What has gone before.

I have been wargaming with miniatures for about 8 years now, and every year I seem to get into it deeper and deeper. My first exposure to it was at a hobby shop in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, back in 1992. I was there one day looking around and I noticed they were having a sale on their magazines. Included in this sale were dozens of old issues of Miniature Wargames magazine for $.25 each. My intent was to buy them for the military history (my first hobby love) articles, although the color pics of miniatures wargames in progress were cool, too. I never really considered the miniatures gaming very seriously at the time. Those miniatures were tooo small and I could never learn to paint anything THAT small.

Fast forward to 1998. I was at our local game store (Game HQ in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) and noticed a pack of 15mm Prussian Napoleonic miniatures produced by a company called Minifigs. Since I had a slight interest in the Napoleonic Wars (once again my love of military history shining through) and I had always been interested in the IDEA of wargaming, I thought I might try to paint these little men and see what happened. I also bought a napoleonic rules set (Covered With Glory), and with those old magazines for inspiration, set out to try this hobby called miniatures wargaming.

That first attempt at painting wasn't very successful, to say the least. The pack I bought was of the older Minifigs and was a brigade pack which included some artillery. I had no idea how to get started, so I bought some Howard Hues paints at Game HQ, and I think I bought the Osprey on Prussian line infantry. I didn't know anything of painting sticks, primer, or what type of brushes to buy, although I made some decent decisions regarding the brushes. I started painting by holding the figure by the base and sometimes the musket. I think I finished 2-3 of these figures and then I put them aside never to return to them. I still have them somewhere around here.

Somehow I figured out that craft sticks might be my answer to being able to hold figures a little more easily. I decided that three figures glued to each stick would work. About the same time I saw some American War for Independence figures at Game HQ produced by Musket Miniatures in Colorado. This became my first big miniatures project. Since no one that was gaming at Game HQ was into the American Revolution, I decided I would go it alone and build armies for both sides. I began painting these figures in 1999 and still haven't completely finished both sides, although I do have enough figures completed to game both sides. Ultimately, this project will yield enough units for 8-10 players to play simultaneously.

Since my AWI project was begun I have begun several others and plan to do many more. This page will hopefully be a way for me to share these projects with all of you.