Hello gamers. My name is Ciaran Slater and
I am one half of Games Knight. For my first blog offering I thought I would
present to you, the gamers, my 'hobby CV'. By that I mean my history with the war
gaming hobby, board game systems and the things that excite me and keep me
hooked on the drug that is collecting, painting and gaming with miniatures.
We start many years ago (In a galaxy very close to home) in 1989 with the brilliant dungeon crawl that was HeroQuest by Games Workshop & Milton Bradley. I was very young at the time and didn't fully understand what I was getting into when my Father surprised me one night picking me up from primary school and presenting me with my copy of the board game. However it soon became very apparent that the world of fantasy war gaming was right up my street. I loved the characters the game threw at you. From the classic muscle bound Northern Barbarian with his mighty broad sword, which remains my favourite character to this day, to the madness of a Chaos sorcerer with a skull mask, my young mind was ripe to have its imagination caught. What helped the most though was the simple game mechanics which meant that after a few 'standalone' games you could immerse yourself fully into a quest campaign. The simple game mechanics also allowed for quick game play and a decent pace of game time which for me is what made HeroQuest a fantastic board game in its own right and perfect for a newcomer to the world of fantasy board games as I was back then. I still play HeroQuest and fully intend to do a HeroQuest 'dungeon crawl' battle report for Games Knight so watch this space in the weeks to come.
With my introduction to the fantasy world setting of HeroQuest I then turned to Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy Battle gaming system. This very much got me into collecting miniatures and playing games. My regular opponent was a school friend and we played many games together and even got my favourite characters from HeroQuest involved as special one off characters! My Barbarian featured heavily as the champion of the free people taking the fight against the forces of evil and likewise the Chaos sorcerer was a champion of the ruinous powers of Chaos. These were good times and I enjoyed the easy gaming element I had with my regular opponent and the narrative driven games we came up with. I started painting a few of the miniature’s I had but my skills then were of those to be expected from a beginner so a lot more gaming took place then painting.
The next chapter in my gaming journey took me into the world of Necromunda, Games Workshop's skirmish game depicting gang warfare in the 41st millennium. As much as I love fantasy my real love lies with science fiction so this was a natural progression for me as was exploring the gritty back story to the world of Necromunda. The element that I love the most about any war gaming system is its back story or 'fluff' and Necromunda has a great back story and it got even better with the 'Outlanders' expansion pack. I chose house Goliath as my gang, muscle bound, mohawked thugs from the harsh industrial regions of Hive Primus. I also collected a few of the mercenary characters you could hire for your gang such as underhive scummies, beasts wyrds and bounty hunters. (Being a massive Boba Fett fan having a bounty hunter was a must) I started painting in earnest and my skills improved slightly.
After drifting away from the hobby for a few years I came back and decided to take up Warhammer 40k. It was the time of 4th Edition and I’ve been playing 40k ever since in which time my painting skills have improved vastly. I have an Imperial Fists Space Marine army and have just embarked on starting a Grey Knights army which I am slaving away at painting every night as I desperately try and get an 1800points army finished for the Immortals 40k Warzone tournament I have entered myself into on the 6th April. I intend to get some pics up of my Grey Knights as they get completed for all to see.
Looking to the future I have just recently discovered the excellent Judge Dredd miniature’s game by Mongoose publishing and have painted my first miniature, the enigmatic Judge Dredd himself. This is a game system I definitely want to get into and I look forward to sharing my journey into the Judge Dredd miniature’s game with you all here on Games Knight. Also it will be full circle for me as I look to get back into Warhammer Fantasy when the next edition comes out and start a Bretonnia Knights army. I was kindly brought the finecast kit of King Louen Leoncouer as a Christmas present and intend to use him as a spring board for starting my Warhammer fantasy project in the future.
So that’s my 'gaming CV' but what about yours? Here at Games Knight the blog posts are just the start of the conversation. We want to hear from you! So please drop us a comment or email us directly at contactgamesknight@gmail.com. Till next time gamers.
We start many years ago (In a galaxy very close to home) in 1989 with the brilliant dungeon crawl that was HeroQuest by Games Workshop & Milton Bradley. I was very young at the time and didn't fully understand what I was getting into when my Father surprised me one night picking me up from primary school and presenting me with my copy of the board game. However it soon became very apparent that the world of fantasy war gaming was right up my street. I loved the characters the game threw at you. From the classic muscle bound Northern Barbarian with his mighty broad sword, which remains my favourite character to this day, to the madness of a Chaos sorcerer with a skull mask, my young mind was ripe to have its imagination caught. What helped the most though was the simple game mechanics which meant that after a few 'standalone' games you could immerse yourself fully into a quest campaign. The simple game mechanics also allowed for quick game play and a decent pace of game time which for me is what made HeroQuest a fantastic board game in its own right and perfect for a newcomer to the world of fantasy board games as I was back then. I still play HeroQuest and fully intend to do a HeroQuest 'dungeon crawl' battle report for Games Knight so watch this space in the weeks to come.
With my introduction to the fantasy world setting of HeroQuest I then turned to Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy Battle gaming system. This very much got me into collecting miniatures and playing games. My regular opponent was a school friend and we played many games together and even got my favourite characters from HeroQuest involved as special one off characters! My Barbarian featured heavily as the champion of the free people taking the fight against the forces of evil and likewise the Chaos sorcerer was a champion of the ruinous powers of Chaos. These were good times and I enjoyed the easy gaming element I had with my regular opponent and the narrative driven games we came up with. I started painting a few of the miniature’s I had but my skills then were of those to be expected from a beginner so a lot more gaming took place then painting.
The next chapter in my gaming journey took me into the world of Necromunda, Games Workshop's skirmish game depicting gang warfare in the 41st millennium. As much as I love fantasy my real love lies with science fiction so this was a natural progression for me as was exploring the gritty back story to the world of Necromunda. The element that I love the most about any war gaming system is its back story or 'fluff' and Necromunda has a great back story and it got even better with the 'Outlanders' expansion pack. I chose house Goliath as my gang, muscle bound, mohawked thugs from the harsh industrial regions of Hive Primus. I also collected a few of the mercenary characters you could hire for your gang such as underhive scummies, beasts wyrds and bounty hunters. (Being a massive Boba Fett fan having a bounty hunter was a must) I started painting in earnest and my skills improved slightly.
After drifting away from the hobby for a few years I came back and decided to take up Warhammer 40k. It was the time of 4th Edition and I’ve been playing 40k ever since in which time my painting skills have improved vastly. I have an Imperial Fists Space Marine army and have just embarked on starting a Grey Knights army which I am slaving away at painting every night as I desperately try and get an 1800points army finished for the Immortals 40k Warzone tournament I have entered myself into on the 6th April. I intend to get some pics up of my Grey Knights as they get completed for all to see.
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| IMPERIAL FIST COMPANY CHAMPION. |
Looking to the future I have just recently discovered the excellent Judge Dredd miniature’s game by Mongoose publishing and have painted my first miniature, the enigmatic Judge Dredd himself. This is a game system I definitely want to get into and I look forward to sharing my journey into the Judge Dredd miniature’s game with you all here on Games Knight. Also it will be full circle for me as I look to get back into Warhammer Fantasy when the next edition comes out and start a Bretonnia Knights army. I was kindly brought the finecast kit of King Louen Leoncouer as a Christmas present and intend to use him as a spring board for starting my Warhammer fantasy project in the future.
 |
| JUDGE DREDD BRINGS JUSTICE TO MEGA CITY 1. |
So that’s my 'gaming CV' but what about yours? Here at Games Knight the blog posts are just the start of the conversation. We want to hear from you! So please drop us a comment or email us directly at contactgamesknight@gmail.com. Till next time gamers.
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