Start Collecting - An Ongoing Tabletop Series - Introduction

Published: May 22, 2018 1:00 PM /

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start collecting

Starting this month is the first of several "Start Collecting" series' of articles, where I will take a starter set of a particular game and will take it as far as I can to as high as I can get competitively. The monthly articles will report back on how my force has developed, the games I've played, my choices, plans and ideas, and also the core aspects of the hobby, the modelling, painting as well as things like transport and how/where I play games. Community is a huge part of the tabletop hobby, and I will cover as much of that as possible. So if you're a veteran wargamer you can judge, guide, laugh as I make the mistakes you made when you first started playing. If you're a new wargamer, come with me, we'll journey together; if you're thinking about picking up a wargame, haven't heard of wargaming, or would like to know where to start with the hobby, hopefully this will give you some ideas and inspiration to help you make that jump into this world.

Starting this month is Start Collecting Infinity, where I will review the Infinity: Operation Red Veil starter set. We've already reviewed the Infinity JSA Army Pack and that will be added to this starter set as I continue my Infinity journey ,and next month the first article will talk about what I've added to continue the army's development. A huge thank you has to go to Corvus Belli for making this possible, as without their trust, support and sponsorship, the Infinity side of this series wouldn't have happened.

Starting next month will be "Start Collecting Warhammer 40,000" where I will review the Dark Imperium starter set and begin developing my force from there as I delve back into Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 world. This series of articles is what initially inspired the idea and is sponsored by Goblin Gaming. Goblin Gaming have supported me from the beginning of my articles here at TechRaptor. Their support has been incredible and unquestioning and have been they have been extremely responsive to my ideas. You would be hard pressed to find a better online retailer in terms of customer care and their incredible TrustPilot score reflects that. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity they have given me in terms of support.

I also have to thank the TechRaptor editorial team, who have been fantastic in the short time I've been writing for them. They've been very supportive with my ideas and very encouraging and I appreciate everything they've done for me.

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So why should you care about me writing about collecting wargames? Most importantly is that I've been a competitive gamer since around 1994 when I first started playing Warhammer 40,000 and Blood Bowl. I moved into Magic the Gathering, and after my budget recovered from Revised Edition MtG, I began playing any collectible card game I could get my hands on—Legend of the 5 Rings, BattleTech CCG, DoomTrooper, Vampire the Masquerade. I would play anything. When Wizkids started their HeroClix line, I began running tournaments for them in the UK and got heavily into MechWarrior: Dark Age and Heroclix. I also started playtesting, running tournaments, and also competing at a high level when Sabertooth Games launched their Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 card games, and I also wrote some flavor text for their releases. That was when I stopped playing wargames and focused on card games, and then when I began writing for video games a little while later, I moved away from tabletop completely.

I dabbled in Magic Online in the early days but never to the extent I had been involved on the tabletop. I started to pick up board games again when the site I wrote for needed a tabletop writer. I started with FFG's collectible releases and skirmish games. Then online card games began to get a lot of attention, and I started playing Hearthstone and as a huge Witcher fan, Gwent. My crowning moment in Gwent was getting into the top 200 global list during the early stages of Open Beta. I've also kept up with the Warhammer 40,000 lore through the novels, which I've been reading since they started publishing the Horus Heresy line.

Returning to Warhammer 40,000 and wargaming in general is a return to the start for me. I had some skill in painting, but I will be learning most of the techniques and picking up my skills again. So I'm new enough to be able to experience starting the hobby from scratch is like, but experienced enough to pick up quickly and approach it in a logical manner that I will be able to report on.

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My hope is that those who've always wanted to get into wargaming will be inspired by my journey, find motivation, or see a way to start through my guides and reports. Those that have left the hobby might find their love for it again, and those that have just started wargaming can follow my journey and share with me and others their journey experiences. Those that have been wargaming a while can help us all by sharing their experience, tips, and ideas in the comments.

 

To start with we'll be covering Warhammer 40,000 and Infinity, but if there's another game you would like us to cover just let me know. I can be found in the comments here or on Twitter. I'll be looking to build a community around Start Collecting, and I hope you'll come with me on this journey and help out where you can. Let's play!

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


A Potts TechRaptor
| Senior Tabletop Writer

Adam is a Tabletop Specialist for TechRaptor. He started writing for TechRaptor in 2017 and took over as Tabletop Editor in 2019 and has since stood down… More about Adam