Its a long story, about fifteen years in the making. In the ancient past before I discovered wargaming, I was into D&D all the way. Then I picked up the Warhammer 2nd Edition Fantasy Battles and I was permanently transformed. Next, I had to buy myself some miniatures and paints, and off I went. With a few crudely painted figures and pieces of homemade terrain, I headed off to the gaming club to test the rules out. Meanwhile another club member managed to buy out the collection of an old wargamer. Next week we had a mega battle with ten different players in a fantasy wargamer's "free-for-all". Unfortunately, infighting destroyed the club. We would all meet again a few years in the future with our differences buried and forgotten, with my friends equally transformed. It may quite well be that they were infected by the wargaming bug that infected me. Then I found Prince August Molds and I had the vast fantasy hordes I had dreamed of.

How did I find myself into the ranks of the historical wargamers? Before I discovered Warhammer, I picked up Tony Bath's book SETTING UP A WARGAMES CAMPAIGN. I also picked up WRG 6th Edition and some 15mm toy soldiers. It was well after I picked up Warhammer that I ever got around to painting them, but I did run a campaign with friends that lasted six months. It was run like a board game since I lacked armies. But after that, it was back to the old familiar role playing games. One year I decided the time had come to do something about the small pile of unpainted 15mm figures. I had to see if I could paint them. If not, I was going to get rid of them. Then it was off to get myself a birthday present from Modeler's Mart. I got two 15mm armies. One was a Byzantine Army and the other were Arabs, Mamelukes to be exact. I employed a professional painter to do the Arabs while I painted the Byzantines. I knew I had to do a better job of painting the 15mm troops that I did on my larger fantasy hordes. My goal was to see how well the professional painter did on the figures I sent him, and do the same thing myself. At that time WRG 7th Edition came out along with my favorite MWAN issue, #33 - the Scenery Issue - and I made the decision to subscribe. With the completion of my Arab Mamelukes, I got invited to my first historical wargame. The Mamelukes were drafted into the Mongol army where they got to clobber the Teutonic Knights. Next I discovered Wargames and Johnson Hood, ordering my first figures through a magazine ad. I have been buying from him ever since.

The expansion of my wargame hordes began in earnest when I decided the time had come to expand beyond my Byzantine and Arab armies which now contained figures from several manufacturers. The Bulgars were the Byzantine Empire's next great enemy. Since nobody at that time made 15mm Bulgars, I had to be creative. Two boxed TTG armies, Huns and Vikings, did it. Now I was buying figures for my Asiatic hordes and vast Viking host. Then I had to get their enemies as well. Combine that with the fact that I had few wargaming friends, and that our games were at best once every few months. I had a lot of time to paint. So away I went. I had a lot of good rules lawyering sessions with my friends. Then I realized I had to find something better than WRG. The way it was written, too many loopholes were open for creative interpretation. My first set of home made rules was for a Viking battle that I held at a local hobby store. On them I patterned my Monster Battle Rules. Meanwhile my rules lawyer friends were always heckling me about not having a medieval army. I decided to do something about that. Off I headed to Modeler's Mart to get the cheapest medieval troops I could find. They were crude looking, but at five cents each I soon had several hundred painted up. My method was simple. As I was working on one army, I would be looking over what enemies they had and start acquiring figures for them to add to my armies with. I was also ready to buy painted figures if they were at the right price and in a period or army I was interested in.

The next great milestone in my army acquiring and painting history was the 10,000 Miniature Monster Battle I ran at a local convention. It was a fantasy game come true with actually 11,000 miniatures. All my armies were on a great wargaming table fighting it out all weekend long. Up to that time, my goal was to have all the armies that were contemporaries of the Byzantine Empire in the 10th century. At that point, the only ones I did not have were not made. I had a few out of period armies, notably the Hau Chinese, Early Indian and Macedonian and Fantasy 151mn figures. The first two I got because I couldn't find contemporaries of the Byzantine Empire in my chosen period, the third because it was offered with the Indians, and it looked good and the fourth because I was still interested in Fantasy wargaming. After the 10,000 Miniature Monster Battle, I sold the Indians and Macedonians (a rare event for me), but I was beginning to develop an interest in the armies of the Ancient World - Greeks and Romans.

Next came my Assyrian Project. Before running the 10,000 Miniature Monster Battle, I had acquired several hundred Assyrians but work on other armies prevented me from getting started on them. Before starting the project, I took an oath. I swore that I would paint nothing but Assyrians until I had them all painted. Dutifully, I set about the task at hand. Before the year was over not only did I have an Assyrian Army, but a Babylonian army to face them and an Arab host of Camel jockies as well. Later I would add Elamites, but much was accomplished. Next year I started my Punic War project. I bought both Carthaginian and Roman armies, but only painted Carthaginians. I also painted the 300 Spartans (every single one of them) and Gauls. I was finally able to get my hands on Tang Dynasty Chinese, and I have been painting ever since.

When I breached the 15,000 barrier, I ran a 15,000 Miniature Monster Battle and the next year, a 5,000 Ancients Monster Battle. Thereafter I lost all interest in running Monster Battles of any type. It was getting to be too much like work, and for one man, an impossible task. But I kept painting full steam ahead.

By the time I passed painting 20,000, 1 decided the time had come for me to start that great super campaign I had dreamed of doing so many years ago. I felt the time had come to cut down on the painting and it was now time to start enjoying my collection. That I started to do, but as I played, I realized there were troops my armies still needed, and I made time to finish them. By now my painted lead vastly outnumbered the amount of unpainted lead I had, and I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Just thin, all of my toy soldiers painted, and nothing else to do but enjoy them!

Not so fast! That was two years ago. I was making a real dent in the load of unpainted lead I had. I was completing toy soldiers that had been sitting around for years on end. Then it happened! Modeler's Mart started selling off its in stock Minifigs for $4.00 per pack, You should see my unpainted lead collection now. Then there were the other impulse buys, painted soldiers in periods I didn't really need; 25mm Fuzzy Wuzzies and Zulus, 5mm Civil War guys, a complete collection of 8mm WWII micro Armor and men. You know what is happening. Then there is that large collection of GEO HEX sets. I started out with a small hill set that I had bought many years ago, before the 10,000 Miniature Monster Battle. Now I had to get the regular GEO HEX set. Being offered a special deal, I had to get the Road Set. Add to that two Mountain Sets, a Mountain Expander Set, a Rough Terrain Set along with a bunch of odd pieces and you have the man who almost has everything. I have not skimped on other scenery items either. At least I know how to make good looking trees cheap, and I have constructed a small fleet on Viking ships and I am thinking of designing my own fleet of Triremes, and I am still painting. Before I know it, I may find myself with 40,000 toy soldiers.

So what advice would I give the gamer who wants a large collection of toy soldiers? Don't be ashamed of your addiction. You love toy soldiers. With such a fabulous collection you will be able to play the world's greatest wargames. All of you dealers out there who are reading this article should pay special attention to this next one. I do more business with dealers who accept credit cards. I do less business and I buy in smaller lots with dealers who only accept cash or checks. Not everyone lives near a store that sells military miniatures and mail order is very important. What I like best is when a dealer has an "800" number. Unless you have all sorts of money to spend, you have to be willing to spend the time painting; lots of it. And most importantly, keep everything you got. If possible don't get rid of any of it. You may lose interest in a particular period you are gaming in, but that's no reason to get rid of them. Something may rekindle your interest in the period, or you may belong to a wargaming club where they would be useful. I my little wargaming group, each member has his turn to host the game. It's nice to be able to host a variety of games in several different periods, so when it's your turn to run the game, you friends won't be saying "Oh no, it's Mike's turn! Not another caveman battle!"