A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away (okay, Bristol), a young boy stood in the rain waiting patiently for his first glimpse into a new realm. This was me standing waiting to see Star Wars for the first time, and the result was me hooked on Sci-Fi. Up until this point I had watched as many sci-fi programmes as I could find, and films ( theses were very limited back then), but the release of Star wars brought something new to the table with alien worlds that looked more authentic, and were populated with strange and wonderful denizens. It also brought about a golden age of more sci-fi, with everyone else wanting to cash in on the success of Star Wars (Battlestar Galactica, The Humanoid ), to say I was in my element would be an understatement !
Now fast forward a few years, I was in a model shop looking for my next model purchase, when I spotted some cool looking lead figures by a company called Grenadier Miniatures. The box I went for was "the orc's lair." These were great and reminded me of hairless apes that were green.
As soon as I got home I dug out my paints (enamels back in those days) and set to painting them. I was chuffed to bits with the results all neatly painted block colours. When one of my friends came round he said they were going for a game called Dungeons& Dragons, and that I ought to play; and so my first taste of RPG happened. This developed and evolved into us trying many other RPG's as well (Traveller, Star Trek, even TMNT).
While I enjoyed the RPG side, my friends` lack of models was a disappointment, as I spent ages making any relevant model look as nicely painted as I could: where as some of my friends would just use a piece of paper to represent their character. At this time I found wargaming, where you needed relevant models to represent your armies, as my window sill and shelves were already teaming with models this didn't seem unreasonable, and so I entered the realm of Warhammer.
Fast forward a few more years and Game Workshop brought out "Rogue Trader." Now this was everything I wanted, Sci-Fi and wargaming all in one, and I was hooked! So much so, I ended up working for the company for 5 years and had one of my army's featured in "White Dwarf" and several of my creations featured in specialist games publications.
After my time with Games Workshop, I drifted away from wargaming for a while and spent more time on other passions.. customising cars and bikes (if you think models are an expensive hobby, you should see the prices of car parts !)
After a while I returned to models but looked wider than just Games Workshop, looking for inspiring models: and there was a lot out there, so I dabbled with a few different companies products and gaming systems, including "Starship Troopers."
At this time life had decided to throw me a curve-ball and I struck out ! I got in a car accident, and was no longer able to work. The initial diagnoses was prolonged whiplash, after a couple of years it was re diagnosed as Fibro Myalgia {this is a nerve disorder for anyone who doesn't know} and can leave you unable to move at times.
So now I had a lot of time on my hands sat doing nothing, this was when my company started. Using the times when my health would allow, I created six gaming boards which I got produced in fibreglass, plus some model mushrooms..... and wargames Terrain Workshop was born !
It's been an interesting journey since that time, and my company is still here with a lot more stuff than what we started with, "oh No" I hear you say he's going to start flogging his stuff at us ! Don't worry I will be showing my own hobby stuff here. Now, one of those bits is a product I produce but we will be highlighting it in a hobby form not a BUY IT NOW!
So what can you expect to see Star Wars? Well, will definitely be featuring it, as will Judge Dredd. There may be an occasional 40K piece too, as I still dabble from time to time. Some Bushido, and of course, Death Match. These are the four main thing's that take up my hobby time at the moment; but will also be writing some tutorials on painting and sculpting. So if there is a specific piece you'd like to learn how to do, please just ask, and I'll see what I can fit in.
As a final note last year I got to be part of an amazing thing, and was in a fan film Strontium Dog, which can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5EZaO1HPF4
I got to play the rock alien restraining Johnny Alpha in the interrogation scene. Cool huh :)
Article By Dave Stone
Simply fantastic Dave. Its so nice finally to get to know you in this way, through a bio, which really shows YOU a bit more, as opposed to just Dave that Games Workshop, Mongoose, Wargames Terrain Workshop, game shop Guy hehehehe. Lovely article, and really really insightful.
With your love of Star Wars, does this mean will we see you make any `not` Star Wars miniature in the future, any scenery, terrain, NPC`s, and so on. Maybe stuff the guys can use for their Imperial Assault? I know this would be enough to draw me in, that`s for sure hehe?
Your Dredd minis are cool, and wow you were in old Stronty Dog, so cooool. Looking forward to all the future holds, OOoo and Death Math too. This keeps getting cooler than a smoking can of Coke on Ice.
*groans*
OOoo sounds fun. I want to know more *waves a hand all Jedi like* "you can tell me, go on, you know you want to."
*Waves to Sarah*
Off to a good start, there`s no stopping him now. What`s that, he has five more articles lined up ALREADY... 30 pages each? LOL
Seriously, its so nice to have a cool guy working along with us, having one of the truly nice guys on the team is always a massive boost to morale, and inspires us to keep going.
"Semper fi" *slaps his hand*
Wouldnt take much for me to get back into 40 Thousand, but just not the - reboot number 8 >>well, chuckles<< not for me anyway. Now if I got my hands on an old copy of Rogue Trader, I might seriously consider it, and use my somewhat grown eclectic range of figures, to fight across the old galaxy in the name of The Emperor {amazing now when I think about it, just how many of us let this good bible slip from our long lost collections}.
Nice article, and a good indication of things to come I think.
>>borrows her pen<< Strontium Dog huh, hmmmm. Okay can I have that autograph now as well please.
"No Sir."
""AND DONT CALL ME SIR, I work for a living you dozy little twerp."
No, First Sergeant."
"AND why weren't you looking at me private?"
Don`t know Sir, I mean....."
"Drop! give me twenty of your very best, and make them pretty so that I smile with nothin` but happiness."
fair-y nuf *Grins*
okay!
*joins the "Line starts HERE" queue , and waits patiently for his very own autograph
If ya can`t beat `em, join `em.
hahahaa.
A nice introduction Dave, especially for those of us who don't know you quite as well as others. I think you'll fit in well around here and look forward to seeing what you bring to the table.
Love your bounty hunters - whilst my Palitoy Star Wars figure colllection is incomplete, I DID at least have all of those, including Dengar who was a mail away special.