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 The Power Cosmic wrote:

 Nevelon wrote:

Longstrider wrote:
To this day I don't know what makes a butty a butty but I certainly know what makes a White Scar and what makes a good magazine. I hope he gets as much good times as possible before the end.

To this point, could someone on the other side of the pond explain what a Bacon Butty is? I recall them frequently being referenced in WD but never knew exactly what they were?

Seems the sort of thing that should be had to pay tribute to the Fat Bloke

No idea here. I imagine them as a mass-produced breakfast sandwich kind of like an egg mcmuffin, but with just bacon? And you get them at the gas station?

A Bacon Butty isn't a specific product by any one firm. It's a generic term used to describe two slices of bread, with butter on the inside of both halves and then cooked bacon slices between.

Bacon Butty often gets used when its slices of bread
Bacon Bap often gets used when its a roll instead of break slices.


And honestly I've not really seen them at 'gas stations' but rather at country shows from vendors and in your general cafe, pubs, roadside food vendors and the like.

Sad news indeed.

Best wishes for him and his family.

 Overread wrote:

 The Power Cosmic wrote:

 Nevelon wrote:

Longstrider wrote:
To this day I don't know what makes a butty a butty but I certainly know what makes a White Scar and what makes a good magazine. I hope he gets as much good times as possible before the end.

To this point, could someone on the other side of the pond explain what a Bacon Butty is? I recall them frequently being referenced in WD but never knew exactly what they were?

Seems the sort of thing that should be had to pay tribute to the Fat Bloke

No idea here. I imagine them as a mass-produced breakfast sandwich kind of like an egg mcmuffin, but with just bacon? And you get them at the gas station?

A Bacon Butty isn't a specific product by any one firm. It's a generic term used to describe two slices of bread, with butter on the inside of both halves and then cooked bacon slices between.

Bacon Butty often gets used when its slices of bread
Bacon Bap often gets used when its a roll instead of break slices.


And honestly I've not really seen them at 'gas stations' but rather at country shows from vendors and in your general cafe, pubs, roadside food vendors and the like.

I think it is acceptable to call a sandwich made with a bap a butty, but I think you give the general trend.

Bap does open up a whole cornucopia of regional names for bread rolls. I'm a bap person or sometimes bun, but there are many others- cob, barm cake etc...

Edit: for those across the pond, sauces are also acceptable on a bacon butty, most notably red or brown (tomato ketchup or.. well, brown sauce). I am also partial to adding excess bacon grease from the pan.

UK bacon is typically back bacon, streaky bacon is uncommon and more of a specialty item. We like to eat more of the flesh than fat.

This reminds me that the canteen at the hospital I work at does a good bacon butty and I will join those having one in Mr Sawyer's honour later this week.

Because my class level has increased, I know have apple sauce in mine.

Sad to hear about Paul, did a lot to 'regularise' the historicals scene and grow it with new players.

Really sad to hear about Paul. A legend of the scene and had a hugely positive impact on millions of people over the years. I know getting a diagnosis like this is truly awful, but I hope that he knows that he has had a global impact on his time in the hobby and will be well remembered.

It's awful, and sad.

Hope the best for him and that he can recover so much as possible.

Godspeed, Paul. Thank you for all you've done for our community. Now make the most of your remaining time with yours.

Incredibly saddened to hear this.

He's been listing a lot on facebook marketplace for a few months now, but this explains why. There's lots of hidden, rare, and unseen gems in what he's listing, and I imagine the money would really help him and his family out.

I really appreciate the clarification on the butty. It DOES seem silly, but quite clearly a number of us have shared strong memories of him talking them up. I'm not much of a back bacon fan but I'll have one and wish Paul the best.

Very sad to hear. I hope he's able to make the most of the time he has.

Funny is, he also was the first Manager of the German White Dwarf from December 1994 to Early 1996.

Very sad news to hear.

 Gomezaddams wrote:
There's lots of hidden, rare, and unseen gems in what he's listing

What sort of thing has there been?

Incredibly sad to hear this. I hope him and his family can make the best of the time available. Met him at Games Day while he was editor once and he was a lovely guy.

I guess I'll probably live to see all these figures from my youth become ill. A grievous blow.

Very sad to hear this. Paul and the rest of the WD crew from that era are something of celebrities within the Wargaming hobby, the time when you would sit and re-read the magazine over and over and you felt like you got to know them personally. I did actually get to meet him very briefly on the Warlord stand at Salute and actually froze a bit/was star-struck - which is kind of funny for a middle-aged man to do, but I think shows how important and impactful Paul and the other guys in the magazine were back then.

He seems like a genuinely nice man and with such an infectious enthusiasm for the hobby. Thoughts with him and his family.

Heartbreaking news.

Back in the day when he took a chance on a bunch of fanboys he only knew via a mutual friend to fill out the writer count for the Index Astartes series, my Emperor's Children first draft was not up to par - I'd never written professionally before, or really much of anything besides fanfic that I can see looking back had a long way to go. That was a big series with no doubt a lot of plates in the air at the office that all had to come in on time, frankly it'd likely have saved him a lot of hassle to send a kindly-worded 'thanks for your effort' and hand it to someone with experience writing for work, but he laid out what I needed to fix - supporting but not sugar-coating - and gave me the time to rewrite from the ground up. At the time I was just relieved I hadn't blown my chance, but I can see now he'd have weighed that against the very real possibility it'd turn into a problem he'd have to waste time solving later when deadlines were looming closer, and he went out on a limb because he knew what it'd mean to some kid to see their name in WD.

That was my only interaction with him (besides getting a Games Day programme signed, which was beforehand), but I think back on it any time I'm rereading an old issue from when he was at the helm. Top bloke.

I wrote an expletives filled post to express my emotions about hearing this sad news. Quickly deleted it since it’s not appropriate for here.

This is really…really sad, and horrific news. I don’t know what else to say really, besides feeling very…very sad

Sorry to hear this and hope Paul will pull threw

Sadly there isn't any pulling through. I hope he can find peace and happiness before end.

This was very bad news to hear.

It was Paul that gave me my first proper start in games writing, first with the Citadel Journal/BFG Magazine and then with White Dwarf. We have stayed in contact and done the odd project together over the years.

He is, as they say, a Top Bloke.

I do, however, think that he will be gratified to learn that, amongst all the messages of well-wishing, there is a discussion going on about bacon butties...

Real heartbreaking news, and I really feel for Paul and his family. My own father had a inoperable and fatal cancer, so I really do understand just how devastating a diagnosis like that is. I really hope he can enjoy as much of the time he has left as possible, and I really, really hope his family, and everyone who gets to spend time with him now, lets him know how much he is loved and appreciated.

His time at White Dwarf is one of the foundational memories of my wargaming, and I wish I could personally let him know how much he was appreciated.

This is terrible news as WD from the 90s is iconic and he has and still does bring a lot of joy to fans who still read those magazines.

I've just seen on his Facebook that he's considering opening a just giving/go fund me page. It's probably more worthwhile selling his FB market models on eBay too as his name alone should get a better price. I'd rather own a model once owned by Paul than buy it from a shop.

Prayers and Love to The Fat Bloke.

The man is an Officer and a Gent of the original kind.

Pour a butty out for Fat Bloke.

An icon of a golden age.

Sad news, I am to young for him to be a icon of mine, but I know a bit of all he contributed to make this hobby what it has become.

God bless him, may he go through these hardest of times in the best possible conditions.

For years at Bugman's Bar in Warhammer World, regulars of that establishment ordered the 'Fat Boy Burger', named after Paul Sawyer who designed this gastronomic treat. It stayed on the menu, named as such a few years after he'd left GW for Warlord.

He's right though, things like this happen and then you regret not playing more games.

Also, if memory serves? Part of the team that brought us the very first Tale of Four Gamers.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Also, if memory serves? Part of the team that brought us the very first Tale of Four Gamers.

Correct! I think I have that issue of WD still. That was my first real introduction to Paul when I was getting into the hobby. He bought beastmen back when the whole army was pretty much metal and spent his leftover pound on a bacon "baguette". This was likely because we don't have butties in the states and the US editor changed it to baguette rather than try to explain to us yanks what a butty is.

My friends and I did a "Tale of Three Gamers" when we did our first escalation league with our first dedicated Warhammer table.

It was and is a great concept for articles, and they did it really well.

I think there was one entry where he made use of a new store opening to bag a discount. Which is pretty clever advertising.

It would be interesting to see them try to do a Tale of Four Gamers series with a budget in the modern era...