Welcome to Tactile Hobby!
I remember the first time I saw miniatures. I was walking around in Princeton New Jersey, right next to the University. My Dad owned a travel agency nearby. This is the early 80’s, so yeah there were brick and mortar Travel Agencies at the time hah.
Anyway, on Nassau Street there was a Hobby Shop. Maybe it’s still there? They had a BIG glass display cases FULL of miniatures. Knights, dragons, dwarves, this AWESOME umber hulk… man, I wish I had him now. Just everything you’d want. Paints, books, models. The whole nine yards.
We bought what we could afford and some little Testors paints. We did awful paint jobs. But, we loved it.
Now, years later, I’m finding myself back in the hobby! Join me as I rekindle my boyhood adventures in collecting, building and painting miniatures, and every kind of physical hobby I can find. Less video games (which I still love) and more hands-on creating.
Find your passion again too!
We are all about finding new hobbies and enjoying them to their fullest. We will explore familiar ones and learn about new hobbies as we go! Do you have a passion you’re not seeing here? Let me know!! The miniature hobby has grown and changed so much. 3D Printing, airbrushing, resin casts, Kickstarters, terrain… it’s AMAZING. Let’s go!
Notice any figures or paints in there you might have? [Those brushes are terrible by the way.] I’ve learned a lot in a short time, ha.
How I write
On this site, I’m only going to show you stuff that I’m using or considered buying because I’ve researched it. If I don’t know something, trust me, I’ll tell ya. I’m also learning a lot so if there are more knowledgeable people on say… Warhammer, or 3D printer settings, I’ll give you the experts take. My goal here is to help you all get started out, and enjoy the hobby!
Growing more and more!
As I write this I was just at a hobby shop in Cincinnati. I can’t help myself…I love visiting any I can find whenever I travel. I asked the owner how things were going, and he said more and more people are getting into the tabletop games. Board games, minis, DnD, Warhammer, Magic the Gathering… all that! This article is a few years old now but it talks about the niche growing in popularity
I think a lot has to do with push back on everything being virtual now. So much screen time, so little time away from the internet creating something physical, or playing something with someone face to face.
For me, it’s a chance to unwind and relax while painting some miniatures.
Learn With Me
I am all about finding the answers to my questions, and then boiling it down to a dead simple, easy to understand, easy to follow guide. I want to remove that overwhelming feeling we all get when something new comes around and seems complicated. I want more people in this hobby with us!
As I learn, I’ll break it down and share it with you all here. No top 1000 lists of every possible option. I want to curate and simplify. Find the best of the best, justify the choices with real-world experience and research. If it’s a skill, I’ll break it down into super simple steps, as few as possible, so you can get a result to build on. That’s how I like things anyway.
Stay a while and reach out if you have questions or topics you’d like to see covered!
– Rich