his face!"

Spike smiled, nodding. "He's a sweet kid that one. Proper Scavvy." And handed back the rollie.

They walked on for a while in a comfortable silence. The kind of comfortable you only get with someone you'd grown up with. And fought with. And Spike and Moobs had been fighting and surviving together for as long as they could remember. As kids, in the unnaturally long winters caused by the smog that blocked out the sun millennia ago, they'd slept in the boots of old cars together to keep warm (not easy when one of you is covered in 10 inch spikes!).

"Shame about Big Lennie, though." said Moobs, shaking his head and breaking the quiet.

"Why, what happened? I was over on the other side."

"Well, you had to see it to believe it, Spike. This Van Saar, with the BIGGEST plasma gun you ever seen, popped out from behind a wall, fired off a shot, and scarpered back behind cover. All in the blink of an eye."

Spike frowned. "Not very sporting."

"Not sporting at all, mate." Moobs agreed. "Nuffin' anyone could do about it."

"And he got Lennie?"

"Yup," replied Moobs, spitting out the bad taste. "Totally one-shotted him. All that was left was his boots and a puddle."

"Gods," Spike breathed, taking a moment to digest things. "You all start fighting for his boots?"

"Damn right. Good pair of boots." Moobs held out a leg for inspection. "I got one of 'em."

"Hah good work, mate."

Moobs handed him back the rollie as they turned a corner and started down an alley way of ancient speeders and rusting kitchen ware.

"See, it's what I always say," Said Spike. "There's good that comes out of every bad."

Moobs grinned and carefully - that lesson was learned long ago - clapped Spike on the back.

"That's why I like you, mate. Always looking on the bright side."

Part 1: The Scrap Yards, Dave and Donny

Boss Dave

Donny

The Scrap Yards are vast. And deep in the Scrap Yards, somewhere between Crushers and the Rad Lakes, you'll find Dave's gang. Well, they'll probably find you. And nick your shoes. And probably kill you. But that's where they are. Slowly migrating through the debris. Sifting, scrounging, collecting and stashing. And right now, if you were to zoom in through the ash clouds and rising fumes, and a little way out from the rest of the gang, you'd see Dave (Boss Dave. Sometimes Big Hand Dave), sitting on a box and trying to dig something out of his foot, when a concerned looking Donny walks onto the scene.

"Hey Donny, how's tricks?" asked Dave, working away at his foot.

"Oh, hey, boss. Didn't see you there. Yeah, not bad. You?"

"All good mate. Apart from my bloody foot. What brings you over here?"

"Nothing much," replied Donny, waving something around in the dark with a swishing sound. "Just needed to have a bit of a think."

Dave half smiled at that, attention still on his foot. "That's not like you, mate. Thinking."

"Hah, yeah," Donny chuckled. And after a pause, "it's just I was sneaking around near the Van Saar camp we're raiding tonight .."

Still digging away, Dave's lips peeled back, revealing a bunch of fangs. "Those boys strayed too far from home," he muttered.

.. and I noticed they have this fancy new gear."

"That so?" asked Dave.

"Yeah, one of them even has some kind of energy shield."

"Well, Van Saar are always poncing about with fancy gear. Nothing new there."

"I know that, boss," said Donny, his words taking on a more urgent tone and starting to tumble over each other, and all the while swinging something around in the dark, "it's just we don't have anything new! Same old stuff. And they've got these radiation guns and plasma up the ying yang and .."

.. and with that Dave looked up from his foot for the first time and met Donny's gaze. And the Scrap Yards went quiet.


....


"Come over here, mate. In the light where I can see you."

Donny slowly scuffed his way over, hands behind his back.

"What's that you've got there?" Dave asked. "Behind your back. The thing you've been waving around."

Looking embarrassed now, "it's nothing boss, just something I made."

"Show me."

Donny held out his stick. "It's just a sharp stick."

"We can both see that's not just a sharp stick," said Dave, trying to hold back a grin.

"Well no," said Donny. "I covered it in shit."

"Yeah you did. And you made that. Looks pretty new to me."

"Yeah, I guess, it's just .."

"Sit down next to me, Donny" Dave interrupted, shifting over to one side and waiting for Donny to hop up.

"I've been doing this for more years than anyone has any right to. And trust me when I tell you this - there is nothing more terrifying on this world, or on any other, than a Scavvy armed with a shitty stick."

"Yeah?" asked Donny, looking at the creation in his hand.

"I know so, mate. I'm terrified just sitting next to it. You bring it to the fight tonight and I guarantee the Van Saar with the shield will soil his damn amour when he sees you coming."

"Haha, you reckon?!"

"I reckon, mate!"

And with that Donny pushed himself off the box and started swinging his stick around, foulness flying in all directions. This lasted a little while, both of them grinning like idiots.

"Cheers, boss!" beamed Donny. "I'm going to go back and hang out with the guys now."

"No worries, mate. Anytime."

Dave turned his attention back to his foot and before Donny disappeared completely into the dark and without looking up, "bring your gun along tonight anyways, Donny. You know, just in case"

"Right you are, boss."