Firstly I should say that it is an honour for me to be asked to join the Stronghold Guard in any capacity, I just hope I can do the Stronghold proud and represent as best as I can.
Joakim; Can't quite understand why anyone would want to know anything about me at all...but here goes;
I didn't like school much, in fact I hated it pretty much. I moved allot when I was a kid, due to my parents work, so by the time I left school I had been to 18 different ones.
Although it doesn't appear so much now, I had real trouble with reading and writing and had it been an option back when I was at school, I would have been tested for dyslexia which apparently I have mildly.
As such I was bullied allot at school. This was at it's worst whilst at a school in Cheshire. I decided I needed some way of avoiding being battered constantly so came up with the idea of joining a lunchtime "club" that the school ran; there were two to choose from (that I felt I could vaguely blag) chess and Dungeons & Dragons/ wargames. I picked the latter because they seemed like the lesser of two groups of geeks.
Pretty much the rest is history! The very first models I bought was a boxed set of Citadel Minitures which comprised of Harboth and his black mountain boys;
These guys were pre-slotta base and pretty crude. Over a few years I built up a massive Orc army (all metal) and played Warhammer for many years with those guys.
In around 1987/ 1988 I started a wargames club in Lincolnshire which ran for about 5 or 6 years and played many systems and enjoyed the "glory days" of Games Workshop, White Dwarf and all those companies that's focus has now changed to what they are today.
I stopped playing for a few years to get married, have kids, get divorced, get married, ban the bomb, save the planet, get into trouble, get out of trouble, learn from my mistakes, spend too much, borrow too much, get too drunk, sober up, get drunk again, eat too much and learn to drive (possibly not in that order exactly!).
I stated playing and collecting again about 6 or 7 years ago and built up a decent sized 40k ork army. When they reached what my misses described as "enough!!!" I decided I needed to start and army that was not a horde army and, after painting some rat ogres decided I absolutely loved ogres and started an army of them.
That brought me here....and the rest they say, is history.
Currently, work-wise, I manage two care homes for people with learning disabilities, complex needs and challenging behaviour. I am a challenging behaviour trainer and work closely with care teams helping them to deal with issues that are difficult to manage with regards to aggression and violence. I am also a Union steward for the workers union UNISON. (who said you can't turn a dodgy childhood into a positive future!).
Is that enough history?
I hope to do the Stronghold proud and thank you to whoever decided to bestow this honour upon me.
G_H
