Random 8k subs bro randomly gives out blanche interviews like candy, casually archiving the old and true spirit of Warhammer in the process. Thanks a lot.
John Blanche taught me how to paint, he was in the Nottingham store, back in the 80s, just sitting at a table when I went in one day, you could just go and sit with him, and he would give you any help and advice you wanted, he is such a lovely guy, back then, he was just this huge guy, with a mass of black curly hair, and a big beard, and an old leather jacket with a denim jacket with the sleaves ripped off over the top, propper 80s biker look, watching him paint was like nobody else I had ever seen paint, it was all artistic, and fluid, with amazing wet blends, and no sign of the usual approach of organised stages of painting. . Absolute Legend imo.
@@AdoringAdmirer @AdoringAdmirer he used very few paint colours, he was painting a dark angel green, he would put a blob of green on a pallet, and a blob of dark brown, then gradually drag a little bit of green into the brown, apply that into the deepest shadow area, and keep gradually adding more green, until he was using the pure green for the mid tone, then he did the same with a yellow, gradually dragging more yellow into the green for gradual highlights, until it was an edge highlight of almost pure yellow, only on the uppermost points though. . Not this awful all edge highlights the same thing they do now. He then used the same brown for a basecoat for the chest eagle and blended up the same yellow he used to highlight the green. I think GW didn't like his way of painting, though, as generally, you only need to buy 3 paints . He also used oil pants that were non gw products to make a sepia oil wash over some white 🤣 definitely wouldn't be allowed now, that oil paint wash was his secret ingredient for a lot of the grim dark looking admech and inquisition oddities he made. . He also used a different technique, to speed paint a mini, where he just drybrushed the whole model, then used really thinned down paints to basically stain the colours, which I think thry now call slap chop or something, it was just normal dpeedpaint back in the late 80s, and was how we all painted our space hulk genesteslers 🤣
Thats a valuable experience to have had. I'm sure it had a big impact on you. I had a similar experience when I just happened to bump into ADB in Belfast and had a short but incredibly interesting conversation.
Inquisitor is the most "40k vibe" thing that GW has ever produced, in my opinion. Dark heresy came close in a few ways, but the art and lore of Inquisitor is as grim and dark as it could have been without jumping the shark.
For me John’s artwork was a window into the world of 40k. From his huge images of grand battles, to the lowly preacher stood on some corner in dingy hive city. His style captured that dark look of society stood on the very brink of collapse but too stubborn to die
The art and atmosphere of that Inquisitor core book is amazing. There is something about 40k at the turn of the millennium, the games and the art that were released for the setting, that are very creative, seminal and unique.
Gavs love and massive influence on the grimdark future really come across here. As a long time hobbyist who started with 40k before Gav even worked for GW it's fascinating to hear where such iconic aspects of the lore came from. You can see the levels of thought and care they put into it.
To people in our mad little hobby of a certain generation these interviews are absolute gold, please keep up the amazing work! p.s. great to see you've already got the Old World books on your shelf!
Finally after 25 years I managed to finish my other inquisitor figures after painting 6 when they first came out,now up to nearly 50 figures of various gangs and a full 10 man imperial guard squad and command.that was a great vid and interesting conversations from John and gaz,top work.
It's seminal, defining. Thanks to him, in my mind, 40k exists almost exclusively in reds, oranges, sepia, and black. Which also translates into the way I approach (particularly Imperial-themed) models.
*THE* Gav Thorpe! 😍 I've met John Blanche a couple of times, but I've never felt confident enough to strike up a conversation. It looks like it is my loss. Curse my social awkwardness. Inquisitor is my favourite view of the 40k Universe. The idea that everything is rumour, lies, propaganda, misunderstandings, warp shenanigans, paranoia, superstition, bigotry and cruelty.
One of my favourite specialist games systems. To this day when I run inq28 as a tutorial I usually take the "boot camp" series of tutorials from Conclave but at the very end a space marine steps out of the smoke. The marine's only job is to pull out a krak grenade, pull the pin, swallow the grenade, let it explode and deal damage to his unarmoured abdomen, belch, and then throw the grenade pin as an improvised throwing weapon at the nearest visible character. Adding on the marine's obscene strength modifier usually means it cripples or severely damages whatever location the pin manages to impact like almost tearing off an arm, but has almost always resulted in the target losing consciousness or failing system shock from the sheer amount of damage.
I love how the reason for the whole radicals vs. puritans thing is basically the same as the reason for the horus heresy: To have a reason for the same set of models to fight among themselves.
Lovely to hear from these two legends of the hobby. I'm enjoying the video series greatly as I paint old models from 20+ years ago. But I need another scale of miniatures like I need another hole in the head!
Loved your personal introduction, really helped set the stage for the interviews. Bloody excellent work, as always, I could listen to these guys for hours.
The game was great fun but sourcing parts was a nightmare for tgat time since there was only troll cart or buying kits. Being metal made the entry high and needed people with alot of skill and experience to kitbadh custom characters
What an amazing video, thanks for making it! Even though I never played a game of Inquisitor, the way it propelled forward the aesthetic of 40k at the time can not be overstated, it truly was a great time to be a part of the hobby! Wonderful also to hear John and Gav's perspectives. Thanks again!
I’m going have to disagree with Gav on his thoughts that having multi-option kits for Inquisitor would’ve made the characters less special. I’d argue that what we got (out of necessity of the restrictions of the time) makes the characters less special as it meant that there were fewer resources for players to kitbash their own characters, so it’d be easier to identify where various bits came from; eg Bob the Inquisitor is easily identifiable as Inquisitor Covenant with Eisenhorn’s head which dilutes the uniqueness of Covenant and Eisenhorn, whereas with a kit with a dozen heads, half a dozen bodies etc, which are all compatible with other kits in the same range, the combinations balloon outwards. Even more so if it was to be done in the same scale as 40k and Necro, as the toolbox for conversion fodder grows even vaster.
I think it's fair to say that almost all the models being presented as defined characters actually did a lot for the lore; presenting any of the small number of models they had the production capacity to make as "Generic Inquisitor #2" would have been a missed opportunity to demonstrate the character/story driven aspect of the game. Not to say that some "booster packs" of more heads (to go with the few weapon packs and the like they did) would have been a bad idea, but I wouldn't have wanted them to put out entire models that were nobodies. ~~~ As far as the whole debate about whether Inquisitor should have been in 28mm or 54mm, that's still a big can of worms; putting aside it being the whole inspiration for the game in the first place, there's two reasons I think that Inquisitor benefited - at least initially - from being 54mm. 1) GW at the time could never have justified doing a new non-core range as multipart plastics, and their 28mm metals are mostly one/two-part miniatures which are difficult to do more than a head or hand swap on. The multi-part 54mm models we did get are surprisingly kitbashable by the standards of the time (to my recollection, it wasn't until around 2010-2012 that the plastics range had reached the point the INQ28 community were starting to use plastic more than metal). 2) Inquisitor did often have the issue that people just thought of it as "detailed WH40K", and when you dug into it a lot of the stories from the early days about it being an unenjoyable and unbalanced game turned out to be players just grabbing models from their WH40k armies and trying to use models like Terminator Librarians. The 54mm game was by no means immune to players getting the wrong end of the stick and wanting to join in with demi-gods, but having an entirely separate model range set the tone for what the game was supposed to be. (I still laugh at one of the reviews cited on the Wikipedia page for the game complaining that the Tyranids were the most egregious omission from the game. Sure, Genestaler cults are one thing - and were later added - but Nids in general? They're animalistic beasts - not roleplaying fodder) That said, as Gav mentions near the end of the interview, I do play the game at both scales. (Yes, it's me with the 54mm Rhino and Sentinel - which these days have been joined by an Arvus and a Tauros Scout, although the Warhound is still a pile of half completed parts).
I own the rulebook and tried converting those minis as a teen and man, some options would have been great. There are some HEROIC efforts at conversion in the book, and they still look terrible, with rare exceptions. (check out the guy in the space-wheelchair)That's what they were holding up as examples for the rest of us.
Inquisitor used a very specific scale. I guess it was hard to pick leftover bits from other lines and swap them around. And the Inquisitor line itself was pretty small, there wasn't a lot to swap about.
@@SusCalvin right. It was a great boutique 40k figures line, it was a terrible line for kitbashing your own dudes for an RPGlike. I get the feeling they wanted to get back to single characterful individualistic weirdos like the RT catalogs, but as you say there werent enough of them. The poses were also really distinctive-preacher Josef was always going to be a big belly guy in a robe, Rogue Trader was always going to be a sprinting fancyman. A game that tried to expand the 40k universe made it feel a bit smaller in that sense, you'd either have the same 4 or 5 inquisitors show up or someone who seemed to have copied their wardrobe.
I think it was one of the Warhammer specialist games closest to an RPG without being an RPG. It needs a ref that sidles into a role close to a DM. These days, people can scrounge up the Dark Heresy RPG and have a go at a tabletop RPG with much the same themes. Go about as a cell of inquisitorial stooges who need to view all facets of imperial life, high and low, across entire worlds and systems. With a reason and license to poke your noses into it all.
@@Dorkyorcy I liked the simplicity of Necromunda, and I like simplicity in RPGs n general. When we tried Inquisitor it had an overwhelming amount of modifications for running about and fuzzy rules where we definitely needed a ref to judicate if an air wing was cover or concealment or not. It had its own funky system for unit activation. I remember that the NPC cultists my friends made me control had one bloke who stood and revved his chainwhip for turn after turn.
@@SusCalvin I can just picture a cultist standing there, maniacal look on his face, revving the chainsword but doing absolutely nothing before getting shot. On another note, that's why Inq was such a great game. You have those 'moments' that stick with you. I find the same for MESBG, when a hero does something epic, or a lowly goblin resists Aragorn for two straight turns...
@@Dorkyorcy I think that lad finally got it together. He was stuck behind an obstacle in his deployment, and when he finally rushed out he was hacking imperial bounty hunters up pretty well. Some players were out to get some McGuffin from a crashed lander, and I was just instructed to whack those fools for getting into our forest. But they had fun I think. They could have gone for a truce and whacked my lads but they didn't. I think having random crazies in the forest made it more fun. It could have been random xenos wildlife out for a snack or a neutral group of imperial settlers who just want people to stay off their turf. I just like the simple rules of Necromunda and how random gangland buggery creates moments. I think what you need to make these games into stronger RPG elements is characters and factions and stuff to interact with. And you could do that in Inquisitor I think, you could decide what path your investigation and pull some fool in for questioning. Players like to discover that they can manipulate the environment or negotiate with people or choose different paths. Play things right and you can have a local militia along as temp allies, or find a path with less guards or something.
This a rulebook that I bought simply for the artwork and backstory. I wish I still had my old copy of it and the amazing Inquisitor Sketchbook. I think I lent them to a friend and never got them back. Great video, thank you so much for making these!
I was born at the wrong time to enjoy Inquisitor, I remember being very uninterested or sarcastic about it at the time, but now I'd actually be interested in playing a game like it.
He really is! Honestly he’s just such a cool down to earth guy. When I first met him he was kind enough to invite me over and play Mordheim, and we’ve been friends since!
Great vid. Taken me too long to get around to watching it. Inquisitor was my primary gaming interest for a long time. Glad to hear Gav giving David Fincher a shout out. He has done so much to keep 54mm Inquisitor gaming going while folk like me have lapsed!
I've discovered your channel recently, shortly after finding my way back to the hobby, and they are really helping ignite the fire in me. Thank you for doing this, it's a fascinating dose of nostalgia along with inspiration for the future.
Great video! Awesome to hear John and Gav talk about Inquisitor! Do you think there's a chance you'll do an interview with some of the artists from around that time? Like Dave Gallagher, Karl Kopinski, Adrian Smith, Paul Dainton. I believe all of them are fairly active on Instagram. Adrian Smith also has a UA-cam channel.
I loved Inquisitor so damn much. Thank you for making another great vid. If finances allow it really might be worth addressing your microphone setup. The audio at the start was a bit iffy and when you speak during interviews it’s never really picked up.
Skirmish is a pretty good scale for Warhammer. Mordheim, Necromunda, Gorkamorka have all been good fun. All of them have touched on daily life for some weirdos in the Warhammer worlds. The stories that come out of random buggery are a lot more personal with so few models. A WFRP-like game in 40k where you aren't big inquisitorial goons but the 40k equivalent of a coinclipper, a rat-catcher, a student, a bailiff and a space dwarf would be nice. Nothing big, just going around doing what you did in old WFRP adventures. Smack up some snotlings who steal pies, investigate insurance fraud and fight weird legal duels. Only War is the only one where you play people of that status, but focused completely on military life. Not being able to use your normal collections of models for Inquisitor was a fault, I think. There aren't a lot of models in the Inquisitor line and you can't mix them easily with random iggies, orks and nonsense you got laying around. In Gorkamorka you can pick leftover models and bits from your existing ork army and slug it out. If you need to fill out a bunch of antagonist genestealers and hive goons you can't grab other models. Today, people can rummage around for the Dark Heresy RPG and play the investigative and social part of being an inquisitorial goon squad with reasons and license to poke around in every facet of imperial life. I think this investigative and social and interactive aspect is what a miniature skirmish game needs to take the full RPG step.
The card based AI / scenario generator Gav mentions is what they needed to make the new Kill Team Solo & Co Op a genuine premier war gaming experience. What they put out is novel for 40k, but shallow and flat compared to other solo / co op skirmish systems, and it’s tragic to see that GW had the idea to include this mode, but lacked the kind of creative drive that was on display when Inquisitor was made.
Gav was always one of my favourite white dwarfers, anything he wrote on the dwarfs was always a joy for me to read, the venerable longbeard & loremaster himself ⛏️🪓🏔
This timing of this video is perfect given the recent release of the last Horus Heresy novel! For me the Inquisitor rulebook is a must have for any 40k book collector.
I still have the Inquisitor rulebook and the 2002 Annual but only got to play 3 games and I don't own any figures at the right scale. My solution now is to play with only a few figures using the Dark Heresy ruleset, since that is a fully fleshed out rpg system. I always felt that Inquisitor was the precursor to Black Industries/FF Games' 40k rpg. For me, the best experiences of the 40k universe are found not in big battles but smaller, narrative-focused skirmish encounters, like Kill Team or Necromunda and of course Inquisitor.
Amazing work again Tom, great to see this unsung game getting its appreciation. So when are you volunteering yourself to gamesmaster a campaign at Warhammer world? (I’m in BTW) ;)
Man, i missed out. I have many figures and the rules but never played a game. I think with necromunda kinda filling the niche of a narrative skirmish game that made this redundant, not to mention the 54 mm scale. I know inqusitor28 has a following about but haven't found a group, or able to create intrest myself. Who knows, ourists might be able to revive this game with 3d printing? The scale may still prove difficult? But man this game inspired so much, between books, the core artwork and game lore. It also i think may have paved the way for Dark Heresy rpg?
Unfortunately I don’t think it’ll happen. I had a few conversations with him last year but he said it’s not really his thing, and everything he felt he wanted to say is covered in his Goblin Master book by John Wombat - which is well worth reading!
@@Filmdegminiatures that explains why there aren't many interviews with him floating around. I'll have to get his book. I mostly want to know about how Brian Nelson took over the o&g range, it's one of the biggest style changes in early gw history. Anyway, thanks for doing these.
I spent a lot of time on the Conclave forum, back during my university days and I have a lot of fond memories of Inquisitor, I hope GW bring it back one day, a few plastic 54mm characters would be just wonderful.
Probably not, but i could imagine with 3d printing now. Skilled people could crank out many original characters and vehicles to flesh the game out and can be scaled up from 28 to 54!
I know, haven't logged in for quite a while but I occasionally stop by. Mostly I used to take part in the RP section, but, not much of that happening anymore.@@jonathanmarlow9484
@@MadSpaceWolfDiary Probably not as you say, but it would be damn cool. With GW casting old metal WFB models to order, they could just do the old Inquisitor figs the same way - apart from Artemis, which I bought several of, I only gots bits of the other models to convert up into my own characters so it'd be nice to have a complete Eisenhorn finally!! :D
Great interviews and a great game. I still remember an old campaign I gm'd and the players faces when they turned up to interrupt a suspected chaos cult get together and I put down the slaanesh noise marine and khorne berzerker with flesh hounds I'd converted who were about to settle some differences........ the players next set of characters were less mouthy with npc's =P
@@Filmdegminiatures The UK and other euronations aren't that large either. If you want to meet a bloke from the other side of the country it's not a long train ride.
As far as dan abnett going everywhere with a notebook for 40k names the first exchange which comes to mind. Eisenhorn: Right, whats your name son? Lucless: Its, uh, Lucless sir Eisenhorn: Holy Terra, Luckless Lucless: Uh, luc-less actually Eisenhorn: Right LUCKLESS I've got a task for you (paraprhased)
During Warhammer Fantasy “Storm of Chaos,” There Mention Small Communities of Wood Elves Fighting Chaos in Keslov, Cathay, & The Empire? I asked GW Staff about Expanding Others Wood Elves that don’t Follow Odin Ava Loren? Using Nature ( Wolves, Hawks, Bears, Elk & Griffons?) GAV THORPE RESPONDED TO ME ….. Just Ava Loren Wood Elves Vs Beastmen Only?? They about Release new Book & They Did Not Want More Work??? Please Warhammer “Old World,” Add these Other Wood Elves? Cathay & Nippon armies (Islands)) lead by Celestial Dragon?
If John Blanche isnt credited in this Warhammer TV/Movie crap that comes out we RIOT. I'm going to post dog turds to the Henrys on GW Board and The Henry on the screen every god damn day.
John mentioning his “dodgy neuropathy fingers” not allowing him to paint anymore was a gut punch and a reality check.
Random 8k subs bro randomly gives out blanche interviews like candy, casually archiving the old and true spirit of Warhammer in the process.
Thanks a lot.
John Blanche taught me how to paint, he was in the Nottingham store, back in the 80s, just sitting at a table when I went in one day, you could just go and sit with him, and he would give you any help and advice you wanted, he is such a lovely guy, back then, he was just this huge guy, with a mass of black curly hair, and a big beard, and an old leather jacket with a denim jacket with the sleaves ripped off over the top, propper 80s biker look, watching him paint was like nobody else I had ever seen paint, it was all artistic, and fluid, with amazing wet blends, and no sign of the usual approach of organised stages of painting. . Absolute Legend imo.
Thank you for sharing this. Could you go deeper into his miniature painting style?
@@AdoringAdmirer @AdoringAdmirer he used very few paint colours, he was painting a dark angel green, he would put a blob of green on a pallet, and a blob of dark brown, then gradually drag a little bit of green into the brown, apply that into the deepest shadow area, and keep gradually adding more green, until he was using the pure green for the mid tone, then he did the same with a yellow, gradually dragging more yellow into the green for gradual highlights, until it was an edge highlight of almost pure yellow, only on the uppermost points though. . Not this awful all edge highlights the same thing they do now.
He then used the same brown for a basecoat for the chest eagle and blended up the same yellow he used to highlight the green.
I think GW didn't like his way of painting, though, as generally, you only need to buy 3 paints .
He also used oil pants that were non gw products to make a sepia oil wash over some white 🤣 definitely wouldn't be allowed now, that oil paint wash was his secret ingredient for a lot of the grim dark looking admech and inquisition oddities he made. .
He also used a different technique, to speed paint a mini, where he just drybrushed the whole model, then used really thinned down paints to basically stain the colours, which I think thry now call slap chop or something, it was just normal dpeedpaint back in the late 80s, and was how we all painted our space hulk genesteslers 🤣
Thats a valuable experience to have had. I'm sure it had a big impact on you. I had a similar experience when I just happened to bump into ADB in Belfast and had a short but incredibly interesting conversation.
Inquisitor is the most "40k vibe" thing that GW has ever produced, in my opinion. Dark heresy came close in a few ways, but the art and lore of Inquisitor is as grim and dark as it could have been without jumping the shark.
For me John’s artwork was a window into the world of 40k. From his huge images of grand battles, to the lowly preacher stood on some corner in dingy hive city. His style captured that dark look of society stood on the very brink of collapse but too stubborn to die
The art and atmosphere of that Inquisitor core book is amazing. There is something about 40k at the turn of the millennium, the games and the art that were released for the setting, that are very creative, seminal and unique.
Peak 40k!
Gavs love and massive influence on the grimdark future really come across here. As a long time hobbyist who started with 40k before Gav even worked for GW it's fascinating to hear where such iconic aspects of the lore came from. You can see the levels of thought and care they put into it.
I cannot put into words how grateful and amazed I am at these videos you're doing. Thank you for all the work!
I'll also forever regret selling all the Inq models I had.
Agreed.
This is true anthropology. Extremely important document these legends
To people in our mad little hobby of a certain generation these interviews are absolute gold, please keep up the amazing work!
p.s. great to see you've already got the Old World books on your shelf!
Are you kidding me?! An interview with THESE TWO?! Amazing, thank you!
Finally after 25 years I managed to finish my other inquisitor figures after painting 6 when they first came out,now up to nearly 50 figures of various gangs and a full 10 man imperial guard squad and command.that was a great vid and interesting conversations from John and gaz,top work.
Blanches artwork is what first grabbed my attention to warhammer 40k/inquisitor.was so happy to see a whole paint style based aroumd it
It's seminal, defining. Thanks to him, in my mind, 40k exists almost exclusively in reds, oranges, sepia, and black. Which also translates into the way I approach (particularly Imperial-themed) models.
@@dekai7992so true. Almost 30 years in the hobby and if I close my eyes and think of 40k I get a mashup of johns artwork. Perfection👌🏻
*THE* Gav Thorpe! 😍
I've met John Blanche a couple of times, but I've never felt confident enough to strike up a conversation. It looks like it is my loss. Curse my social awkwardness.
Inquisitor is my favourite view of the 40k Universe. The idea that everything is rumour, lies, propaganda, misunderstandings, warp shenanigans, paranoia, superstition, bigotry and cruelty.
One of my favourite specialist games systems. To this day when I run inq28 as a tutorial I usually take the "boot camp" series of tutorials from Conclave but at the very end a space marine steps out of the smoke. The marine's only job is to pull out a krak grenade, pull the pin, swallow the grenade, let it explode and deal damage to his unarmoured abdomen, belch, and then throw the grenade pin as an improvised throwing weapon at the nearest visible character.
Adding on the marine's obscene strength modifier usually means it cripples or severely damages whatever location the pin manages to impact like almost tearing off an arm, but has almost always resulted in the target losing consciousness or failing system shock from the sheer amount of damage.
I love how the reason for the whole radicals vs. puritans thing is basically the same as the reason for the horus heresy: To have a reason for the same set of models to fight among themselves.
Lovely to hear from these two legends of the hobby. I'm enjoying the video series greatly as I paint old models from 20+ years ago. But I need another scale of miniatures like I need another hole in the head!
Dwarf Lord Gavin Thorpe! I’ve got his photo in an old 4th Ed Army Book. He hasn’t aged a day! Wait a minute... was he wearing a plain gold ring?
Loved your personal introduction, really helped set the stage for the interviews. Bloody excellent work, as always, I could listen to these guys for hours.
The game was great fun but sourcing parts was a nightmare for tgat time since there was only troll cart or buying kits. Being metal made the entry high and needed people with alot of skill and experience to kitbadh custom characters
What an amazing video, thanks for making it! Even though I never played a game of Inquisitor, the way it propelled forward the aesthetic of 40k at the time can not be overstated, it truly was a great time to be a part of the hobby! Wonderful also to hear John and Gav's perspectives. Thanks again!
I’m going have to disagree with Gav on his thoughts that having multi-option kits for Inquisitor would’ve made the characters less special. I’d argue that what we got (out of necessity of the restrictions of the time) makes the characters less special as it meant that there were fewer resources for players to kitbash their own characters, so it’d be easier to identify where various bits came from; eg Bob the Inquisitor is easily identifiable as Inquisitor Covenant with Eisenhorn’s head which dilutes the uniqueness of Covenant and Eisenhorn, whereas with a kit with a dozen heads, half a dozen bodies etc, which are all compatible with other kits in the same range, the combinations balloon outwards. Even more so if it was to be done in the same scale as 40k and Necro, as the toolbox for conversion fodder grows even vaster.
Correct take. I think Gav was lying to himself.
I think it's fair to say that almost all the models being presented as defined characters actually did a lot for the lore; presenting any of the small number of models they had the production capacity to make as "Generic Inquisitor #2" would have been a missed opportunity to demonstrate the character/story driven aspect of the game.
Not to say that some "booster packs" of more heads (to go with the few weapon packs and the like they did) would have been a bad idea, but I wouldn't have wanted them to put out entire models that were nobodies.
~~~
As far as the whole debate about whether Inquisitor should have been in 28mm or 54mm, that's still a big can of worms; putting aside it being the whole inspiration for the game in the first place, there's two reasons I think that Inquisitor benefited - at least initially - from being 54mm.
1) GW at the time could never have justified doing a new non-core range as multipart plastics, and their 28mm metals are mostly one/two-part miniatures which are difficult to do more than a head or hand swap on. The multi-part 54mm models we did get are surprisingly kitbashable by the standards of the time (to my recollection, it wasn't until around 2010-2012 that the plastics range had reached the point the INQ28 community were starting to use plastic more than metal).
2) Inquisitor did often have the issue that people just thought of it as "detailed WH40K", and when you dug into it a lot of the stories from the early days about it being an unenjoyable and unbalanced game turned out to be players just grabbing models from their WH40k armies and trying to use models like Terminator Librarians.
The 54mm game was by no means immune to players getting the wrong end of the stick and wanting to join in with demi-gods, but having an entirely separate model range set the tone for what the game was supposed to be. (I still laugh at one of the reviews cited on the Wikipedia page for the game complaining that the Tyranids were the most egregious omission from the game. Sure, Genestaler cults are one thing - and were later added - but Nids in general? They're animalistic beasts - not roleplaying fodder)
That said, as Gav mentions near the end of the interview, I do play the game at both scales. (Yes, it's me with the 54mm Rhino and Sentinel - which these days have been joined by an Arvus and a Tauros Scout, although the Warhound is still a pile of half completed parts).
I own the rulebook and tried converting those minis as a teen and man, some options would have been great. There are some HEROIC efforts at conversion in the book, and they still look terrible, with rare exceptions. (check out the guy in the space-wheelchair)That's what they were holding up as examples for the rest of us.
Inquisitor used a very specific scale. I guess it was hard to pick leftover bits from other lines and swap them around. And the Inquisitor line itself was pretty small, there wasn't a lot to swap about.
@@SusCalvin right. It was a great boutique 40k figures line, it was a terrible line for kitbashing your own dudes for an RPGlike. I get the feeling they wanted to get back to single characterful individualistic weirdos like the RT catalogs, but as you say there werent enough of them. The poses were also really distinctive-preacher Josef was always going to be a big belly guy in a robe, Rogue Trader was always going to be a sprinting fancyman.
A game that tried to expand the 40k universe made it feel a bit smaller in that sense, you'd either have the same 4 or 5 inquisitors show up or someone who seemed to have copied their wardrobe.
Watching these interviews I've found that Blanche's 40K is exactly what I fell in love with, what a legend.
Inquisitor was all about characters, narrative and moments. The White Dwarf campaign was some of my very favourite reading.
I think it was one of the Warhammer specialist games closest to an RPG without being an RPG. It needs a ref that sidles into a role close to a DM.
These days, people can scrounge up the Dark Heresy RPG and have a go at a tabletop RPG with much the same themes. Go about as a cell of inquisitorial stooges who need to view all facets of imperial life, high and low, across entire worlds and systems. With a reason and license to poke your noses into it all.
@@SusCalvin That's a decent summary. A good blend of skirmish with RPG elements. A more in depth version of Necromunda
@@Dorkyorcy I liked the simplicity of Necromunda, and I like simplicity in RPGs n general. When we tried Inquisitor it had an overwhelming amount of modifications for running about and fuzzy rules where we definitely needed a ref to judicate if an air wing was cover or concealment or not.
It had its own funky system for unit activation. I remember that the NPC cultists my friends made me control had one bloke who stood and revved his chainwhip for turn after turn.
@@SusCalvin I can just picture a cultist standing there, maniacal look on his face, revving the chainsword but doing absolutely nothing before getting shot.
On another note, that's why Inq was such a great game. You have those 'moments' that stick with you. I find the same for MESBG, when a hero does something epic, or a lowly goblin resists Aragorn for two straight turns...
@@Dorkyorcy I think that lad finally got it together. He was stuck behind an obstacle in his deployment, and when he finally rushed out he was hacking imperial bounty hunters up pretty well. Some players were out to get some McGuffin from a crashed lander, and I was just instructed to whack those fools for getting into our forest. But they had fun I think. They could have gone for a truce and whacked my lads but they didn't. I think having random crazies in the forest made it more fun. It could have been random xenos wildlife out for a snack or a neutral group of imperial settlers who just want people to stay off their turf.
I just like the simple rules of Necromunda and how random gangland buggery creates moments. I think what you need to make these games into stronger RPG elements is characters and factions and stuff to interact with. And you could do that in Inquisitor I think, you could decide what path your investigation and pull some fool in for questioning. Players like to discover that they can manipulate the environment or negotiate with people or choose different paths. Play things right and you can have a local militia along as temp allies, or find a path with less guards or something.
This a rulebook that I bought simply for the artwork and backstory. I wish I still had my old copy of it and the amazing Inquisitor Sketchbook. I think I lent them to a friend and never got them back. Great video, thank you so much for making these!
Working on the sketchbooks and Studio campaign was the most fun I had at Lenton. Thanks for the nostalgia.
I was born at the wrong time to enjoy Inquisitor, I remember being very uninterested or sarcastic about it at the time, but now I'd actually be interested in playing a game like it.
John Blanche comes across as a really lovely man.
He really is! Honestly he’s just such a cool down to earth guy. When I first met him he was kind enough to invite me over and play Mordheim, and we’ve been friends since!
@Filmdegminiatures who did you get in touch with first out of all the old staff?
Thank you so much for continuing to make these videos, an incredible legacy for hobbyists to understand more about these amazing creators
Great vid. Taken me too long to get around to watching it. Inquisitor was my primary gaming interest for a long time. Glad to hear Gav giving David Fincher a shout out. He has done so much to keep 54mm Inquisitor gaming going while folk like me have lapsed!
Inquistor still has a special place in its prestine form on my bookcase. Where it will last till the end of my days.
I've discovered your channel recently, shortly after finding my way back to the hobby, and they are really helping ignite the fire in me. Thank you for doing this, it's a fascinating dose of nostalgia along with inspiration for the future.
Great video! Awesome to hear John and Gav talk about Inquisitor!
Do you think there's a chance you'll do an interview with some of the artists from around that time? Like Dave Gallagher, Karl Kopinski, Adrian Smith, Paul Dainton. I believe all of them are fairly active on Instagram. Adrian Smith also has a UA-cam channel.
I think I saw Gav Thorpe casually walking past when I went on a trip to Warhammer world in about 2000. I was a little star struck!
Loved this interview! Still much love for Inquisitor in 54mm after all these years. Thank you Gav!
I loved Inquisitor so damn much. Thank you for making another great vid.
If finances allow it really might be worth addressing your microphone setup. The audio at the start was a bit iffy and when you speak during interviews it’s never really picked up.
This video made me go back and read though my borrowed copy of Inquisitor rule book. Brilliant!
Excellent interview and great to hear from two absolute legends!
Skirmish is a pretty good scale for Warhammer. Mordheim, Necromunda, Gorkamorka have all been good fun. All of them have touched on daily life for some weirdos in the Warhammer worlds. The stories that come out of random buggery are a lot more personal with so few models.
A WFRP-like game in 40k where you aren't big inquisitorial goons but the 40k equivalent of a coinclipper, a rat-catcher, a student, a bailiff and a space dwarf would be nice. Nothing big, just going around doing what you did in old WFRP adventures. Smack up some snotlings who steal pies, investigate insurance fraud and fight weird legal duels. Only War is the only one where you play people of that status, but focused completely on military life.
Not being able to use your normal collections of models for Inquisitor was a fault, I think. There aren't a lot of models in the Inquisitor line and you can't mix them easily with random iggies, orks and nonsense you got laying around. In Gorkamorka you can pick leftover models and bits from your existing ork army and slug it out. If you need to fill out a bunch of antagonist genestealers and hive goons you can't grab other models.
Today, people can rummage around for the Dark Heresy RPG and play the investigative and social part of being an inquisitorial goon squad with reasons and license to poke around in every facet of imperial life. I think this investigative and social and interactive aspect is what a miniature skirmish game needs to take the full RPG step.
The card based AI / scenario generator Gav mentions is what they needed to make the new Kill Team Solo & Co Op a genuine premier war gaming experience.
What they put out is novel for 40k, but shallow and flat compared to other solo / co op skirmish systems, and it’s tragic to see that GW had the idea to include this mode, but lacked the kind of creative drive that was on display when Inquisitor was made.
Thank you for the archive
It's interesting to hear theses guys after years of seeing them in white dwarfs and reading their books and playing the games
Gav was always one of my favourite white dwarfers, anything he wrote on the dwarfs was always a joy for me to read, the venerable longbeard & loremaster himself ⛏️🪓🏔
This timing of this video is perfect given the recent release of the last Horus Heresy novel! For me the Inquisitor rulebook is a must have for any 40k book collector.
God bless these great people! Inspiration carried through the years thanks to their work.
You’re a legend big tomo, keep at it!
I still have the Inquisitor rulebook and the 2002 Annual but only got to play 3 games and I don't own any figures at the right scale. My solution now is to play with only a few figures using the Dark Heresy ruleset, since that is a fully fleshed out rpg system. I always felt that Inquisitor was the precursor to Black Industries/FF Games' 40k rpg. For me, the best experiences of the 40k universe are found not in big battles but smaller, narrative-focused skirmish encounters, like Kill Team or Necromunda and of course Inquisitor.
Amazing work again Tom, great to see this unsung game getting its appreciation.
So when are you volunteering yourself to gamesmaster a campaign at Warhammer world? (I’m in BTW) ;)
One of the last truly Grimdark things that GW did.
I think sometime last year i impulse brought a nib inquisitor model, i remember reading the rules as a kid and being wowed.
Man, i missed out. I have many figures and the rules but never played a game. I think with necromunda kinda filling the niche of a narrative skirmish game that made this redundant, not to mention the 54 mm scale. I know inqusitor28 has a following about but haven't found a group, or able to create intrest myself. Who knows, ourists might be able to revive this game with 3d printing? The scale may still prove difficult? But man this game inspired so much, between books, the core artwork and game lore. It also i think may have paved the way for Dark Heresy rpg?
You're doing an amazing job on these.
I know it's a big ask but I'd love you to get an interview with Kev Adams.
Unfortunately I don’t think it’ll happen. I had a few conversations with him last year but he said it’s not really his thing, and everything he felt he wanted to say is covered in his Goblin Master book by John Wombat - which is well worth reading!
@@Filmdegminiatures that explains why there aren't many interviews with him floating around. I'll have to get his book. I mostly want to know about how Brian Nelson took over the o&g range, it's one of the biggest style changes in early gw history.
Anyway, thanks for doing these.
Good to see the book is well worn. 🙂
Excellent interviews!
I spent a lot of time on the Conclave forum, back during my university days and I have a lot of fond memories of Inquisitor, I hope GW bring it back one day, a few plastic 54mm characters would be just wonderful.
Probably not, but i could imagine with 3d printing now. Skilled people could crank out many original characters and vehicles to flesh the game out and can be scaled up from 28 to 54!
The Conclave is still running - small community compared to Inq28/Ammobunker, but still there.
I know, haven't logged in for quite a while but I occasionally stop by. Mostly I used to take part in the RP section, but, not much of that happening anymore.@@jonathanmarlow9484
@@MadSpaceWolfDiary Probably not as you say, but it would be damn cool. With GW casting old metal WFB models to order, they could just do the old Inquisitor figs the same way - apart from Artemis, which I bought several of, I only gots bits of the other models to convert up into my own characters so it'd be nice to have a complete Eisenhorn finally!! :D
I still remember in the ancient days the for runner before necromunder fascinated me confrontation looked awesome
Blnache's artwork is timeless and the reason I started playing horus heresy. I'll never play 40k though
Loving these vids. Nice t shirt too!!
The models were out of my price range and it took a while before a character released I liked,
I wish they would re-release Inquisitor with the models at 28mm scale. It was such a mistake to have them at that larger scale.
Great interviews. Gav gives some golden game design advice in his part.
Great interviews and a great game. I still remember an old campaign I gm'd and the players faces when they turned up to interrupt a suspected chaos cult get together and I put down the slaanesh noise marine and khorne berzerker with flesh hounds I'd converted who were about to settle some differences........ the players next set of characters were less mouthy with npc's =P
Blanche looks like a scribe down deep into the palace. I love it.
Incredible
You couldn't convert another now due to mail order no longer selling bits. Yes there's ebay, but that's often a race against other buyers.
Yea you know, just nonchalantly say that THE John Blanche just lends you his models. Lol luck f***!
Ha! Yea, I live about 2 minutes down the road from home, so we’ve become good friends and I tend to see him once a week or so!
@@Filmdegminiatures The UK and other euronations aren't that large either. If you want to meet a bloke from the other side of the country it's not a long train ride.
As far as dan abnett going everywhere with a notebook for 40k names the first exchange which comes to mind.
Eisenhorn: Right, whats your name son?
Lucless: Its, uh, Lucless sir
Eisenhorn: Holy Terra, Luckless
Lucless: Uh, luc-less actually
Eisenhorn: Right LUCKLESS I've got a task for you
(paraprhased)
I converted and painted an Inquisitorial warband, then built and half painted an Ad-Mech warband. Total games of Inquisitor played - 1.
Nice ❤
During Warhammer Fantasy “Storm of Chaos,”
There Mention Small Communities of Wood Elves Fighting Chaos in Keslov, Cathay, & The Empire?
I asked GW Staff about Expanding Others Wood Elves that don’t Follow Odin Ava Loren?
Using Nature ( Wolves, Hawks, Bears, Elk & Griffons?)
GAV THORPE RESPONDED TO ME ….. Just Ava Loren Wood Elves Vs Beastmen Only??
They about Release new Book & They Did Not Want More Work???
Please Warhammer “Old World,”
Add these Other Wood Elves?
Cathay & Nippon armies (Islands)) lead by Celestial Dragon?
Very nice
Top marks for the Reverend bizarre T!
Doom what thou wilt
"Then I had a stroke"😂
I'm curious about the little religious looking statue at John's left. Anyone know what that is?
Just a bit of terrain he was working on for when we play Trench Crusade.
Jeez I’m old, when I see the name Gav Thorpe I’m still expecting to see that brown haired 20-something year old in White Dwarf! 🤣🤣
22:54
4:33
If John Blanche isnt credited in this Warhammer TV/Movie crap that comes out we RIOT. I'm going to post dog turds to the Henrys on GW Board and The Henry on the screen every god damn day.
"Seedy underbelly of the Imperium". No. That IS the Imperium. Its maybe 3% thats not seedy.
Can't even understand John in this video. Guy is barely enunciating his words.
Unfortunately John was very ill at the time, this was shot just a short while before he was in hospital.
Do you speak English? He is easily understandable. Don't be a prick.
This video is best watched on x1.75 speed.
Every time Mr Thorpe says “Ya know” take a shot.