What’s this atom smashing thing about, anyway?
atom smashing is a blog about tabletop miniatures gaming. It was started in 2009 to allow me to not only write about the miniatures gaming that I enjoy, but to also spur me along and keep my painting and constructing of miniatures on track. The thought was this: if I’m just painting stuff for myself, I’m going to be more likely to be lazy. However, if I’m painting stuff for the website and other people are seeing it and interacting with me about the work I’m doing, then I’m going to be less likely to be lazy. That’s the theory, anyway.
Who is this atom guy, anyway?
In comparison to many people, I’m a newbie to miniatures gaming and the tabletop hobby in general. I started gaming with Dungeons & Dragons back in the early to middle 1980s. I didn’t get exposed to miniatures gaming until the early 1990s when I first played a friend’s copy of Space Hulk (1st edition, Games Workshop) in a third-floor study lounge at college. Then I got into Battletech (FASA) and Car Wars (Steve Jackson Games) and we played those games almost every Friday night.
I really enjoyed the Space Hulk storyline and artwork (and therefore the Warhammer 40,000 storyline and artwork) so in the early 2000s I tried playing Warhammer 40,000 with some friends who played it a lot. I found out that though I really liked the storyline and artwork, I really disliked the gameplay and rule set. Great theme and story, excellent miniatures, sort of lousy rules, in my opinion. Obviously their game is very popular, but it’s just not my cup of tea.
I started looking at many other sci-fi rule sets and thinking about what kind of miniatures game I’d write (my friend and writing partner Peter and I had been designing and selling our own games since 1992). As I started to formulate ideas and take notes, I also started collecting odd miniatures and buying terrain. And, through the magic of the Internet, I started learning how to paint miniatures and build terrain.
Now Peter and I are playtesting our miniatures rule set, I’m painting more and more miniatures and “store-bought” terrain, plus I’m building my own terrain. I’m even starting to get into Warmachine (Privateer Press) and a fantasy rule set (a first for me) from Italy called Song of Blades and Heroes (Ganesha Games). Also, I used to play Star Wars Miniatures (Wizards of the Coast) every Tuesday night at my FLGS (friendly local gaming store), but that game has fallen by the wayside, so I doubt you’ll see much about it here.
I have finally relented and started to play Warhammer 40,000 (Games Workshop) with a bunch of friends. I’m building a Tau Empire army and I also have a Chaos Space Marines army sitting in my basement, calling out to me, but I really need to at least get a playable 750 to 1000 points of Tau going first before I start working on the CSM.
So what else do you do?
Well, in things gaming-related, I am one half of the powerhouse duo known as Snarling Badger Games. We’ve been slowly making fun little microgames and selling them since 1992. Our current project is the sci-fi miniatures game that I mentioned above. I also run (with the much-appreciated help of several of my friends) a small tabletop gaming convention called OshCon. If you’re in the area, you should certainly come and check it out. I’ve also been known to stink up the Internet with my Xbox Live skills.
My non-gaming interests include photography, videography and editing, digital drawing and painting, graphic design, web design (my day job) and cheap remote-controlled flying things of most any stripe. I’m married and we have two cats.
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