I bought my first miniature in 1982 after being introduced, by a friend, to Dungeons and Dragons. It was a Ral Partha elf and I borrowed some oil paints from my uncle and spent hours pain stakingly painting it. Over the next few years I built up a collection of miniatures by Citadel, Ral Partha, Asgard … But mostly Citadel. I bought the first editions of Warhammer and Rogue Trader and played little skirmish games with my space marines against my friend’s orks.

Then in the early 90s I stopped. I was at university by then and didn’t have the money or the time. I thought I would never buy another miniature ever again and at some point I think I threw away all the minis I had.

Then, about a year ago, totally on a whim I decided to look at the war gaming scene again. My other half had started a new hobby (she makes her own clothes) and I was thinking I’d like a hobby too. I started to have fond memories of painting minis as a kid 30 years ago.

It took a long time for me to take the leap into actually buying anything. I didn’t know what I wanted. I spent hour after hour looking at various things and various companies and it was during this time I discovered BoW and liked what I saw.

I finally decided that what I was really interested in was 40k. It had only really just started when I had given up playing with toy soldiers and I didn’t know that much about it, but I just found it more interesting that the many, many other games I had looked at. I did a lot of research. I hadn’t bought or painted a mini for a very long time. I discovered some amazing YouTube channels, read lots of tutorials and came across the Inq28 and Inquismunda scene. It was this last thing that closed the deal for me. I thought, that’s it, I wanted to try my hand at converting, painting and collecting inquisitors, servitors etc. etc.

So, this summer I bought my first minis. After a tentative start and lots of practice, lots of trial and lots of error, I can now say that I am the proud possessor of 3 beautifully painted and customised miniatures, with more to come.

Then the whole GW thing blew up on BoW and I have to say that it upset me. It upset me that GW can be like they are, but what upset me most was the outpouring of anti GW vitriol on BoW. I do not defend GW for a second. The way they behave sometimes is vile, but I also know that the same can be said of pretty much all public companies with shareholders to service and IPs to protect. No, what upset me most was the way that many posters on BoW spoke about GW’s customers.

As somebody who knows very little about the war gaming community and is taking their first few tentative steps into it I was left feeling like everyone else thinks I’m a dick. I was left thinking that maybe I’m going to get ridiculed by other adult wargamers for doing what 12 year olds do cos they don’t know any better. It upset me and probably shouldn’t have, but it did.

So, I am so glad to hear what Warren said today about hobby elitism. There is room here for everybody and BoW is brilliant because it is inclusive. I hope that all this fuss will die down soon and we can get back to a point where we can all enjoy what we enjoy without being made to feel like a dick for enjoying it.

For you guys at BoW, this is your livelihood and that is why I have chosen to support you in my small way with a backstage pass. For the rest of us though, it is just toy soldiers. I hope we can all have a bit more live and let live and a lot less sneering and condecension.