Do you remember when…
The other day we were discussing the article in the back of February's White Dwarf in which John Blanche, Alan Merrett and Jervis Johnson talk about 25 years of Warhammer 40,000 from how it all started up to the present day. This got us thinking about how we got into the game too, the first models we painted, and how, over the last 25 years, the grim darkness of the far future has changed so much. Jim, our resident picture guy (Imagery Co-ordinator to give him his real title) mentioned that he had some of the very first Space Marines in his collection at home - models that are almost as old as I am. It didn't take much encouragement for him to bring them in:
Jim: I got into the hobby just over 24 years ago now, almost at the same time that Warhammer 40,000 first came out (it's kind of like my anniversary, too). I remember going into the Games Workshop in Nottingham with my dad and seeing the Space Marine paint set out of the corner of my eye. Along with the paint set, I also picked up a blister pack that I liked the look of. I didn't know what it was or what it did; all I knew was that I liked the look of this weird futuristic warrior.
So I took the model home and splattered him with red paint and Boltgun Metal before giving him the thickest coat of varnish I have ever put on a model [Jim's painting techniques have improved considerably since then - Dan]. Sadly the throne that came in the set has been lost for many years now and this model, who I now know to be the original Marneus Calgar, normally sits casually on the edge of my computer monitor. Yes, yes, I know I painted him red and not blue, but in those days I had no idea who he was or what colour armour he should wear. Besides, the picture on the front of the paint set wore red armour, so I painted mine red, too.
I actually left the hobby for many years (education, work and family got in the way), but it was Marneus Calgar that brought me back all those years later. I'm still very much a fan of red paint, as you can see from my most recent Ork models in the image slider above. It's amazing how much things change, but how much stays the same.
Dan: Jim's talk of Marneus Calgar reminded me of the awesome piece of artwork that Dave Gallagher painted a couple of years ago. What I didn't know was that Dave also did the original piece of artwork for him for the Rogue Trader rulebook all those years ago. Jim's right - so many things change, but so many of them stay the same!
