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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Age of Sigmar – Realmscape Terrain
Part of the terrain items from the Stormbringer subscription (issue 55 to be exact) was a sprue of the Realmscape terrain from Age of Sigmar, in this case half of the Domicile Shell. This is meant to be part of the settlements, that the forces of order are building on new realms or reclaimed areas.
The sprues and other complementing pieces were used in various starter sets and expansions. This particular sprue came often with a variant B that would create a medium sized building in progress, along with two statues. We will see the statues in the Stormbringer subscription as well (in issue 65 and 74), but from my understand not the second wall sprue but another copy of this one in issue #69.
With this massive sprue, we can build an L or rather U-shaped ruin. It comes with quite some additional pieces to enhance the amount of detail and not just making it a flat ruin, but provide some depth. Casting is good, reasonable amount of detail and a lot of parts you can easily dry brush. The mould lines are present, but that is usually the case with the terrain due to the thickness of the parts.
February 2025 review
Welcome to March and let's do a recap on February 2025.
I pre-ordered the Army Painter - John Blanche Masterclass sets at Radaddel and now that they were shipped, I have set 1 and 2 in my hands. Looking forward to use them on the Turnip project.
Beyond that, we had a lot of Warhammer on here during February. From the High Elves release for The Old World, we covered the Ellyrian Reavers. And strongly reminds me to get back painting my Blood Bowl High Elf team.
Deth Wizards – The call of the Undead
Decisions were made, bases were chosen and prepared. I used spackle to clean up any holes in the bases, like the slots and casting aids.
And I went with the tactical stone for Krell. I am thinking about glueing the tabs to the inside of the bases of the two heroes.
Age of Sigmar Stormbringer Magazine 56 to 61
Last week the 11th shipment arrived and we only have three more until we've reached the end of the German Stormbringer Magazine by Hachette subscription. A bit weird, as it felt so far ahead and yet now so close. Anyhow, I am excited to take a deep dive into the content of the issues 56 to 61.
As usual, you can find an overview on the issues so far over here, along with the detailed unboxings of older shipments as well:
Deth Wizards – Barricades and Markers
We talked about the buildings for our little town for Deth Wizards, but no we need to add a bit here and there, to add details.
The buildings themself are from the Briarwood range by Dark Realm, and they do have their own set of scatter terrain, but I wanted more or let's say different things.
What really inspired me, were the barricades build for Mordheim (Town Cryer issue 03) and the skirmish games in the Generals Compandium / Warhammer Skirmish.
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