Hey there, I’ve invited myself along as Paint Hammer’s (really) Southern correspondent. While I’m not on the same painting/hobby level as the rest of the excellent contributors to this blog, I do hope to add the different perspective of a relatively recent re-entrant to the hobby.
Who am I? I’m Dan (@antipodean7), a 30-year-old lawyer, dwarf-player and Liverpool fan (yep, I’m screwed from the start – don’t blame you for clicking away now). I grew up in the UK and started Warhammer in the mid-90s by splitting the 5thedition box set with my brother, before moving to New Zealand. Like so many, I returned to Warhammer after marriage about two years ago.
With an 18 month-old daughter, I rarely get the hobby time I would like, so I find myself cruising Twitter, listening to podcasts, buying and planning projects but never actually making much progress on them. Before I finish, I always move on to the next new shiny getting the short-term dopamine rush from the purchase but never getting the satisfaction of completing the project. For instance, I currently have on the go:
- 8th ed Dwarfs - who have sat largely untouched since the switch to AoS (2,500 points done but still have Thunderers, Hammerers, Rangers, Thorgrim and more war machines to finish);
- KoW Dwarfs - Brock-riding Lord, 2 regiments of Brock-Riders, Steel Behemoth, and movement trays etc to finish;
- AoS Dwarfs - I’ve plans for my slayer pirates and metal pile of dwarfs in AoS but am waiting for more dwarf fluff to drop first;
- KoW Kingdoms of Men – 3,000 points of random Empire and Brets that I’ve picked up over the years but need to finish assembly, painting and basing (Tom Hale has kindly agreed to help with this while he is over here);
- Skitarii – I’m horribly behind in our local Tale of 40k Gamers, with only two squads base-coated and no games played so far;
- Escher – 8 painted, but not based, and 4 more to paint from the Toughest Girls of the Galaxy Kickstarter;
- Guild Ball – 2 teams to be built and painted (Brewers and Alchemists), plus I have dreams of building brew house, town square and field pitches over the summer;
- Mordheim – a completely unnecessary Skaven warband I bought (I blame @Gas_Monkey82 and a swap meet);
- Modular gaming table – 90% done, 4x4 expandable to 8x4, needs a few more coats of paint; and
- Terrain – partially completed Empire table, 40k table and Hive table.
Some of the metal pile
I’ve also got my eye on an unpainted Dogs of War army (which a local guy is selling) and plans on running a KoW two-dayer in January. So far too much planned and not enough time.
I hope this blog will give me some external accountability to move through this back-log, learn some new skills and share the progress. The aim is to do less but finish more. Hopefully this can be done without making the hobby feel just like a second job.
Where I start will depend on what I plan to take to the NZ Masters (5th /6thDecember) and the Clash of Kings Auckland one-dayer (13th Dec). So to list-writing it is…
Cheers,
Dan