The Imperial Fists Primarch-Progenitor, to your glory and the glory of him on earth!

So I was looking up when old editions, codexes (codexi?), and special edition figures were released and it got me thinking about my history with this hobby. I wanted to write it down someplace so that I wouldn't forget it.

I started playing Warhammer 40K sometime in summer of 1998 with the release of the 3rd Edition. My first purchase was the Imperial Guard Praetorian XXIV Boxed Set which had only been out a few months. The boys in the pith helmets were literally "the reason I got into the hobby" back then. I stumbled around a few months without a set of rules of my own (Chris 'The Last Outrider' A. and his friend Mike 'Horrible Dice Luck' S. teaching me what I needed to know). My fiancée (who is now my wife of 10 years) picked up the Sisters of Battle (Argent Shroud). ) The 3rd edition released that fall semester while I was at UNT. They later released a new box set; that was when and where I picked up my first Space Marines (who are incorporated into my current Imperial Fists found on this blog) and the Dark Eldar that I today chop up to use for basing.

I played quite often at various homes (and Game Stores, especially Big World Comics) for a couple of years. I started to fall away from the hobby around 2001. Codex Armageddon from 2000 was the last book I remember with any excitement. I remember getting annoyed with the Vehicle Design Rules released during the Christmas Break of 2000... and the absurd nonsense that showed up at game stores in the area all the next year. I started to distance myself; playing very rarely and no longer following the releases or product. Then came various GW corporate nonsense actions like almost prohibitive high prices and "the days of attempted retailer strongarm tactics;" GW told private retail stores they could not sell at discounts online. This affected me somewhat at the time. Plus I was also an employee of Reaper Miniatures Inc. and it seemed a bit of a conflict of interest.

The final straw came with the "Armored Company" rules. I was a total treadhead and various silly rules that affected my very expen$ive army I had spent so much time painting... well that threw me off the game completely. I missed the 4th edition utterly. When my brother-in-law-in-law wanted my IG I let him "have them" (in exchange for the promise of my sister-in-law making me some costume clothing). I never got the costumes, he still has my Praetorians, and they're now divorced... so I've basically written them off. If I ever see them again, great. If not, oh well.

So... what brought me back? The low price of the Assault on Black Reach box to be brutally honest. A secondary reason is that I've been employed in the professional field again for some 4 years (a computer programmer) and it's acted as a sort of "detox" program. I have been "away from the gaming industry" long enough that my hobby is my hobby again (not my job). I can look at miniatures and just enjoy them... anway, back to the Assault on Black Reach box. It was inexpensive enough that I thought I should very much like to give the 5th edition a look. In the summer of '09 for my birthday... I did. I went in for half an AOBR box with a coworker. I took my new toys, blew off the dust from our Orks (They were my wife's second army, kept in boxes these several years), and painted about 1500 points to play a couple of games. Then I was given 2500+ points of Space Marines (from a friend that also stopped playing in the 4th edition)... now it looks like I'm hooked again.