I’ve been attending Arc40k as a player, an organiser and a passionate hobbyist for more than 20 years! So, I hope that with this series of articles I can chronicle Arc40k. I hope that through sharing some memories & experiences I can convey what being at Arc40k was about.
So just like Marty and the Doc it’s time to jump into the Delorean (a time machine that’s part of the greatest family movie of all time) so let’s dial up a time in ArcHistory and head BACK to see what it was all about - back to 2011.
To understand a little bit about 2011 we have to keep winding back the clock to mid 2010. This Time thing - phew! Anyway let’s start back ther….
Arc40k had just had been the first 40k event in Australia to hit 200 players. Mark Morrison and WATT had hit the peak.
At the time I had quite a good relationship with Mark Morison - the longest serving TO and guy that set the benchmark for what Arc40k was all about!
I helped out regularly with Arc40k logistics (carry tabletops and driving the truck) and I saw him on and off in the CBD where I worked at the time. So it wasn’t unusual that one day he asked me if I was free to have breakfast one morning later that week with him and Dave Munro.
We just start chatting away, coffees, small talk, and then Mark asks... 'How would you like to run Arc40k?'
I heard what he said, but I didn't really comprehend it at the time, because to me Mark ran Arc40k. Mark Morrison was Arc40k…
After Mark talked me through the fact that 2011 was to be his last year organising the event and that he and his team were looking to announce the new TO at the event, and do a little hand over with the players, I agreed.
I remember walking to work after the meeting, not sure what to think.
What in the actual F#*k did I just agree to?
It occurred to me I had 5 or so months before the 2011 event, and an army to work out, so planning for an event 18 months away can wait. Not too long, but it can.
Who would help?
2011 was going to be my 10th Year as an Arc Veteran. It was an interesting time, I knew it would probably be my last Arc40k army for a while, and as my wife was pregnant, probably needed to be a lower model count as time was definitely going to go fast. That and...
what the hell am I going to do in 2012 running Arc40k?
As it turned out the road got a lot rockier, with all that was going on in life my Arc40k army got squeezed out the side. Eventually I settled on taking an Iron Hands army made up from a variety of models from my previous 4 Iron Hand armies and I'd touch them up to make them cohesive.
Early January 2011, we were on baby watch for most of the month but not due until end of February, with Arc40k being held on the Australia Day weekend things would not be an issue.
After registration, the rumours started to circulate that Mark and WATT were hanging up the boots. If I hadn't been asked to take over I wouldn't know what to think. The people around certainly had questions. Who would run it? Would it run?
It started like a rock concert, with 140 odd gamers screaming the chorus to Rage Against the Machines, Killing in the Name, which also happened to be the title of the Round 1 mission.
Mark was in fine form telling us just how many times the 'F' word had just been said. I didn't fare to well with my games over the first 3 rounds. The next 2 missions 'Eye of the Tiger' & 'Take a Long Line', showed us all that Mark continued to lead the way on making his tournament an event with a musical theme to each mission.
Day 2, began similar to Day 1...
Enter Sandman, a crowd of raucous gamers chanting 'EXITTT LIGHT.... ENTER NIGHT!!' with Mark standing at the front conducting the chant like his own personal orchestra.
I didn't win too many games in 2011 and I knew at this point it was my preparation, Round 5 'Holiday in Cambodia', came and went, a solid mission in true Arc style.
Their final Arc40k was turning into one of their best... Round 6... How do you finish this fine musical Line up... Motorhead's, The Ace of Spades.
The players were buzzing. Mark started talking through the mission... when my phone rang. It was on, I had to go...
My son was born before the end of Round 6. My Round 6 baby.
The Award Ceremony was WATT at their finest, recognising everyone who had played a part in the building of the event over 15 years, to laying out the Codex Fez for the first time, to gifting every player with their own Fez, the symbol of WATT, a group of men who didn't care about the outcome of the game only the spirit in which it was played.
Check out the video from YouTube posted by RubbishInRubbishOut.
But this isn't over... the story continues in 2012... :)
Do you have an Arc40k story? Where life and Arc40k strangely combined to create a life memory? I'd love to hear about it to add to other articles. Send me an email dan@arc40k.com.
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