This week, I find myself reflecting on my hobbies. For as long as I've talk to others about my pastimes, I've always described myself as having 3 pillars of hobby; Warhammer 40k, Transformers, and Video Games. I've also come to the realization that 2026 marks 2 different life milestone anniversaries for me; 20 years since graduating high school and 10 years since I got married. So I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the last 20 years of hobby, and how my 3 pillars have changed over time.
Now, I feel I may do a little series on this and take the time to do a deeper reflection on each pillar to reminisce and make observations about the journey over the last few decades. For this week however, I wanted to start with a broader overview of my pastimes. While both my previously mentioned milestones feel like they were just yesterday, it has been quite a journey with my pastimes. There have been many ebbs and flows to where I am today and some pillars are quite different from where I was 10 or 20 years ago.
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| Full Warhammer Collection circa 2009 |
Now, what defines these pillars exactly? Well, in short, they encompass my three main areas of pastime. That is my Tabletop Gaming (Miniatures and Role Playing Games (RPG)), my collecting of Transformers figures, and enjoyment of video games (both on console and PC). These have really become cemented as my main pastimes, though my investment and involvement has varied over the last 20 years. In fact, a fourth pillar had just ended around 2006 which might now see a resurgence in 2026, all be it with a slightly different focus, and that's trading card collecting. Prior to collecting Warhammer 40K, I used to collect all types of card games. Anything from Pokémon and Yu Gi Oh, to Decipher's Star Trek card game and a Dragon Ball Z card game. Currently however, my oldest daughter is showing an interest in Pokémon cards and I've pulled out my old collection and helped her to start her own.
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| Resent play though of Menace |
Now, video gaming is easily the oldest of the three pillars and has been with me in one form or another. My brother and I shared a computer growing up that we used to play Starcraft and Quake on, and we each had a Gameboy to play Pokémon on as early as 1996 (looking back 30 years now!). Video games have always been there. It is easily my most established pastime that I've sunk untold hours into. It serves as a foundational part of my love of tactics games and RPGs. In many ways, video gaming has also shaped my tabletop gaming hobby. Games about armies and empires such as Starcraft, Command & Conquer, Galactic Civilization, and Space Empires have all helped to inspired me to want to collect armies in a tabletop hobby where I was able to create my own army.
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| Completed projects from 2022 |
Which leads into what has probably been my most involved pillar of hobby over the last 20 years - Tabletop Gaming. I started Warhammer 40k back on the Christmas of 2003. A box of 3rd edition Tyranid Warriors and a Carnifex purchased from the independent hobby store I used to collect Pokémon cards from. From that, it grew to be a hobby I took with me to university, where I was only able to put parts of it on display, to now having an entire basement filled wall to wall with painted miniatures. More recently, I've decided to include RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) in this pillar of hobby, as well as other tabletop role play as there is often a miniature component, though not always. While my first introduction to D&D was back in 2010, as of 2019 I've been playing regularly almost every week with a consistent group. I even became a Game Master (GM) back in 2023 when my D&D group added Star Trek Adventures to our roster of games.
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| G1 Autobots |
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| The start of the playthrough of Bug Hunt (a solo play game) |
A lot of the factors have changed, both for me and my hobbies, over the past decades. I've gone from a teenager with lots of free time and little disposable income, to a young adult with a healthy balance of free time and disposable income, to a parent with little free time and disposable income. The things I've loved about my hobbies have also changed over time, and some elements have had to change to adapt to where I'm at. For example, my recent interest in solo play games. I can play them on my own time table and come and go from them as I wish. There is also little investment in new models as many of the games are model agnostic allowing me to use anything to represent anything. This in turn lets me put a 23 year old collection of Warhammer to good use. This is far more achievable for me today verse trying to find a dedicated 3-5 hour window to get in a game of Warhammer 40K. But 10 years ago I played Warhammer 40K regularly almost every Saturday at my local club.
All to be said, I find myself reflecting on my hobby journey over the last few decades and I think it would be fun to share my observations. So I may post a few more entries on this topic over the next little while.
Until next time!
Czar Ziggy