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Back when I was just old enough to understand what my Dad was making I took an interest in Model aircraft, Now back then Airfix was like rat droppings, ya could find it in almost every shop ya walked past. The local news agents store had a shelf full of 1/72 scale planes of all kinds so my Dad would take me to the shop once a week and we would get a model.
well it started then!! I would make the models then paint them then hang them from my bedroom ceiling, a few weeks would pass and I would take them down and remove the pilot so I could put him in my toy cars!! I quickly realised if i didnt put the pilot in in the first place I could keep the plane on a shelf instead of on the ceiling so I started to make runway dioramas simple bit of wood painted like a runway job done!!!
this would progress onto larger scale models with more detailed bases, then I found flight crew by Hasegawa and that was me in heaven. I had a whole bunch of service vehicles and crew and pilots doing stuff planes in hangers planes in cabinets on the ceiling on the walls, everywhere!! there was never a time that I would run out of space as my Mam would always drag a couple a week off a shelf with a dusting cloth... Oh look space for a new model lol
the broken ones would be relegated to the junk box and a new one in its place. at the time I was devastated to come home and see plane down but like all good armed forces there was a new unit up and running immediately!!
when I was much older just breaching my teens I ventured into more detailed kits by Hasegawa and Tamiya. this is where my love of painting started as I branched out into military vehicles and personnel. I would make the vehicles and put them on Dioramas with the painted figures, Usually German WWII I seem to gravitate towards German stuff for some weird reason? as my Avatar can confirm!! (Demonn so comically gave me the acronym NTLHWTLHA ( Normski The Little Hitler With The Hitler Avatar) It may be my ancestral roots of Danish German border family name!! (EALAND) well I digress!!!
So then i moved on to just painting model figures and away from aircraft and vehicles, then I found D+D at the youth club!! my god this was amazing!! I took a human fighter and leveled him up to a paladin!!! every thursday down the youthy D+D but the minis belonged to the Youth worker who DM'd the games but then this was way before GW got a store in Middlesbrough, There was a shop called GameZone. they sold citadel minis as well as many other brands also the extra geeky stuff of comics and marvel goodies!! such a cool shop!! (its gone now sadly) but in there I found many miniatures as well as the Original LoTR stuff helms deep box set with Balrog and Gandalf with the hobbits and bill the pony and Golum!! I bet that would be worth a pretty penny or 2 now!! this was 1989 ish sadly I no longer possess them, as time goes by things get sold or painted and put away and then eventually the memory returns of " I used to have that? Where did it go?" no Idea but its gone just like many other minis from back in the day!!
well I was then a GW junky!! every penny I had went on fantasy mini, had every army going that GW put out at one point or another, Elves were my thing and still are if Im honest I also then found Rouge Trader now the shambles of 40K, I no longer play either 40K or Fantasy but would like to just now and again for nostalgia sake. But now Im older and wiser and not so narrow minded with what I will purchase the hobby got a whole lot bigger!! Now since realising there are a vast amount of miniature companies of there my eyes are wide and my money cant go fast enough to all the awesomeness out in cyberland!! online stores have opened a world which would have gone unnoticed otherwise. being an ex GW fan boy this would have been my only avenue, but Oh no!!! I found Malifaux, It was like finding a box of £50 notes outside a sweet shop!! Bye Bye GW Hello Wyrd!!
Here is where my further journey deep into Hobbyville goes on!! I now have a teenage son and a 10 yr old daughter who are both proper geeks like their Dad (chip of the old block they are) My son is the miniature fiend although he is a GW fan boy he is still in the hobby and is now a LoTR player and has a small Grey Knights 40K army! like father like son he has taken to it like a duck to water and is now active in the school leagues which is awesome!!
So now he is a 3rd generation modeller and we enjoy a nice range of banter over GW and MalifauX the latter being the better( not according to my son) but painting Wyrd Miniatures has helped me develop my painting skills as it requires very different skills from GW space marines, spray wash highlight done lol
A much more intricate style is needed for such a varied array of miniatures and this has helped me with painting other miniatures too!!
I will be using this blog to talk about My experiences with the wider available miniatures out in cyberland!!
I will be starting with MalifauX as I have this to thank for bringing me back to the world of geek and a hobby I love.
Please feel free to comment or ask questions, Its good to talk!!
More to follow!!!
So as I was saying!! just before I move on to my Images I want to tell you a quick story about My Dad's Galleon/war ship!
Well!! when I was very young I sat and watched my dad Scratch build a War ship from the ground up! he made it from thin slats of wood and detailed it himself too, the only things he bought were the 1/72 scale cannons and the anchors, there was the thread for the rigging too, The rest was all him!!
Now as my memory serves when it was finished from the very forward point to the most aft point this ship must have been near enough 850mm long standing just a hint taller from the crows nest to the keel it was amazing and it took My Dad months to build it!! I remember going to the local model shop to pick up the bits he needed for it! This thing was magnificent I used to stare at it constantly and used to put my 1/72 scale army figures on it which used to drive him nuts!!
This isnt My Dads model but it it the same ship the HMS Victory 1700's
HMS_Victory_New.jpg
Image this made from wood it was awesome
Now this was back in 1977 I was a grand age of 5!! well back then money was tight we grew up in an industrial town where all the men worked in the steel works the chemical plant (ICI) or down the Docks in the ship yards! wages wernt brilliant so we had to make do with what we had. well anyone my age and older will remember the 70's was bad for winter! 1976 was a really bad winter mind you 74 was a hot summer!! anyway I digress!! well we used to have a coal fire in the livingroom no such luxury as central heating!! well we had ran out of coal and kindling so My Mam being the kind of lady not to let her family suffer, took all the cannons and rigging and all the deck furniture such as the tiller and cargo bay hatch which was brass!! The chopped up the boat and threw it on the fire !! Holy Crap did mam just do that?? yes She flaming well did!! but we were warm!!
Well My Dad came home from a hard days graft down the steel mill and noticed the ship had gone!! the following conversation went like this!!!
Where is my Ship???
Its on the fire!!
Why the hell have you put my ship on the fire?
We had no coal left and the kids were cold!!
Mam handed Dad the little packet on ship bits! Dad looks down at his hands and looks back at Mam and says!!
Why the hell didnt you chop up the sofa!!
LMAO!!! Now hows that for the love of the hobby lol
Coming home to a chopped up sofa would have been more acceptable to coming home to a chopped up model ship lol
Gotta love my Dad lol
to explain, try to divide the fights into those that you're fairly certain you'll be able to kill (gangbanging usually does the trick) and try to group the other fights so that you just stay alive. you can't win all the duels, so with clever dividing you will be able to minimize your losses while maximizing your wins. after two turns of that, you'll see you have 10 or 15 more models in play than your opponent...
Cheers for the play tips Marko will look into it once I get opportunity!!!