There is actually.....you know....sort of a....well.....a plan i 'spose....

 So, i have been painting tiny half orcs......but why?. Before i explain....

BLUES EXPLOSION!!!!!!!!!!!

  Right, yes, half orcs.....i have mentioned before that the irregular miniatures 6mm fantasy line reminded me of the feel of the old Citadel pre slotta stuff, which for those of us that are into that sort of thing is pretty great. So i have ordered the 'man orc' army deal (and another one too but that's for another post) and painted them up in a Ralf Bakshi orcish style.

This 'orrible bunch.

But why, to what end have i bothered?. Well, the likeness to the old citadel minis got my tiny brain working, i spent far too much time here looking at all the old sculpts and getting all teary eyed and nostalgic. I then just had to get out my old 1st-3rd edition Warhammer books out for a peruse.

Proper Warhammer!!.

 Now before i continue i have in the past been a tad...err....shall we say critical of Warhammer and i stand by my comments. I do not have and i imagine never will have the desire to spend the time and stress required to work the game. As an experience at the table it is slow, clunky and bloated and there are far simpler ways to do the same thing......however for a fantasy setting the first few editions are in my opinion unsurpassed, the colour, humour and character of the setting makes it feel truly alive and a place that is full of mystery and lurking danger. In short it is FAB and gives loads of room for building scenarios and fluff using it as a backdrop. The first few editions were the best for this as the world itself was coming together, you were actually encouraged to use it as you wish to flavour your own games. It was FUN and  is still loved by gamers of a certain age for just that very fact.

Well hey there 4th edition, what did you do with all the fun?.

  So in a nutshell i have been pondering ways to use the old warhammer setting (pre bloody army book hell) combined with the irregular 6mm line to do some retro flavoured gaming. couple this with the rising need to find a way to game in a smaller space (the Amazing Mrs Sprinks requires the normal table for a painting station for her stuff at the mo). So with these things in the front of my overworked brain i came up with an idea:

 THE PLANE OF INTELLECTUAL PURGATORY (AKA THE MENTAL REALMS)

   Dear reader you are about to go on a journey into the unreal, the unbelievable, the 'a bit dodgy'. Ask yourself a question: 'what is an idea?'. or more to the point where do the ideas thought about and forgotten go?. The popular ideas, those 'made flesh' by the acceptance of the masses are made 'solid', an existing entity within our physical world to live with us, alive as a part of our collective psyche. Those birthed in the mind of an individual then dismissed unshared and unloved float away into the either, never made whole by the acceptance of the masses. But what of the ideas in between?, those once made flesh then dismissed and discarded as they are overlooked, passed over for fresh ideas and concepts?. Well dear reader they are the forgotten, the once alive now conceptually departed. The only place for these sad unfortunates is one of the millions of realms of Intellectual Purgatory, places of the discarded to dwell forever, never thought about or considered. There they stay, hoping to be born unto the world once more by being remembered and re-imagined, maybe re-branded or re-packaged to once again take their place in our world. 

 The above passage of bollocks can be explained in three ways:

1) My idea is to explore the forgotten bits in early Warhammer lore, yer Norse, Slann, Albion, Ind, Nippon, Cathay, Araby, Zoats, Gnomes, Half orcs, Fimir, Sea elves and the rest, those removed from the 'canon' and cast aside early, now residing in an endless struggle to become relevant again and therefore be reborn from one of the many realms of Intellectual Purgatory in which they now reside.

2) I might just fancy taking the piss out of Age of Sigmar.

3) I've been drinking.

  All apply but frankly i am rather taken with the idea, i have even started working on a 3'x 2.5' game board working with a 'blasted 80's wasteland' theme. All red earth and sand with wrong coloured plant life and oddly imagined scenery. This should fit on my coffee table with room for gaming bobbins around the sides. It also works with my planned ruleset for the project, namely:

Which is quick, simple and fun and can be downloaded for a very reasonable price here. It is element based and normally played on a 2'x2' table. So i plan to be working through some small scale armies in the coming months and hopefully play a few games along the way. Also to add to the project i have been painting more stuff for my half orcs, here's a work in progress (poor) picture of some trolls (or g.w. 28mm savage orcs to give them their original title)

 (trolls jealously guard the shortbread!!)

Oh and i done a logo, shhhuuuuusssshhhhh dont tell G.W!!'

.....'till next time.....