In sticking with this theme, allow me to explain my beginnings. I'm old, don't want to admit it but it might be true. I know this because I find myself questioning the things that teenagers do, then comparing them to the exact same things that I did when I was their age. At least I haven't crossed the line yet and totally dismissed "the younger generation" though. I also know I'm old because as I research my space marines online, listen to podcasts, read blogs, visit the local store, I notice things that pinpoint my age difference. Mainly, I'm Rogue Trader generation. If I recall, I got interested in 1990? after browsing the local bookstore and happening across the first edition rulebook. What caught my eye first was the artwork. Being an art student in college, I was amazed at the detail and illustrations. Second was the fluff. I've always been a science fiction buff, but right away, the Immortal Emperor, locked in life support, protecting humanity from a universe of enemies, domestic and alien. The possibilities were endless. I remember buying it instantly and reading it for days.
The next step was to get into the modelling. I had always been into building models, mainly WWII aircraft and tanks. The pictures of the miniatures and terrain grabbed my interest. I do remember one thing as a kid that really got me hooked. A neighbor used to have a train set in his basement. He was older and I didn't know him too well, but I remember peeking in his basement window, just to see the miniature world he had set up on subterranean tables in his house. Seeing the pictures in the Rogue Trader book brought me back to those days. Somehow, I got my hands on a boxed set of space marines. Cool set, must not have been too expensive at the time since I was a starving college student. I think 25 models, lots of bitz, lots of opportunity for conversion and customization. I used these guys as experimental subjects, different paint schemes, weapon combos etc. I had come up with a few ideas, the coolest was a black and white zebra scheme that was a pain to paint. One squad ended up a ghastly yellow and black salamander pattern, another the forerunner of my current goal, the Mortifactors. As my interest grew, so did my eclectic model selection. I don't know if it was just my scattered interest, or the lack of wide range of figures at the time, but I ended up with a hodge podge of different models. Someone gave me an old Dreadnought, the cool OOP type, a little ugly but it had character. I also must have gotten a deal on a set of Space Hulk minis, because I have now in my possession a dozen genestealers, some cool hybrids, a small squad of plastic termies, and a bunch of early plastic scouts.
After all of that, what I really decided was that the Eldar were for me. I know, I know, I was loaded with space marine stuff. Why the traitorous decision? I think it was the freedom with those guys. In the early days there were still the main craftworlds, but the fluff really pushed the rebellious, free wheeling Eldar space pirates. It was like they were made for "create your own" craftworld. I grabbed a box of nice metal guardians and a wraithlord and went to painting. That was the height of my 40k days, ditching class to sit and paint my eldar. I came up with a cool sky blue/magenta color scheme, the guardians had a cool tentacle like ray pattern extending across their helmets. I think I called them the Warp Hunters. I painted all 20 guardians and the wraithlord in a couple of weeks and was ready to go. 5 man guardian squads, power gloves, chainswords, meltas, even a custom built Eldar missle launcher because I felt at that time they were undergunned. I was stoked to play.
Then sadness. As I learned, there were scarce amounts of players in my area, Flagstaff, AZ. Small town, rather hippie at the time, only a few were actually getting into the hobby. What was popular? Well, computer gaming was just starting out and the local game store had a few machines running the first DOOM game. The only other organized group was the campus D&D guys. I remember making a poster with a sick genestealer patriarch advertising for players but to no avail. Graduation was coming, the real world loomed, and I decided to put my unused mini collection into stasis while I concentrated on becoming a contibuting member of society.
Luckily, my sentimental nature saved those little guys. They survived several summers of Arizona heat locked away in storage. I left the country and lived in the Land of the Rising Sun for three years while my minis baked away in a dusty storage unit in Phoenix. They moved across country with me to Connecticut. A couple of years later, my mother in law decided to clean her garage as she was moving to Florida and discovered them. She asked my wife if she should keep them, of course my wife said "No, throw them out". Luckily I was in earshot and heard, screaming not to let them die. She made numerous "immature" comments but I ignored these and saw to it that my guys were saved. The only casualty was the head of my wraithlord, lost forever. How is that possible? I have no idea, but its gone, so my obsession for the last few months has been finding a replacement. My last discovery was an Imperial Rhino I had built and tested my airbrush skills on. I have recently repainted it black and bone and its ready to transport the skull brethren to the fighting.
So, thats it. I've scraped up all of my old models and started refurbishing them to bring them back to life. I LOVE the old beaky models. They are the mainstay of my new army. What I'm hoping to do is document as much "before and after" progress as I can. Most have been stripped already, so there might not be a chance to see many "before" shots, but now that I'm up and running, I will try and keep up to date with what I'm doing. This is not to say that others subjects won't make appearances on here, the blazing skin melting heat here in AZ for example. But my main goal is to get back into the hobby and make some connections with others into 40k. So, thats it, its started. Again, I am not sure how to get people to read these, but if you do, please leave me a note and tell me what you think.
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