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Being a Catholic who joined The Church as an adult I am often asked how it is that I came to find God, and my answer generally holds great interest in the many 'cradle Catholics' who ask. My wife has on more than one occasion suggested that it was my finding of faith that inspired my love for the Sisters of Battle - the faction I've been collecting for the last year - upon seeing their exuberant Cathedral-Cannons on wheels (as she calls The Immolator Battle Tanks), rosaries wrapped around bolt-guns and simulacri. (An Immolater - check out the Reddit profile who shared this great piece here) 'No' is the answer, of course - as I had actually began collecting them before my finding of faith... I swear! But similarly to the popularity of this question within The Church, I find that everyone who pursues this amazing hobby has their own origin story of how it is they came to find themselves pouring over these exquisitely detailed plastic miniatures, their stories and their game that hold such a special place in our hearts. "So how did you get into The Hobby?" For the vast majority of people their answers will fall into one of three categories: a) I walked past a Games Workshop and went inside because I thought it looked really cool. b) Friends or older-relatives introduced me to the game. c) I got into it through the books/lore. I can't actually think of any other 'broad categories' of answer to this (in)famous question... if you can, can you let me know in the comments below? But, as the face of the hobby has evolved over the last few years and continues to do so, I wonder how these typical answers will change and grow. Especially as the hobby starts to enter more of the mainstream! No doubt aided by the burgeoning value of Games Workshop following their steady pre-pandemic growth followed by their Pandemic-explosion in business and the developments being followed closely by many in their negotiations with Amazon about a TV series with Henry Caville, there are signs all around that Warhammer is becoming more widely known as a hobby to share and enjoy. For example, this post I recently shared on my Threads (below). However the question is answered, there's always a unique spin for each partaker of the game. It usually gets the nostalgia going and is a reminder of simpler times. I was about 10 years old when I first became exposed to Warhammer. A family friend whose son was about 6-7 years old than me had a major home clear out and from them my twin brother and I inherited 'The Box'. 'The Box' was a large container of toys and other such things that didn't survive their cull and were promptly taken off their hands by my mum and dad. Within the box were toy cars, action figures and that sort of things but nestled right at the bottom was... a 3rd Edition Warhammer 40,000 rulebook. Paperback, with the famous Black Templar Illustration on the front. Now you may be looking at my profile picture and thinking that there's no way I was 10 years old in/around 1998 when this was first published and... you'd be right! Even then it was old and battered, but it was enough to ignite a passion in our young hearts that would continue to burn to this day. The topic of the introduction of The Warhammer Universe to the young and inquisitive mind is a subject that requires its own article another day! But suffice to say it was... horizon expanding. From reading that book obsessively cover to cover we dragged our poor mum to the Games Workshop in Central London where The Battle for Macragge was all the rage and the rest, as they say, is history. I wish that I still had that copy now, but, growing up is first abandoning our childish ways and then reminiscing about the lost pieces once we realise that our happiness is worth pursuing even if doesn't fit the idea of what others think is 'cool' around us. I was heartened to see when searching for the above image on google that there are many copies going cheaply on eBay...! Warhammer has had a profound impact on my life. As a bit of an odd-ball child/teen with a lot going on at home it gave me both a creative outlet and a place/community where I could go and actually interact with others in an accepting and healthy environment. I look back now at my childhood and really thank God that the hobby came into my life when it did. And now as an adult, I returned to the Hobby in 2019 with the aim of once more making friends and finding a counter-balance to my extremely busy and demanding professional life and, five years later here I am! So let me know down in the comments, what's your origin story? With best wishes, Mini Painting Mike. PS: If you've made it this far down my post, thank you for sticking around. This is the first of what I hope will be many blog posts and articles I will write and share here about the hobby, my hobbying and other things related. From my painting projects, to games, to hobby-life in my world and discussing developments in the wider Warhammer/hobby-landscape.

Sunday Preview of next weeks pre-orders For Space Marine there's the missing Terminator Captain as well as various bits from Leviathan including a Heroes of the Chapter type box that will no doubt come with a heft price tag. There is the Space Marine Scout and Eldar Striking Scorpions Kill teams and a selections of kits for Legions Imperialis as well as the new book. What's most interesting to me is that Striking Scorpions do come in a box of ten and not five. This is especially useful to know as it's a good indicator that Mandrakes will get the treatment. I am still tempted to get the new box with Mandrakes and Night Lords but knowing I can pick the Mandrakes up as a box of ten I'm not so concerned about missing out on it or passing it up.

Captain Valos of the VIII legion Astartes atleast that's what he was back in the great crusade 10,000 years ago now he was a renegade captain of some 80 Night Lords and the strike cruiser Bloody Reaper they were the reapers of blood war band formally the 18th company once nearly 500 astartes strong now a shadow of those better times. Valos grunted as the ships deck rumbled and groaned signaling they were leaving the Warp. "Translation to real space complete my lord" one of his human serfs reported to him causing him to wave to dismiss them. "Auspex reading now" Valos demanded as he looked at the bridge crew run about terrified to be reprimanded the last bridge crew member to be reprimanded skin still hung from on of the vaulted arch ways surrounding the bridge. "sir we detect 3 imperial ships 1 light cruiser of dauntless class and 2 material transports" the auspex officer reported "Good let's begin destroy the Light cruiser and cripple the transports" Valos ordered The Bloody Reaper moved fast being an astartes strike cruiser it was deadly and fast designed to run blockades and take on vessels of greater tonnage it fired two lance battery salvos at the first transport its migraine bright beams neatly slicing off the massive enginarium blocks in bright silent explosions causing the vessel to tumble out of control, as this happened 3 long torpedos left the Reaper crashing into the transport to disgorge it's deadly cargo of 30 Night Lord space marines into its bowels that's when the VoX traffic was nothing but screams coming from the transport. the second transport powered away as the Light Cruiser Dawn of Hope moved to intercept the Bloody Reaper it's broadside macro batteries unleashing a torrent of tank size shells at the strike cruiser causing its void shields to flare like oil on water The Reaper Answered with its own broard side of macro and lance batteries popping the light cruisers void shields with the first barrage before the second began eating into the vessels armour, macro shells ripping great holes into its starboard flank as lance beams cut burning furrows through several decks immolating crew and machinery with equal ease crippling the Dawn of Hope in two salvos leaving it listing and burning, Valos considered capturing it and maybe starting his own little fleet but decided the damage was too great so signaled to finish it as soon as they crippled the second transport. with the order given the Bloody reaper Fired 3 more torpedos along with lance battery fire the lance battery fire cut into the engine of the second transport and the 3 torpedos slammed into the transport repeating the process that had happened to the first transport Valos smiled knowing that within the hour both transport ships crews would either be tortured to death or slaves to work on his ship. The Bloody Reaper prowled round onto the Dawn of Hope like a shark that had scented blood as the ship tried to come about firing its few renaming starboard batteries in defiance of the inevitable, this of course made Valos smile "finish this" He stated The Bloody Reaper eager for the kill opened fire with its prow lance batteries each beam cut into Dawn of Hopes hull one beam smashing into the bridge killing its command crew within a minute of continuous firing the Dawn of Hope was nothing but a burning hulk that may one day be recovered and repaired by the imperium or would just be a wreck to float the void for eternity. Valos waited as the new slaves and materials were loaded from the two gutted transports his gauntlet tapping on the arm of his command throne as he wondered if he should have captured that light cruiser o well that's another kill for the Reaper he grinned to himself as a space marine approached "my lord all items are on board and both transports warp drives are rigged to blow when another boards" the marine reported. "Very good draken" Valos replied before dismissing him, Valos waited until his auspex office shouted "warp point opening." "so the worshipers of the false emperor did get a message out" Valos mused as his ship moved towards his designated escape point. "activate the gelled fields and jump to warp" Valos ordered as he read the new comers, Seraphs might a strike cruiser of the Angels Vermileon along with Bloody thirst and Blood Drop both astartes Nova class frigates also from the Angels Vermileon Chapter as they finished translating into the system Valos own vessel jumped into the warp.

I've been a bit lax in keeping up with updates lately , so this one will be a bit of a catch-up. Recently finished are my two squads of striking scorpions from the Kill Team: Salvation box set: I have also made a fair bit of progress on the other half of the box set, the scouts, along with a gladiator lancer, my kit-bashed Phobos Librarian and a 3d printed Eradicator with multi-melta as this was not an option for the easy build squad I have. I have got most of the base colours down as well as the decals on, which have been sealed with some matt varnish. The Maxx Matt varnish from green stuff world is great through an airbrush, making the decals nice and flat. Next up, I liked the idea of doing a custom Tau Stealth Kill Team, so I purchased the STLs for the Ghost Shrimp models from Pipermakes which have a cool cloaking effect on some of the parts. I used translucent resin to try and give the cloaking effect a partially see trough appearance. I did a couple of tests on spare parts, with the idea being to use liquid mask to mask off these areas of the model and then just use a blue contrast paint into the bare resin with white edge highlight to achieve the effect I want on these areas. I'm quite happy with the test results, hopefully this will look good on the finished models. I also added a couple of spare plastic bits to one of the model to differentiate the leader from the rest of the squad. Alongside these I also have the contents of the Kroot hunting pack box set and a Terminator captain, assembled and primed, ready for painting joining the rest of my painting backlog . That's all for now, hopefully have another update shortly.