Wednesday 18 July 2012

Oldhammer Fanzine Plans


OK here are some thoughts on what I hope will be issue 1 of Oldhammer Fanzine, we can debate the exact name on another post. I think we should keep it simple and get issue 1 out relatively soon say beginning of September. I’m going to be optimistic and assume there will be later issues too, so here is a list of articles I’d like to include in issue 1 and some idea of the size they probably ought to be. The loose theme for this issue will be introductions.

1)       A great cover would be awesome, anyone got a great picture they’ve drawn/painted, digital or analog that they would like to see on the front? Perhaps the golden Gobbo?

2)       Hitting the nail! I had thought we should include a mission statement, what is Oldhammer but then I realised it could well mean something different to different Oldhammerers. Fair enough we can accommodate all. Then I thought perhaps it should be an editorial by myself the closest thing we have to an Ed but I think we should be more democratic. So here is the plan I invite different Oldhammerers to, “Hit the Nail on the Head” with their one paragraph description of what Oldhammer is to them. Perhaps three of these paragraphs on 1 page per issue (aren’t I optimistic) would not be overly indulgent.

Perhaps also answer  any of the following one word/line questions to be printed along side:
Name:
Age: (somehow seams relevant, 36 ½)
Location:
Blog:
Collections/Armies:
Favourite Mini:

            Anyway get your paragraphs to me and I’ll knock it into a regular feature. Be good to include Zhu in the first set as he coined the term…

3)       Introductory scenario Thantsants. 1 or 2 pages. Ideally we could have counters on another page for this scenario.

4)       Collector’s corner Steve, Erny can help if needed. I think it would be great to outline the bare minimum to get into Oldhammer. How much for a rule set? What’s the cheapest way to get a useable vintage force, (warhammer regiments springs to mind). Are there any other outlets than Ebay?) 1 page should be fine.

5)       ‘evy ‘ammers: painting section Nico & possibly orlygg. How to begin to get that old school look. Or painting old school minis the new school way. I’m open to ideas, to be honest orlygg’s post about paining shields recently would be great. I see no problem using old blog posts as the basis of an article, having a print or PDF copy of them would be very useful. A couple of pages of this would be fine. Hopefully we can have more contributors to this in the future.

6)       Golden Gobbo competition results, orlygg. 1 page

7)    Review: Erny. A look at some of the recent  new old school minis. No reviews of minis given for free, only purchases by the reviewer.

8)       Bonus scenario, Bruno, 1 or 2 pages.


Illustrators who have pledged support and may like to sign up to provide at least one maybe more illustrations to an article:

Knobgobbler
Mattthew Monster
Erny (possibly, I’ve got my B in A-level art you know!!)

We are probably a bit short on illustrators so anyone who can contribute anything, even one relevant illustration, even if from years ago please do get in touch.



I think this is more than enough stuff to fit into issue 1 about 10 pages in all. Any other contributors let me know.

32 comments:

  1. I think it would in the spirit of "Oldhammer" if this news letter contained not only scenarios but a dedication to "narrative war-gaming".

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  2. Sounds fantastic! I can certainly do a more in depth article about shield painting; the classic red Citadel face, one each for the Chaos powers as well as skulls and things.

    Steve and I can certainly do something with the Golden Gobbos, though it will cover more than one page I expect.

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  3. Hi Erny
    I was thinking of doing an article about the use of historical wargames figs in a fantasy setting. There loads of great manufacturers out there and the perrys plastic war of the roses are great and ideal if you are on a budget
    Cheers
    Steve

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    1. I agree. I'm using them for a 3rd ed Border Princes army based off the Warhammer Armies Empire List. The range has everything I need: billmen (Halberdiers), Archers, Crossbowmen, Hackbutters, Pikemen and Heavy cavalry. Add a few old school WFB models and it's all good to go. :D

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  4. thestarforge and thehermit, really great ideas would be great to have them for issue 2. If we can get the best part of the first few issues planned so much the better.

    Article size can vary no problem, I just want to keep the number of articles to a level where we don't produce masses of stuff for the first issue and then run out of steam. This is a marathon not a sprint

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  5. Yeah best we don't peak to soon!

    The other thing I was contemplating is maybe a regiment of renown section each issue. Background, how to pant tactics? I am about to start on a mengil manhides Repaint

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  6. Ah, now, I have particular thoughts on that front... Though please do put something together.

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  7. I can put myself forward for some drawings if any are needed. I should have the Golden Gobbo illustration sorted by tomorrow ready for scanning etc. There's some examples up on my blog of some of my drawings:
    http://ilikepaintinglead.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/some-old-drawings.html

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    1. I remember seeing those... I like them a lot... very dark and gruesome.

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  8. Good stuff - scenario is pretty much ready to email over to you - just putting in some edited photos in lieu of illustrations. Written it along the same lines as the Orc's Drift scenarios and have another 4 or 5 in the pipeline for future editions...

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    1. Could the scenario use some illustrations or counters? What sort of thing might we draw for it? Would it want a map or somesuch diagram? I've got lots of free time at the moment...

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    2. I can email you what I've got and see what you think about illustrations.

      Some counters would definitely be good for the suggested forces. Would love to see an Orc's Drift style map too - although I've been deliberately vague about scenery so as to make it as accessible as possible.

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    3. I'd be up for doing some counters or illustrations if you want?
      Let me know what you're after and I'll get sketching :)

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    4. Ok,
      My mail is venusboys3 at gmail. Let Headnhalf and I know what you're up and we can fight over who gets to draw what...

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    5. Will do - I'll try to get that off today, work permitting...

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    6. My email is adamcore at hotmail dot co dot uk

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  9. Yep, great idea for the first "collectors corner" - I'll get cracking on this next week, along with setting up a gallery for the golden gobbos entries.

    cheers
    Steve

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  10. ...also, thinking longer term, if this thing takes off we may want to use a forum rather than a blog and have separate sections for the fanzine, golden gobbos etc. If that's the case I have the means to set up a forum on my website (thanks orlygg for inspiring that!). Just a thought?

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  11. excellent work gentlemen...its nice to see this coming together. I would love to commit some time to this but my summer is jam packed. I will certainly try to plug in in the fall and winter when my hobby time is more regular.

    I would be happy to edit in the near term if that is needed.

    Cheers,

    Blue

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  12. I'm definitely interested in contributing where I can. I'm no A-level artist like Erny :) but all of my drawings are heavily inspired by the fantasy art and imagery we love.
    Here's a link to something I was working on during my lunch break this afternoon, plus a couple of recent doodles: http://imgur.com/a/P5IPS
    If you all think that these are appropriate, I'd be happy to help out.

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    1. Those are cool, kind of fluid and 'chaosy'... for whatever reason they remind me a bit of Lee Brown Coy's stuff. Something about the composition maybe.

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  13. Hi Chaps

    Sorry, I guess I'm a bit late to this party - real life and all. I see Steve's point about a forum, etc as opposed to a blog. Off the back of the player finder 'thing', Dreamfish and myself have worked out that the Groupspaces service is desperately inadequate, so we were looking at some technology options to do this. D has set up a test page on his own server using Joomla and we're looking at some group management modules to extend this. Essentially, this should provide a searchable database of players, together with a blogging capability, a forum and the means to integrate Skarsnik's map into the thing (not directly yet - Skarsnik will still manually place the pip, but we can extend Joomla as soon as we work out how...)

    To that end, I would recommend holding off setting up anything else, unless you are already technically proficient in Joomla (or Wordress +Buddypress or any of those sorts of things). Ultimately, once we've worked out how to do it, we (that is - the Oldhammer community, not Dreamfish and I) should then look to register a domain and host the service there.

    All of the above considered - if you are technically proficient (and have the time), we're open to other suggestions as to how to create something like this.

    Regards
    Gaj

    P.S. Erny - I'd like to contribute to blog as well - could you add me as a contributor?

    P.P.S. Erny - in terms of contributions to your fanzine, it turns out that I quite like the writing stuff that I do (on the blog). I'm not a professional, but I've enjoyed the stuff that I've done and I'm happy to do some creative work - be that stories or possibly scripting for a Thrudd / gobbledigook type of comic (assuming one of the illustrators is up for that?)

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  14. P.P.P.S - ultimately, the domain I'm talking about may end up being Steve's site - if it can host the things we need, then that would be fine.

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  15. I will ask Kev for the interview too, we're exchanging daily mails so that shouldn't be too hard ^^

    I'm all for an easier way to discuss all this, a forum could really be a good idea more than a blog ! I can host anything on one of my servers just let me know if needed.

    My scenario should be ready by the end on next week but I do agree with "thestarforge" narrative gaming is something really important to promote !

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  16. A forum is a great idea for the future or indeed whenever it would be easy to set up.

    I'm glad to see illustrators are beginning to sort themselves out into projects. Mattthew Monster, I love your stuff maybe you could provide some illustrations for Bruno's scenario. If both agree I'll leave it to you guys to sort out together whats needed.

    Gaj your very welcome on this project, a short story would be great but probably quite demanding. I did have an idea for an opening paragraph to be viewed before the contents page. An aged wisard discovers a lost old tome, he had forgotten the liberties of magic in his youth and is invigorated to do things the old way...you get the idea. Perhaps you'd be interested in fleshing this idea out?

    I'll start a post soon where writers and illustrators can confirm they are working together or ask to collaborate. I don't want to end up wasting any talent by neglect!

    Another post to set up will be to check in when given projects are completed.

    Oh and Blue VT I think you may be able to help me with very limited time input, well current time anyway. I plan to review a few of the new old school minis I have bought recently starting with WhiteKnights Dwarves. I have the minis but haven't painted them, I'd love to use your pictures of painted examples.

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  17. Not a problem at all mate...working on more of his great figs now too.

    Blue

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  18. Hey everyone, I've just finished the Golden Gobbo drawing:
    [IMG]http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m86/headnhalf/GOLDENGOBBOBW.jpg[/IMG]
    Orlygg gets first refusal but if he's cool with it you can use this for the fanzine cover, I'm in the process of sorting out a colour version that you could possibly use that I'll link to when ready

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    1. Totally awesome. I'll leave it to Orlygg and yourself to decide where and when to post this first though I'm sorely tempted to stick it on this blog as a new post. I'll resist though.

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    2. wow that is cool, old school at its finest!

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    3. Just finished the colour version:
      http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m86/headnhalf/GOLDENGOBBOCOLOUR.jpg

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