In the beginning.. a little bit about me... or a lot.. if you don't like to read.

Enter the dragon.. or rather the mind behind it all. I am intending this blog to be a collection of my thoughts as I work through my painting projects and get some gaming in.


I am a huge LOTR fan.... and as such, you will see a lot of posts, both new and old about figures I have done for this game. I feel it is important to mention.. when I am speaking about LOTR, I am speaking about the skirmish game.... I find The War of the Ring.... to be a horrible game made in an effort to mimic Warhammer Fantasy....


I jump ahead though.... for me, wargaming started in the late 70's, early 80's..... with Dungeons and Dragons and lots of military games I learned about through my brother -in-law. He started me on my addiction with Wooden Ships and Iron men.... this progressed to Ironclads and then games like Napoleon's Last Battles.... I quickly found that I loved miniature wargaming and by 82 I attended my first show... Origins.... on some college campus in Baltimore... I can say.. I was hooked ever since.


Like all stories about gamers.... my interest did wax and wane as I grew up, discovering sports.... girls, etc.... all in all though... gaming still remains my first love next to my wife and family now a days.. and to hear my wife speak, well.... she would even say it is higher than anything on my list.... It is my escape.....


To go back in time and talk about all of the games that have come and gone would take literally weeks of typing..... I will leave it at this... all of my past gaming has taken me to where I am now.... Like all gamers, I have loads of projects in the works.... some started, some purchased and hidden away with no idea when I will get to them and some yet to be realized. I will stop a minute here and say.. I used to be the guy who kept everything... I was a wargaming hoarder.... books, dice, boardgames, miniatures, rules.... you name it..... In the last few years however I have divested myself of a lot of stuff.... maybe the realization of mortality has set in.... or I just decided I don't have enough room and wanted to free up space, but that is wholly another topic.... needless to say.... this has shaped who I am now..... and what games I play.


Currently, I still have a lot of pokers in the fire.... as I mentioned earlier, I love the GW LOTR miniature game.... I have a huge collection that started with the release of the game.... my collection has been in flux since the game release, but now I am at the point where I know what I want.... and my collection still grows. And like all other systems.. I have grandiose plans of someday making a helm's Deep model and a variety of Moria settings..... I would have to say.... for this game, my favorite faction started off as Rohan, became the Dwarves and I still have a fondness for Osgilliath battles.... so rangers and soldiers of Minas Tirith.....


I also played a lot of GW's games... I actually started with 40k back in the mid 90's when a new lifelong friend was discovered at college.... Man, I loved 40k..... until they kept changing the rules.... I can remember $25 box sets.. for 30 figures!!! Anyway...  I ran Ultramarines and Imperial guard... I deliberately kept my marine army small and created a huge guard army.... looking back.. wow, those figures sucked in comparison to the new ones of today! The Rogue Trader rules were awesome.... then they went and ruined it. It was at this time that they also started pushing vehicles.... and lots of them. Well.. at some point I had enough of the constant rule changes.... I moved to Warhammer fantasy as they had not changed their rules in a long time..... silly me..... within weeks of me divesting myself of my 40K collection and buying into the undead.... they changed the rules.... the vicious cycle started all over again..... every few years a rules change.... I bailed on this game too, but not before discovering their other gems.... like Battlefleet Gothic, Necromunda and Mordheim.... well, needless to say.... I am still a huge Mordheim fan.... and collector.... I am always looking to pick up items I don't have and if I don't say so.. my collection is fairly complete and makes other collectors jealous! I am still painting and collecting these figures.... I also have delusions of grandeur about making a tiles city with sewers beneath..... someday.....


I might as well mention Frostgrave while speaking of Mordheim... Frostgrave is definitely NO Mordheim, but it is a fresh look on skirmish fantasy gaming... and it is a LOT of fun! I wil nto be buying the complete collection, but my enchanter warband will look very nice when I am done.


Another pet project I have been tinkering on is Gearkrieg.... I know it is discontinued, but man, I wish this game took off better when it was released.... I have a rather large collection of German and US Gears.... more on this later.....


I know, some of you are thinking.... well this is all fantasy.... so far.... well, each in its own time.... for historic gaming I still own a lot of board games.... most for nostalgia sake.... they don't get played any more, but they sure are useful for other things...


My largest collection by far is my 15mm Napoleonics.... damn, I love this era.. but hate the number of figures you need!!! Especially since I am all abut field tactics.. this means company level field units at 1:20 and 1:40 scale.... which literally means tens of thousands of figures.... I have bounced all over the place here.... I tried many rule sets and found that I prefer the one I wrote... more on that later I am sure.... I chose Borodino as my target game..... I used to dream of running Borodino at one of the HMGS cons during the anniversary year.....  well, that date has come and gone and I have nothing to show for it other than thousands of un-based figures.... all because I got hung up on scale.... that will be another rant as some point I am sure....


Next up would be Flames of War from Battlefront.... OMG.. as if I didn't learn enough from the "GW business model".. I didn't realize at first that the folks at Battlefront had actually come from GW.... well.... here I am years later at v4 with huge armies and a stack of rule books that no lie.... is about 3 feet tall!!!! What started out as a little game that tickled my fancy became an over night obsession.... You see, FoW is 15mm.... as are the Gearkrieg stuff.... see where I was going there? I figured I now could buy up models for Gearkrieg to go with my Gears..... and BAM!!! Awesomeness would ensure... well, I went so far as to get involved in many web groups, etc.. until they got hijacked by porn advertisers!!!  I digress.... The net result was that I converted the Gears to Flames of War stats instead of keeping the original Gearkrieg rules.... this works awesomely!!! Well, I don't get to play much, but I am a huge painter and modeler.... originally, I got involved at the end of version one.... I started with mid-war, Eastern Front ... my grand plan there.... Stallingrad...... another pipe dream? we shall see.... I have all of the buildings I could possibly need thanks to Miniatures of the Chesapeake.. and the late Carl Cisco.... that man was awesome and a credit to the hobby!!! He is sadly missed.....


Now, years later.... I have branched off to both Early and Late War.... including NachtJager as it goes great with Gearkrieg!.... I have huge US and Polish para armies with all support.... German armies for every theatre I play in and my Soviets.... well, lets say Kursk is not out of the question.... last I checked, I had over 100 completed T-34's


Another of my passions is WW1..... I won't go much into the past, but I started with Hostile aircraft and then moved to Red Baron.. and then Canvas Eagles.... I briefly collected all of the Wings of War stuff and even played Check Your 6! WW1..... Canvas Eagles is the winner.... best game ever!!! We used to do 1/72nd scale but eventually found that 1/144th was best..... here I am again... I have a huge collection of French, British, US and German planes.... all in various states of completion.... As for models in this scale.... I bought a lot of Skytrex and Reviersco.... then moved over almost completely to 3D printed planes.....


I also played Trench Wars.. a 28mm WW1 1:1 skirmish game..... yep.. you can see a trend.. go big or go home..... well.... eventually I gave up the ghost there to move to 15mm WW1..... that collection is small... but my original 28mm collection was so large..... when I sold it, I was able to buy a 1940 Studebaker Commander.... in drivable shape!!! Another adventure I embarked upon.... I digress.. yet again..... I must also say.... I sold the 28mm collection as a whole and undervalued it because the guy was buying it all.... it was huge.


I also am a pretty big fan of Warmachine..... I have been with that game form their first release, floating in and out, buying and selling as interest ebbed and flowed.... I currently have 2 decent sized Cryx and Cygnar armies..... I also have starter boxes form Mk2 for Menoth and Khador..... the latest release, Mk3 seems very cool.... someday.. I'll get to play more.....


I also recently got back into 1:1200 ACW..... that is another story lest to its own topic. I cut my teeth on Yaquinto's Ironclads..... and with my brother-in-law being a huge naval fan and extremely knowledgeable on the subject.... well... this was a no brainer. I am currently working on the Atlantic fleet stuff.... blockade running, etc.....


And as if that isn't enough..... at HMGS Cold Wars 2017 I discovered Osprey's "The men who would be king" rule set.... damn that was an awesome game.... I bought the rules.... my friend bought me some starter figures form Airfix.... Brits and Zulus..... how can I resist..... this is a simple, beer and pretzels game that will be sure NOT to disappoint!


I have a variety of games I really enjoyed... Rat Trap games .45 Pulp Action by Rick Johnson is awesome.... I played it a lot.. I am a huge fan of small scale skirmish games.....  anything form Big game hunting in Africa to Mummy's in Egypt.... The Chaos in Cairo and Gas Light games are great!
I won't go into the other types of gaming I collect or attempt to do.. at least not into much detail for now.... I was Alpha release for Magic the Gathering and lived through all of the competitive CCG's.... I even worked for/with Iron Crown Enterprises and my MECCG collection is to die for! I have played pretty much everything... the list is huge.... my favorites being MECCG, VTES and RAGE... although I have dabbled in Battletech, Bab 5 and many others.....
Now I am glad for "living card games" as collecting competitive card games can get quite expensive!

I also got pretty heavily into the Clix rage.... collecting Marvel & DC.... and then Star Wars... for now, my pre-painted gaming is restrained to Star Wars X-wing and Armada.... again.... topics for another day!


Well.. that is enough rambling for now I think..... needless to say.... I am hoping that this blog will cover a variety of topics and genera's..... anything from painting and modeling to scenery, gaming and AAR's....