But has it really been 25 years since Scott and Charlene walked down the aisle to the heartbreaking tunes of Angry Anderson? Yes, it has: Scott and Charlene from Neighbours are now celebrating their Silver Wedding Anniversary, and if that doesn't make you feel old, here's another:
It has been 25 years since I saw this commercial on telly, and knew what was going at the top of my list to Santa*.
*Yes, that would make me 10 years old at the time. Yes, I still believed. I have a vivid and magical imagination. Go and watch The Polar Express and stop looking at me like that.
Let's just dwell on that memory:
- Christopher Lee is narrating. Because of course Christopher Lee is narrating.
- Why does the child with the Broadsword card sound like Clive Owen?
- The player line-up doesn't match the ones of my experience (several family members dragged to the Boxing Day table, humouring me, dozing off or just complaining loudly)
- I think the 'Fire of Wrath' caster's voice is about to break.
- At the end, the kid in the DM chair becomes a monster (making it the most accurate disclaimer ever added to a commercial).
I still have my trusty Heroquest set (plus Ogre Kingdom expansion), although most of the furniture has been pillaged for spares, and some vandal has daubed all the miniatures with a crude enamel paint.
However, I now learn of a Kickstarter campaign to create a Heroquest 25th Anniversary Edition that looks absolutely cracking. I've never been led down the crowd-funding games route before, but at around £55, I might very well be tempted by this.
For no other reason that to atone for my very first paint job...
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| "What have we become?" |
Me too! Me too! I think it looks awesome. Not the paint jobs, just to clarify, the 25th edition. If only I hadn't just spent my models money for next year elsewhere, on the Reaper plastic minis kickstarter previously mentioned.
ReplyDeleteI took my Heroquest set to the church youth club to try and win friends. Older kids mocked me roundly and stole the Gargoyle, later returned when my dad (who ran the youth club) hinted strongly that that might be a Christian thing to do. It taught me a little circumspection about declaring my hobbying, a lesson I have long since abandoned.
Interesting to note that the kickstarter is currently unavailable due to an 'intellectual property dispute'. A copy of the final product says I know who might be behind that *cough GW cough cough*.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that too. Since I was on the verge of pledging, I did a little digging to find out why. It turns out the Evil Empire may not be to blame for this one (the first FAQ answer on Kickstarter was "Yes, we have secured the rights."), but a US company called Moon Design, who have the rights to the HeroQuest role-playing game.
ReplyDeleteI guess when the pledges exceeded $500,000 in a few days, someone's alarm went off and they issued a Cease-&-Desist order to sort out if this infringes on their distribution rights. Apparently things are going slowly because it's Thanksgiving weekend and they're all sleeping off the tryptophan (Damn' Yankees...).
I have faith that this will be my 2014 Xmas present...
... which just shows what I know. It looks like this project is deader than a Zoat, apparently because the company attempting it had problems with trademark law (and still nothing to do with GW - incredible!)
ReplyDeleteI shall therefore be celebrating the 25th Anniversary by dropping my existing miniatures in Dettol and setting them free!
Does dettol dissolve enamels? I didn't know that! Makes you think twice about using it as an antiseptic mouthwash, certainly. Even diluted.
ReplyDeleteThat's a shame, their proposal looked amazing. I suppose there's still the hope that the company who do own the rights might do something with it now they know it's got legs, but it's a long shot. It did make me think, though, that when my (successfully kickstarted) haul of Reaper plastics turn up next year, rebooting HQ or writing my own simple dungeon tile game might well be something I could do with them...
Mmm... I'm not sure if Dettol works on enamels. It's worked on varnished minis before, and preserves plastics, so I'm prepared to give it a bash (when I do, I'll publish the sludgey remains for the record).
DeleteThe big advantage is that it's non-toxic, which means I can use the kitchen sink, rather than be banished to the garage with a bucket.
I see this appears to be back on, with lots of lovely images and teaser shots of minis on the Gamezone page! Roll on, Christmas...
ReplyDelete