Sunday, March 14, 2010

Warhammer: Beast Kings of Ind. (Beastmen)

Every army needs a place to start.

With a number of models already in hand and a number of ideas for what I wanted to do, I sat down with the new Warhammer Armies: Beastmen book (updated from the Beast of Chaos book I'd used previously) and drafted up an extensive background for my new army: The Beast Kings of Ind.

Read it HERE.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Warhammer: The Seduction. (Beasts of Chaos)

It may seem like it's been a while since I've posted anything about painting up that massive Skaven army. That's likely because it's been a while since I've actually put any work in toward actually painting up that massive Skaven army. Why's that, you ask?

It's because I've been seduced.

It started simply enough, as most seductions do: While idly surfing the internet looking for painting ideas and tutorials, I happened upon a particularly cool looking minuature: a Skorne Bronzeback Titan.

I decided that I needed wanted to have one.

I wanted to see if I could capture the same amazingly well-painted tones and textures and to see if I could do what this other painter had done.

But having a beast so beautiful with no reason to field it would seem wasteful.  If I were to buy one, I would need an army with which to play him ...

Friday, January 1, 2010

Establishing the domain ...

My wife has always graciously accepted the fact that she married a geek.* It's simply a fact of who I am, and she loves me in spite of it.

I've been collecting comic books since junior high. If it has been turned into a 'comic book movie,' I likely have most every issue dating back to the late 1980s. Batman. Superman. X-Men. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I have hundreds of issues of each; enough to fill dozens of 'long boxes.'

Several of my closest friends and I would sneak away from our Boy Scout troop to find an empty room in which to play Marvel Super-Heroes or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Role-playing Game.

( And, it should be noted, that another friend I've recently reconnected with via Facebook remarked that the thing that he remembered most about me was that I could draw the Ninja Turtles better than anyone he'd ever seen. )

In high school, Star Trek: The Next Generation was at the peek of its popularity. We had a Star Trek club at my high school (populated by a surprisingly high number of Student Council and Honor Society members). We held a viewing party in the school cafeteria for the final episode, "All Good Things ..."

In college, my interests diversified some. I discovered collectible card games. No, not popular ones like Magic: The Gathering or Legend of the Five Rings. More obscure ones like Highlander: The Card Game and Star Trek: The Customizable Card Game and such; games that tied back into my other, more deeply rooted geeky fascinations.

Those were merely a gateway drug into other, more hardcore geeky gaming pursuits, and after a while I moved on to other collectible games. Like Games Workshop's Warhammer and Mordheim and Gorka Morka.

Then, after a few more years, WizKidsGames introduced the ultimate in collectible super-hero miniature gaming: HeroClix.

Over the years, I've no doubt sunk enough money into my geek hobbies that, had I saved it away instead, I could've paid cash for a new car (or, perhaps even a modest house). Though, that would've doubtlessly been far less fun.

And, we've managed to have bought a modest house anyway.

Within that house, in a small room tucked away in the basement (ie: the realm that houses all truly great lairs of geekdom), resides the tangible evidence of my years of geekishness. The boxes of comics. The super-hero action figures. The dozens of role-playing game books. The hundreds and hundreds of miniatures. The thousands of cards.

It is my domain. These are its chronicles.



* - Technically, based upon militantgeek.com's definitions, I am both a geek and a nerd. Though not a dork. Not since elementary school, at least.