Open Day Report and Project Tingler

Last Saturday me and Lindsay headed off to Nottingham for the Warhammer 40,000 Open Day, and it was an awesome day.

We arrived a little late so we missed the lines to get in, we also missed being able to park in the car park. But once we arrived we were able to get our passes and move straight into the building very smoothly. Lindsay wasn’t quite amazed it was her third visit in less than a year, but I am still awed every time I go.

Anyway, it was first time since they removed the Special Exhibition area and expanded the Warhammer store into that, moved the Black Library store and expanded the Forgeworld store, the changes were nice to see and it has given a lot more area to display product and give a better shopping experience.

I was able to take Lindsay into the Exhibition Centre for the first time and she was pretty blown away. She found herself once again tempted to look into taking up Age of Sigmar as the models of the Ironjawz and Sylvaneth tempted her, especially Alarielle the Everqueen.

The exhibitions themselves had changed quite a bit from my last visit a year ago which was nice to see, I was especially impressed by the Ironwarp Citadel.

In the main hall they had the Kill Team tournament going on, I would have entered but that would have been unfair on Lindsay as it would have meant me leaving her alone for such a long time, so the Millitarium Tempestus did not get to storm up in their Taurox sadly. They also had the special sales area, but by the time we got there, they had sold out of Custodes Grav Tanks, not that I was interested in one!

In Bugmans it was heaving and at lunchtime, me and Lindsay were very lucky to get a table. Whilst I was in the line to order food the chap in front of me didn’t have a table and couldn’t order food without one, so I let him join us. Turned out to be a lovely young man named Michael who was a student at Sheffield. Now shock horror the menu at Bugmans has changed, they have massively reduced the options to mostly burgers and pizzas which is a shame, no more Fat Bloke which is just sad. 

That said I did enjoy the Bugmans Burger and Lindsay enjoyed her Custodes Special Burger.

In the studio area (the GW staff canteen) they had some really cool stuff on display, including the painted up mini of the Magnus daemon primarch model, and an unpainted version, and I gotta say it’s a really really nice model. Might have to get one just to build and paint. The sprues for it were also on display, showing that it has the option of another weapon and three different heads.

There was also a diorama in progress of the burning of Prospero which looks simply amazing, it has some great stuff on there including Feki and Geri, Russ’s wolf companions and their models are brilliant. They also had on display the new shield and gladius upgrade packs for the Ultramarines which I am desperately waiting for, a Custodes Grav Speeder, a Custodes Contemptor and the phenomenally large Imperial Knight Porphyrion.

I also got to have abbot of a chat with Alan Bligh about the rules for the Thousand Sons and Space Wolves that are coming up in Book 7, he didn’t give away a lot, but what he did gives me a lot of hope that these two legions will get the treatment they deserve.

It was a thoroughly wonderful day, wish I had won the £500 trolley dash in the raffle but alas I did not, but I loved my day and am seriously considering going to the New Year Open Day as well.

What I am Modelling

Quite a bit actually, I finished off the three Stormcast Eternal Liberators from Storm of Sigmar, I painted up a scout squad from Lost Patrol, I completed my Word Bearers Chaplain with a jump pack and got the Scourge starter fleet for Dropfleet Commander painted up.

So that took quite a bit off my to do list, I also based the Word Bearers Contemptor Dreadnought that I painted up a while ago.

I have built a squad of MKIII veterans for the Word Bearers and painted up the Sht for that squad as a test model for the line troops who will be mostly drybrushed and I am quite happy with that. And tonight I got some MKIII breachers out of the WIP box and am looking to get them finished ASAP.

What I am Reading

A lot of news and analysis, it’s almost like something important has been going on in the world!

I literally just put down issues 0 and 1 of Warhammer 40,000 Will of Iron a comic written by my friend George Mann, and I have really enjoyed that. It always nice to see the Dark Angels and the Inquisitor seems like an interesting character.

What I am Playing

Not a sausage sadly, I have only really been able to play on the iPad, and I have mostly confined myself to Ticket to Ride using the Nordic map, a map I really love and enjoy, and well it’s wintery and it matches the weather.

What I am Backing

Something a little unconventional, I am backing Project Tingler a FMV game by Zöe Quinn (I don’t care what you think of her politics, I actually rather liked Depression Quest and think the campaign of harassment against her was childish and ridiculous) and Chuck Tingle.

Now Chuck Tingle is an amazing man, he is a high functioning autistic savant who suffers from schizophrenia, and he writes the most absurd gay erotica. Now generally speaking gay erotica is not my thing, but there is a certain something about a Tingler that just makes me laugh.

He first came to my attention in an Observer interview in 2015, but he was really propelled into my thoughts when he was nominated for a Hugo Award for “Space Raptor Butt Invasion”. His nomination was a result of a joke inclusion on the slate of the awful alt-right groups who have spent the past few years trying to hijack the Hugo’s, known as the Sad Puppies and Rabid Puppies. Now I absolutely deplore these groups, they make a business of telling us Sci-Fi fans that all we want is shoot-em-up action adventures with male white protagonists, and absolutely zero diversity or social commentary.

Now I admit I like my bolter porn, but I also love a nice hard hitting bit of Sci-Fi that challenges things in society or makes me think about social change, I mean most of us Sci-Fi fans love Star Trek and that’s as political and progressive as it comes!

Anyway the slate that the puppies put forward is filled with straight white guys and prank candidates, the aim to eliminate nominations for minorities, women and anyone not straight and where they can’t fill a category to see that they aren’t awarded in a good way at all.

And sadly the puppies do succeed in getting their skates largely nominated, including some nominations for their leader, the vile and repulsive Vox Day. Some of the candidates they nominated withdrew to allow other more worthy candidates to fill their spot, but not Chuck Tingle, he said screw you and trolled back in the greatest way possible.

Now Chucks books are simply astounding and they range from “Glazed by the Gay Living Doughnuts” to “Bigfoot Pirates Haunt my Balls” and my favourite “Pounded by the Pound: Turned Gay by the Socioeconomic Implications of Britain Leaving the European Union”!!!

Anyway Chuck registered the website therabidpuppies.com and put out the following statement:- 

“Hello my name is Chuck Tingle (worlds greatest author). Sometimes devilmen are so busy planning scoundrel attacks they forget to REGISTER important website names. this is… good because it makes it easy for BUDS WHO KNOW LOVE IS REAL to prove love (all). please understand this is website [sic] to take DARK MAGIC and replace with REAL LOVE for all who kiss the sky.”

The site collected donations for the Crash Override Network, an organisation that works with victims of online trolls like the Puppies, and also included an awesome plug for Chucks local library.

Anyway in the long run, Chuck did not win his Hugo, but there is a small and growing campaign to get him nominated for best related work for his masterpiece “Pounded in the Butt by my Hugo Award Loss”, but he handled the situation so well, he was able to stand up to the nasty alt-right bullies and beat them at their own game. And since then, you could say I have become a True Buckaroo!

I know that Project Tingler will not be in everyone’s taste, but I think it’s worth a look, and given how the world finds itself today with a Donald Trump presidency, perhaps we ought to show that love will always trump hate, so go on, throw a couple of Dollars into a worthy project and help bring the Tingleverse to the computer.

What I am Spending

Spent a little bit too much at the open day, bought myself the Warhammer World exclusive Imperial Knight head, I like its Cylon look, got a Landraider Proteus for my Breachers, a Blood Angels transfer sheet, a Blood Angels t-shirt, the Warhammer World exclusive Errant-Questor for my Stormcast Eternals, some Ultramarine MKIV shoulder pads, praetorian torsos and head and a pot of Dorn Yellow Edge paint.