Obituary Paul Sawyer
Earlier today Paul's family posted this on facebook, informing his friends about his passing.
To all that knew and loved Paul, it’s with a truly broken heart that we must share the news that our beloved husband and father passed away on the evening of March 27th surrounded by the immense love of his family. From the very beginning of his diagnosis, he showed nothing short of heroism with his bravery and strength and that carried through right until the end. We are truly devastated and will feel his loss forever.
We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the kindness that has been shared with Dad and to us as a family during this cruel battle.
May he finally rest peacefully.
All our love,
Julie, Catherine & Holly
It was a great privilege to meet Paul Sawyer in person 15 years ago – and that on our first ‘official’ trip to Nottingham. Together with John Stallard, Paul took a lot of time for us, a small group of German wargaming bloggers who were on a true pilgrimage to the Lead Belt. In the following years, often even at invitation, as at the Warlord Games Day, we were repeatedly able to experience the hospitality of Paul and his team. Our visit in 2023 as part of the Bring-out-your-Lead event, when we were guests in Nottingham again, remains particularly unforgettable.
It was not only a personal experience for me to meet Paul as the former long-standing editor-in-chief of White Dwarf, but also to feel the passion and enthusiasm for the hobby that he has brought to life in his numerous articles. It was equally fascinating to witness how Warlord Games, the company Paul co-founded, grew from its modest beginnings in the small offices of the first headquarters to the later relocations to larger premises – always with Paul in the characteristic Notts County jersey, a polo shirt or the tea cup of his beloved Magpies in hand. We were also allowed to take a look at the personal projects he worked on at his desk.
It is therefore particularly painful to have to say goodbye to a man for whom our hobby was not just a job, but a true calling.
Our deepest condolences go out to his family and to all those who knew and appreciated him.
In case you want to donate, as the GoFundMe campaign for Paul has been closed, you can do so at CancerResearchUK.
Stargrave – More Sci-Fi goodies
I got myself some individual blisters from Osprey / Northstars Stargrave sci-fi skirmish, to cover generic roles in sci-fi systems but to add some depth to my Necromunda Collection. In detail I got the following sets
- SGVX001 -The Old Rogues
- SGV203 - Specialists Guard Dogs
- SGV305 - Plague Zombies I
- SGV306 - Plague Zombies II
Stargrave – Dead or Alive
We gave you an overview on the initial release of Stargrave. Covering the rules themself along with the first three plastic kits of the Crew, Troopers and Mercenaries. But where has Stargrave moved to in the mean time?
The first small supplement was released along side the Nickstarter in March 2021. With the first lockdown a lot of games, and especially Osprey Games, received single player add-ons and so did Stargave with Dead or Alive initially a free mini-campaign for solo-gaming of 21 pages - which was in 2024 re-released as a full 96 page paperback supplement with further content for Stargrave. So due to this fact - this was the first and the most recent supplement for Stargrave, with quite a few releases in between.
Bembel Miniature Cup 2025
Last weekend the second Bembel Miniature Cup was held in the centre of Germany near Frankfurt / Main at the EVO Sportfabrik in Rodgau (Hessia). It is painting competition that goes for four days, including workshop sessions, but is opened public for the weekend. The event is free of charge for visitors, only participants of the workshops and painting competition pay a fee.
We dropped by Sunday morning and as loyal readers will know, our event reports start with a picture of the parking lot. The venue itself has only a few, and even charging points (but those were blocked by inconsidered people with their non-electric SUVs), so you're parking a few hundred meters down the road, next to the forest cemetery.
The painting competition itself is divided into four categories Painting / Sculpting / Technical, Expression / Storytelling, Gaming and Out-of-Competition / Judges, with the first three divided into two tiers (Standard and Master). As the competition is set as an open event, there can be more than one, gold, silver and bronce per tier and category, along with further special awards like Best of Show. You can find the complete rule set on their page.
Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team – Blood and Zeal
Today a new Kill Team supplement goes on pre-order - Blood and Zeal - introducing two new Kill Teams of Zealots, one following Khorne and the other the Adeptus Ministorum.
After the release of the starter set of Hivestorm and the first supplement Brutal and Cunning, we follow with Blood and Zeal the "regular" setup with two Kill Teams, a dossier and some terrain. Pre-Order starts today with the launch set for April 5th, the RRP is 82,50 GBP or 105 EUR.
Kill Team: Blood and Zeal contains two completely new kill teams. The Sanctifiers are nine Imperial zealots, including the likes of the Conflagrator, the Death Cult Assassin, the Drill Abbot and the Miraculist, who have been stoked into action by the rabid oration of the Confessor (a priestly figure attended by a Cherub). The Goremongers are a cohort of seven cybernetically enhanced operatives like the Impaler, the Skullclaimer and the Stalker who follow the commands of the towering Goremonger Blood Herald.
As pointed out, this is a supplement and you need at least the Core Rulebook to play. Never the less, the lite rules are free to download on Warhammer Community. It is a heavy boxed set and is another 5 EUR cheaper than Brutal and Cunning (which was already 5 EUR cheaper than Kill Team Termination). Maybe nature is healing or they count in, that the terrain is not new but a re-release from 2020.
Deth Wizards – Preparing the Buildings
Further progress on Deth Wizards, as we're starting to assemble the buildings. A lot of them have wooden beams in ground floor and to prevent issues with supports while printing, these are separate parts.
And Dark Realms Forge took care of that in good way, by numbering the beams.
I simply used super glue, as it was the easiest accessible for me. I know some people have certain filament glues to bond bigger pieces (or more or less melt / weld them together). Mostly they have a tight fit, but in some cases, I'll need to retouch the areas to fill in the gaps.
Warhammer 40,000 – Forge World Imperial Sandbag Bunker
In addition to the Taros Underground Entrance I picked up the Imperial Sandbag Bunker a while back. They go for insane prices on eBay, but I managed to get it at a reasonable rate through one of the Bitbox events quite some time ago.
The article code was TR-40K-S-030 and was sold for 20 GBP / 34 EUR when available around 2006. The model was designed by Tim Adcock, who designed the Falcon and first 28mm scale Thunderhawk.
Deth Wizards – They not just hunger, they are thirsty as well
In addition to the regular houses and shops (and their ruins) from the Briarwood range, we were looking for a show piece for the table. Not necessarily for Deth Wizards per se, as the table setup is rather compact with 30 by 22 inch, but for the overall set.
And the largest piece from the Briarwood range is the Leaping Frog Inn, which is also available as a ruined terrain piece, but due to its size, is split into several smaller pieces around 15 by 15 cm.
Star Wars Legions – Priority Supplies
This set has been around for a bit longer, I actually picked it up during my vacation in Spain (there fore the spanish and portuguese description / packaging). As I have a sweet-tooth for terrain, especially objectives and scatter, I picked these up at the local store in Santander (Distrito Zero), especially as I got a discount and paid around 20 EURs for them.
Priority Supplies is similar to Vital Assets a non-core addition to the game, and covers 12 items that can be used for markers, points-of-interest, mission objectives and so on, in detail they are 3 comms stations, 4 moisture vaporators, and 5 supply crates. As the set was released in 2018, it seems that it was discontinued by now, as it no longer listed by Atomic Mass Games or Asmodee - but there are several listings on independent stores, where you can pick it up between 20 to 30 EURs.
Warmaster – A fortified Manor
A while ago, I fixed a mistake I did even a longer time ago - I treated myself to the Fortified Manor. This came out around the late 2000's, in June 2007 to be exactly (shown in White Dwarf #330). I wasn't even a student when it was released and the price was 40 GBP / 59,95 EUR, and stumbled across it a few years later in our local wargaming store when I think it was around 70-80-ish euros and for that money you got a whole Battle Force back then. Besides, I didn't had the room for a gaming table so stocking up on terrain wasn't my priority.
Yet, the item got discontiniued and what made this set special, was that it was not just a combination of the chapel and tower, but had an exclusive sprue with parts to connect the two buildings, and that would create quite the price surge in the years. So seeing the manor on ebay for 200 to 300 Euros wasn't uncommon, and they sold for that price, which made it worse. I was not going to pay that amount of money and would simple sit it out - and I was proven right, as I had the chance to pick up two copies from their re-release in January at 75 EURs each.
But why did you get greedy and bought two? Well, the tower and the chapel are more than 90 EURs if you just buy them, making it cheaper to go for the manor and you even get the fences and exclusive sprue free on top as well.
So, yeah, we got it, Dennis, you made a bargain, but there is Warmaster in the headline. So what does this mean? I get to that directly. As written above, the 2nd hand market pricing, showed there was a demand for that kit, and while there were some alternatives, somebody went very close - as close possible and made a crowdfunding campaign for a digital copy.
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