[LONG] The All Important "First Post"

Via Google: Art by Jon Cave

Da Bad Moon Rises, calling all Goblins to the surface!

Greetings, and welcome to my little slice of the internetz!  You can call me Da Loonboss, the Father Of Goblins, the GobFather... or just Joe!  In typical blogger fashion, I just want to make a sort of introduction with this initial post, and outline a few possibilities of what this blog may entail in the coming years...




Meet Da Loonboss:

Via Pinterest: Artist Unknown

As you can probably guess, my name is Joe!  I'm in my late 30's, and my little hovel resides in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  I'm essentially retired (since 2010) so when my kiddo is at school, I have a lot of free time on my hands!  Thus, here we are... I started a blog!  (I know, I know, who reads blogs anymore?!?)  I've been a gamer since around 1992, started with D&D and their associated minis, then got sucked into card games starting with Magic The Gathering.  It wasn't long after that, that I picked up my first box of Space Marines.... and it's been sliding downhill ever since!  The 90's saw an explosion of card games on the scene, and I'm pretty sure I played just about each one to a small extent, though tabletop gaming really wasn't a thing for me at the time, relegated to just solo games in my basement!  (Look at me, I was a gamer ahead of his time!)

Flash forward to my late high school and college years (early 2000's), and I was firmly in the grip of Warhammer 40k/Fantasy.  Between both systems, I had 13 different armies ranging from 1k-2k points each. (no wonder I was a broke college kid!)  I remember in those days, I had a 40k army for each available race... not to mention multiple Marine Chapters! (Blood Angels, Space Wolves, and Imperial Fists)  Even back then, I was a bit of a Loonboss too, running an Ork list with close to 300 boots on the ground!  Though, to be fair, I did only take them to one tournament as moving that many Orks was a major pain!

Post college, gaming was a bit hit or miss.  When I finally settled down, I slowly returned to the hobby.  Things were pretty good for awhile, but then I ran into a bit of a financial crisis.  (Job security is a MYTH!)  Around then, I discovered minimalism, and I gave/sold away basically everything.  I know what many of you out there may be thinking, but it was actually nice!  I had more minis (all painted) than I could possibly ever use, and a lot guilt over just how much I actually spent on said minis.  Getting rid of everything was a bit of a relief!

Flash forward to today, and now, here I am, in Fayetteville, and everything is "right as rain"... well mostly.  Despite living here for well over a year now, I've only just recently slowly started to return to the hobby.  And I've decided to do so with.... GOBLINS!  (See, now the whole blog theme makes more sense!)  I'm still firmly minimalistic, and it has actually taken a lot for me to get to the point where I'd even want to start back into the hobby in this limited capacity.  Sure, there's nothing "minimal" about a frothing horde of goblins, but gone are those days of playing every game that catches my eye, and collecting every army that I have a passing interest in.  Another reason for taking over a year and half away from the hobby has a lot to do with the current gaming scene in Northwest Arkansas (NWA) in the fact that it is almost non-existent!  I only just recently (about 2 weeks ago at the time of writing this) found a store 30 minutes away that occasionally has 1 or 2 players on the weekends for Warhammer Underworlds, so I started with that game.  My previous hometown had one of the GREATEST game stores I have ever visited, a vibrant gaming community, nightly events, over 12 full-sized gaming tables, and a HUGE selection of stock... all in a pristinely clean environment!  Needless to say, coming to NWA has been a bit of a culture shock in regards to gaming as a whole.  But, I've digressed, and now I'm ranting...


So, Why Goblins?
I dunno really, too much Nekrogoblikon?  I've always been more of an "elf guy" in terms of both fantasy and 40k (eldar/aeldari) but over the years the Goblins kinda grew on me, partially due to their random and chaotic nature, and their more "fun" oriented themes and gimmicks.  Maybe it's secretly something deeply implanted by growing up watching The Labyrinth and LoTR, (starting with the old Hobbit cartoon) or maybe it really is just too much Nekrogoblikon!  Either way, I'm here now, and it's nice to have more of a focused theme within my hobby.  I've started with Underworlds, picking up Zarbag's Gitz and Mollog.  Both of which can be taken with the Gloomspite Gitz in Age of Sigmar, and many of Zarbag's crew can be taken in Warcry as well.  (Just add Boingrots)  So, there is potential for transitioning into those games down the line.  This goblin obsession has also pushed me into taking an interest in a grot army on the 40k side as well, but we'll see.  *side note the 40k concept would be centered around a Grot Navy, or "Gravy" as I like to call it.  (Dad joke, I know)  Basically my thoughts are this: if there are goblins involved, I could probably be talked into it!

Via Pinterest: Artist Unknown

So, what can you expect here?
Well, I gots big dreams... let's just see how many actually com together though!  First up, lots of pictures!  I'll be posting lots of pictures of both my painted stuff as well as work in progress (WIP) stuff.  I'll be posting these pics on all my social media (see below) as well, but on here you'll be getting some further thoughts and discussions. You can expect pictures of games in progress, with some review of the matches.  * I'm gonna refer to these as "After Action Reports" as they'll be written down after the games, and not a strict play-by-play as seen in a typical battle report.  Still continuing on the picture theme, you can possibly expect some unboxings and reviews, provided I get something in review worthy.  I also plan to do a few articles, aiming at more serious topics like: Gaming as a minimalist, how to paint more and eliminate the piles of unpainted stuff, and how to be a gamer with a family at home.  I'll probably also post random hobby tips and tricks too.  Maybe even a painting stream or YouTube content if *IF* I can sort all that stuff out, technical wise.  Either way, I for all my content to circulate around all my various media platforms in the hopes of finding some kind of audience.

Will it always be about Goblins?  Not exactly.  While I do expect the general focus to be goblin related,  I do have a myriad of non-goblin-related interests that could potentially find a place on here down the line, like: Marvel/DC Comics, Star Wars, Anime, Harry Potter, and maybe even the odd video game or two.  I gotta admit, the Marvel Champions LCG and Marvel Crisis Protocol both are very temping games.


Another key feature is I want to be as accessible as possible.  If you leave a comment, or shoot me a message, I WILL take the time to respond.  Even if the response is just dropping a like on comment, I want you to know that "I see you" as the kids say these days.  (they still say that, right?)

Hopefully I've enticed a few of you to follow me on my return to the hobby.

**TLDR:
- Goblin Obsessed Return to the Hobby.
- Expect Lots of Pics on all Media.
- Reviews and Grown-up themed articles.
- Non-Goblin related things are still a possibility.