Tuesday 15 January 2019

When Warhammer Was Radical



I'm very happy to send you over to the excellent We Are The Mutants to read When Warhammer Was Radical. 

If you're not already a regular reader over there, you probably should be:

We Are The Mutants is a weekly updated magazine focusing on the history and analysis of Cold War-era popular and outsider culture, with a strong emphasis on speculative (sci-fi, fantasy, horror), genre, pulp, cult, occult, subculture, and anti-establishment media. We cover everything from underground comics and post-apocalyptic fictions to ufology tropes and space disco.

WATM produce a lot of thought provoking and curious content, picking off the crust of nostalgia that accumulates around pop-culture in an erudite and enthusiastic manner, exposing the raw material underneath, covering everything from Japanese Transformers Advertising to British Ghost Train design.

When Warhammer Was Radical. mostly about how the political and cultural references in early Warhammer created an anti-establishment alternative to mainstream fantasy, producing a body of work diverse in its representation of gender, class and race. While no means unproblematical, early Warhammer actively engages with the colonialist tropes, eurocentric biases, sexist fantasy tropes and the political millieu that other fantasy games left largely unexamined.

If you enjoyed When Warhammer Was Radical and it has whet your appetite for more, several blog-posts I've written over the years go into more detail on some of the themes mentioned, may be of interest:

Also like to thank Michael Grasso and K.E Roberts, for accepting the pitch, providing intelligent and insightful editorial feedback, and publishing the piece.

https://wearethemutants.com 


I hope you've enjoyed When Warhammer Was Radical.  If you'd like to support the work we do at The Realm of Zhu, or elsewhere, consider dropping us a Ko-fi, buying some DIY floor-plans or treating yourself to a t-shirt. Thanks!

Thursday 3 January 2019

Greatest Battle Report 2018: The Winner!

It is with great pleasure I can announce The Siege of Graveskull as the winner of the 2018 Greatest Battle Report. As ever the competition was fierce, with many fantastic and varied battle reports being entered, but Airbornegroves Battle Report emerged victorious from the fray.



The game itself was an epic Warhammer 3rd Edition battle played out by a mighty warband formed by some of the finest wargames bloggers this side of the World Edge Mountains, featuring the mighty talents of:
and all photographed and written up in Airbornegroves inimitable style, with the epic tale told in the form of a comic book. It is an excellent Battle Report, but don't take my word (or the 33% of voters that chose it as their option) hop on over to Give 'em Lead and read The Siege of Greyskul for yourself.