ATSKNF - A Somewhat Personal Introduction

Greetings all, and welcome to my first foray into the blog-o-sphere!*

My name is Matthew and, as this is my blog, I figured the best place to start would be to both lay out publically who I am and what my intentions/goals are for this blog.

First about myself. As that bit blurb above me plainly states, I graduated from Carleton in 2007 with a degree in history. After a year spent back in my home state of Indiana, working a job I would have quite exceptionally early on if it weren't for the people there, I was forced to finally confront what I wanted in many realms of life. My discoveries were as follows: 1) I finally realized there was so much more to the practice of law than I had previously allowed and that law school would indeed be a good fit for me, a revelation I had accepted and rejected multiple times over my 25 years; b) as much as I love my home state - because, strangely, I do - I felt it was killing me by degrees at this time in my life; and c) I much preferred my adoptive home of Minnesota, which I found myself missing more and more as the months went by (due in no small part to the girl who I had left behind there and who was graduating her ownself the year after me). So, knowing I wanted a change and without no concrete job prospects in the Twin Cities area, I still picked up and moved back to Minnesota, settling down in the Seward region of Minneapolis. (Which, personally, I absolutely love.)

So, having taken the LSAT and waiting in many ways for the rest of my life to begin, I have been enjoying my time with various pursuits that took on a slightly diminished role during my time in college: specifically, roleplaying games, Warhammer, and - to a much much MUCH more limited degree than the past - Magic: the Gathering. This has been furthered in many ways by the fact that I have been working part time at a start-up retail game store near my house. In the almost a year since I moved here, I've learned Warhammer Fantasy and started creating an army (led by a charismatic madman with some very interesting facial scars), run a now-defunct Warhammer 40k map-based campaign, and gotten way more into Warhammer 40,000 than I was in the past.

So that brings us to, "But, Matthew, you charming devil, you might like Warhammer, perhaps more so than is healthy, but why would you ever blog about it? Isn't that beneath you?" Until the last few months, I would have said, "Yes. Yes it is beneath me." My attitude has changed for two reasons, both of which are related to the the 40k group I run with up here. The first is the fact that they are in many ways more mature gamers; their roleplaying is superb, they have exceptionally well developed characters (or if they're GMing, stories), and the level of thought they've put into their Warhammer strategy is significantly more than I recall seeing in high school. (Part of this "more mature" angle is the additional fact that I feel like I have matured more too and subsequently began to focus more of my attention on the cerebral aspect of the game.) Secondly, two of my friends have started blogs of their own and I've seen not only the at-times useful feedback they've received, but also how much the sheer act of writing has allowed both of them to hone their tactics. (For the blogs in question, please check out the lovely Defending Humanity and the charming Good for the Greater Good.) For those reasons, I started this blog** to showcase my army and get feedback for my tactics. Time will only tell whether it will still feel that way in the future or if, like that tattoo you got while massively hammered, it was more trouble than it was worth.

At the moment, I am leaning towards the former.

NEXT: an introduction to my 40k army, hopefully with a few pictures (!!).

* Blog-o-sphere? Really? What an incredibly ridiculous name.
** I must state here, for all to see, my utter shock that no one had already jumped on this name. We'll see if that's because people were silly and overlooked it or if it's because GW will prove themselves fans of the Stupid Litigation. (A solution that I feel is extremely unnecessary here because, as stated in my rather lengthy legal disclaimer, I am not trying to defame or crib on their intellectual property in the slightest.)