Hobby At Its Best

One of the best things about hobby gaming is that at its heart lies a strong sense of community.  Whether that community takes the form of a blog network or a club at a local store, it provides an opportunity for like minded individuals a chance to come together and do something great.

This last Saturday I was reminded exactly how special that opportunity can be and what a group of hobbyists can achieve when they pitch in for a common goal.  On Saturday our local wargaming group, The League of Extraordinary Wargamers, sponsored a day dedicated to refurbishing and painting our local store's wargaming terrain.  After nine hours a small group of us had breathed new life into a ton of old pieces and had done wonders to increase the quality of wargaming for those who visit 31st Century Games & Hobbies.

All in all, eight of us worked from 11am to 8pm rebasing, repainting, and cleaning over forty pieces of desert, rural, and urban terrain.

Our youngest member at the age of fifteen, Dayton works on a piece of desert bluffs terrain.  During the day's painting he learned how to dry brush.

New member Keifer Ware teams up with veteran hobbyist Stew Reed to work on urban terrain.  Keifer found the hobby when he came into the store looking for a model to put on his computer desk while he played the Dawn of War computer game.

Veteran hobbyist Brandon Sherley put his construction skills to work cutting bases for terrain.  The bases will go a long way to protecting foam pieces during everyday use.

As Joe Suber, the owner of 31st Century, demonstrates, we observed strict safety procedures at all times and never ran while holding power tools...

Jeremy Gragg has been hobbying for fifteen years and is no stranger to making terrain.  He and his brother, Jameson, created much of the original store terrain and have mentored younger hobbyists for close to two decades.

Here's a table of our many repaints.  Each piece of terrain got a basecoat, first dry brush, and then second dry brush.  Most of the repainted terrain will be receiving fine detail work in the weeks to come, adding graffiti to ruined walls, picking out engraved details, and adding color to ambient pieces (barrels, spent casings, etc.).

Our pile of completed pieces, which would soon grow to take up a whole table!

Here's the whole group, from left to right, Brandon Sherley, Jeremy Gragg, Dayton, Matthew Ochs, Keifer Ware, and Stew Reed.  Not pictured, but in attendance were also Jon Pelton and Matt King.  A big thank you to all who helped out!

If you're in the area come by and have a game of Warhammer Fantasy, 40k, or Warmachine with the new terrain!