Who are we?

 This blog has been a long time in the making.  We are a group of friends that have gamed together for many years (some of us probably 20+ years) and have talked over the last few years about getting a blog up, if for no other reason than to document our many awesome games of Kingdom Death.

This winter with the Covid lock down in full effect, I (Byron) am participating in my friend Curt's annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, and Steve and Mike both wanted to shadow that challenge and kind of participate but not officially.  So it seemed the perfect time to get off our lazy asses and actually start the blog, so they had someplace to post as well.  Then once we can start getting together again for KD we can start posting our stories up here as well.

So, who are we?

Byron

I have been a gamer as far back as I can remember, both video games and board games.  I grew up playing games with a ton of people, I remember as early as grade school getting together with friends and spending all night playing Talisman, D&D, Axis & Allies, Car Wars, Ogre, and many more!  I tried painting things back then, but sucked horribly.

As I got older, I got into miniatures more and more.  Initially Legions of Steel and then into the GW product lines.  I got into miniatures to the point that I started running tournaments with various friends and my wife in the city for Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy.  I then started running events with Games Workshop themselves as an Outrider, travelling to help run Games Days and Grand Tournaments.

About 6 or 7 years ago, I started my own business (Northern Lights Terrain) to create and sell laser cut MDF terrain for wargames, and am now branching out into 3D printing for people as well.

Having played for so long, I have a huge collection that spans many eras and themes, and have the attention span of a squirrel when it comes to gaming, so expect to see drastic changes in focus all the time!  Just a brief listing of games that regularly get played would fill a page at least!  

I started out years ago as a horrible painter, I literally cringe when I see some of the stuff I painted when I was young.  Then I got better, through time, practice, and experimentation, to the point that I was a decent painter (not great like some of the masters you see posting online that make you want to cry figuring out how the hell they are showing stitch work on a 28mm tapestry) probably high middle level in skill.  But now as I get older and the eyes are starting to go, I find I need to relearn how to do things to deal with lack of visual focus, which is surprisingly common as I talk to other friends my age and older, but still not fun to deal with as you are so used to seeing everything clearly.

Mike

I have been interested in miniatures since I was about 10, about the same time I saw the animated Lord Of The Rings film. My grandmother bought me my first lead minis, a couple of Orcs, Skeletons and, for some reason, a single American Civil War soldier. I painted them with Testors paints, and made a bloody mess of them. At around age 12, I discovered Dungeons and Dragons. With that game, came even more minis. By age 15 I started playing guitar, convinced that I would be a rockstar. I was still interested in minis, buying Rogue Trader and the first Space Marine boxset. I didn't do much with them for a few years. When I was going to college, my interest was peaked again. I went to the local gaming store, Campaign Outfitters and was immediately blown away with all the ranges. I was especially drawn to Kryomek, because of my love of the Aliens franchise, and 40k. I also bought some of the Mithril line of LOTR minis. It was truly then that I discovered tabletop wargaming and I haven't really looked back. I spent a small fortune on GW stuff since. I met Steve and Byron shortly after that and we have gamed together, off and on, over the years. 

 These days I am mostly working on Infinity models, along with some 15mm Sci Fi stuff. And, of course, 40k stuff. I want to point out that Byron is an extremely bad influence, talking me into trying out new game after new game. The latest endeavor is Darklands from Mierce Miniatures. While he is a bad influence, it is offset by the inspiration he creates by getting so much stuff painted.

Steve

I have been a gamer since grade school. I recall my fascination with miniatures and dioramas began when my age was still a single digit, and I first saw model trains and displays in museums.  In middle school, the first 'miniatures" I attempted to paint were a cheap bag of plastic knights from a box store, using Testors oil paints and cheap plastic hobby water paint brushes,  rough efforts which did see action for a few old basic D&D games before being retired and lost to spring cleanings. 

 After high school I was exposed to 40K and  Warhammer and met Mike at a hobby store, (back in the years when I still had hair on my head).  I also resumed playing RPGs like D&D and WFRP supported by miniatures.  Both due to my own interest in the hobby and Mike's ever contagious enthusiasm for new toys, I amassed a fair sized miniature collection. Through painting for games and sheer interest I had painted a couple display shelves worth of miniatures by my mid 20s.  Then after some life change distractions my gaming time shifted into video and board games long enough for all my paint pots to dry up and were not replaced.  So the dedicated hobby desk was cleared and disposed of, and the boxes of unpainted shame were stored away for a couple of decades -- but always, my couple of shelves worth of painted minis were on proud display.

During my early years of online gaming and metal concert wanderings, thru Mike I met Adrian.  Adrian and I, often with Mike, had many an online world adventure and wrought metal show mayhem across some 20 fun years...we each made some mention of our appreciation of miniatures painting, both thinking it was something we'd never find time to do again...... though Mike would raise our interest in minis from time to time.

A couple years ago, thru Mike I met Byron, and in playing excellent games like Kingdom Death within the colorful glow of Byron's magnificent painted miniature collection, my love of minis was reignited, more miniature were bought, paints were purchased. The old box of unpainted shame has been dug up and unpacked, and a new hobby desk was established.  

So now I find myself to embarking on a new arc of painting, notions in my head of filling new display shelves with fresh painted minis and plans for fielding painted teams/armies atop table top fields of battle....  dice will roll, paint will flow.....