600 posts on Mr Lee's old blog here!!!

Wow! 600 posts on this little blog of mine! Crazzyness!!!!

Considering that this blog was started on April 1st, 2011 ( and it was kinda sorta as a joke back then ) I am surprised, but extremely happy, to have so many people following and commenting on it now over 3 yrs later!

My first post was back when my son was still a baby, and I was still in somewhat of a decent shape ( health wise ).

Ah the days when I could eat everything, when my son would listen, and I still had mostly a full head of hair.. ah memories!

What is funny is that over the years, my best posts, and most hits come from a single event.. Games Day Germany!!!

Starting at the top with the Slayer Sword winner entry from Roman Lappat, aka Jarhead from Massive Voodoo!

I still receive hits for this post on a weekly basis, and more so after each Games Day event as well..

As first runner up for posts is the winner list from the same event! I still want to think that I was the first to combine the photos of the winners alongside their winning entries.. something that I wish I could do more of at future events if only the winner's entries were also shown somewhere ( of was known to me! ). Need to work on that more even though I didn't do this style so much at the events this year ( due to time, energy or focus ).

Second runner up.. yup you guessed it.. again with Games Day Germany! But it was more the kick off of the series of posts and showing some of the people of Games Day at the event..

In fourth place for ranking of most popular posts... a guest post from Nathelis from Austria! How to paint Necrons, quick, easy, but of high quality!

And in the 5th spot here.. Again the Games Day Germany, Armies on Parade article!

Kinda crazy that although I have done quite a lot, these articles about the last Games Day in Germany are still going strong on my site! And posting them up here again, will make them even harder to dethrone but it could happen! Will see!

For me however these are not the ones that I look at as being more defining for my time on this blog though. Milestones to me would look at things like the following articles..

My first post about conventions in Turkey for example. A place that still holds a special part within me as it is where I got to meet a lot of great people and make some truly life long friends! I am of course talking about Izmircon in 2011. It being my second year in attendance there. This time opting for my Night Goblin force instead of the cheesy Deamons I won with the previous year.

It was also the year that I began to really dive into army painting commissions! And although I don't have many great photos from that time of the pieces I painted, my year end review tells another story!

I would hit my first real challenge in Turkey within 2012 at the next Izmircon tournament when the organizational play, and gaming scene began to shift to a new style of play. With a new group called Tusot coming into the scene, and creating new "rules" and ways of playing. I can honestly say that even today I get a bit red under the collar thinking back to the "discussions" I would have with the head organizers of that group.

Thankfully I was not affected by them directly at Izmircon, but the presence was there, and I was hit with it full force at MetuCon later in the year. Where I can honestly say that it was the first time I felt bad to be in Turkey, and to be a foreigner there. And the only time I have not felt welcomed by my fellow gamers and surrounding community.

Which was sad as we did put on one heck of an epic game of Fantasy between me and my long time buddy Burak the day before the tournament! Pitting our mega forces of Goblins and Dwarves against each other in an epic clash of the titans!

I try to focus on these times more than the others. But I put this up as a highlight as it was the start of the decline of me as a gamer in Turkey. And also the rise of me as a painter more so than anything else.

Somewhere around here I would get my first commission abroad! And from the UK no less! And with this, Project UK was born!

With the first batch being 280 models to get painted up, in various schemes and styles. It helped me to create a good timeline for painting. To improve both my speed, and style for armies. While also giving me a lot of experience in just painting in general. Color consistency, colors that worked well together, color brands that I preferred for certain activities. And the list goes on...

I would also begin the downward spiral known as Kickstarter backing at this time and begin to back pretty much everything and anything. This was back when it was still relatively new as a whole, and the pitfalls of both materials, quality, and timelines were not known. With the first being from Sedition Wars!

The promised list was quite epic, and it was a good deal at the time. It is just unfortunate that it suffered from all of the pitfalls outlines above, and was not even that good of a game in the end :( Though none of this would be known for many months/years later as the delivery date of it, and many others, would span on for quite some time!

I would see a shift in my priorities though in 2012 as I begin to travel more for work, but also go to my first painting class! Prior to this class I have to say that I had quite the swollen ego with regards to my painting level and capabilities. Since I had many commissions, many liked my work, and I won many awards in the local painting competitions in Turkey. I believed that I was quite a step above the rest so to speak, and that although I would take a class from Stephan Rath, that it was more to see another style of painting in general.

Oh man was I wrong!!!!

This would be my first step into REAL painting of miniatures. Into a completely new culture ( German ) but also the style and manner of which one paints. And I would be ever so humbled throughout the entire process to the point where starting from scratch is honestly the best approach at these here.

Do I regret it? At the time.. probably a little bit. But now? No.. it was a much required step in the right direction. That if I wanted to improve, then I needed to take lessons. And I needed to find the right teachers to show me what I don't know ( which admittedly was massive amounts of painting knowledge back then and probably still today! ).

I would go on to attend many more classes. Spending a vast amount of both time and money in order to get better and to improve my knowledge and skill to new heights!

Can honestly say that this one class, although I was unable to take in all the information, was responsible for where I am today as a painter. The people within the class, the atmosphere, the unrelenting choice with regards to the style of painting... all pushing me to want to do more, be better, and paint at a higher level! Huge milestone for me here in otherwords!

One that you can see when I posted up the end of year review of pieces painted for 2012. Painting 1163 pieces in that year.. a number that I have not seen since, nor really wish to see again if I can be perfectly honest.

2013 would be more of a roller coaster for me with the initial highlight being the more appropriate workshop with Roman in Augsburg for one of his now famous beginners classes. And what would be another turning point for me in meeting not just Roman and Raffa but many others in the painting community like Markus from 5th-dimension. And to take my first steps to get more into the whole painting community in Europe as a whole!

And a group that I would run into, paint with, collaborate with, share ideas with, and in general just be "Dat guy" to since!

It would be the first time that I attempt to paint my own little piece to as high of a quality as I can manage with help from my Brushbrothers over in Germany and Austria. Alice in Wonderland, which still today is one of my best pieces ( or at least I keep being told so at shows! ).

I would even go on to paint my second iconic piece, the Dwarf Slayer from Scibor.

And with this piece being handed over to Burak as part of our yearly tradition, I and the family would be off to UK! And my year end review looked something like this...

Now within UK, and within the European Union for flights.. 2014 is known as the year of the travelling brush ( even if I keep forgetting that headline! ). And I would head off to many classes and many events.. but it would all begin at Duke of Bavaria though. Again with the Massive Voodoo boys, and the 5th-dimension crew in tow!

I would snag my first of many medals this year, but more importantly meet, greet, and make a ton of friends through the events that would carry over from even to event. Gaining momentum with each event straight up to last weekend in Monte!

Epic 600 posts.. epic adventures with each and every one of them ( I hope! ) and I really do look forward to what the next few hundred posts brings. What adventures still are waiting for me. And what new heights in painting I can achieve because of the great community, the openness to share and deliver high results. And the helpful nature that all brings with it!

Now to begin to write up the series on what I learned from all the travelling this year! But probably more as a series to avoid the huge block of text that you all just had to read! And if you got to this point in the article, still awake, and still reading... than you have my thanks for following me along on this journey here!