Goatboy – Continuing the Attack Plans on Britain
So Goatboy here again talking about the awesome tour – Geeking out with Miniatures in the UK by Geek Nation Tours. As is obvious in the picture my happy bootie is the special guest on the tour.
I asked some of the past tour travelers to answer some questions for me so I could better prepare myself as well as get even more excited about the event. A few of them are even going again because they had such a good time last year too. So onto the questions and answers of doom!
First Question – Why did you go on the tour?
Paul T – I went to go and experience gaming in the country where it was formed, in addition to wargaming I have always wanted to go to England. This seemed like one of the best ways to do so.
Brother Grimm – I went on the tour for a few reasons. First off I wanted to meet up with some of the guys I spent so much time chatting to online. I’ve made a lot of good friends through the Freebootaz Forum and as I live in the UK anyway it just made sense to be on the tour rather than try to catch up with them while they were here. I also wanted to see how other people in the hobby have done things, everything from gaming to collecting and painting. There is a view that the game is different here in the UK to the rest of the world. I thought it’d be interesting to check that out
Bowman – Well to see London again, but mainly to meet more Freebootaz, see Warhammer World (Nottingham is the Mecca of miniatures!), and the Tank Museum.
Alex – I hadn’t been to a games day since they were still held in the GW stores themselves with fishbowls of minis as prizes. In the last year I had started going back out into the gaming community instead of just talking minis with a few tight friends. Hanging out at the Baltimore bunker and really enjoying the company of fellow hobbyists was kind of a novelty for me. After being to England on many occasions and never so much as glancing at ok, a gaming store I really wanted to see the place where it all started. The price was very good for what was being offered and it being the first time seemed like a wild adventure.
Brian – Well, my wife and kids bought me the tour for my Christmas & birthday gift last year. I had a very busy year at work and they wanted to send me on the trip because they know how much the hobby means to me. We had known Teras was planning the trip for a couple of years, and when he told us it was a go, my wife booked me in. I guess I didn’t mention above that Teras is my regular gaming partner. He had been talking about this trip to Warhammer World and Games Day UK for a long time, and I was ready to go anytime he was.
Second Question – What did you want from the tour?
Brian – Well, two weeks of not working for one – a vacation. I ended up having to bring some work with me, but I made the most of it anyway. I really wanted to experience Games Day UK (I had never been to a Games Day before, and I thought the UK one would be the one to see), and of course Warhammer World. Teras filled me in on the other things he had planned, and it all sounded good to me. But what I really wanted was the same thing I want whenever I would go to a tournament: a holiday where I could completely immerse myself in my hobby and talk to others who wanted to do the same.
Brother Grimm – Mainly I wanted to have a laugh, meet some of the guys and game. For me getting to see some cool places in the UK I had never visited before was a bonus.
Paul – Gaming, and a tourist experience, and most importantly a chance to meet different people, who share the same interest.
Bowman – Meet people, have tons of fun and learn more about this great hobby.
Alex – I wanted to go to a games day UK and visit warhammer world. The other stops were icing on the cake before I went, though they turned out to be very impressive. More so than Games Day actually. The museums in England are top notch and having a tour visit so many military related ones in one go was really a treat.
Question 3 – For those coming back why are you coming back?
Alex – I’ve visited about 24-27 different countries in every different way you can do it from family vacations, just two people being spontaneous and wandering, giant preplanned bus tours, and even just checking out something I’ve always wanted to see all by myself. The UK trip was in the top of the list for all time best trips for me. I made friends that will no doudt last a long time, from all over the world. I’ve made plans to vist a few later this year at thier homes. Meeting so many like minded fellow gamers and being in a new place together was a great bonding experience. Its hard to kind of describe but it was alot like hanging out with a bunch of friends you knew in elementary school and hadn’t seen in 20 years and you all just happen to still reaaly enjoy the same thing.
Also the new tour is almost completely different than last year. Warhammer world is the kind of place you could spend a few days alone and the new stops make it a worth whiile trip to do for me easily. The chance to hang out with some of the friends I made the first time round is a big draw too.
Brother Grimm – Honestly after I had such a great time on the first tour there was no way I was going to miss it this year. Everyone on the tour last year was friendly and got on really well. The locations the tour is visiting this year are even better this year. Add to this the chance to meet up with some of the friends I’ve made and punch in against the rest of the world on the table top with like minded people and it’s a no brainer for me.
Question 4 – Did you feel like this tour gave you more then what you could have done just by going to Britain?
Paul – Yes, Teras did a great job catering the tour to us geeks, I really enjoyed our night at the Ye Olde Trip with our guests.
Brian – Yes, because I think the people on the tour is what made it so enjoyable. I met a lot of very interesting people that I wouldn`t have otherwise had the opportunity to meet, and we all had an interest in gaming, specifically 40k. There were people from around the world on the tour – when am I going to get to meet someone from Germany, Brazil, or even Baltimore for that matter, who shares my interests. What was interesting though, was that we talked about all kinds of things, not just the hobby. It was very much like what I was saying earlier about the gaming experience I prefer: just sitting around, BS`n, drinking beer and having a laugh with our miniatures on the table duelling to the death. And I have to say that Brother Grimm and the other UK Freebootas (James and Glenn) were awsome! They were wonderful hosts – great guys.
Just going on my own would not have been the same. It’s like going to Disneyland for Christmas without your kids – nice break, but not the same.
Brother Grimm – I already live in the UK so for me the tour was a little different. It’s strange that I actually got to go places that I hadn’t before and help run some of the tour around London. Essentially to me this is a mini wargaming tour where you get to see some great places in the UK. There are lots of places you could go and see in the UK that are fantastic but the tour balances this by giving you the best of both worlds.
Alex – I had been to England 4 times before this trip and hadn’t ever even heard of many of the place we visited on the tour. They were the kind of places if you knew about them you would go but it took a guy like Teras to really dig them all up. The other thing to think about is finding another person that would want to visit those kinds of places while on vacation. Not too many people want to spend an entire day of thier vacation looking at tanks from the last 100 years or spend a day doing much anything gaming related let alone most days. The gaming sites are not on the tourist routes and really takes making the decsion to seek them out to get to enjoy them. Even if you did you would be all alone and there wouldn’t be anybody to hear you say so this is where they got the idea for a Rhino chassis when your standing next to the original APC it was based off of.
Alex – I lived in London for 2 years and never knew GW existed! I never went to the tank museum while there and this trip gave me something I couldn’t get on my own… Great friends. Shouts to Starminer and Ms Starminer, Gary my roommate for the tour, Darksheer, Deadshot, BrotherGrimm, Farthestgoose, Glenoxo, Teras, Romeo, Graybishop, Death of Angels….. Everyone else who would make this list much longer! I had a blast, hope to see you all on another tour!
Question 5 – How was the gaming?
Alex – Spontaneous and incredibly casual. I played to of my most memorable games ever on the tour. One at Warhammer world in a team game on a Forgeworld table that they said cost 10000 bucks to build if you were to pay retail for the terrain. My Worldeaters fought to the man against a Tyranid swarm and barely eeked out a victory. The other game was in the hotel bar after games day with scenery made of beer bottles and books that lasted 4 hours and I think we got to turn 3. There was so much trash talk we couldn’t stop laughing to even roll the dice. It was perfectly silly.
Brothers Grimm – The gaming was really good; almost every night saw us hijack a conference room or a bar and just throw down on a free table with some homemade terrain. The gaming at Warhammer World was fantastic and everyone had a great time and got in loads of games. This year will be even better with more organised gaming and a tournament to play in.
Question 6 – If someone asked you what was the best part of the tour – what would you say?
Brother Grimm – For me the best part was the day’s gaming at Warhammer World. I got to play lots of games with great guys and see some stuff that I never could have if I hadn’t been on the tour.
Brian – The best thing would be hard to choose, because I really did enjoy the entire trip. Games Day was a bit of a let down but that was because it was so busy and unorganized (I don’t handle crowds well). If I had to narrow it down, I would say Warhammer World (Bugman’s, the miniatures hall was awsome, the gaming hall) and the people. I really enjoyed the bus rides between venues, and having beers with people – lots of great conversations.
Paul – Warhammer World, Games day, and the group.
Alex – The people. The crew that went on the tour were awesome, while I didn’t agree with everyone about everything, everybody really was great. They really made all the places special. The night before warhammer world my roomie, who I’d just met a few days before, were talking till 4 am in the room about everything hobby related. Just like my brothers and I did about xmas on christmas eve when we were kids. Teras is a great guide and went out of his way to make sure you were getting what you wanted out of the tour.
Bowman – All of it! I had the greatest time on the tour, sick or not. The good far outweighed the bad. Good being everything…. The bad, long travel times and the schedule didn’t work out as intended. The cost was low for what we got and the people met you can’t put a price on. Even the non-warhammer stuff was great. Meeting the guys from Mantic and Warlord games, seeing Maelstrom Games, meeting the Perry’s and Alessio Cavatore, the guys from Unseen Lurker… just made it that much better.
Question 7 – Do you think I will be the most handsome Goatboy there?
Bowman – There is only one Goatboy and I can’t judge handsome, good sir.
Paul – No, My Beastmen will be……. LOL
Brian – They will definitely have to lock up their Goatgirls.
Brother Grimm – I don’t know man we have some pretty good looking Goatboys right here 😉
Alex – You never know some fellow gamer could give you a run for your money.
So there you have it – a look into the past tour with some thoughts on how this one will be that and much more. I know I am excited about it and look forward to flying over and hopefully not being burned at the stake as a dirty Counts As Goatboy. Really the biggest thing I got from interviewing this guys is that this whole thing is all about getting together and having fun. There are people you would never meet in your normal life due to the distance as well as get a chance to see the game in a different light. So much of the time our game play gets locked into our own little sub cultures that getting a refresher is a great way to find new breath in the game.
