My First Army by Matt Santullano
Welcome back, Dear Fluffers, as we discuss the first armies the community owned. We continue today with Matt, and his roundabout way of joining the hobby
I come to Warhammer via 3D printing.
I’ve always been interested in sculpture and three-dimensional art of all kinds. I think it’s what fuels my interest in toys. I find the notion of making an idea into an object intriguing. So, as 3D printers have become more available (and affordable) I couldn’t wait to get my hands on one. Armed with a resin printer with a tiny build plate, I began printing mini’s for my Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Custom characters, villains, towns full of npcs, monsters, and then… ARMYS of monsters. Platoons of Kobolds, a battalion of Gnolls, a tribe of translucent fire newts. Why make one when I could make thirty?
But along came quarantine. D&D moved to Discord and Roll20. My armies of Giants and their polyurethane battlefields would gather dust, awaiting the day when their world would re-awaken. My printer would sit idle.
As a lifelong frequenter of hobby and gaming shops, every few years I would wonder about the tiny seemingly discordant boxes of Space Marines, Orks, and assorted space people, and wonder what all that was about. I’d meander over, pick up an interesting box, see the price, laugh out loud, and put it back.
It occurred to me that in my online travels finding D&D mini’s and Battlemechs, I had seen some of those models. Perhaps this was the answer to my army printing itch? I was willing to print a great deal of identical models, but quickly discovered that a vast range of creative options was available.
I availed myself of Youtube for some basics on lore. I looked up a model I liked, found a free stl analog for it, modified it to my liking, and printed it out. Using the box sets as a guide I printed some more, realized I didn’t really understand the unit structure, and decided it was time to buy… a book. Well, two books, the main book, and the space marine book. That was reasonable, two books. Now, conventional wisdom recommended I stop there, at least early on. A Warhammer army, after all, is an investment, diversification is prohibitively expensive, best to pick something and stick with it.
Unless you are printing your army at a tiny fraction of the cost. Even if you count the machinery, and the resin, the gloves, the time, the clean up, It’s still just incomparable. No reason I couldn’t… branch out.
So, maybe another book, I may want to have an in house army, of adversaries. The pandemic was still in full swing, after all. Maybe… Orks. So, three books. However, the new Ork codex wasn’t out yet, but I do like the look of those Necrons… and I’m a little uncomfortable with the “No Girls” nature of the game, so maybe some Sororitas. Those Blood Angels and Space Wolves sound keen, and they’re Codices are less expensive… kinda. Long story short, I got most of Ninth Edition.
Did you know there are novels? Quite a few actually, I have a pile.
I have small armies of Ultramarines, Sisters of Battle, Necrons, Orks (I love the Orks), Tyranids, Genestealers, and a curated selection of Blood Angels, Tau, and Drukhari, awaiting their legions. Also, I printed the contents of a Second Edition Box Set because, why not? I’d have printed more, but my pile of shame needs some attention.
Really want some Squats, though.
One of these days, I should probably actually play the game…
