A Beginners Perspective

Hello All,

I'd like to introduce the latest addition to the Breakthrough Assault Team, Andy Croft from the Fully Painted 40k Blog. I'll leave the rest of the talking to Andy.

Hello All,

Firstly I'd like to quickly introduce myself. My name is Andy and I've been wargaming and painting on and off for about 15 years now. Up until recently this has revolved entirely around Warhammer 40K and my main interest has always been the modelling and painting side of the hobby, with gaming being a more of a side effect of collecting models. However recently I've found that many of releases from GW have unfortunately have failed to inspire me and it slowly dawned on me that I should perhaps just try something new.

Its probably been about 3 years now since I saw Ben's first FoW models and I loved them. They're not the most detailed models in the world, sculpting in 15mm just doesn't lend itself to that. What interested me instead was the balance between nice looking models and the ability to paint whole armies in a reasonable time frame. Now I know there are some people out there who can knock out 28mm armies in no time at all. Others who can consistently paint each new model they buy and over time build very nice well painted armies (thats you Adam!). Then there are people like me who buy lots of models, slowly paint some of them but then get distracted and buy a load more. The result being boxes and boxes of models either undercoated, half painted or in some cases mdoel which never even made it off the sprue. The only consolation is that I know I'm not alone!

The Drawer of Shame!

In order to save myself from simply buying more models and adding them to the pile of incomplete stuff I decided I would have to be more disciplined and at least sell off some unwanted models to both fund this new venture and also clear some space. So, on to Ebay went a load of (still on the sprue) 40K tanks and infantry...

...2 weeks later...

With part of the proceeds I splashed out on the Open Fire boxed set. For the price I really don't think you can do better. Its an excellent set and comes with everything a beginner like myself would need. Lots of miniatures, both Axis and Allied and also a fully copy of the rulebook (and a very good quick start guide just to give you the basics). I didn't particularly like the card scenery but in terms of getting people playing I can see the value of including it in the box.

I also like the quick reference cards you get for those people unsure about forking out for Intelligence Briefing sourcebooks straight away.

The only gripe I have is that the box is so full of stuff that a few bent or broken bits seems almost inevitable. In my case one of the US Para MG teams suffered a broken barrel.

However Ben advised I get in touch with Battlefront as they have very good customer service and sure enough they sorted me out with a replacement in no time at all (I haven't even played any games yet and already my Paratroopers are receiving replacements!)

++ Since writing this I have thought of another small gripe with the Open Fire box and that is the lack of decals for the armour you get in the box. This may not bother many people but I have recently discovered how much these can add to the overall effect of a miniature. They're also surprisingly easy as long as you have a some decal softener and not just water! ++

You may have also noticed the blister pack of Easy Company models. Like Ben I'm a massive fan of Band of Brothers (I highly recommend reading the book too if you haven't already) and I just couldn't resist!

Anyway that's all for now and I look forward to keeping you all up to date on how I'm getting on in the coming weeks.

Thanks for reading,

Andy