Oldhammer is dead. Long live Oldhammer.

Punk died when the clash signed to CBS.
Modermism died when the Pruit Igoe housing development was demolished.
Madchester died when the Hacienda was closed.
Grunge died when Dinosaur Jr. featured on the Clothes Show.

Is Oldhammer dead? And if so when did it happen?
When Warhammer Fantasy died? When it became about facebook? When it gained a contract?

Who knows?

Who cares?

A nostalgia fuelled exploration of a hobby that we'd enjoyed in our teens. It brought together a load of bloggers who ooh'd and ahh'd about the misshapen lead lumps that we had found in our lofts or searched out on the internet. We played games like we'd only played in our dreams and we wondered at the lumpiness of the rulesets while the images that had been burned into our retinas came rushing back into focus as we flicked through the dusty books that our Mum's had failed to throw out.

But then it gained a name. When ever you give something a name it starts to require a definition. People need to be told whether they are 'doing it right'.
It becomes a 'scene' that people want to be part of.
In order to do so they need to quantify what the thing is.
Questions are asked.
Replies are given.
Arguments are had.
Opinions lead to disagreements.
Disagreements lead to splits.

The internet brought us all together and I thank it every day, as I have met people I will always be friends with due to its pervasive influence. But with every new person that comes along to peer in at the group, another attempt at explaining what it is your doing is given and another divergent opinion is added to the mix. A thing that had nothing was given a name and now that means everything. And Nothing.

Is it collecting old figures? Yes and No

Is it playing old games? Yes and No

Is it playing a new game with old figures? Yes and No

Is it playing old games with new figures? Yes and No

Is this it? No

Is this it? Yes

What is it? Oh my god if we have to explain it to you one more time!

Oldhammer was a silly idea in the first place. A silly name to try and unite a load people doing different things. There was some commonality in their approaches but they each had their own point of view. At the end of the day this was a nostalgia fest. Nostalgia leads to reconstruction. Replaying. lack of progression. This is deadly. By trying to recreate something that you didn't have in the first place, you are building a dead end. You can not go beyond the restrictions you have placed upon yourself.
All the time other things are going on in the hobby that you love. Look at those new shiny figures. Look at that cool new ruleset. I want to do those things. I want to take part in that. I want to talk about that with the friends I have made. YOU CAN'T IT'S NOT OLDHAMMER.

At that point you need to be throwing the molotov cocktails.

The 'scene' has reminded us of the Joy of our hobby. It has lit a fire of creativity under our cerebellum. It has brought us friendships we would never have imagined. It has reminded us of how awesome the 40K universe used to be before it got all grimdark. It has reminded us how much we wanted a Slann army and how crap a replacement lizardmen actually are. It has reminded how long it actually takes to play a game of Warhammer and how much we hate wheeling manoeuvres.

Oldhammer was beginning. Not an end. To treat it any other way was to condemn our hobby a lingering smelly death.

The entity that is 'Oldhammer' needs to embrace the new rather than close its doors. We should be evangelising about our scenario-centric, games-master led, story driven, humour-filled version of the game. We should be showing what can be done with a pun-laden, individualistic cast of characters and a gorgeous battlefield. We should be mixing and matching which ever figures we like the best, no matter there age and density. We should be the antithesis to the grey plastic army, fighting in a parking lot full of super-heavies.

We should not be tying ourselves into a straight jacket.

We should be using all our weaponry to change everybody's games that little bit for the better.

We should move beyond our starting point.

We should declare, loudly and joyfully.....

Oldhammer is dead.

Long live Oldhammer!