About

Der H

I am a Doctor, so clearly have an excuse for a disparity between the time and the money I spend on my hobby. I'd always enjoyed wargaming but, like many, I stopped aged 16 (-ish) and didn't restart until I returned from university.

My first experience of wargaming was when (after much nagging) I went into Games Workshop with my Dad. I borrowed another player's models and was in charge of 10 Skinks. Game one...well lets move on... Game two I took out a few Black Orcs! Game 3...well by this point I was expected to buy something!

My Dad wondered if I might not enjoy the Warhammer 40,000 range more (he said several times over the years that followed that he felt he pressured me...not that he was the wargaming type!) and like many people I was bought the glorious 2nd edition boxed set of Warhammer 40,000.

Like the dutiful child I was, I painted the space marines red, and thought "Hey, lets play blood angels!". The 20 plastic monopose marines from this set were the foundation of what became a very poorly/not painted army of around 2000-3000 points. I had a Land Raider, several HQs and a nightmarish metal dreadnought! I bought some Plague Marines for my dad to play with too!

Aged 16 I probably stopped, more or less, after several other projects including Gorkamorka, Steel Legion and Tyranids right after their first re-vamp. I looked in on the hobby during the time away, and at university was aware of the university wargaming club, but I never came back.

The time I was away from the hobby was the worst of the dark ages of Games Workshop. When I returned the whole of specialist games was gone or going, and not long after the end times came and replaced Warhammer Fantasy. I'd sold all of my collection, save a few 54mm Inquisitor models, some of my Tyranids, and a few scraps of bits no one would buy.

On returning, I met up with Handro again and saw his awesome pre-Heresy marines (Brother Handro: "back before it was cool, remember...") and was hooked. Reason tried to sway me with "maybe just some Space Hulk" and Before I Knew It I was beavering away in our back room making MkIV Emperor's Children space marines.

Since then I/we have diversified and the current project list is beyond listing here. 30K & 40K remain, but have been joined by Bolt Action, Konflikt 47, Battlefleet Gothic, Arc Worlde, Blood and Plunder, and of course Gorkamorka/Inquisitor/Inquisimunda/Necromunda/even Mordheim all keep threatening to break in!

Hopefully this blog will help drive us to complete some projects, progress with others, and drive our hobby forwards!

PURGE THE GREY!

Brother Handro

'Wait, you mean just buying shiny things isn't the main point of the hobby?' [Der H; Could have fooled me...]

I know, you've probably been there. That point where you begin to question the wisdom, nay sanity of buying yet another box of minis despite having tens, probably hundreds of unused sprues back home in the Hobby Cupboard of Doom.

Where did it begin for me? Around the same time as for Der H I guess, but separately. (I never really knew Der H gamed, despite us being friends and having mutual acquaintances that we actually both gamed with. Weird, non?). First army? Dark Angels, definitely. Masses of them, the first of which were painted over a white undercoat *shudders*. First strong hobby memory was later, borrowing money off a friend's mother to buy a copy of the Battlefleet Gothic starter set from the now-departed GW Trafford Centre. Then a dabble in Black Templars and Salamanders with the advent of the fondly-remembered Codex: Armageddon.

Dropping out of the hobby the month Inquisitor was previewed in White Dwarf. Playing the heck out of the original Dawn of War video game. Getting back into the hobby by living within walking distance (dangerous!) of GW Arndale [Manchester Central now apparently] and picking up a copy of Horus Rising, Book 1 in the Horus Heresy series.. Immediately deciding to buy a shedload of vanilla marines and Chaos marines and throwing them at each other until something stuck. The rest, as they say, is history. 

As a self-confessed Heresy Hipster I now fondly remember the days of naught but vanilla marines 'bashed with Chaos, plasticard, Greenstuff and FW Red Scorpions MkIV torsos. But things have moved on, for the better, and now we've reached the Holy Grail of plastic Heresy. All Praises!

Dragging Der H back into the hobby? Sometimes I feel guilty about it, but then again I wouldn't have spent so much and started so many projects either if it hadn't been for our constant arms race of one-upmanship and counter unit

And now? Several marine armies, Guard, Ad Mech, and finally branching out into Xenos. An Ork army getting on for a year old and as yet without a completely-painted unit, and most recently an ambitious Tau project despite being very much against the concept and look of the Tau when they first appeared and a fear/loathing of being 'That Guy' who plays Tau/Riptide spam. #NoRiptidesForMe

So yes, too many armies, not enough progress. Whilst I may have more free time than Der H, I struggle to use it wisely. Der H knows precisely when he'll have time to hobby and thusly uses it better. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it). I tend to be more the thinker and Der H the doer, and together we form an unstoppable tag-team of hobbying ideas and ambitious plans. Hopefully this blog will be the culmination of those plans.