So It Begins...

Well, i finally did it. I started a blog... 

Many people recently have said i should start a blog about my painting and gaming experiences. Not because either of them are particularly special, but more because lots of people enjoy hearing my stories about them. Why, i do not know, but yet here we are, with my first ever blog post.

A little about me before we begin.

My name is Jon. I am a complete and utter nerd (and will freely admit this to all and sundry), and have been into gaming in one form or another for as long as i can remember. It started with things like the original Nintendo swords and serpents that i could only play at my cousins house, then gradually and eventually moved into pretty much any gaming avenue you could imagine by the time i was in my teens. PC gaming, Console gaming, Tabletop gaming and role playing all became very common occurrences in my life.

PC gaming became a mainstay for me throughout my 20's, with very long stints on several of the most popular MMO's out, and shorter stints on pretty much every other MMO in existence with very few exceptions. I've played (and often completed) almost all the A and B list titles released on PC in the last two decades, with a few C grades thrown in for good measure as well. You'd think i wouldn't have had time for all of that, yet somehow i managed all of that AND also got a degree, held down a long term full time job and found a woman silly enough to agree to be my wife during that period as well.

"So what's your point" i hear you ask. Well, all that history with gaming has brought me to where i am now. I'm now in my 30's and i still find myself gaming. My wife doesn't understand it, but has readily accepted that gaming is an integral part of my life. Yet, after all this time, the virtual world has lost much of its sheen. I find it more and more difficult to immerse myself in games when i can easily see they have not been designed to challenge me, but are simply designed to waste my time. Because of this, my distaste for video games is growing. Don't get me wrong, video games will always have a place in my life, but we are growing apart to some degree. This has left a void in my life, and i have been searching for something to fill that void. Something that lets me develop skill in many areas. Something that lets me exercise my creativity. Something that forces me to exercise my mental acumen. Something that gives me a tangible, physical and real reward for my hard work. And, finally, i think i found it. "Where?! Where does such an amazing hobby exist?!" Well, my friends, i have found the amazing and intricate world of Tabletop Wargaming in the 21st century. Specifically, i found Warhammer 40,000.

I have long been interested in the world of Warhammer 40,000, or 40k in shorthand by those of us in the know, y'know. I remember being in my early teens and staring longingly at the miniatures in my local Games Workshop store. Eventually, i started playing Warhammer Fantasy with some friends in my early years at high school, but i can count on one hand the number of battles we played, and while fantasy was fun, there was always something about the glorious Space Marines that drew me to 40k.

Over the years, I'd toyed with the idea of just buying some miniatures and painting them for fun, but always talked myself out of it, saying that I'd just want to play the game too, and had no-one to play with (even though most of my friends are nerds too, no-one wanted to get into a NEW hobby). Last year, however, all of this changed. One of my good friends, Chris, got me into a Pathfinder group, for a bit of DnD fun. I'd never played DnD proper before, and it was perfect timing for me as I'd just decided to stop playing whatever MMO i was on at the time, and was hunting for my next game. Pathfinder became it, and through my Pathfinder game, I've made some great new friends, who are also like-minded nerds. After a few sessions, i decided i needed a new miniature to represent my battle-cleric, and thus - remembering my youth playing warhammer - ended up back at my local Games Workshop store. I bought a box set of High Elf Spearmen, with the intention to paint one up as my battle cleric, and i also bought a few other basics to get me started. I think i walked out with the minis, about 8 paints, and 2 brushes.

I had SO much fun modelling, converting and generally messing about with those miniatures, within the week, I'd gone back to Games Workshop twice more for more paints and a couple more brushes. I painted up my miniatures into a reasonable unit of spearmen, using lots of guides online and with FAR more patience and care than I'd used as a young teen. I converted several of the minis into various poses and was generally having an absolute blast with the whole modelling, converting and painting thing. Then i took my new model to my pathfinder game, and my gaming group were all extremely complimentary. Far too complimentary in my opinion, but they were all raving over my model. Several of them asked me to take their models home and paint or repaint them, so i did. I painted up a bunch of my DM's bad guys as well, which gave me some much needed practice.

By the time all this was done, i had completely convinced myself that i was going to buy some of my much beloved Space Marines. I had never forgotten my love affair with the glorious Legiones Astartes, and in the preceding decade had played every single 40k video game released, along with having begun reading the now extremely popular Horus Heresy series.

So i asked my pathfinder group if anyone would be interested in starting and playing 40k, fully expecting all of them to say no....yet i was pleasantly surprised when both my good friend Chris, and our DM Earl both said yes. Since that time, one of our other players, Brad, has listened to me carrying on about the joy and glory of 40k for long enough that he too has started playing.

So, i finally had people to play 40k against! Holy Crap! This was a situation i was not expecting, yet could not have hoped for in a million years. We're all busy professionals, many of them with kids,  and yet here were three other grown men, all wanting to spend time playing with toys together (Lets face it boys, this is just the man's version of barbie dress ups, but who cares, it's awesome!).

At this point, i started buying models left, right and centre. I got some amazing deals from some great shops, and bulked out my collection pretty swiftly. But i had yet to decide on a colour scheme, and a codex. I was sure i wanted to play marines. I'd read a fair few of the Horus Heresy books at this time, and already knew a significant amount about the lore and history of many of the Legiones Astartes. While trying to decide what codex I'd use, and what colour scheme i wanted, one thing kept coming back to mind...the Agemo symbol of the Ultramarines chapter.

I read more and more into the history of the Ultramarines. They really are the classic and quintessential marines. Over half of the current chapters in "existence" are Ultramarines successor chapters. I absolutely, and shamelessly, fell in love with their lore, their tactics and their story. The ultimate army, forged by the ultimate general. Dark Angel players will try to tell you that Lion El'Jonson was the ultimate general, and formidable he was, but not a patch on Roboute Guilliman. The primarch of the Ultramarines was playing the long game. He was responsible for the creation of the Codex Astartes, and it was he who was responsible for the armies of the Emperor after his internment in the Golden Throne. There was simply no question. My army, my colours and my codex were chosen for me in one glorious instant.

I was going to play Ultramarines.