Fantasy miniatures gaming has been a passion of mine ever since I was a little guy. Back then, we did not have very sophisticated video games. There was no such thing as real time strategy. If we wanted to pretend to be engaging in battle, we had to construct entire armies out of miniature figurines and fight it out on the tabletop.
I spent hour upon hour patiently painting my fantasy miniatures. It was a pretty elaborate process. It took several coats of pain, and a lot of time. First off, you would put on a layer of primer. After that, you would have to fill in the basic colors. After that, you would start to fill in details. Finally, you would use a dry brush with a bit of paint on it to get the shading just right.
Although it seemed to take forever, it was worth it. Sometimes it could be frustrating painting dozens of troops, but it was always a lot of fun painting the fantasy heroes miniatures. They were so cool. They usually had noble poses and big, bearded heads covered with horned helmets. They often carried big pole axes, or even war hammers in their hands. They were certainly mighty and impressive.
I also really liked painting fantasy miniature artillery. I played a game called Warhammer Fantasy battle back then, and it was known partly for the strange and fantastic war machines it incorporated. From steam powered tanks to catapults that launched little goblins at the enemy, the possibilities were limitless and fantastic. Each had its own history, and you could chose to paint your figurines to fit with their story or to express your own artistic sensibilities. It was all up to you.
For the last several years, most of my fantasy miniatures have sat on the shelf. I have been so busy, you see, that I have not had anyone to play with. Recently, however, I took a few down and had a look at them. They still had the same fascination for me as they had had as a child. It was so neat to be looking at them again that I even started to think about getting back into the game. I have a friend in town who I used to play with and, recently, I called him up and asked him if he wanted to play. I hope that we can get back in to the game.
