Updated March 2024
Greetings…
I’m Bart, and welcome to the blog. I’m a lifelong Minnesotan and live in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) Metro area. I’m married, have two kids, and work in the IT industry.
I’m also a long-time wargamer. I started gaming around age 11 and proceeded to get totally immersed in miniatures gaming for the next decade or so. Throughout the course of my gaming ‘career’ I’ve started a short-lived gaming club, worked on several local conventions and been involved in many of the various historical miniatures projects that took form between 1987 and 1997 or so. A combination of burn-out and life changes (marriage, kids, work, etc) has led me to taking a hiatus of sorts for the last 10 years.
After several stops & starts I resuscitated my gaming hobby in early 2023. I’d done plenty of purchasing and painting in the years before the pandemic hit but that enforced isolation really drove home to me that I missed the social part of the hobby and that I needed do something about it. I’m part of several local gaming groups and play games as work and family time allows.
I cover the following topics in this blog:
- Miniatures, both historical & fantasy, but mostly the former. Most miniatures posts will refer to Napoleonics since that’s my first love, along with other horse & musket era games. I also dabble in ancients, World War II and other things as well. I play some GW games but just can’t get into their core game lines no matter how many times I’ve tried.
- Miniatures Painting. I like painting miniatures and do a decent job of it. My skills could use improvement of course and I hope to share some tips as I get better.
- Game Design. Who hasn’t looked at a set of rules and thought they could do better? I’m not immune to this delusion any more than the rest of you.
- Trends in the hobby & hobby news.
If you’re interested in getting in touch to chat about the blog, gaming or the Twin Cities area gaming scene, please use the Contact Page.
Thanks for reading!
The Great Redoubt 