It all started back in Christmas 1999. The World was in a panic over that Y2K bug…
'but me, at the age of fifteen loved roller blading, was having some trouble controlling the tone of my voice, and had just moved into the basement of my parents’ house.
However, what’s relevant to this story is not the potential apocalyptic event that turned out to be nothing. Or my personal journey through puberty, or my sweet new ‘bachelor’ pad complete with pool table. But that my parents had decided that, for the last couple of years, it would be best to just give my sister and I our own budget for Christmas.
a significant portion of the blame, I feel, still lies with my parents for creating the situation I am still in now… twenty *cough* f-[indecipherable]-ish years later.
$150 cash worth of whatever cash was worth in the year 1999, to spend on whatever we wanted to be under the tree for ourselves. I can only assume it was a way to guarantee no disappointments at an already stressful time. Or laziness?
Whatever. I was fifteen, what did I know. My basement opened up onto our swimming pool. And if it wasn’t for the roller blading, I probably could’ve had more girls over. I guess I tell you this particular detail about this particular Christmas because a significant portion of the blame, I feel, still lies with my parents for creating the situation I am still in now… twenty *cough* f- [indecipherable]-ish years later.
Five or Six months before, a school friend of mine had shown me his Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition rulebook (with that amazing Blanchistu art of Black Templars on the front), and some of his own collection of Chaos Space Marines. In the back of drama class (drama nerd), huddled together over a small Sistema container filled with tissue paper… He said, and I quote, “I think you’ll really enjoy this”.
I did! I did enjoy it. I was fascinated. I was intrigued. I was… fifteen with no job, and no other discernible
access to money of my own. So, I waited. Waited until Christmas 1999.
If they knew what was about to happen, my parents probably could’ve fought harder against this. Fought
harder against taking me over to the bigger city next to our little town, walking me into the coolest shop
full of pop culture posters, DVDs, and tiny little blister packs full of fascinating bits of metal. Fought harder
against allowing me to buy the 1999 Eldar Battle Force.
I could’ve stuck with roller blading, or had those girls over (maybe not both of those things).
But no… Warhammer 40,000.
The Battle Force in all its glory. Look you got trees!
I got paints as well, and glue, oh and a Farseer. As much as $150 cash, of the year 1999 value, would get me. I remember hurriedly opening, constructing, and painting well into the night on Christmas day.
I went with Craftworld Ulthwè. I had to give my sister a guardian to paint, and hers was much better than mine. Unfortunately, that didn’t deter me either.
What followed was twenty *cough* o-[indecipherable]-ish years of filing white metal, opening and
painting blister packs, constructing terrain out of polystyrene and cardboard - and subsequently learning
that blades are sharp and that spray paint melts polystyrene. Playing games with my friends on my
personal pool table. Less roller blading (I think I was into push scooters at this point), and far less girls for
the swimming pool. Little bits of polystyrene everywhere, and loud shouting echoing up the stairs from
my room about how Thousand Sons could only be killed by Instant Death weapons.
More Christmas money meant more models… and more of the above… and then graduation (I passed my exams… just), leaving home, and getting a casual position at GW as my part time Uni job. Then learning from my manager how to paint ‘properly’. Going back to GW after Uni full time for a bit… many more armies (metal Grey Knights, Blood Ravens, The Purge CSM, Tyranids, to name but a few), new plastic minis, new editions (3rd all the way through to 6th), tournaments, new friends… But most importantly of all I think… lots and lots of fun! I took a break from the hobby during 7th edition as my career took off (I was a full-on actor nerd now), but 8th edition got me excited like it was 1999 again and I had a spare $150 (worth significantly less of course). But I was an adult and goddammit I was excited. And I could still always still get money for Christmas, right? My parents still loved me. They didn’t need to know.
And they in turn led me to tournaments again… like being successfully invited to SN Battle Reports exclusive 26 player tournament, No Retreat, in Gibraltar with my Imperial Fists.
More painting (Astra Militarum), moving to Australia, and Covid led me to Instagram (s0ldierzer0 if you want to know), which led me to more friends, both online and off. And they in turn led me to tournaments again… like being successfully invited to SN Battle Reports exclusive 26 player tournament, No Retreat, in Gibraltar with my Imperial Fists. I was humbled to win the Players Player award there.
Also, my first EVER Arc40K experience in 2021. That led me to groups like Legends & Lore, who I met and
played there, and was a subsequently a guest on their YouTube channel. And eventually to awesome
pillars of our community, Dan Atrill from Arc40k himself.
Dan and I talked about working together. I was meant to come in and be the head paint judge at Arc40k this year but my damn job got in the way. We chatted further, about a whole bunch of stuff, and our continued excitement at doing something together. Then he pitched me the Arc Army Challenge. Create and paint an army for display at Arc in 2024.
Done.
And I was going to recreate my very first army. The 1999 Eldar Battle Force… and friends.
(Friends: meaning the models that I added to my collection over the course of the other cash injected Christmases, oh and birthdays, post that fateful one twenty *cough* …oh you can do the maths of you want… years ago).
Stay tuned over the coming weeks to see the new army grow!
