Features
Up close and personal with Warhammer! The Ocelot investigates table top wargaming

Ben Fitzgerald paid a visit to Swindon’s Warhammer to get the lowdown on tabletop wargaming.

In the olden days, before video games were a thing - when television was limited to the occasional showing of The Bionic Man - I would sit and stare at the empty space in the corner of the room and curse science for not hurrying up and shaping the glittering future I had been promised.

Driven to desperation, I would spend hours drawing characters from 2000AD comic on my jeans, using a biro, occasionally looking up to check if the internet had been invented yet.

But then I discovered Bowie and paint fumes and my world changed.

I was not alone.

There were thousands of us out there, desperately uncool kids overburdened with imagination and equipped only with an eight sided dice, a paint brush and time to fill.

Warhammer - an arcane hobby involving obsessive painting of vast armies of lead figures - that would then be pitted against each other in competitive battles - filled the rain sodden weekends of many a youth in the 80s.

Nottingham based Games Workshop saw the niche and built on the success of the role playing games boom by publishing a groundbreaking set of rules for pitching armies of Tolkien-esque creatures such as orcs, dwarves and wizards against each other that launched the hobby into the realms of competitive gaming.

What is incredible and heartening is that despite the advent of photorealistic computer games and on-demand movies via netflix, there is a vast cohort of youngsters and adults who are drawn to this most analogue of hobbies in a digital world.

The figures are no longer made of highly toxic lead and the paints are now health consciously water-based instead of the intoxicating enamel paint fumes of my youth, but the genuine joys and satisfaction of tabletop wargaming are still out there waiting to be explored.   

Matt Scarrott, who manages the Warhammer store in the Brunel centre, explained: “People love Warhammer for many different reasons. It is a hugely social game. What’s great about Warhammer is that it allows people to meet with others who share the same interests and get on in a really easy-going social environment.

“There are quite a few different aspects to the hobby and I think that’s why it is appealing to a wide range of people. Some people really love the gaming aspect, they enjoy the competitive aspect of pitching their armies against each other and working out the best strategy to win. It is quite a big thing now, there are people who take it really seriously and take part in national and even international matches.

“Then there is the crafting side of the hobby. People spend hours painting, constructing and building these figures to a really high standard. Here at the store, we cater for all these different sides of the hobby and can provide everything you need to get started.

“I would say that if anyone is interested in getting started in the hobby and wants to find out more, they should come along to our 45 minute taster sessions which are held everywhere. We can teach you how to paint and assemble a figure and explain the basics of the Warhammer game. Most of the people who come along are genuinely gripped by the game and this opens the doors for them to explore this fascinating hobby.”

Working alongside him in the store is fellow enthusiast Adam Trotter, a member of the Engand Warhammer squad.

He explained: “It’s a community all of its own. There are people who enjoy taking this hobby really seriously and play competitively against each other. It’s great fun. Come along and give it a go.”

λ Drop-in beginner sessions are held at the Warhammer store in the Brunel Centre on Sunday and regular gaming tournaments are held on Saturdays.