12th Month of Blogging

It just dawned on me that it's been almost a year of stepping into the ether and blogging on my hobby experience. A good time to reflect as there has been many good times and many hindrance times along the way. The most startling of epiphanies recently was when I went to transfer some threads from our old forum to the new forum our club has started for the community here. Some of those threads had my old batreps and my clumsy first few awkward steps into wargaming and rereading them it showed how much passion and verve I had when I first took up wargaming in comparison to the little tattered and worn state I'm in now.  Looking at the nostalgia of those past posts has done a marvellous invigoration and so lets write something for prosperity. I started late to the hobby as it was only a major sporting injury that side lined me and got me hooked in. I picked it up on the end of 4th ed Marines and the end of 6th ed High Elves and haven't looked back since.

Sitting in a little bit of a lull in enthusiasm for the hobby but steadily building up more up and go, I've learnt two important things so far that maybe a good reminder and invigoration in my hobby future.

1. Don't let someone else tell you who you are.

I remember my first serious tournament and what would have been my early second year into the hobby when I was approached by a Self Confessed Icon (SC Icon) of warhammer and was told 'how I was taking extreme tournament filth (HE Spears) and by the look of me a seasoned warhammer player with that army, that with a casual push forward it would easily get a podium (I came 7th)'. The comments of pure assumption should have been warning enough but as I was a newb I was easy prey and it's taken me till almost this day to shake away the feeling of sheer self judgement every time I field a block unit of High Elf spearmen.

Lesson learnt: You are the person who defines you best and no internet numpty with casual assumptions should ever be given a chance to influence your resolve and hobby.

Beware SC Icons, even if his name is Jimmy.

2. Keep it in perspective

Recently I've been inundated with situations and questions from the ill or uninformed, all of which have been some how, however remote, related to the hobby. This has sapped most of my hobby enthusiasm for a bit of time now.  Myself and a few others took it on ourselves to save our local club from the middle of last year from previous crippling mismanagement. We invested alot of our free time and energy over the past year or so  to save our club because we like our Toy soldier Sundays and we want the hobby and tournaments it supports to be enjoyed and around for a fair while yet. It's still really surprising how much unsavoury people try to dilute the enjoyment of something that you love and make it a gruelling experience.

Lesson learnt: It's my hobby and I'll like it if I want to. For those who don't know my hobby it is Toy Soldiers.

Johnny wears a hard hat whilst toy soldiering in case of hazards.

With a side note, my enthusiasm is back so the Equinox players pack is all ready. If anyone wants it get a hold of me on email.

Board game of the week: Isla Dorada (Fantasy Flight)

Nice lite n quick (1hr) game best with 4-5 players. Set collecting boardgame with a few interesting twists. Fantastic resin sculpts and an example of the quality of miniatures that these guys can produce, with the resin miniatures looking very much like ivory.

 Ideally 4-5 and it's fast paced and a good laugh with awesome place names.

Good graphics as well

Rating: Good family game and would be excellent for the younger members of the group. 3 out of 5 Stars