Better Know A Blogger: Part 49- Binx's Hobby Blog

This week's Better Know A Blogger features Chris from Binx's Hobby Blog.

I first found out about Chris' blog when he contacted me on Twitter (@BinxHobby) to take part in the Better Know a Blogger series.

I'm only a recent follower of Binx's hobby blog, but there is a lot of great content to check out there. You can find some great hobby work and some really great battle reports. The photos on them are brilliant and make me think I need to improve mine!

Here are Chris'answers to my questions:

1. What age did you get into gaming and what started it off? 

I got into gaming in my early teens when my cousins used to bring Heroquest to my Nan's house when our families got together during the summer holidays. I then started playing Blood bowl when one of my cousins gave me a copy of 2nd edition. My first venture in to 40k and Warhammer happened at secondary school when I was introduced to it through newly found friends. I was not convinced immediately, but soon got hooked. Strangely it was Man O War that got me really invested in the hobby. I still have all my Man O war stuff, however, it doesn’t get played at all these days 

2. What was the first model you ever bought/painted? 

The earliest purchase I can remember was at Games Workshop Cheltenham’s grand opening, where I bought a Dark Angels Tactical Squad, a Deathwing Terminator Squad and a Captain (the classic one with the feathery helmet) I’m still fan of the Deathwing and have a force of old school metal miniatures awaiting an 80’s style paint job. 

Other early miniatures I remember painting were Elf Blood Bowl figures, I also recall spilling paint on my parent's carpet! (Are you even a hobbyist if you haven't done this?- Mike)

3. What is your favourite aspect of gaming? 

I enjoy all aspects of the hobby, all the way from the initial building of the miniatures, right though to getting them on the table top. We have a weekly club where a mixture of Fantasy and historical games are played, where I mainly play Games Workshop games and I enjoy the casual nature of our battles. None of us are 'win at all costs' gamers and it’s a very relaxed fun scene. 

Over the last few years, since Age of Sigmar was released actually, I have been to a number of competitive AOS events and really enjoyed them. Whilst I’m not a hard-core competitive player, I do see my play style and army list selections have changed since going to these events. I’ll be at (or have been at, depending when this is published) to the 40k GT heat 3, and am looking forward to see how I do at my first competitive 40k event, and I’ll be blogging about it on my return. 

4. Fondest memory in gaming? 

I’ve had so many good gaming memories since I’ve started going to Independent Age of Sigmar events. I always thought the Indie scene was too hard-core for my type of gaming, but since joining in have found it to be a really accepting and fun scene. 

However, my fondest memory is from the second Warhammer 8th edition doubles event that I attended with my friend Elliot. We’d been the year before and had great fun at our first Warhammer World event, but were shocked to find we won five out of five games at this event. We finished fifth overall after sports votes were counted, but had an awesome time and accomplished way more than we had ever imagined. Was more of a shock as we’d won none of our warm ups against our more causal playing club mates. 

5. What are you working on right now? 

I’m currently working on a number of projects (who isn’t?) My main one is my Fimir army for Age of Sigmar which I started about two years ago, I won’t go into the full details of this project, but you can read all about it here.

This is my attempt to paint an army to the best of my ability, with plenty of conversions and way more sculpting than I ever thought I could achieve. I’m very happy with how the project is going at the moment, and every step it takes towards completion, the more excited I am getting to put it on the table top. The aim is to have it done and at an event before 2018 is done. 

My other projects are a custom Necromunda gang, a mixture of Catachan, Ad Mech and Genestealer Cult parts, used to create my as yet unnamed faction. There is plenty of greenstuff work to do on these guys before the paint gets on them, but so far, so good. They'll be on the blog once I get the sculpting done, and find the arms I need for my Juves.

I also have a single Primaris Marine undercoated and ready to go, I’m hoping to paint this up in the colours of my own Dark Angels successor chapter; again another project to stretch my painting ability, I want this guy to really show my potential with a brush. 

6. When you are not conquering the tabletop, what do you do? 

When I’m not hobbying or frequenting Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for more hobby I’m mainly looking after Bucky, my 5 month old Black Labrador, who takes up a lot of the time while he’s teething and chewing on everything (no miniatures yet) While he’s asleep and I’m not painting. I’m catching up on TV series such as Black Mirror, or checking out the latest goings on in the world of professional wrestling. Once the weather gets better I’ll be out on the golf course catching some fresh air and swearing at my ball when it disappears into another bush or lake. 

7. What would you say about your blog to someone who has never read it to draw them in? 

I’ve had a blog for a while, and before that looked after our club blog posting on it sporadically when I had something interesting to say. Since the end of October 2017 I have overhauled it and set out with the intention of releasing four posts every week (Monday – Thursday). These are bite size so that the reader can have a quick look, and if they enjoy what they see, come back every day to see what else I have to say. Essentially, rather than one big blog post a week, the plan was to split it into smaller chunks, I don’t know about you but with so much content about these days my attention span appears to have diminished quite considerably. Recently, I haven’t quite been able to keep up the four posts every week, it has recently been every fortnight, but only because I couldn’t think of anything to write about. 

Content wise it ranges from codex and battletome reviews, to tournament coverage all the way to showcases of my latest finished projects. I recently found some pictures from many years ago from a trip to a very different looking Warhammer World which was fun to share.

If I was to sum it up in a sentence, my blog is somewhere you can come for a look in to my hobby world, see what I’ve been up to and what I think of a new release from the more casual gamers point of view. 

8. What is your favourite article that you have written? 

My favourite articles to write are my tournament reviews. I usually write them on the Monday after I have come back while I can still remember most of what happened. I try to take plenty of pictures to both show off what the battlefield looked like and also to jog my memory. Reliving past battles really gets me in the mood for the next tournament, pumping me up for painting that next unit or army ready to take the battlefield (I completely agree! I'm always reviewing my tournament progress and second guessing how I could have won- Mike). 

9. Which of your armies is your favourite? 

Choosing a favourite army is quite difficult, I have quite a few. I really like my Dark Eldar, I went for a bright yellow colour scheme, and I think they came out pretty well. I really enjoyed painting most of the army, although I’m not a fan of painting vehicles, so the flyers, Raiders, Ravager and Venoms weren’t that fun to do. I think they look great as a force, and I even got to use them on Warhammer TV, where they got praise. They were painted quite a while a go, and like with most of my armies, I look back now and can pick holes in virtually every model. 

10. Secret wargamer or loud and proud? 

I’m a secret Wargamer. Although it’s quite funny that when someone finds out, they are generally quite interested, or did it themselves in the past, so perhaps I shouldn’t be so secretive. Maybe if I was more open I’d find more people to play against, who are also secretly hiding their obsession with little plastic men from space. 

11. Any hobby tips or cheats to share? 

I’ve learnt quite a bit recently from a friend about using Green Stuff, and all I can say is that you really need to take your time and be patient when either filling gaps or sculpting with it. It was really hard for me to get my head around as I wanted everything done now, but since I started taking my time, the results have been so much better than I could have ever hoped. This has also spread to the rest of my hobby, just don’t rush, take your time and your miniatures will turn out so much better. 

12. Tournament or Casual? 

I used to be 100% casual, but now I enjoy both. As I previously said, some of the things I have experienced at tournaments has made me a better player, and seeped in to my more causal play style which may not have always been received well by my club mates. If I could only ever so one style for the rest of my gaming ‘career’ though, it would be casual play. I don’t think I could be that guy who plays competitive event after competitive event, mainly as I would never be able to accrue enough wife points to escape the house. 

13. Nintendo or Sega? 

Nintendo all the way, although my Wii U doesn’t get much of a look in since I got my PS4, and I don’t see much point in getting a Switch when I don’t use the consoles that I have that much anyway 

14. Xbox or Playstation? 

Playstation. I did have an Xbox back in the day when I owned that a PS2 and a Gamecube, but in recent times its PS4 all the way. Anyone for Bloodbowl? 

15. McDonalds or Burger King? 

I rarely have either, and don’t really mind which one. If I go to either I prefer their chicken over a Big Mac or Whopper anyway. 

16. Coke or Pepsi? 

Coke! Pepsi is the pus that weeps from the infected sores of the devil! 

Thanks to Chris for taking the time to answer my questions. Be sure to check out Binx's Hobby Blog for some great content, and you can follow him on Twitter (@BinxHobby).