Thursday, February 11, 2016

Proudly introducing...


Master Crafted Gaming has had an online presence for only a little over a year now. Most of you know Caleb and Kyle as the primary faces to that group but we certainly were not the founding members.

Our small group began as a few friends looking for other wargamers in our area to play with. We know around the world this is a common theme and if you've enjoyed our content we'd like to encourage you to do something similar because for us it has brought us into a cohesive group that enjoys a variety of gaming systems.

The Varangur ride to war!


We have found a community we love in Kings of War and now we have players in our group who have embraced the game and have some really cool armies to show for it. As these guys are going to be involved in videos and are already members of groups such as Kings of War Fanatics, we'd like you to get to know them a little better. They've got some sweet armies to show for it.

Meet Martin

He magnetized every dwarf on every base

What got you into the hobby? 
"It was the summer of 1998 my friend Tim introduced me to Warhammer 40k I remember him showing me all these cool pewter models they were called Blood Angels.  Now this game had amazing stories but the thing I loved the most was the fact that I could customize and paint these armies any way my heart desired. It was only 2 years ago that I was introduced to Fantasy war gaming by Kyle and I was able to see just how fun it could be and was ready to jump right in however there where already rumblings of a major change coming to the Warhammer Fantasy line so I waited and then came Age of Sigmar. Unfortunately everything that made Warhammer Fantasy interesting to me (the tactics) was gone and left in its ruin was a game that played a lot like a skirmish and too similar to 40k. Then Kyle and Caleb came to a Master Crafted Game Day with an game that I had not heard of Kings of War and like so many others I mistrusted anything out side of the Games Workshop bubble, they demoed a game and I haven’t ever been sold on something that fast in my life. I was all in!"


Such an iconic look
Why'd you pick Dwarfs? 
"So the question came, what army am I going to play? Honestly my favorite aspect of the hobby is painting and coming in as a heavy 40k player I had been painting in that "grim dark" feel...so I felt like the Dwarfs where an opportunity to branch out and try a brighter pallet. Also in all my years of playing D&D, Dwarves where by far the coolest race. They had the beautiful architecture of the Elves, the raw strength of the Orc, and the tactics of Man. The best part of Kings of War is that for the 1st time I didn’t have to worry about what the army’s rules where they are so well balanced that I could not only play the army that I loved aesthetically, I could be confident that they would perform well against any of the others."



When did you actually start Master Crafted? 
"I first came up with the idea for Master Crafted in 2009. I was sitting in my living room with my wargaming friends... all 3 of them. I realized that being in a rural area really limited who we got to play with and that if it was ever going to change I would need to put in the work to unite players in a larger area. So we sat there with these grand designs trying to think of a name for the club - something that expressed not only the love of table gaming but our passion to make them look good. I remember I had the fourth edition rule book for 40k and we were just going down though the list of special rules and 'mastercrafted' stood out above all the rest. That is what my goal was to master-my-craft...to always work to better myself, my tactics, painting, and modeling. After deciding on the name the next step was to expand and I honestly had no idea how to do that. It wasn’t until late 2013 that I started posting on well-known 40k forums that I got a response from Caleb. He, like me, was looking for gamers to expand his player base so I started a Facebook group under the Flag of Master Crafted, added Caleb and he introduced me to Kyle. At that point nothing could stop the momentum. We combined our groups and started scheduling events meeting new people in the area. I was truly amazed by how many gamers there where in our area. I have no doubt that without the help of Caleb and Kyle that this beautiful thing we call Master Crafted would not exist. It brings me untold joy to see that name out there reaching thousands of people and helping them to jump into the hobby or just to enjoy it that much more!"
Seriously he drilled every foot and put a magnet in there...

Meet Rob

He has a collecting problem...

What got you into the hobby? "A guy at work first talked me into trying 40K. I started with the 40k second edition boxed set, just like Caleb did :-P. I never did try Warhammer Fantasy Battles before decided to throw up on themselves with Age of Sigmar before I could. Really enjoying everything about Kings of War atm."



You have like...4 armies already right? What made you pick them?
"100% rule of cool. I get an idea in my head...and run with it. Statue Elves, Mayan themed Empire of Dust, Bloody Varangur. In fact I have the overwhelming urge to start some Ninja Goblins at the moment. I'm a recently recovering Chinese resin addict. I have the horrible habit of buying stuff to paint that I'll never use."



Do you like the Varangur performance in an almost full cavalry army?

"So far the maneuverability and staying power has impressed me. 'So far' being only one game...we'll see how they do against a blunt force like Ogres."



Each of our members have limited experience with Kings of War but we're looking to get them involved. Because of the focus on making armies we love, we hope you enjoy the ones on display here. You'll be able to see them in action to in the battle reports we have to come.

Rob is an excellent painter and has created some fantastic looking armies. His Elf force in particular are all painted up to look like statues left behind from a forgotten era. It's so unique compared to the standard colorization that they really pop when you first see them. I know he's working on a Trident Realms force and Empire of Dust that I've barely seen progress photos of. You can always count on him to bring something spectacular to the table when a game comes up.

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