Hi there, my name is John Walker, The_J_Walker on Discord. I will be putting out some articles for Out of The Box, so thought I might give you all an insight into my hobby journey.
I have been a lifelong nerd but my start into Warhammer has been a somewhat recent endeavor. My gateway into the Warhammer was actually through Dungeons and Dragons. I had started playing Dungeons and Dragons quite regularly, and collecting the Wiz Kids D&D miniatures. Then I took the next logical step and started having a friend paint models for specific characters. This went on for some time until eventually I took my friend up on learning to paint, and sat down to learn how to paint D&D minis.
Then it happened. Gamesworkshop released the video of how to paint Magnus the Red by Duncan Rhodes. My roommate at the time as well as my friend who did the painting commissions had both decided to split the Dark Imperium starter box. Seeing Magnus the Red had me teetering on the edge of playing Warhammer, but the push that got me in was when I first saw a Defiler. Its crab legs, gun arms, and chest cannon weirdness let me know that yes, Warhammer 40k was something I wanted to play, and that Chaos was the army for me. Primarily, I play Warhammer 40k, though I do have a sizable Age of Sigmar army. Currently I only have Chaos armies, but boy, do I have some Chaos armies. All four gods are represented here (sadly, no Horned Rat as of yet).
While there are other armies that I would love to eventually own, I think what draws me to Chaos over and over is the variety of the model line and the amazing opportunity for kitbashing/alternative models.
As mentioned above, Magnus the Red is a stunning model. As far as 40k is concerned, Chaos has the best centerpiece models by a mile. Magnus, his brother Mortarion, and all the greater demons are so good looking and an absolute blast to paint. Speaking of which, painting chaos can be so rewarding, as it lends itself to variety and some very wild paint schemes.
Secondly, I love me some kitbashing. If you want to learn how to use Greenstuff, play Nurgle. Rotten flesh, tentacles, boils, etc. All of these are super fun and forgiving things that you can model with Greenstuff or other modeling clay. Also, in recent times, independent model makers have been making some wonderful models and a lot of them are demons. Raging Heroes and Creature Caster are two of my favorites.
So that’s me. I love my some spikey evil duders and all of the hobby opportunities they present. I look forward to chatting with you all in the future, and hopefully, I will see ya at the table.
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