Monday 27 February 2017

A friend has passed away - Pete Armstrong AKA Greblord.


I thought 2016 was bad. Life is starting to suck this year as well. I knew Pete a little back in the 80's when I worked in GW Manchester and he was a Sheffield counterpart. He was a bit of a legend as he wrote painting guides as well...the early Citadel catalogue ones were his. I didn't see him for many years barring a stint at a sheffield Triples, possibly in the early 90's, where he was getting rid of some of his collection...I got the impression he was having bad times but he didn't see me and I didn't feel comfortable interrupting. A couple of years back another friend (Mark Hides of http://reallifesabugger.blogspot.co.uk fame amongst many others) tried to get identification of an old Asgard mini which I identified and then borrowed the pic for the Lost Minis WIKI, not thinking about the source. I edited the colours as the paint job (not his) was not so good.....


Pete then posted on another forum about having seen his picture stolen and used etc. The forum defended me as it has never been for financial game and I admitted I should have asked him, he admitted he'd blown it out of proportion and from then we corresponded regularly about the hobby and life in general. He, like myself at the time, was married (happily, unlike mine) with 3 munchkins. We saw each other at last year's Salute (2016) but missed each other at the post show drinkathon as we'd set up at different ends of the pub - we had a quick 5 minutes as he was leaving to catch his train and that was the last I saw of him. We carried on corresponding until it stopped later last year. His own blog http://greblord-littlemen.blogspot.co.uk/ was last updated in November 2016. He was a great character as many other people have pointed out and leaves behind his wife and 3 little girls. I'm sad. 2017 is not starting too well. 

Lots of Pete's pics on his Google+ account https://plus.google.com/+PeterArmstrong

Live long and prosper Pete, many will be raising a toast to you.

6 comments:

Mr Papafakis said...

That's very sad news indeed:( I loved seeing his blog posts, showcasing his oldschool minis. In a strange, ethereal kinda way he's still around....with all of his blog posts visible for all to see for many years to come.

I'm very sorry to hear of his passing.

Mark Hides said...

Pete was a master of blowing things up, destroying egos, and trained a generation of pain in the as teens aka 'The Limpets' in verbal self defence. It is not too much to say he shaped many of us for the rest of our lives and gave a few of us hang ups, that We wear as badges of honour.

Sleep well Pete, we'll be at your counter causing trouble, soon enough.

Phil Curran said...

I met him a few times when starting in this hobby and was a follower of his blog. Sad news of his passing.

Asslessman said...

Didn't know him apart from his models but he was one of us.
I'm sorry for his family and friends.

zhu bajiee said...

Long time follower and ardent admirer of his blog. Thoughts with those who knew him.

bryan ansell said...

I used to spend a lot of time hanging about in our games shops. Pete was certainly always the number one solid bloke to choose to be hanging about with.