RIP Bryan Ansell and Future Plans for Travel

As mentioned before, I really cut my teeth on the hobby with Games Workshop in the mid-90s with my good friend Rob. This was the times of Bryan Ansell, Jervis Johnson, Rick Priestley, the Perry twins and so many more. 

As the years passed, many of these notables came and went from GW and joined other wargaming ventures. I myself drifted away from the GW sphere of influence and found myself more of a historical gamer. Rob stayed more true to the GW worlds and I had a lingering nostalgia for the "Oldhammer". 

We have often talked about going to Wargames Foundry's Bring Out Your Lead event to immerse ourselves in the "retro" of GW and Citadel and to meet the people attached to those notable names of our past. Rob would always remind me that we needed to get it done because none of us were getting any younger. Unfortunately, schedule conflicts and diverted attentions seemed to prevent us from actually doing it. 

Rob messaged me in December to let me know of Bryan Ansell's passing. Some regret of not getting it done in the past haunted us. While schedule conflicts will prevent us from participating in the 2024 Bring Out Your Lead (should it occur), we hope to make it for 2025. Let's hope we don't lose any more of those notable names in the meantime. 

I have decided that I will be embarking on a visit to the United Kingdom in 2024 however. I reserved tickets for the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in August. I plan to visit other historic sites (I'd really like to see Culloden) and battlefields. I'm always up for a recommendation in the comments if anyone has ideas. 

As luck would have it, my scheduled show for the Tattoo is the same week as the Claymore wargames convention hosted by the South East Scotland Wargames Club. I'm incredibly excited by the stroke of random luck that will allow me to experience both events. To make it even better, two of my favorite English miniatures companies, Baccus 6mm and Pendraken 10mm, should be present at Claymore. I expect to make many purchases and hopefully meet some of those notable individuals from companies that I love.