As with all things... a Beginning.

Should I welcome you?  Is that customary?

I'm a little new to this, is all.

You see, I'm a member of what is termed "The Generation of Nostalgia" (or at least that's what those of us who care about such things term ourselves), which is that particularly small group of people who were kids in the early 90's that are just barely old enough to clearly remember technologies that became obsolete during our adolescence;  we're the ones who spent our formative years watching the level of cultural technology hit the exponential curve like a baseball hitting the spinning wheel in a batting cage.  We had parents with late 70's and early 80's mentalities who were suddenly presented with things like the internet and car phones while we were busy rollerblading and getting hurt on all-metal playgrounds with our grade school friends, and by high school we were just starting to see the indestructible Nokia cell phones become widespread.  AOL chat rooms were my jam for more years than they probably should have been.  I spent my early childhood calling friends on the single-line household phone, and my early adulthood frustrated when a friend didn't answer his/her cell phone, listen to a voicemail, or call me back in a prompt fashion because I knew that shit was just in their pocket.  I first contacted the most important person in my life with a private message through MySpace while in college (because what else was I going to do, hit on her in person like the rest of the socially-retarded neanderthals?  For shame.) because our school hadn't been added to the burgeoning online yearbook called "Facebook" yet.  We take an awkward offense to the term "Millennials" because dammit, we are just past that line, and that is not us.  And so, in the weird way that everything-old-is-new-again, we've come full circle to blogging.

So you're likely experienced with this.  That subscription button on the right?  That took me a bit to figure out.  I'm 30 going on 57, apparently.  I abuse Facebook groups with my presence constantly.  Memes are probably my favorite method of expression to come out of the modern internet age, because after all, a picture is worth a thousand words... so a meme allows you to express a short 3-10 word thought with a picture backing it up inflecting tone.  (So rad!)  But all these feeds and links and responsibilities I'm unaccustomed to doing.  Where's Zuckerberg when you need him?

Anyway!

I play a lot of tabletop games.

Well, let me re-phrase that.

I own a lot of tabletop games?  Like, comparatively speaking?

I don't tend to have very much time to play all of them, considering the full-time-plus job, and the family, and my internal struggle with self identity where I want to be social and go to the game club night but I also want to go down into my basement and put in headphones to shut out the world while painting/assembling miniatures.  Does everyone do that?  Surely not?

This is the part where I would normally want to say something like, "So, expect to see lots of different things on this blog," or "I will make many posts about different games blah blah blah" or some other sound-good pseudo promise of commitment bullshit.  I really don't want to do that here.  I have an infatuation with this hobby in general, and flash-in-the-pan love affairs with the various games contained therein.  I get REALLY excited about new projects, new games, new painting methods, etc.

Because ice cream sandwiches are just like new tabletop games.  Seriously.  Think about it.

Very few games hold my attention for a long time (relatively speaking, anyway, based on your particular view of how quickly time passes) so that an army typically manages to no longer hold my attention once I've conquered it.  What I mean by that is that, for example, let's say I'm going to make a new army for Warmachine.  So I'm going to pick it out, create some kind of theme around it in my mind (because I don't do "studio scheme" anything, typically), and then the thrill of acquisition sets in.  That consists of what do I have that I can sell off, and what is the best deal I can trade/purchase what I need at this moment.  This part of the process thrills me to the point where I follow the hype waves in the market based on releases for army books, games, updated rules, etc., and will trade down on armies with low hype just to have them in my stable to trade away when the wave comes back up, doubling or tripling their value.  It's the whole start with a paperclip and trade up to a car principle.  This has left me with too many toys, which means I'm pretty quick to jump in on a new game or new army because it's just a few trade list posts and e-mail away from arriving on my doorstep.  Once I've acquired what I need, I'll build/convert it, and then get it painted.  I'll play a few games with it... and the thrill is gone.  The shiny has worn off.  The effort is spent.  And then it's on to a new project.

The exception to this rule is when a project/game/army has the ability to evolve over time, as with a campaign. If I have a timeline guiding me, with short burst goals during the course of it (rather than just "finish the project") then I get to stay excited playing with the same toys over and over because they're evolving in how they play or they're getting new friends added or whatever.  That's why I'm so excited over something like GorkaMorka and its campaign system, or participating in a local Infinity league, or playing a game like Dark Age or Wrath of Kings where the story and the rules for the game are constantly evolving from the design company down, changing things up consistently.

I'm not in this hobby to be competitive or make the strongest list.

I'm in it to play with toys.

So maybe 30 going on 57 is accurate... but I never really made it past 12.  Time is immaterial in the warp, after all.  ;)