Paul Sawyer - Fat Bloke.

 

I'm sure most of you, in the wargaming circle at least, will have seen the announcement by Warlord Games about Paul Sawyer recently:

The esteemed "Fat Bloke" when he was the editor of White Dwarf (arguably the best period of White Dwarf) and went on to become a co-founder of Warlord Games:

It's odd to write a post about a person you've never met, but this felt familiar somehow.

Paul Sawyer had such a lasting impact on the hobby, especially over the turn of the millennium and throughout his time with Warlord Games that I don't think a lot of people realise how much influence he had during that time. His legacy is such that it can dredge up memories which are over twenty-five years old and have such impact that I go back to reread the articles I talk about...

I remember as a kid grabbing White Dwarf each month and reading through it in the back of my dad's car on the way home from town.

My first issue was WD214, the Gorkamorka issue, and the very next issue, WD215 was the first on edited by Pauk Sawyer and it's often held up as a lot of people's favourite:

I still have my old battered copy, which I kept for the Piscina campaign in it, but looking back you could see the start of the inimitable style which would be the feature of the magazine for the next several years.

His fondness for self deprecating humour, infectious enthusiasm for the games and worlds, and of course, bacon butties all round:

The key of this time was having fun, and making what you could, which is what I think Paul Sawyer brought forward into everyone at the time.

WD222 with the Praetorian Vs Orks, Glazer's Creek scenario (Rourke's Drift, a scenario he would historically recreate with a Warlord Games box years later) is a fan favourite:

The bunker assault scenario with his White Scars Vs Graham Davey's Black Legion is another game which is up there which I remember devouring the article and going back to reread it again and again:

For me personally, I think the crowning achievement of his run with White Dwarf was the two issue battle report during the Armageddon campaign, issues WD248 and WD249:

With all the interacting tables and armies on display something I have always intended to do, but can never organise as I don't have enough friends:

The photo of him rubbing his hands before the carnage starts is a lasting memory, just how enthused he is in the middle of it all:

There are a lot more articles I could mention, like his Beastmen army and his Chaos army building series. Sadly I don't know much of what he got up to at Warlord Games as I never really followed the company, and during my late twenties/early thirties I sort of drifted in hibernation in the hobby for a while before getting back into it when I started this blog proper.

His own post, not the company one at the start of this post makes for sobering reading, even if it is lit through with his sense of humour:

What I do know is that whilst he will be missed by the community, we as fans will not understand the same level of grief that his family and friends will have. My own grief at loosing my dad to cancer won't compare to his family's as everyone is different and deals with things in their own way.

I wish him well to his end and for his family afterwards.

Thank you for the memories Paul.