My FLGWS

Due to the fact I have University work to do I have had to stop my self getting all cammo'd up and declaring war because I know if I do mobilise, the Uni work wont get done, and it has to, but thats another story.
Anyway, I had some time in town so I called in at my local GW store, I figured I could go in and act like AoBR was going to be a present and I needed to set myself up with paint and stuff.Now Matt, the manager dude was extremely helpful, he told me I needed modelling sand and grass and cans of undercoat and cans of protective coat and PVA and plastic cement and a hooby starter kit and the full range of foundation paints and another box of paint and a codex and a rule book and some heavy support and some more boyz and a carry case and a display case and a gaming table and that I should think about renting out some space somewhere for me to paint and game and stuff. Well, maybe he didn't go quite that far but what he did suggest was far more than I was ever intending to spend on that day. Had I been 11 and had dragged my Mum in there with me, maybe, but not when I got the guys at 40K radio and the Freebootaz behind me telling me what I do and dont need.
As it happened I bought the starter kit with 9 paints in and a little glue and some grass and snips and shit, which is what I'd already decided I was buying before I went in. But I did spend a good while talking to Matt about the game and the hobby. He offered to teach me how to play when I had my army done and that he would introduce me to his gaming club, which was nice. So I forgave him for trying to fleece me for like, 2 million pounds or something and walked away happier than when I walked in, which I guess was priceless.
So now I sit and look at my pots of paint while I discuss the interconnected nature of contemporary organisational challenges model and wait for Wednesday, which is when I've agreed with myself that I can order Assault on Black Reach.

And so it begins...

There is but a thin veneer of humanity that cages the beast within. The primal urge to fight, to destroy, to kill, only ever kept at bay by the tenuous bindings of conditioning.
Yet somehow, someway the beast will out and the blood-thirst and power-hunger shall break thier bonds and soar free to wreak havok, end life and cause Chaos.

And thats why I decided to vent my own little craving for conflict and want for war by starting to play 40K.

One of my earliest memories is Lord of the Rings, the old Ralph Bakshi animated feature. The images taken from Tolkien's fantasy bible were burned into my brain before I can remember and my love of Orcs, and later Orks is only a few measly years younger than I am.
I hobby'd for a while in my preteen, double-figure years but girls, alcahol, music and all that other good stuff meant that my little force of Evil Sunz got packed away and eventually commited to the local car boot.

But then, coughcough20yearscough later I read The Saint, a Ghosts omnibus by Dan Abnett and was fuckin blown away. So I read more Black Libray stuff, the Heresy, The Ghosts, The Ultras, The Soul Drinkers, Eisenhorn & Ravenor, I just couldn't get enough. Then I found 40K Radio and realised that not all 40K fans were 13 or geeks or that strange guy who wears sweat pants, has the local Dominoes on speed dial and still lives with his Mum, who's dead. I listened regularly because occaisionally they talked about Black Library, I enjoyed the show and I don't know if they used subliminals or what but I suddenly wanted to get into this shit. I craved the tase (literally, the taste) of Citadel paint again, the pain of not painting as good as a Golden Deamon winner and the ridicule of all who profess to love me.

I will lead a force of Greenskins again, I will paint like a demon of gold and I will spend tons of cash that I have to lie to my wife about.

We will rise, we have to, because in the grim far future, there is only war.


Check back for regular updates on my adventures in wargaming.
Tomorrow I go and see just how friendly, or not, my local games store is.