First Post

So, this is the first post of my blog. I guess I should outline what got me to 'here'.

The purpose of this blog is to document my journey back into more active wargaming participation – whether discussions or displays of painting and modelling, rules discussion, retrospectives, or even tournament reports(!). 

About me (or 'who the hell are you?')

I am (historically) a keen 40k player. My hobby participation and gaming background started in the early 90's around Late Rogue Trader/early 2nd Ed until the end of 5th Ed, and I (relatively recently) took up Warhammer Fantasy (6th Ed onwards) as well. My hobby participation did however go on a steep decline following the birth of my first child.  

I've (again, historically) actively travelled and placed highly in a number of 40k competitions here in NZ and Australia, won a number of Best Painted awards, won a few Best Army awards, and also won a sportsmanship award at a GW 40kGT (the only member of my gaming club to do so at a 40k GT I might add...). And made a lot of great friends on the journey - both personal and 'hobby inspirational' - which has been the biggest 'win' for me.

I've also written articles for the Asia-Pacific edition of White Dwarf (back when Dave Taylor and Justin Keyes were editors), which may be discussed as part of a Redux post.

What armies I collect/play

My first army was Space Wolves, and I played them exclusively until 3rd ed. 40k. Over time I have built/painted/used and sold:

40k

3x Space Wolf armies

Novamarines

Eldar Harlequin-themed army

2+ Tau armies

Necons

Chaos

Orks

WHFB

Dwarfs

Ogres

High Elves

My current list of armies owned is:

40k

Astra Militarum (mostly painted)

Adepta Sororitas (mostly painted)

Inquisition (partly painted, less 'army', more 'ally')

Tempestus Militarum (not painted, Inquisition duties)

Grey Knights (partly painted, less 'army', more 'ally')

Space Marines (Deathwatch... and not painted at all)

Word Bearers (pretty much fully painted apart from a few units to add)

Space Wolves (collecting... for the inevitable return once inspiration really gets 'hjolda' of me)

WHFB

Lizardmen (pretty much fully painted, a few units to add or old models to replace - I'm looking at you Terradons)

BFG 

Space Marine fleet (fully painted), plus some Imperial Cruisers (probably enough for a force by themselves, status a bit unknown)

Blood Bowl

Human team x2 or x3 (fully painted), I think I have a Dark Elf and Chaos team somewhere in a container as well (haven't had a breath of paint, let alone glue anywhere near them).

As you can see, as far as 40k goes it's fairly Imperio-centric. For WHFB, Lizardmen cover all the bases I need, although I would love to do a (mostly) mounted WoC force at some point in the (distant) future. But let's focus on the models at hand and not lose focus already, shall we??  

So what's it about?

Games Workshop games mainly, and everything involved with them. It will primarily focus on painting and modelling (the two things I have most control of at the moment!) but will include tournaments, possibly tournament reports, gaming, tactics, army lists, playstyles as well as other fluffy stuff like background that I am interested in. The odd post may digress completely but you get the general gist. I hope to encourage people to discuss stuff I post as well.

Why now? (or 'what's the inspiration to blog?')

The advent of children into my life has curtailed my hobby activity and participation somewhat, however as they get older and my life becomes more organised (or is that less disorganised?) l am wanting to rediscover the hobby, and finally get some of those models that have been sitting in containers for up to 15 years completed and painted!

In June this year I was in the UK, and took the opportunity to make a 'pilgrimage' to GWHQ Nottingham. What a place! Amazing. More on that in a future post, but the essence is that this visit really inspired me to grab a hold of my passion with two hands and rediscover the things that made me so keen on it in the first place.

With the aforementioned young children and the associated activities around them I don't get much (read: any) time to attend my local club at the moment, I rarely participate in any wargaming forums these days either, so I have decided blogging is a way I can connect with my wargaming community from my semi-isolated position, particularly late at night when the kids are in bed and there is time to metaphorically breathe.

The objective (or 'why are you blogging about it?')

The objective of this blog is to provide me with some more inspiration/compunction to keep up with my hobby and get these ideas out of my head and onto the modelling or playing table - as well as sharing ideas, thoughts, memories, and encouraging debate about this hobby that I am (and I assume any readers are) passionate about. 

Over time this might evolve to something else, but at the moment... this is it.

If possible or practicable, I may have a list of models that are to be finished to help give a guide on my progress. No promises though...

How often will I post? (or 'will it be worthwhile adding you to the list of Blogs I follow?')

While I can't make the 'worthwhile' decision for you, and I make no promises or any other guarantees on regularity (I do intend to make semi-regular posts) or quality (eye of the beholder and all that), it will hopefully be more than once a week assuming Life^TM does not get in the way. But I will be happy with something regular - whatever that becomes - once I get properly underway.

And, with any luck, the blog will be about topics and things that interest you enough to comment.

'Other Things' for readers to consider

I only play GW games - while I appreciate other gaming systems, and their models, and the passion that others have for these games (or that people use Other Companies Miniatures to play GW games - good on them if that's what they want to do, but it's not for me) - I only collect, paint and play GW models and games. It takes all my (limited) time and energy and passion, and any invitation or attempted compulsion to play something else will be greeted by a "thanks, but not for now"-esque response... for now.