Hello World

Hello World,

Welcome to Blood and Elves. My name is Bernard, and this space is dedicated to a number of things, but primarily my love of wargaming. This blog is a work in progress, so please excuse the basic layout and such. Things will improve over time, I promise!

My main goal for the moment will be to document my construction of a new Druchii army (Warhammer Fantasy) and finally putting paint on my old Blood Angels (Warhammer 40k). Hence the name, Blood and Elves (did you see what I did there?). I will be posting pictures of works in progress, and critiques are welcome! I am a passable painter, but I am always looking for ways to improve my technique.

Well, a little bit about me...I am 27, from Pittsburgh, PA (USA). I have lived here my entire life. Tried to get away for college, but ended up going to the University of Pittsburgh. I am a web programmer for a health insurance company. I started wargaming in high school, around 1999. My first game was Warhammer 40k, and I had a Space Wolves army (back in 3rd edition when they could use Leman Russ tanks). The models looked like absolute crap (my paintjob, not the actual models), but I was having fun. My entire D&D group added 40k to our gaming rotation, and all of our weekends were wasted at Phantom of the Attic (an LGS). I started collecting Blood Angels around freshman year in college, but I didn't really have much time to play. Then there was a gaming void (8 years) due to lack of funding while working part time jobs....and then BAM! Full time employment in customer service....and then student loan payments. Last October, I was lucky enough to land a job in my field (Computer Science), which meant a nice pay increase. Blood Angel collecting was back full force. And then I discovered a ton of new gaming systems were created during my hiatus...Anima Tactics, Infinity, Warmachine, etc, etc, etc. I was buying models quicker than I could paint them. And then, this past Valentine's Day, my girlfriend buys me a Dark Elf Battalion for WFB. My bedroom was a clutter of white metal, pewter, and plastic. It wasn't pretty.

I recently moved into a new (larger) house, and finally have a dedicated studio for painting. The new house is also very close to Legions Games in Pittsburgh, so I am hoping that will allow me to squeeze in some gaming sessions once everything is painted.

Armies in progress:

40K: Blood Angels and Tau
WFB: Dark Elves
Infinity: Yu Jing (what happens when China takes over the world)
Warmachine: Retribution of Scyrah
Hordes: Skorne...maybe Everblight too
Anima Tactics: Samael
M.E.R.C.S.: Yellowjackets


Tools of the trade:

Airbrush: Iwata HP-CS
Brushes: Citadel set
Paints: Tamiya and Vallejo
Varnish: Quickshade and Vallejo brush on