Blog Introduction

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog, "Build, Brush, Battle". On this site, I'm going to be posting all about my adventures in "analog" (non-digital) gaming. I'm an avid fan of all things tabletop, strategy, boardgame, and wargame. Stay tuned for battle reports, painting features, miniature conversions, and just about anything to do with the tabletop hobby. 

Below, I'm going to give you a brief background of what got me into this hobby, and what you can expect from future posts.

My Gaming Career

My analog gaming "career" starts somewhere in the mid-90's, with games like Risk, Stratego, Axis & Allies, and Chess (Monopoly doesn't count...ever. For anything.). 

One can never have too many themed versions of Risk.

While these games sometimes get scoffed at as simplistic, I can trace my love of strategy, little plastic dudes, and rolling dice back to these classics. 

Axis & Allies especially held my attention as I got older. The variety of units with different abilities, movement types, and costs makes the strategy of the game much deeper than some of its cousins.

It wasn't until college that I was introduced to the concept of "tabletop" gaming...with a game called Warhammer 40,000. A friend talked me into reading through the lore in the rulebook, and I was hooked. The grim, gritty feel of the setting (especially the Imperium of Man) appealed to me in ways that few others had. 

I set about building a force of the army that most appealed to me, the Imperial Guard. I painted, I collected. I had a blast picking a color scheme and writing a backstory for my regiment. I excitedly took my beloved little Valhallans to my first battle.

And I subsequently got stomped. This was Warhammer 40k, 5th edition. It wasn't exactly forgiving to the whole notion of "pick what you think looks cool and play it". My guardsmen's tiny lasguns plinked harmlessly off of my opponent's Tyranids' carapaces. In my first battle, I literally couldn't hurt anything. It wasn't long before ranks of great-coated infantry were streaming off the table like so many suicidal lemmings. 

After several games like this, my guardsmen weren't the only ones dealing with morale issues. I packed away my dudes, put them on the shelf, and went back to A&A and video games. The seed was planted, though. Despite not exactly enjoying myself when it came to gameplay for that army, I still was in love with the setting. Over the next few years, I devoured Black Library books, played Warhammer 40K- and Fantasy-themed video games, and kept my eye on Games Workshop miniatures.


My army's hibernation ended a year ago, when I finally decided to sell off my miniatures to a gaming buddy. Leman Russ tanks, Cadians, and Hellhounds rolled out of their mothballs and returned to battle as (xeno scum) Genestealer Cult units. I was glad to see them get use. Just when I was about to hand over the last chunk of the transaction, however, my friend made me an interesting proposition.

"Hey man, instead of the last $100 I owe you, want to trade even steven for this army of dwarfs I have laying around?"

A whole army, for $100? I couldn't pass that up. It was 2016, and the new edition of Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar, had gone through its birthing pains and was picking up steam with the release of the General's Handbook and unit points for matched play. The rules were free, the "Warscrolls" (unit information) were free, all that I had to buy were the models. 

I had a blast. I know there has been a lot of controversy over Age of Sigmar, between the way it was released, the literal destruction of the old Fantasy lore, and its drastic departure from the old system ruleswise. But I have to say, I loved 99% of the new ruleset. It was so much smoother and simpler than the 40k I was used to playing, and the method of distributing special rules and abilities to individual Warscrolls made a lot of sense. I was hooked again.

A few months later, rumors began flying around that a new edition of 40k was on the way, and that it would be taking a lot of cues from Age of Sigmar. I was thrilled, as (in my opinion) the weakest aspect of AoS was the new lore, and the lore was something I always loved about 40k. 

I began collecting a 40k force, Black Templar Space Marines, even before confirmation of Warhammer 40k 8th edition. It was an incredibly fun army to collect, and I loved the Templars' mythos and methods. 

I played a couple of games of 7th edition while waiting for 8th to release, and although I know there are those out there who love it, my general impression was that it was bloated and overly complicated. The psychic phase was ridiculous, the special rules were out of control. Since the release of 8th, that impression has been confirmed for me. I love the introduction of Datasheets (read: Warscrolls) and how streamlined the rules have become. 

I'm completely sold on this hobby now, as you'll see below.

My Armies

• Dwarfs/Free People
• My first army after getting sucked back into the hobby, I've bought quite a few partial kits and made the army to be somewhat of a "survivors of the Old World" force.
• Iron Templars
• My custom Space Marines chapter that "counts as" Black Templars, these guys excel at wrecking face.
• Adeptus Mechanicus
• My Skitarii legion (now merged with Cult Mechanicus in 8th edition), led by a very impressive Belisarius Cawl.
• The Hammers of Man
• My newest force, the Hammers of Man are a new custom Primaris Space Marines chapter, combined with the Valhallan remnants of my old Guard force. The entire army is somewhat Soviet-themed, and I'm pretty happy with how they're coming out so far. Look for more on these guys in the next several posts.

So there you have it. Thank you again for visiting this blog and reading through this somewhat lengthy first post. In the future, I'm going to focus on backstory pieces, modeling and painting features, and spotlights of various armies (mine and my gaming companions). 

Stay Tuned!