If anyone would have told me when I started up in February of this year that I would would be where I am now then I wouldn’t have believed them. In fact I wouldn’t have thought I’d have even been capable of it. I’m inherently lazy and that’s compounded by a short attention span. At times painting these has been tough going and I’ve wanted to throw the paint brush away, but the rewards far outweigh the pain. Being able to plonk this little lot down on the battlefield fills my heart the kind of indescribable geeky pride unattainable elsewhere. As Brian says, the odd compliment certainly doesn’t do any harm either and I’ve more people praise them than those who’ve not particularly liked what I’ve done. I think it shows what can be achieved in a relatively short space of time with enough dedication and effort, even with limited ability.
It got me thinking though. How much of an obsessive collector am I? My intention was not explicitly to have thousands upon thousands of points of models, more just to have enough to be able to select my forces freely according to whim. I know I’ve always been a hoarder, and anyone who knows me would likely agree, but with 40k it feels slightly different. In fact I’ve attained so many models in just a few months without even realising it. I dread to think of how much money I’ve spent and I’m sure if my wife knew the sums involved there would be severe repercussions. I’ve exactly 3000 points painted as of today, but probably a further 5000 points sat in various stages of development and that’s after getting rid of some stuff via eBay. I’ve got boxes of grey plastic, boxes of undercoated plastic, plastic sat in bottles of Dettol and then the plastic I’m working on now. Realistically speaking how many times am I ever actually going to be able to field 3000 points? Let alone the rest of the crap buried in the office? What about the titans and thunderhawks I’ve got planned as well? I know for a fact if GW introduced a brand new unit, no matter how bad it was on the battlefield, I’d likely go out and try it.
I know I’m not alone with this either. How many gamers can say they have a 1500 point army and that’s all? I dare say there won’t be many. Shiny New Plastic Syndrome has tightly grasped us all firmly by the genitals and we’re pretty much incapable of getting ourselves free. And, even if we could, would we want to? The lure of massed marines, hordes of Tyranids or mobs of Orks is strong enough to keep us motivated. Strong enough to keep us all building, converting, painting, playing, and most importantly of all, enjoying ourselves.
One Inch Rifles 