Post by Riptide on Sept 7, 2012 7:31:21 GMT -6
Howdy everyone. I go by Riptide on the forums but Dan or Daniel in real life. I am one of the two guests hosts from episode 1.
A quick rundown about me. I am a graduate student in chemistry at the University of Alabama working towards my PhD. This places me firmly in Tuscaloosa and makes the Crimson Castle my friendly local gaming store (absolutely great store, definitely check it out if you are in town). Outside of gaming I love science (big surprise), football (another big surprise) and just generally being a nerd. I have two dogs (one evil the other a kind soul) with my fiance.
As to gaming, I can't say I have ever not gamed. My mom loves all the traditional board games and I grew up playing cards and board games at all of the family events. When I got old enough, I discovered risk and a hasbro made GW fantasy game called Battlemasters (look it up). I got into super heroes and started collecting comic books and then a now long out of print card game called Overpower. During that portion of my gaming life is when I first saw 40k at Lion and Unicorn in Birmingham. Was amazed, but that was it for the time. I bumbled through some other card games (Stars Wars, Magic) before my cousin (Will, goes by Deadbox on forums) who I had always been close with, came by with an awesome new game.
It was the 40k 3rd edition starter and we played it in the floor of my parents house. He kicked my teeth in (a theme that runs to this day), but I was hooked. I would go on to buy my own starter and paint a bright yellow (Badmoon) marine army and use the Black Templars rules (heresy!). I continued playing through 4th sporadically, almost always with Will. The issue was I was never close to gaming stores that had anyone who played 40k (much less product). I dabbled in other games (Vs. System), but ended up coming back to 40k while living in louisiana and working the night shift. Without many people available during my peak hours, I found the painting relaxing and fun and managed to finally build my full battle company of marines. I then started repainting them to more resemble Imperial Fists (its not cheating if you don't change primarchs).
Since then I have moved to back to Alabama and gotten on a more regular schedule. I primarily played Marines in 5th, but started an Ork army (which recently starting numbering just over 200 models). I also own and play Tau (which I used a lot during 4th) and have been gravitating towards them for this edition.
One aspect that has greatly shaped my 40k experience has been the lack of nearby gaming stores until recently (last 3 to 4 years). Because of this my tactics are not as polished as I would like because I do not have the number of games under my belt that I really need. On the other hand, I tend to be a rules junky. I say junky, because I am fairly ambivalent about how most rules get played when there is a controversy. Further, I am largely self taught in the game (or have gained a good bit of knowledge through reading) and have always needed to protect myself from a lack of rules knowledge (remember that games are more enjoyable when they are just played). Of course 6th has scrambled a lot of my knowledge, and so I am now playing catch-up, but you will definitely see me playing with rules on this forum.
Anyways, that is probably more than you desire to hear. Enjoy the podcast, and don't be afraid to tell me to stop mumbling and "uhh"ing and to just stop being the general jerk I am. ;D
A quick rundown about me. I am a graduate student in chemistry at the University of Alabama working towards my PhD. This places me firmly in Tuscaloosa and makes the Crimson Castle my friendly local gaming store (absolutely great store, definitely check it out if you are in town). Outside of gaming I love science (big surprise), football (another big surprise) and just generally being a nerd. I have two dogs (one evil the other a kind soul) with my fiance.
As to gaming, I can't say I have ever not gamed. My mom loves all the traditional board games and I grew up playing cards and board games at all of the family events. When I got old enough, I discovered risk and a hasbro made GW fantasy game called Battlemasters (look it up). I got into super heroes and started collecting comic books and then a now long out of print card game called Overpower. During that portion of my gaming life is when I first saw 40k at Lion and Unicorn in Birmingham. Was amazed, but that was it for the time. I bumbled through some other card games (Stars Wars, Magic) before my cousin (Will, goes by Deadbox on forums) who I had always been close with, came by with an awesome new game.
It was the 40k 3rd edition starter and we played it in the floor of my parents house. He kicked my teeth in (a theme that runs to this day), but I was hooked. I would go on to buy my own starter and paint a bright yellow (Badmoon) marine army and use the Black Templars rules (heresy!). I continued playing through 4th sporadically, almost always with Will. The issue was I was never close to gaming stores that had anyone who played 40k (much less product). I dabbled in other games (Vs. System), but ended up coming back to 40k while living in louisiana and working the night shift. Without many people available during my peak hours, I found the painting relaxing and fun and managed to finally build my full battle company of marines. I then started repainting them to more resemble Imperial Fists (its not cheating if you don't change primarchs).
Since then I have moved to back to Alabama and gotten on a more regular schedule. I primarily played Marines in 5th, but started an Ork army (which recently starting numbering just over 200 models). I also own and play Tau (which I used a lot during 4th) and have been gravitating towards them for this edition.
One aspect that has greatly shaped my 40k experience has been the lack of nearby gaming stores until recently (last 3 to 4 years). Because of this my tactics are not as polished as I would like because I do not have the number of games under my belt that I really need. On the other hand, I tend to be a rules junky. I say junky, because I am fairly ambivalent about how most rules get played when there is a controversy. Further, I am largely self taught in the game (or have gained a good bit of knowledge through reading) and have always needed to protect myself from a lack of rules knowledge (remember that games are more enjoyable when they are just played). Of course 6th has scrambled a lot of my knowledge, and so I am now playing catch-up, but you will definitely see me playing with rules on this forum.
Anyways, that is probably more than you desire to hear. Enjoy the podcast, and don't be afraid to tell me to stop mumbling and "uhh"ing and to just stop being the general jerk I am. ;D
