From JamesM: Challenge 13 Intro

Hi folks,

I suppose at this point I'm technically a veteran of the challenge, having participated for the first time in 'The Seventh' and each year since. I run a blog called Mad Tin Hatter!

I'm generally something of an 'anti-squirrel' when it comes to painting, normally focusing on my large collection of 15mm WW2 Normandy miniatures and painting to a planned order of battle. This year, I'm taking a bit of a break from that and attempting to paint a bunch of 28mm Necromunda figures. Alongside possibly some Battlefleet Gothic and 15mm Cold War Dutch. 

But I do have a few WW2 British softskins and such on the painting shelf as well - so don't panic!

As a Scotsman forced by love of a local lass to live in on the banks of the River Tees in North East England, I was lucky enough to land near and then meet DaveD and MartinC. They share my love for BIG games and we all have a similar approach to gaming. Through them I've had some fantastic hobby opportunities, including taking part in the filming of battle scenes for an award winning documentary. 

Gaming wise, I've a member of the North Riding Wargames club out of Northallerton, and we've been lucky enough recently to have Pendraken open space near us we can use for regular gaming. Thankfully as I tend not to be too attracted by hobby squirrels (I'm looking at you Martin!) gaming days there are not a hugely expensive problem for me. 

For painting space, I've a small home office which is 75% full of really useful boxes. 75% of those contain 15mm Sherman tanks. Please excuse the elbow pillow!

As mentioned above, I've diverted away from my usual focus of WW2 related projects for this challenge. Last challenge and into this summer saw me paint a full company worth of German halftracks and my efforts since then have returned to painting things plain green. I found the Dutch used no camo during the 1980's, so they were an easy choice, as DaveD finally tempted me to do a period at 15mm I already have at 6mm and 3mm...

This years pile of shame prepped so far. I've set a small target for myself, as I'm not the fastest painter - only 250 points. I am not used to painting 28mm stuff, so I'll be interested to see how my models look at the end of the challenge as opposed to the start!

Gaming wise, I became aware of wargaming back in July 1996 when a classmate in high school brought in a White Dwarf magazine and talked about Necromunda. I bought issue 200 of that magazine speculatively in August of 1996 and was hooked - funnily enough it was an issue with a Necromunda spread on the back page! Prior to this, I had played with my own made up rules using Lego (as microarmour) and skirmishes using 20mm Airfix figures, without any comprehension that other people did this and that there were things like formal rules with dice and rulers. I was involved in all things Games Workshop until around 2006, when my various collections were sold. In around 2013 I started collecting 15mm Flames of War British following a chance encounter at a gaming club I popped into. Since then, I've focused on 15mm WW2 Normandy gaming with the occasional foray into 6mm and 3mm moderns, 3mm and 15mm sci-fi, 10mm ACW, Cruel Seas, Full Thrust and Battlefleet Gothic. I do not collect games involving the chucking of spears...

I'm one of the regular Paint and Chat hosts during the challenge, alongside DaveD. I hope to get a chance to talk to some of you there!