Something a bit different today. Found this Ratling Sniper and Necromunda Goliath leader. I'd made a start on these when I was first into wargaming back in the 90s, but not finished them, so got out the paints and washes and reconditioned them. Whiskey Priest has been keen to bring us OGRE gamers into the 41st millennium and although I haven't had a chance to play Necromunda or RT or anything else with them yet, I'm keen, so I thought I'd have a rummage around for any figures that would serve as the start of a warband.
I have a bit of history with Ratling Snipers.
When I was a teenager I fancied myself as a bit of a games designer, and loved nothing better than to write all kinds of rules and scenarios - including all kinds of stuff for Necromunda - and shove them on the internet. So even though by 1999 I was drifting out of the hobby so as to devote more of my desperate energies towards wooing the lasses, I was still chuffed as anything to get an e-mail from GW saying that they were starting a new magazine to support Necromunda, and would I be happy for them to include some of the stuff I'd written? I replied that I was more than happy for them to use anything I'd put on the net - some of the scenarios I'd written were pretty cool, I thought, and I'd come up with a pretty nifty system for Undead gangs in Necromunda that I was very proud of. So I waited to see what they decided to publish.
When I finally did get a copy of Gang War Issue 5, I have to admit I was somewhat disappointed. The thing they'd decided to include was a throwaway set of houserules I'd written for Ratling Snipers in Necromunda simply so my mate could include one in his Orlock gang because he played Imperial Guard and liked the models. The rules weren't exactly watertight and not everyone liked them. I remember being on the receiving end of a certain amount of nerdrage.
So ended my very short career as a writer of wargames rules!
Anyway, for those with a bit of historical curiosity, here are the rules:
And if you don't like them in English, here's a Czech translation:
Nice! Must be great seeing your work laid out professionally and with artwork despite the nerdrage!
ReplyDeleteOh for sure, that bit was satisfying. Just wish they'd run with something else! Although I'm looking through rose-tinted spectacles: it's hard to know whether the other rules I penned as a teenager WERE better. Just that I remember thinking at the time that this was not the "best example of my work" ;)
DeleteYou're an internet celebrity! What I wouldn't give for some Nerdrage!
ReplyDeleteHave you tried the oldhammer facebook group recently? There seems to be something of an excess of it there at the moment!
DeleteThe internet did seem younger and full of promise in those days. But there was no lack of angry people, they just expressed their anger in more lo-tech ways and with slower modems.
You have to be happy with getting something with your name on in a GW magazine though?
ReplyDeleteYep, that was definitely my number one goal during that phase of my involvement in the hobby, so mission accomplished really.
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