Wednesday 26 August 2020

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader: A Retrospective. PART ONE: Prelude...

 


In 1983, an advert appeared in the First Citadel Compendium ('An Irregular Journal') for a forthcoming game from Games Workshop, called 'Rogue Trader'.

Written by Rick Priestly, the text on the advert promised:

  • Spacecraft Combat in Deep Space
  • Space Sectors
  • Space Lane Encounters
  • Planetary Encounters
  • Journeying to Planets
  • Roleplaying the Ship's Crew
  • Advancing your Ship's Crew
  • Bounty, Commerce, Piracy
  • Systems and Repairs
  • Alien Trade
  • Encounters and Technology
  • ...Can you survive an encounter with Dr Gostalo's Amazing Inter-Galactic Psycho-Circus?, Can you handle Fear and Loathing in Los Asteros? can you uncover the fate of Herst Crabble's Fabulous Skystar? 
Find out with Rogue Trader - adventure, mayhem and destruction on a cosmic scale.
The Citadel Compendium, 1983

The first advert for Rogue Trader!

Following this advert, the trail would go cold on Rogue Trader for nearly 4 years.  

Games Workshop would follow this with the subsequent releases of 1st and 2nd edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle, which, as the title suggests, concentrated on what they felt was the more popular Fantasy genre for massed battles.

The writer, Rick Priestly, had been working on licensed games for Games Workshop such as the Judge Dredd Roleplaying Game, when he returned to the idea of Rogue Trader.


Work on Warhammer 40,000; Rogue Trader (referred to as RT throughout this article) began in earnest alongside the 3rd edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battle (WFB), with which it shares many similarities in style and rules (more on this later).

The public got the first, proper view at what RT would be in White Dwarf 93 (September 1987). 


A four page, full colour insert set the premise and setting of what RT was, starting with the now famous introductory text that has graced the beginning of every 40k rule book since:


This single paragraph, for me,  created the entire game's setting; it was a world of horror, of hopelessness and a constant state of warfare. 

In 1987, we were still in the grips of the Cold War, Gorbachev was yet to come to power and the world was constantly on the precipice of Nuclear War.  Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Government was 8 years into its rule, the recession years of the early 80's still loomed large, with the fallout of the Coal Miner's Strike being felt by those in the East Midlands (where the writers lived). 

Talking to the blog, Tales From The Maelstrom, Rick recalled how he was influenced by the themes of 2000ad, Larry Niven, Harry Harrison and others, to come up with a form of open-play skirmish game with a role-playing element, moderated by a Games Master.  This, combined with the politics of the time made for a dark satirical universe, the likes of which hadn't really been seen in the war-games community before.


The artwork in the preview supports this - mostly black and white drawings, it evokes a strange, gothic style, dark, cable filled rooms, with shadowy figures with skull faces hunched over arcane machinery. One piece shows an emaciated man at the heart of a machine, plugged into what looks like a arterial tubes, unable to support his own weight, yet powering the machine... the piece is titled 'The Emperor' and is our first view of him:


To me, as a 13 year old, obsessed with books on Durher and Bosch, this artwork immediately attracted me to the setting. Combined with the colour artwork, which had, to me, more than nod to 2000ad (with which I'd realise was down to the fact that the artists such as Carl Critchlow worked on both titles) which showed gritty Space Marines at rest in what looked like a bar and hunting a villain, I was sold.
'Smash The Empire'!

This juxtaposition of the arcane with the irreverent is for me, the heart of what 40k was, and still is - the phrase 'Grim Dark' had yet to be taken seriously, this was the age of the anti-authority, punk ethos in the game (as can be seen through the depiction of the Space Marines sat in a bar with almost- Vietnam style scrawling on their armour), offsetting the sheer horror of constant war and the cheapness of life.

The preview ended with adverts for the first two boxed sets of miniatures for RT: Imperial Space Marines, and Space Orks.

The Imperial Space Marine box (referred to by it's stock code, RTB01) was Games Workshop's first box of multipart, plastic miniatures (they'd produced plastic miniatures previously under the 'psychostyrene' brand for Fighting Fantasy amongst others previously, but these were monopose miniatures). 

Imperial Space Marines Boxed Set Advert

With enough parts to make three complete ten man squads, this box was a MUST HAVE for those who wanted to play as Space Marines (which were already available as metal miniatures at this point prior to the rulebook coming out).  The early releases of this box were in green styrene, which, with later releases, changed to a beige styrene.  

The second box set, RTB02, Space Ork Raiders, contained 17 metal miniatures (lead at this point) - nicely sculpted and full of character, as with the Space Marine box, these Orks would set the tone for the faction for the next 30 years.



So that's the preview. In the next article, I'll be going through first impressions of the RT rulebook!

I'd love to know your first experiences of RT - where you there at the start? What did you think? Let me know by leaving a comment!














Sunday 9 August 2020

Background Lore treated as Canon: A boon for creativity or a stifling hand around the throat of the hobby?

We need to talk about Canon... no, not that sort of Cannon, but the background of our games...



The word Canon originates from the selection of texts which are considered the 'official' or 'true' version of the Christian Bible (the word Canon itself originating from the Greek for 'Rule'), with other texts becoming non-canonical or apocryphal (again, originating from the Greek for 'untrue' or 'false').  This selection had repercussions - those who followed the apocryphal texts were branded as outsiders at best, heretics at worse, with the extremes of the Catholic Inquisition using them to root out dissenters and the 'unbeliever', torturing and executing people for nothing more than a difference in views over a text.


The burning of Heretics between the 15th and 18th Centuries was a very real threat...


In the modern age, when a setting, be it from a TV show, a comic book or a game, reaches 'franchise' status (that is to say, becomes wide ranging in terms of scope and size), there needs to be an internal logic as to how things hang together - where characters operate, their motivations, the origins of their skills and lives, how the universe around them works, to ensure that the viewer, reader or in terms of more interactive media, the user, sees it as a whole 'piece' rather than random events and scenes.

This in and of itself is not a bad thing - without an internal logic things would be less entertaining, less inspiring - as humans we look for connectivity, we love joining the dots to see a bigger picture in amongst the chaos. We find it comforting and reliable.

HOWEVER... there is a worrying trend amongst some, certainly in the wargaming community, to use this idea of Canon to restrict others creative output and interaction, by pushing them out by claiming what they're doing with their hobby is 'against the lore' or 'not in line with the Canon'.  



This use of the Lore to restrict others expressing their creativity is self-destructive, removing from the hobby the very reason for it's existence. 

Unlike comics, books or TV shows, where the Lore is the item consumed, it *is* the story after all, within a game such as Warhammer 40k, the Lore exists to promote inspiration, to give the players a framework - not a fence line - to hang their own ideas off and to expand upon, whilst giving those fans who only read the books a linear, logical story line.

One would hope that most would not see a problem with this in mind - that the Lore in a game is there to inspire - with other gamer's creating armies of female Space Marines, but unfortunately, there are those (such as the post above) who see this as a reason to insult, revile and criticise others hobby. 

It's with this in mind that I truly think, no, BELIEVE that the idea of having a Canon, or Lore within is now becoming self-destructive to the creative side of the community, and as such, needs to be considered separate from it. This separation of 'church and state' could bring a much needed refreshing viewpoint to those who wish to express their own ideas without being shouted down by those who wish to follow the official story with no deviation.  This is what happens within the fan fiction community and with little controversy, hundreds of stories that deviate wildly from the Canon, but remain valid to those who create and read them. 

So, next time you see an army or a conversion that you feel 'shouldn't' or 'couldn't' exist, just ask yourself;

Who really is at fault here? 

Tuesday 4 August 2020

Community enjoyment, or; recognition always cheers you up!

When I choose an army, or a miniature to paint, it's for a few reasons:
  • I'm collecting that army 
  • I like the miniature
  • It's a challenge to paint

But ultimately - It's an enjoyable experience when I paint it and finish it, with a sense of accomplishment and pride.

This comes from my own self, but when others see my work, and like it, I'll admit I do get a flush of pride and joy from them enjoying something I've done.  I generally get good feedback on social media, with my work being liked by many.

When LockDown started, and I was forced to work from home more, I took to watching Warhammer TV's Twitch channel a little more than I did.  I took particular attention in the Hobby Roundup, a twice weekly hour long show where the Community Team would present hobbyist's own work and discuss it briefly.  Joining in was easy - just use the hashtag #warhammercommunity on Twitter or Instagram, or send the team and email with your picture and then they'd choose their favourites and on the next show - their selections would be showcased for the audience to enjoy.

I've now had the honour of being showcased five times since March, of which I'm incredibly proud. I keep striving to do better in my hobby, to produce nicer and nicer work, and the opportunity to have it seen by a bigger audience is a great motivator!

Unfortunately I can't find my 1st appearance - which was an Ultramarine (ironic really given my biggest army is Word Bearers for the Horus Heresy game), but if I can find a picture I'll add it in later!

But here's my other 4 appearances, with the latest today (4.8.20) with my Slaaneshi Chariot:


Previous to that:




I'm hoping that I have more appearances, and that one day, I get my main ambition granted - a spread or at least a photo, in White Dwarf itself!

Saturday 1 August 2020

Keeping the receipts: An Archive of Arch's Assholery.

CONTENT WARNING - RACIST, SEXIST AND ISLAMOPOBIC SLURS AND INSULTS. In order to fully explain and highlight the case here, there's no avoiding them.



When discussing our esteemed colleague, Arch[redacted] and his behaviours, views, comments and general demeanour, it can be guaranteed that someone (normally a low-count anonymous social media account) will ask 'well, where can we find the comments you say are disgusting? Because I've not come across them!'as if this somehow makes a point that it hasn't happened.

Now, subjectivity is a powerful thing here. Those who are normal, decent people will see these comments for what they are - offensive, divisive and wrong. Those who are 'true believers' of Arch's, will see them as 'spicy jokes', taken 'out of context' and most alarmingly, 'innocent' in their exposition. 

These 'true believers' are the ones to watch, to worry about and to keep wary of. This is nothing new of course, over the last 20 years or so, maybe even since the dawn of the new internet age, the right wing, nationalist viewpoint has found a toe hold in Science Fiction and Fantasy (SFF) and used it to promote their views - from the Sad Puppies movement voting in blocs to stop BIPOC authors from winning Hugo awards, through to GamerGate and ComicsGate more recently, they all have the same common denominators - overwhelmingly male, white and Christian-background people with a fear of being sidelined after so many years of being in the driving seat.

So what do can we do to prove in this case that Arch is what we say he is?  Thanks to various sources across the internet, here's a list of his views, statements and opinions as espoused by the man him self.

Before we continue in to explore the sewer that is Arch's channel, I want to just highlight that it's not all plain sailing on the seas of Alt-Right nationalistic racism though for Arch at the moment.  Along with the issues highlighted previously (the bleaching of his Discord, the copyright strike, the removal of his TeeSpring account), he's now the subject of SEVERAL privacy complaints due to the content of his videos. Currently, Arch is claiming, though without evidence, that a fellow YouTuber (and avowed critic of Arch's) Leakycheese is behind the complaint - which is purely supposition, and in of itself, breaching YouTube's privacy rules... 

I do like a good Auto-generated subtitle cockup...


What follows is a list of the YouTube videos, with the phrases used, and the approximate timestamps where they were used. I've not added any form of opinion on the use of the phrases, as to do so would in my mind prejudice the viewers opinion. However, it is of my opinion that these are NOT 'spicy' jokes, that these comments, and the language used lead to a more troubling fact - that a man, a grown man with a large following is using a hobby channel to espouse his views and, through the channel, impress on others the same beliefs. For a man who wishes to 'keep politics out of the hobby', he certainly has no compunction in using it to promote his own.

Dawn of War 2 series Ep1 youtu.be/cam2STqfUWA Faggot 17:20
Romanians stealing 18:55 Little "Wapanese" 50:35

Ep3 youtu.be/tQrkYDwm18A Mullato 8:47 I would like to be a Nazi 18:00 Raping women 45:13 Annexing Canada and Muslims 59:39


Ep4 youtu.be/Lou5nk4h768 Visicous deaths & Muslims 41:40 Ep5 youtu.be/-e0RWSGWlyQ Beat the women 58:10
Ep6 youtu.be/NxNFQIxjjJk Spastic damage 37:15 Kyle and Arch on Arabs 1:02:19 Ep7 youtu.be/pYMdy3WCBEE Arch on black women and mullato 16:33 Arch on rape p2 28:02 Negro 29:00 Most racist episode yet 53:46 (after talking about peanut butter and Mbato)


Ep 8 youtu.be/gGW_EVKM8Sg The disabled p2 46:10 Arch's co presenter Kyle on being banned from a forum for being a racist 1:02:20 Ep9 youtu.be/pQsN3UNMHO8 Muslim and Turkish men 37:22

Defending white nationalist terrorism: During his video on the Christchurch shooter where he expresses anti-muslim views and tries to mislead on the origins of the where the white nationalist shooter was radicalised, claiming, despite the shooters own admission that it was due to online right wing discussions, of which Arch is without argument a member of, that it had nothing to do with the online culture, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCWJ4AtifkA

His (canonically incorrect) views on why a Black Library cover shouldn't have a black Ultramarine - https://youtu.be/M5POkp_dgqs?t=2040 

Then we have his second channel, which is more outre in its output, claiming that the solution to 'Islamic Terrorism' should be more 'draconian', in stark relief to his views on the aforementioned Christchurch shooter - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gglX1tzk98o

Then we get to his masterpiece. So good, he's had to delist it - where he refers to Gnoblars as 'House N*****s' - his excuse? A black comedian used the same phrase, so it makes it OK for him to use it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gglX1tzk98o

And finally, his Discord channel. It's commonly held (but denied by those close to Arch, but never by he himself) that he was given a choice once it was reported to Discord on the basis of it's content - racism, child protection concerns to name but two reasons - to either lose access to Discord or bleach it... the screenshots can be found here - https://www.reddit.com/r/Sigmarxism/comments/gxcfw9/arch_fans_no_hes_totally_not_racist_hes_just/.  Again, his supporter flip flop on these screenshots, some claiming they're fake, other claiming they're out of context... even though Arch himself has admitted they're real!

Just one or two would be enough for most, enough to think 'maybe Im in the wrong' but Arch? He just keeps on going. 

It's not that he shouldn't have a voice - but why should such a divisive, destructive voice profit off promoting hatred of others, for nothing more than the colour of their skin, their sexual identity or orientation?  He's in a position of influence - one that requires a level of responsibility and balance. 

Which he sadly does not posses.

Arch is too much of a coward to answer the allegations himself - he WANTS to see everyone arguing, it supports his claim - dont give him the satisfaction.

So what do we do?

1) Report his videos to YouTube - if you see instances of hate speech, report them
2) Don't engage with his sockpupets on social media unless you really have to- just respond with a link to this blog if the ask for evidence
3) When they attempt to insult you, don't react - just ignore, block and move on.

And most importantly - make welcome to our clubs, our stores and our events those would be marginalised, excluded and vilified by Arch and those who follow him.





My first ever fan fiction!

  My First foray into fan fiction - a Battletech short story!  I've been wanting to write short stories for a while, but never really go...