Well, this is awkward...

[Masked Thespian]

Hey everyone. This is something of a novelty for me, because I've never had to write a reintroduction thread.

My name is Liam and I joined the Bolter and Chainsword back in 2004. Whilst I was never an overly energetic member of the community, I'd like to think that my presence was noted (though, looking at the search function, it seems that pretty much everything I did back then has been expunged). I drifted away from this forum a while ago, and, a while later, away from the hobby. But I've returned, to both the hobby and to the forum so I felt that I ought to make a reintroduction post here.

I'm a 31-year-old Englishman currently residing with my (American) fiancée in Japan, teaching English for a living. I've been participating in the Games Workshop hobby for almost 20 years and have played almost all of the games that the company has released over that period of time.

In terms of 40k, I have a vast collection (thanks to having played the game solidly since Second Edition) but the majority of it is currently in England. I'm lucky enough to own the following armies: Dark Angels, Chaos Space Marines (Black Legion and World Eaters), Imperial Guard (Cadians, Catachans, and Praetorian Guard), Eldar (Ulthwé), Sisters of Battle (formerly Witch Hunters), Chaos Daemons, Grey Knights (formerly Daemonhunters), Orks (converted as a Genestealer Cult), and Tau Empire. I also have an almost-entirely unassembled Space Wolves army here in Japan with me that I intend to assemble and paint over the course of the next year.

In terms of other Games Workshop games, I also have a large number of Warhammer Fantasy armies, a couple of Lord of the Rings/War of the Rings armies, and a collection of things from pretty much every Specialist Game released (though, sadly now defunct), again all still in England.

The main thing I miss about no longer living in England is attending campaign weekends at Warhammer World. Whilst I never really fancied having my rear end handed to me on a platter at tournaments (excepting the occasional Doubles Tournament held there), I often attended both Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 Campaign Weekends held by the Events team there.

My other hobbies include roleplaying, both tabletop (currently playing through the Pathfinder Kingmaker campaign with my local group here) and LARP, Magic: The Gathering, Heroclix, Star Trek: Attack Wing, Full Thrust, and a multitude of board and card games such as Arkham Horror, Munchkin, and Chrononauts.

My online presence of late has been pretty lacklustre, due to drifting away from the hobby for a bit, though I hope to turn that around in the upcoming months. I used to post semi-frequently on the Games Workshop forums before they were closed down. I was a global moderator on Tau Online before the rather nasty business a couple of years ago and thus I migrated, along with the majority of the forum users and moderators, to Second Sphere, though I've not been too active there in quite a while (again, due to the aforementioned drifting), though, like the B&C, I've recently started visiting there again.

I hope my avatar doesn't put anyone off; it's a photo of me from around 6 or 7 years ago at Games Day UK with my local gaming club who were running a participation game. The mask was one of many being given away by GW on the day and I think it looks rather good, myself http://www.theindependentcharacters.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif

My only real claim to fame in the hobby doesn't come from any particular skill with painting or winning tournaments, but from participating in and winning GW's only Games Day (UK) Treasure Hunt, back in 2005, claiming over £400 in prizes on the day and mail order credit. Not really something that great to be proud of, but it's all I've got I'm afraid... http://www.theindependentcharacters.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_razz.gif

Ooh, ooh, can I name drop? I know, in passing, Sarah Cawkwell (of The Gildar Rift and Valkia the Bloody fame) and I've even managed to get her to sign a copy of The Gildar Rift for me. It's currently on my bookshelf in need of reading right now http://www.theindependentcharacters.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_redface.gif

That's about all I can say right now. Hope it's good enough...

[Olis]

Hail and welcome back, brother! Iirc, Ms Cawkwell is a member here... can't remember the user name though. ;)

 

And don't worry about the avatar - I've seen much worse in my time. It's kinda endearing, actually...