The Joy of Grimdark

In the beginning there were action figures. Each small plastic man had his own specialty, his own costume, equipment, weapons, and a case file that explained his background and could be cut from the cardboard of the blister pack. I never cut out the case files. I saved the entire card which also displayed a selection of other figures available for purchase. I spent hours staring at those figures, obsessing over which one I would save up for and buy next. My own private army.

I still collect little plastic men. They still have their own specialties, equipment and weapons. They have whole novels dedicated to their backgrounds. Some of them aren’t technically men; some of them are aliens, some are demons. I don’t cut them carefully from blister packs. Now I cut them from sprues, glue them together, paint them, glue them to bases, and glue bits of debris to the bases*. Then I attempt to play with them against other people in table-top battles. I usually lose, but I don’t mind. They are my own private army. Well… armies. As anyone in the hobby will tell you, you can’t have just one.

*And then glue magnets to the bases so I can put them on metal trays in carrying cases.