My name is Jeremy, and I am a miniature painter. Originally born in Germany, I am an American living in Germany. I am in my forties and have been painting miniatures since I was about seven years old. As a child, I played Dungeons & Dragons, but in the 80s and 90s, Games Workshop miniatures were by far the best around. I loved using GW Fantasy miniatures in my D&D games. I got into Warhammer 40k around 2000 before taking a decade-long diversion for my twenties.

I came back to the hobby in 2011 and was mesmerized by the miniatures of Forge World. When the Horus Heresy launched, I couldn’t imagine buying the Black Books. Still, I got my hands on the rules. After painting my first full army (Dark Angels), I finally learned how to play Warhammer 40k in 2012 (6th edition). I have always been a miniature painter first, and play the game to socialize and motivate me to paint more.

I started painting Heresy armies in 2014, but only as a side project. However, in later years I became disillusioned with the direction 40k was moving and various aspects of the community.

The first Black Book I bought was Book 6 - Retribution, which had cursory Dark Angels rules. By the time Book 9 - Crusade came out, I was ready to jump into Heresy fully. I was mesmerized by all the Dark Angels lore and the six wings fully fleshed out for the first time! I finally learned how to play in the last year or so of Heresy, but really it was going back to my roots with 6th/7th edition rules. In 2000, the Heresy community was amazing. People were extremely welcoming and positive, and the gameplay was largely narrative. Other than a year or two between the final Black Books coming out, the ruleset was relatively stagnant and propped up by fan rules. It was an exciting time to be immersed in a community that was there because they loved the game, the lore, and the art.

So where does that leave me now? What armies to do I have and play? At this point, the list of Hersey armies I haven’t painted is shorter than the ones I have. I often joke that I paint like it’s my full-time job (I just don’t get paid for it). We have now gone through two edition changes with some people leaving the community and some joining. The ruleset is in a great place, but I feel like we have lost something along the way. I have long thought, what can I do to inject some positivity back into the community?

This is it. I hope it works!