Interview With Fred Reed

[@FredElleDesigns]

Was a pleasure talking with you mate.

[@JonnyWatsonGaming]

Ahh no no the pleasure was all mine! 👌👍🍺

[@thecrownofcommand5830]

I am so glad you had a chance to speak with Fred mate. Great interview.

[@JonnyWatsonGaming]

Ahh cheers mate. Yeah it was a beautiful end to a fun project. 👌❤️

[@dalefoster4561]

Game is "Dark Future" (Mad Max Vibes)

[@JonnyWatsonGaming]

Ahh you legend!!! Thank you 🙏

[@WarHogz]

What a legend. I frequently re-read my old WDs and always wonder where the guys that featured, ended up. Great to hear he's still heavily involved in the hobby and Fred, if you read this, thanks for all the inspiration. Must be a nice feeling to not only know you inspired so many people all those years ago, but decades later, they can still remember your work so clearly.

[@JonnyWatsonGaming]

Thank you for you comment. I really hope Fred sees this coz you hit the nail on the head. Guys like him are still inspiring to this day. Thank you so much for your comment.

[@colbillington]

Splendid interview with the living legend Fred

[@JonnyWatsonGaming]

Really glad you enjoyed it 👌🙏

[@wanntime1894]

That was awesome recently brought that edition of white dwarf . Can't beat the old skool GW. Nice one mate.

[@JonnyWatsonGaming]

Really glad you enjoyed it mate. 👍

[@alanmorgan3490]

Still a legend! Best area manager I had by far way back in the 90s. Had Abaddon's Thunderhawk in my cabinet for a month. Total class.

[@JonnyWatsonGaming]

Yeah he is a top bloke! Shame we don’t see more of him in the gaming world

[@purpleplp]

What a lovely guy! Such a shame the original army got destroyed, but I love that it’s kinda come full circle with the cos play! Some great stories!

[@JonnyWatsonGaming]

Yeah he was a gentleman and was great fun to talk to. Yeah it’s great to see him in such an active role for the hobby albeit a different avenue 👍

[@ja37d-34]

I remember that army and his Battle Report well. Cool!

[@JonnyWatsonGaming]

Such an iconic battle report

[@CullodenPaintingStudio]

Thanks Jonny and Fred for having this chat and sharing it. RIP the OG Howling Griffons!

[@JonnyWatsonGaming]

Ahh no worries 👌 ahh I know it makes me feel sad lol 😂

[@LOCATION_REDACTED]

I had no idea Fred was ex military, though in retrospect I suppose it was obvious. I was a child when I met him, he seemed badass but was also approachable. The 90’s at Broad Weir was the coolest vibe.

[@JonnyWatsonGaming]

Yeah really cool guy. Yeah there were a few things I did not know about until that interview. He’s a legend of 90s GW! 👌

[@michaelgrey1351]

Great interview, thanks to you both. Fred's work impacted a lot of us. I hopr he knows that.

[@JonnyWatsonGaming]

Thanks you. I certainly tried to put that across to him. 👍

[@kharnifex]

Heroquest and Space crusade was the gateway drug for me

[@JonnyWatsonGaming]

Yeah Heroqusest was soo good. It was the gateway for soo many

[@lordpicklefartthemighty4231]

Loved looking at Fred’s army’s in the Bristol gw, especially loved his space wolves.

[@JonnyWatsonGaming]

He was an epic army builder and painter!

[@lordpicklefartthemighty4231]

@@JonnyWatsonGaming definitely rate him up there with Mike mcvey

[@JonnyWatsonGaming]

Yeah he is massively underrated compared to other well known names out there in my opinion

[@jh7605]

Fred mentioned that his Howling Griffons featured as the first non-studio army in a battle report, but... That's not quite true! He painted a Biel Tan Eldar army that featured in UK White Dwarf 171 in the battle report "Witch Hunt". Although Fred didn't get to play his army (Jake Thornton did), it was mentioned at the start of the batrep that the rest of Fred's army would be featured in a future WD. I can't remember if it ever did "properly" get a follow-up article, but I'm sure I do remember seeing more of it in print at some point. I wonder if this is part of the Biel Tan army that Fred mentioned his Howling Griffons were originally designed to fight? Maybe you Johnny can find a copy of that WD, recreate the Eldar army, and then do a batrep between the Eldar and Marines...? 😉 Also, growing up in Bristol, I'd like to comment on the frankly huge and amazing Epic armies on display at the store there, and the many questions questions that Fred patiently fielded from young me about them. Thanks Fred! ❤

[@JonnyWatsonGaming]

Ooo this is very interesting! Now got to look into this. Also I like that challenge, to do the batrap that never happened 👌👍 thank you for your comment and hopefully Fred will pop over to have a read and maybe clarify the 171 statement 👌👍

[@jh7605]

@@JonnyWatsonGaming Yeah, the White Dwarf issue had the same cover as the 2nd Edition Eldar Codex cover (Geoff Taylor's Dire Avenger Exarch painting). Fred's Eldar army in that report remained one my favourites, and not until Jonas Ekestam's Eldar was shown many years later did anything hold a candle to Fred's fantastic efforts! The only tricky/expensive thing in recreating that army would be the arms for the metal Guardians, but luckily the new plastic kit ones are a good match and much cheaper. The rest is easy and cheap(ish) enough to source. And, in case you wondered, the Guardian leaders had banner poles made from dressmaker's pins, hence the big bobble on each. 😎👍

[@JonnyWatsonGaming]

@@jh7605 Yeah its hard to beat Freds Armies. Ok I will have to look into this and see how much it would cost to get it all second hand. I need to pull out this WD now lol 😆

[@jh7605]

@@JonnyWatsonGaming Well, the only *small* fly in the ointment is that the Eldar are a 1500pt force, and the HG are a 2000pt force... But adding in something like a Vyper, another Aspect squad, and maybe an Exarch would bring them up to the same 2000pts, and still keep to a Biel Tan style of force. Anyway, I'd love to see what you do! 😁 I also remember that there were tutorials for the studio jungle trees and red-spined cacti at some point - if you fancy giving them a go, I'll try and dig out the WD issue numbers if you'd like? 🙂

[@JonnyWatsonGaming]

@@jh7605 Yeah im deffo going to look into do this. It would be a great army challenge. Going to be later in the year tho as im now working on a Bretonnian army for ToW. Regarding the cacti i have made some using this book kzbin.info/www/bejne/nXqvn3-JpZxsabMsi=MRmoUAIH0fLfZDQ8