When you’re into the wargaming hobby like I am you end up with a lot of model paint. In fact you end up with two, three, or even four pots of the same color! Hence, and heed closely, because this is very important, keep an inventory of your paint collection.

Now, keeping an inventory can be as simple as creating a list of the paints you have. Now, I use Citadel paints from Games Workshop, so they have all kinds of weird names like Leadbelcher and Mephiston Red. You don’t necessarily have to put down exactly what type of red or green you have, but I like to put down the name of the paint. I’ve found it makes keeping track of exactly which paints I have easier.

There are many ways, with the advent of the internet, to store your list: you can keep it online, in a private file on your computer, or even on your phone!

I hope this was helpful to you wargamers and model builders out there using the internet. It’s critical to keep a paint inventory if you’re seeking to save money.

In wargaming it is easy to get sucked into more than one game at once. Now, for some people that’s okay. Some people can get by with playing more than one game at once. But what I’m saying is that some people should choose one game and stick with it until they know the rules and the mechanics at least relatively well. For example, if you’ve decided to play Michael Lovejoy’s Burrows and Badgers from Osprey Games, don’t go over to Mercs when you haven’t even finished reading the rules for the first game. It doesn’t matter if the miniatures are cool. They very well may be. But if you don’t finish learning the game you’ve committed to learn in the first place, you’ll never finish anything! You’ll just be hopping from system to system never truly learning a game.

Now, I got some advice from the YouTube channel Tabletop Minions: learn skirmish games. That way you can save money as well as learn the game a little bit quicker. To begin with, the number of miniatures you need to play a game of Burrows and Badgers, (3-10,) is a lot smaller than the number of miniatures you need to play a big army game like Warlord Games’ Black Powder or Games Workshop’s Warhammer: Age of Sigmar. Another thing is that skirmish games are quicker to play than large battle games, (at least I believe they are.)

So, in closing, play skirmish games, (especially if you’re new to the hobby.) And try to stick with one game in starting out. As time goes on, you may find that you enjoy playing more than one game at once. I’m just saying, don’t start out like that. Start with one game. Trust me, it will be a lot easier on you, and on your wallet!

I’m hoping that soon wargamers will be attracted to my blog. Either that or some of my readers will get into the hobby. Unfortunately for newcomers to the hobby who aren’t artistic by nature, art has to become a skill that’s developed over several years. Take me for example: my first miniatures were all one color: I had some gold foot knights and white Templar infantry from Fireforge Games, and some red Roman legionaries, (along with two centurions,) from Warlord Games.

Not sure I remember when I actually started to paint wargaming figures more than one color. It was a while ago now, and though I’ve been painting miniatures for a long time, I still have areas in which I can improve. All you have to do to see that is look at the English pirates I painted a few months back: I primed them white, and, unfortunately, I didn’t get all the areas of the miniatures covered. Don’t get me wrong, they still look good, but they could look better.

There’s also another skill you often have to learn to get wargaming figures to actually look good: gluing. Now that’s an area where I really struggle. I just got finished painting some Death Korps of Krieg Guardsmen from Games Workshop a few weeks ago. They look good, but many of them are not glued in the right places: there are laser rifles not attached to arms! So that’s an area in which I myself can improve: gluing rifles to their respective owners.

Again, I’m hoping the wargaming community will consider my blog and read it. It would also be great to get some feedback!

A few years ago, I came across a skirmish game called Burrows and Badgers. It’s a game set in Northymbra, a kingdom populated by mice, badgers, owls and an assortment of other animals.

As a skirmish game, it’s not a massive army/battlefield game like Games Workshop’s Warhammer or Warlord’s Black Powder, but, as I’ve heard, skirmish games can be fun. One thing that is fun about them is that instead of playing with a bunch of, let’s say, “faceless,” miniatures on the table top, (as is the case with a lot of the big battle games,) you actually get to create characters and give them backstory. Of course, you can do that, even with games like Warhammer, but with Warhammer, you can’t name every miniature in your, let’s say Skaven army. But you can do that with a small warband.

Another interesting thing about Burrows and Badgers is that it’s set in a Narnia-like kingdom, where the animals wear armor and wield swords, bows, arrows, and even pistols. And you don’t have to play with the animals specified. Take me for example. I’m going to have a polar bear stand in for a badger in my warband, which may not be allowed at a convention, but is definitely allowed at home.

But, be forewarned if you, like me, live in the United States. I say this because the miniatures that were actually created for the game are only available in Europe. At least, so it seems. But even if that be the case, you can still have a lot of fun with it. Or you can go for one of the many other skirmish games out there, (one interesting-looking one is Mercs from MercsMiniatures.) So, if you’re interested, pick up a good wargame, (I would recommend starting out with a good skirmish game and then if you want to get into the big battlefield games later you can.)

For those of you who have read my wargaming blog, this will be an interesting topic. I’ve decided to use my wargaming hobby to start a business! Now, truth be told, I’m not aiming to be famous or anything, but I’ve been thinking about starting a business for about a year now. Initially the idea was to actually write wargames. Well, that never came to anything. It was really disappointing until my aunt and uncle visited last month. They suggested starting a business, but letting it be about painting wargaming figures, rather than writing wargames, (which I can’t really do, since I haven’t really played any games.)

If I’m honest, the area I really shine in is not playing wargames, but painting wargaming figures. Currently I’m working on Games Workshop’s relatively new Death Korps of Krieg box set, and they’re turning out pretty well. Now, I’m not planning on selling these particular figures, but I’ve come across some pretty cool miniatures that I can paint and sell on Etsy, (I set up an Etsy account last week.) The figures I’m planning on selling initially are push-fit, (meaning they don’t need to be glued together.) Plus, the paint set some of them come with is very basic, so painting them won’t be too much of a hassle. I hope this blog was of interest to those reading it. And if you would like to check out my shop on Etsy, it’s called Warpaint60AD. Fair warning I don’t have any products up yet, but I should have some products in the shop by next month. So check it out! For those of you who would like to play wargames but don’t want to paint the minis, that could be of help to you.

I was just watching a wargame youtuber talking about, “the only way you can fail in your hobby.” It made me realize something: when learning a wargame, whether it be Michael Lovejoy’s Burrows and Badgers, or Games Workshop’s Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, you don’t have to read the entire rulebook before beginning to play! That was a mistake I nearly made with Burrows and Badgers. I have the rule book, don’t actually have any of the models yet. However, that doesn’t mean I should try to wade through the whole rulebook before trying to play. What I should do is make a concerted effort to get my hands on some of the miniatures, (for me and my brother, who is going to play the game with me,) and learn by actually playing the game. If you are a wargamer, I would recommend you do this as well. I tell you, trying to learn a wargame or skirmish game by trying to get through the entire rulebook can be a royal pain in the rear! So, to anyone getting into the hobby of wargaming, especially those who are really enjoying the hobby aspect but are on the fence about getting into the game: don’t try to wade through the rules before playing. Learn by playing! You’ll probably get a lot more enjoyment out of the game that way.

For those of my readers who don’t know, I’m getting into wargame design. In fact, I’m endeavoring to start my own business. My first game is going to be Hyde: A Wargame of Gothic Horror in Victorian London. The idea is that humans are going to be pitted against Robert Louis Stevenson’s Mr. Hyde and his ilk, which will also include Dracula and the Modern Prometheus, (Frankenstein’s monster.)

I’m supposed to have a book on wargame design coming. It’s written in part by Rick Priestly, the guy who developed the immensely popular Warhammer system. Unfortunately the book hasn’t arrived yet. We called Amazon and it may be arriving soon, but I’m not sure.

I also came up with the idea to include in the rules for Hyde quotations from classic horror novels such as Dracula and Frankenstein. That will be lots of fun. Just picture within the general rules a box in which there is a quote from one of those classic horror novels! That’s the plan.

So keep your eyes open. Hopefully, soon, there will be advertisements for Hyde: A Wargame of Gothic Horror in Victorian London. I also have some great ideas for historical wargames. Some of the ideas are as follows: Horse and Musket: Wargaming in 18th Century Europe from the War of the Spanish Succession to the French Revolutionary Wars, Pirate Wars: An Expansion of Horse and Musket, Blood and Iron: Wargaming the Wars of German Unification, 1848-1871 etc. Hopefully these will all be forthcoming, so, again, if you are into wargaming, keep your eyes open!

There are some up-and-coming wargames that look very interesting. As you may know, I’ve started a wargaming section on my blog, and this is my second post on it.

The first upcoming wargame that looks VERY interesting is the Silver Bayonet: A Wargame of Napoleonic Gothic Horror by Joseph A. McCullough. As you may have guessed from the title, it’s set during the Napoleonic Wars, (1803-1815.) But their is a marked difference between this game and a regular Napoleonic wargame. Try to imagine the Battle of Waterloo between the Allies and Napoleon’s Grande Armee, but imagine it with vampires and werewolves. As the game hasn’t come out yet, (it’s coming out in October of this year,) I don’t know what the gameplay will be like, but I like to imagine what it will be like: I imagine the werewolves fighting with the Allies and the vampires fighting with the Grande Armee. I don’t know if that’s going to be the case, but that’s an interesting thought, anyway.

The second upcoming wargame that looks interesting is one that’s not going to be coming out for some time yet: Warhammer: the Old World. For those of you who have played Warhammer: Fantasy Battles, it’s basically going to be Warhammer with all the old factions, such as the Empire. One faction that’s going to be in that game that looks very interesting to me is Kislev, an impoverished but hardy faction based on Kievan Rus, (medieval Russia.) Apparently, in the original Warhammer game, Kislev got no more than, “a threadbare supplement in 2003.” Also, Kislev warriors apparently ride bears into battle, which will be very interesting.

So, wargamers, strap on your armor and shakos and grab your swords and muskets! It looks like the next few years are going to be very exciting for wargamers!

I’ve decided to split my blog into two categories: history and current events on the one hand, and wargaming on the other. See, my brother Landon has gotten me into wargaming and modeling. I recommend you try it. It’s very rewarding to see miniatures glued together and painted.

The game of choice is Warhammer: Age of Sigmar. Now some of the wargamers that are hopefully reading this post may not be into Warhammer. They may be more into easier games like Burrows and Badgers. But that’s the road down which I’ve chosen to go. I love the Warhammer miniatures and I think playing with them will be very fun.

The two races I’ve chosen for this particular game are the Freeguilders, (basically, the humans,) and the Skaven, (flesh-eating rat-men who worship the Chaos deity known as the Great Horned Rat.) Unfortunately I haven’t really gotten into the actual game yet. That will come later. At this point modelling is the order of the day. So yesterday I just started gluing together the Skaven plague monks. Gluing is not the easiest thing in the world. Painting is a lot more fun. So it will be really fun when I start painting them. I also have the Freeguild Guard coming in the mail. Soon the Skaven and the Freeguilders will be ready for combat! It’s only a matter of time.

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