Rogue Memories

It’s December in the late 1980s and all over the UK children are pawing through that year’s Argos catalogue, impatiently flicking past endless pages of radio alarm clocks and home fitness machines to find the all important toys’ section. There, amongst the plastic ranks of Masters of the Universe, Zoids and Transformers, a new range -that year’s hottest playground accessory- stands out,  Nergal Snega’s posable Warhammer 40,000 action figures.

Now, if you’re of a certain age and currently feeling a hint of discombobulation to go with the back pain, never fear, you’re not having an episode rather you’ve just discovered the strange hauntological world of artist, and former Games Workshop employee, Tammy Nicholls. 

Tammy posted the first Warhammer 40,000 action figure she’d designed and sculpted to her tears_of_envy Instagram page earlier this year, inspiring a mixture of delight and confusion. Since then she’s continued to expand both the range -recreating several iconic Rogue Trader era Space Marine colourways, limited edition Games Day figurines and now Space Elves- and the fictional story behind the figures’ manufacturer, Nergal Snega, and their often ill fated employees.

The days of Rick Priestley exhorting Warhammer players to get busy with used yoghurt pots may be long gone but the game continues to inspire endless waves of creativity from fanfic and art to all kinds of kitbashed chimeras. Tammy’s creations though, with their attention to period detail and the nagging possibility that they just might have actually existed, caught our eye like nothing else. Curious to know the story behind both them and their creator we went in search of answers...

Wyrd Science: For a good few years you worked as a graphic designer for Games Workshop, so what’s your Warhammer origin story?

Tammy: My father is quite a sci-fi buff having grown up on serials like Journey Into Space in the 1950s. He fed my sister and I a diet of Nigel Kneale, Hammer Horror and Tolkien. 

When I discovered Warhammer it made sense and I was instantly intrigued by the miniaturisation aspect of it. It wasn’t long before I was confusing my parents with requests for things called ‘Chaos Renegades’. 

They were slightly worried. 

My fascination continued, particularly in the visual side, and in about 2004 I met John Blanche. I ended up running his personal website and working on his Femme Militant range before I joined Games Workshop in 2012 as a graphic designer.

WS: Alongside the action figures your Instagram page showcases a lot of your kitbashed models, what is it about that part of the hobby that particularly attracts you?

T: I think the hobby presents a fascinating opportunity to create within a narrative framework. It’s quite unlike anything else out there. There are guidelines, but a huge amount of sanctioned freedom. I suppose conversions are like LEGO MOCs or endorsed literary fanfic. 

It’s the opportunity to create which drew me to kitbashing and the INQ28 scene in the 2010s. I have always been a frustrated sculptor as I found the process messy and time consuming. 

3D printing removed a lot of the barriers for me, allows for multiple copies and it’s now one of my favourite aspects of my hobby since I started to learn about a year ago.