The Beginnings of the Obsession

Well, that is actually misleading, because this "obsession" has been going on for some time now. It is my once hidden, now only semi-hidden fascination with Warhammer.

I have camped on the edges of the hobby off-and-on for 10 years. I started by playing with a friend who had tons of miniatures but no real game-playing experience (his "games" consisted of a a wacky "total anhiliation" setting where his tooled out hippogriff-riding god-knight would butcher everything on the board...and then he would win). It was intriguing because all the little toy soldiers were made of pewter, so they were heavy, and they made dents in the walls when you got pissed and threw them because your souped-up hero died to a lowly empire swordman.

About a year later I found that they actually could be painted! Wow! I then spent 10+ hours painting a single plastic Ultramarine terminator. It was amazing to see something dull and lifeless take on color and character (of course, my terminator lead a pretty ugly existence, being my first paintjob and all). Still, the majority of my friend's miniatures were gleaming metal or bland gray. I was not going to spend 100 hours painting a squad of Marines or a unit of Knights when, instead, I could have my 1200 point Wood Elf Lord on Dragon prance around the tabletop eating horses and great cannons.

Time passed, and my involvement in the hobby consisted of the occasional Blood Bowl game and me flicking through old White Dwarfs in the bathroom. Soon I was off to college and the only contact I had with my precious Warhammer world was through old magazines I read when I was home visiting for the holidays...

Well, I've graduated, and somehow found myself back in the pages of White Dwarf magazine and all the lovely miniatures that are found within. I started my current collection by purchasing someone's old collection of Eldar on eBay. Then I bought some more stuff. And some more. And speed forward to present day Portland, I'm loaded with Eldar, Witch Hunters, Skaven, Tomb Kings, and some pesky Lizardmen that I'm trying like hell to get rid of. I just held off on buying someone's tank lot on eBay. Do I need any more tanks? No, but it was a good deal, and I could have traded them on BarterTown for some more fun stuff...

So this is my long-winded way of saying that I'm copying some people's ideas to keep an online diary of my quest to paint, collect, and play Warhammer and Warhammer 40k. Hopefully I don't forget about this tomorrow, and I keep updating it to feel some measure of accomplishment.