Sayonara mon amis. It's been an honour.

[ashmie]

It's with a slightly heavy heart and with a certain sense of relief that I've finally decided to leave Japan for the foreseeable future. It's been a great 10 - 11 years of self discovery. In that time I've met many fantastic people from all over the world, not just Japan, folks who I would have never had the opportunity to meet otherwise. I've learnt a lot about the culture, the hardcore business/work ethic and a little of the language. In this time I managed to get married, have a son and get divorced which is an experience I wouldn't change for anything. Had I known how tough it was going to be I may have handled things better but hey easier in hindsight.



I managed to start a local games group in my town which now runs monthly and is brilliantly managed by my good friend Satoru and the ladz. It's really gone from strength to strength with 3 or 5 people up to about 40. There's even a games cafe now too.
I've hiked mountains, sung endless karaoke until 4am closing, run 2 year long RPG campaigns on Friday evenings with my ever patient roleplay group (thank you sincerely Gentlemen from the bottom of my heart, these were some really memorable sessions which I shall cherish forever), played umpteen battles of Warhammer with probably some of the best strategists in South East Asia. Created a successful you tube channel with my alta ego Gloy, made silly little storytelling podcasts of weird fiction which were largely misunderstood. Sang in a live ska band in Matsusaka performing Specials and Marley covers! Came out as a trans person and experimented with cross dress and drag. Been on endless dates with beautiful people and day trips to some really amazing and wonderful places. Taken many many wonderful baths which won't ever be equaled I'm sure. Ate probably some of the most delicious food in the world.
Living here really is magical and like living a dream. The land of the lotus eaters. Why would anyone ever leave?
Well the cards have been stacked against me for sometime now and when your life plays out year after year like a Johnny Cash song it's important to know when to quit.
Losing my wife, my son, my house and my job in that order. Almost in 6 months time it all happened. Thank god I don't have a dog!
I'll miss you all dearly and I really hope you'll visit England someday. Kettles always on. Thank you for being friends guys. I love you.
I'm here until the end of the month if you fancy a stroll, cuppa or a final sayonara.
Live long and party on dudes. It's been emotional Peace.

Nagoyahammer must go on! Keep it going forever. I hope to visit someday and would love to attend again. Great work and thank you to this community for being there when I needed you and when it mattered. Couldn't have lived here as long without you guys. Cheers.

[Primarch]

Hey Ash,

Sorry to hear that you are leaving. I guess it's easy to let ourselves believe that everyone will be around forever. I'll do my best to keep NagoyaHammer (both the site and the event) going, so feel free to stop by as amd when you can.

Going back to the UK certainly opens up some new possibilities for you. New job, new life, new hobby and all that jazz. You'll certainly have more opportunities than you do here, so take your time to explore things and to enjoy yourself. I've heard that going home can be quite hard after living here for a long time (reverse culture shock), so take it easy and keep an open mind.

I'll always remember our first games of Black Powder, your plucky Prussians squaring off against my bold Brits. Good times! And our game of Hail Caesar last winter was a blast as well.

All the best for the future. Don't forget to keep us posted on your new life as an ex-ex-pat, or should that be ex-gaijin?

Have fun,
Stuart.

[job]

Adieu Monsieur

It has been always good having you in our games and conversations.

Of course, your posts are still appreciated so don't refrain from typing your life and hobby related thoughts on here. I look forward to hearing about life in Merry Old England. (At least that's what I imagine as a gaijin to your country: )

I'll always enjoy the game of FoW, BP and 40k games we had.

Good luck with the move and the next turn in your life. I hope it brings happiness and luck with all your dice rolls.

Joseph

[Colonel Voss]

Best of luck to you. I hope your stress will be relieved by this.

[Lovejoy]

We've chatted about it a bit online, and as I said, I do think it's the right thing for you at the moment. Gather your energies and dust yourself off sort of thing. It's been a wild ride for you this year or two.

Well. I wouldn't be tabletop gaming again now if I hadn't spoken to you via that Call of Cthulhu rpg forum, and then arranged to meet in person in Kyoto! You were in Yellow Submarine, playing 40k when we first shook hands and said hello to each other. As soon as I saw what my past teenage hobby had evolved into, I knew I had to do it again.
That was around 2008, though it seems longer, and it was a mini-golden age of gaming for me, as I was rediscovering both rpg and tabletop mini gaming. Good times were shared, spent in the Old World especially, whether we were saving Bogenhafen from devilry or sailing down the Reik in a leaky barge. Not to be forgotten. Charges with the Brets, the dual of the giants on the ubiquitous green citadel mat..those were the days.
They will be fondly remembered...

[kojibear]

Good luck Ash as you step on to a new path back to an old destination. May the journey be a safe and happy one.

Playing Warhammer Fantasy with you - when it was still fantasy - was so much fun, full of laughter and heroics both foolish and bold. Just how it should be.

Pop in to the fourm as often as you can and hope to see you again soon.

As Picard would say: 'Engage!' and 'Make it so!'

[ashmie]

Thanks for the support lads. Yeah there were some good games back in the day. I'll never forget the first Nagoyahammer turning up and seeing 10 or 12 tables of scratch built terrain and different planet settings. Having only played on a green roll mat with a few hills before that was a turning point for me. As time went on the scenery got progressively more awesome with the Napoleonic house kits and things like Mikes flames of war train and church. Very lucky indeed.
I was saying to MiJ the glory days for me were 2009 - 2012 before I got messed up with PTSD after the earthquake and basically when life was never stressful. I remember back then being 100 percent happy at home, in my relationship and loving my job as an ALT in elementary school. It's amazing how the pressures of day to day life can build up.
I feel lucky to have experienced that hobby bubble paradise. Like it was going to last forever. Perhaps it still can. Goonies never say die.
I know I wasn't always easy to get along with and in the past when I was stressed at work or home I would batter the forums with bad attitude concerning something mundane about base sizes or some such nonsense. But know that NH has meant a lot to me and when it was good it was really great. More time spent gaming the better for everyone, I still feel that.
So it's not goodbye but good luck and roll well. I shall miss you.
I'll promote the events as much as I can to get fresh players for 40k and Bolt Action etc

Secretly bricking it about going home as I love Japan and have a certain amount of Stockholm syndrome to get through after my divorce but I think I'll treat it as a holiday and take it from there. I'll try to start a club back home I think who knows double it up as a tea garden and keep things old skool.

By the power of Sigmar keep the real Old World alive.
Best wishes from the Mie swamps and center palace.

[ashmie]

The epic bouts of Talisman with alcohol, the Dreddathon table at Fort Spevna, the ridiculous Warhammer fantasy quests that went on for 6 to 18 months and you still hadn't left the Inn, the time I flamed down a whole town in Dark Heresy during the RPG festival, the complete lack of tactics or strategy with orcs and Ultramarines just dashing forward like red shirts, the time on my birthday when some of us accidentally got locked in the smallest hottest room in center palace with only cake, tea and a copy of Android to give us the biggest migraine ever. I'm just going to keep adding things to this thread as they come to mind.
The special mission to kill a Giant!
The homemade Mordheim board that looked like a giant chocolate box and confirmed to my wife that yes I was indeed mad working on it night after night on the kitchen floor.
What a blast
The time I nearly cried when Lovejoy said he was going to collect orcs too. Lol! Hilarious.
You couldn't write some of it.
The all weekend Cthulhu games and reconstruction of Tol Brandir from Lord of the Rings.
I think you guys saved me from Larp and military reenactment. For this I'm grateful.

[ashmie]

Space Hulk and Blood Bowl. Advanced Heroquest. Painting before rainy season and after the summer cools down with the windows open. Ordering shed loads of minis from GW Nottingham when the yen was really high against the pound. Getting heat stroke in Summer while trying to spray undercoat a skaven tolling bell (still unpainted).
Genuinely having more hobby than sense.
Collecting the old Merp minis and LOTR line from ebay. Getting into historical with the Prussians and Flames of War Brits. Getting turned away at GW stores for being a veteran. Painting my first Warhammer Wood Elf Army spending ages on them and marveling how quickly they get wiped off the table.
Oh it just goes on. What a life.
RPG Campaigns completed at table: The Enemy Within
Lichemaster
Spawn of Azathoth
Masks of Nyarlathotep (Until Shanghai)
Many other homebrews and one shots.

Online: The One Ring The Darkening of Mirkwood and Trouble at the Carrock.
Dr Who The Invasion, Patrick Troughton era
IT the roleplay one shot
Steve Jackson's House of Hell (ran twice) No one made it
Downton Cthulhu
Evil Dead Cthulhu
Corporation RPG
The Death Maze
Temple of the Restless Eye (Cthulhu in Tibet)

Nagoyahammers attended: 2010? 2011, 2012 and 2014.

Kansai Jigg golden week: 2014

Center Palace, Fort Spevna, Kuwana games, Ogaki: Many many happy times.

Cheers Da Ladz.