Adam Troke is the Warhammer Community team’s content champion, spending his days dreaming up videos, articles and more. By night? Well, he’s a hobbyist just like the rest of us…
Adam: Roughly 30 years ago, a friend of mine showed me a Space Marine. It was in Mr Pauly’s class at school and it was a MK VI Space Marine with a bolter (with a bayonet). It was a life-changing experience. I have collected, painted and played with Warhammer models of almost every stripe ever since.
“Want to show everyone your collection?” was the question posed to me just the other day… it came off the back of Andy Hoare’s article which showcased his lovely cabinets full of Horus Heresy models.
“Sure,” was my response. Folks are cooped up in their homes, hankering for something sweet to read and enjoy. “I can do my part.”
That’s when the realisation hit me – about 6-months ago, my wife and I commenced a long-running, off-and-on-again DIY campaign in our house, and my enormous miniatures cabinet (with backlights and mirrors) was the first thing against the wall… and hasn’t yet been replaced. Right now, my hobby area is much reduced, and my armies spend their time locked in my shed for the most part. Not a very conducive environment for glamorous photography.
Thankfully, my long and winding career at Games Workshop can take a little of that strain away – since a bunch of the nicer parts of my collection have been photographed over the years. So, I thought I’d share a few bits of that, and then show you what’s on my painting desk right now.
Task Force Zephon is my pride and joy. Currently occupying a series of figure cases, this is my Dark Angels army. Dark Angels are the best – your mileage may vary, but for me, they represent an awesome, nuanced part of the Warhammer 40,000 lore. Over the years, I’ve built up a pretty decent-sized force, and there’s a little bit of story behind everything – names for all the heroes, narrative for how the force came together – and it has perhaps given me more joyful narrative gaming experiences than anything else.
My love affair with Warhammer Age of Sigmar is quite different to that of Warhammer 40,000. With 40K, I’ve been steeped in its lore since the aforementioned day Bruce brought a Space Marine to school. The Age of Sigmar came somewhat later into my life. Even so, I have amassed quite a large Stormcast Eternals army. I just love ‘em. The models are truly astounding, and the Celestant-Prime is my favourite in the range, and competitor for ‘favourite miniature of all time’ – even now, he’s on a solar-powered turntable behind my desk. This portion of the collection was featured in Warhammer Visions, way back when. The army is a little bigger now – I’ve started to add Sequitors and so on to more recently.
Without delving into Middle-earth (which would be the subject of a whole article in its own right), there are still lots of other parts of my collection I am very proud of, foremost among which is my Orlock Gang for Necromunda.
I’ve loved Necromunda since it first appeared in White Dwarf when I was about 15 or so. Way back when it first surfaced, Orlocks were my guys right out of the box – great theme, fantastic look and with the relaunch a few years back, I’ve doubled-down on collecting the House of Iron once more. Right now, there are several more Orlock gangers on my desk in various stages of assembly, and I’ve even bought a set of Atalan Jackals with the intent of kit bashing them into Orlock bikers. Only problem is… they’re in the Warhammer Community office, and now they’ll have to stay there until the lockdown is over.
Which segues nicely into my current project. Well, just before all this started, my good friend Bryan Glasspool helped me build a veritable Titan Legion ready for some games of Adeptus Titanicus. With a Warlord, Warbringer, two Reavers, three Warhounds and six assorted Imperial Knights built, I’ve got lots to be getting on with. My progress so far is three mostly-painted Warhounds. I’ve really no idea what I’m doing though – just painting them in colours I enjoy. Somewhere deep down, I think I might be making them match a Horus Heresy Dark Angels army... that preview of The Lion may have hit me harder than I expected.
Which leads me to return a question to you, dear reader! Nothing inspires me more than seeing other people’s amazing Warhammer efforts, it’s what’s keeping me going right now. So, if you fancy giving me, and everyone else in the Warhammer Community team, a bit of a boost – share your progress with the hashtag we’re all using: #WarhammerCommunity
Thanks, Adam. That’s a fine collection of collections you’ve got there! As he said, we’d all love to see what you’ve got on your desks at the moment, so share with us on our Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Age of Sigmar Facebook pages, Twitter and Instagram.