The Born Again Board Gamer

I remember it well. A box of delicate plastic skeletons, Citadel’s 1988 multipart skeletons, looking like something straight out of Jason and the Argonauts. Little plastic fragments of magic, like someone had boxed sparks from Harryhausen’s imagination (some assembly required) for just anyone to get their hands on. Sure they’d been put together with too much glue, they weren’t painted (I think, there may have been some crude and rudimentary attempts to tart them up with Humbrol enamels) but to my pre-teen imagination they were truly magical.

Some context then. As a child I was weaned on fantasy and science fiction. Movies, books, comics, art, computer games – all of them were far more interesting to me than sport and dull reality. I have fond memories of my father reading my sister and I The Hobbit as an ongoing serialised bed time story. That gave way to Fighting Fantasy books, the gateway drug to the more complex adventures of Dungeons and Dragons. Then came the miniatures, the painting, the collecting, the measuring tapes… I was immersed. Utterly.

I’m not really sure exactly where I disconnected with the gaming world. It was definitely in the mid to late nineties, likely the result of mundane things such as getting a job and less mundane things, like romantic relationships. The precise moment and reason for what looking back feels like a sudden and complete divorce from the world of gaming has been lost to history. I have no doubt that on some level I became self conscious of how uncool it was to push little bits of painted plastic around a table. The discovery of alcohol put economic pressures on everything else I was into. Perhaps a few desperately unhappy years in my early twenties prompted me to shelve parts of myself in an effort to fit in with others. Whatever the reason, it would be literal decades before I would properly feel the itch to get my mitts on a miniature again.

The catalyst for this was the purchase of a 2000ad based boardgame, completely on impulse, thanks to it being on sale for some ridculously reduced price. As a long time fan of 2000ad (I read it sporadically as a child and have an annual standing order of a subscription as my birthday present from my family) I picked up a copy of Helter Skelter when it had been reduced to about £25 in a special offer.

I didn’t know who would be interested in playing it with me (my partner likes certain board games, but tends towards more traditional fare) but it looked interesting and was 2000ad based and its selection of ink washed miniatures drawn from the worlds of 2000ad looked amazing. Suddenly, holding those little Judges and Strontium Dogs in my hands I felt something I hadn’t felt in half a lifetime. The urge to paint them.

Fast forward a little to Christmas 2022. I had continued to work during all the Covid lock downs, so missed the boat with all the other born again middle aged board gamers who rediscovered the hobby whilst on furlough. But those Helter Skelter minis occupied a space in my mind and refused to budge. A paint set and a few brushes from Santa that Christmas, and I was well and truly back on the hobby train.

Two years, numerous armies, game systems and terrain pieces later, it’s like I was never away. At least, it was like I was never away if you ignore the fact that I had got rid of all my childhood little metal war dollies that if I still had would probably be worth enough to pay my mortgage.

What I have discovered is that in the intervening years I have developed more patience and focus, which has made me much better at the painting side of the hobby. I have discovered that dice hate me, and stab me in the back with a comforting regularity. I have discovered that having more disposable income is an advantage that outweighs the disadvantage of having less free time to indulge in the hobby. Most of all I have discovered that I still have a passion for painting toy soldiers, making models and playing board games. In a sense it has made me a little sad that I have missed out on nearly three decades of enjoying this hobby, and that I regret the completeness of my withdrawal all those years ago.

Oh, to be able to still field my Ultramarines and Dwarves of old. Or my Epic 40k army. Or mt original Heroquest and Space Crusade games.

But regret gets you nowhere and over the last couple of years I have discovered new games, built new armies and jumped back in with both feet to the creative aspects of the hobby. And I am LOVING it.

The point of this blog is to share some of my experiences as someone returning to the hobby in his older years and maybe share some hints, tips and ideas on painting, modelling, terrain building, gaming – basically whatever aspects of the hobby take my fancy.