Welcome to this community spotlight section once again, this month I have had the privilege to interview Ceri Robson
This is someone I have found through the wonders of social media instagram and here is a link purplemonkey790
I have asked them to be interviewed to find out their hobby styles and life, and see if others can gain from their experiences.
First off thank you Ceri
Lets begin with some basic questions so people can get to know you,
Can you tell the folks a little about yourself?
How did you get into the hobby of tabletop wargaming?
My brother tried when we were younger, but being a typical big brother he made up the rules so that I always lost! However when I grew up, my partner at the time was heavily into the hobby, and encouraged me to start, there was no going back then, I caught the hobby bug hard!
What type of hobbyist are you? A painter/collector/gamer or a mix?
Definitely a mix. I love building models, but I get easily distracted so you will regularly find half built models around my hobby area. The same with painting. I’m basically a magpie, I see something new and shiny and pick it up leaving everything else on the side haha. I play regularly in tournaments and even though I never do particularly well, I enjoy 99% of my games as I laugh at my horrendous dice and terrible plans.
What game systems do you play? Are you simply a one game person or do you play many different games?
I play most things! My main focus however is on Age of Sigmar, 40K and Underworlds, but I dabble in Middle-earth, Kill Team, Necromunda, etc etc. Definitely a hobby butterfly. The only thing that helps me get armies done is by going to tournaments giving me a deadline!
What was the thing that caught your eye the most them you were first starting out?
The painting. I spent the first year of my time in the hobby painting, and wasn’t interested in the game at all.
What advice would you give someone just getting into the hobby/or your younger self, now you have been involved in this for a while?
Do it! I have some of the BEST friends now thanks to Warhammer! There will always be someone better than you, so just do what you can!
Have you ever had an extended period out of the hobby? How did you get back in?
I think the most time I ever take out is when my real-life work gets busy, so no more than a month. However starting my own live stream on twitch has helped as it forces me to do hobby twice a week! (Come and watch me fail miserably at completing projects at thehobbyroom
What’s the best part of the hobby for you?
The people. I have made so many friends at tournaments, and every battle with them is always great fun!
What is the worst part of the hobby for you?
Having to complete a project! There’s too many new and shiny things I want to get!
What projects are you working on at the moment?
A brand new Skaven army (much to the thanks of my chat who chose it for me!), a new 40K Ork army which will lose every game but I’ll have fun playing it as I'll be taking as many planes as possible, expanding my Space Wolf army, finishing yet more tyranids, the list goes on!
Do you plan out projects/armies or just get sucked into the trap of collecting everything?
The latter *hides in shame*
If your budget was unlimited but you could only buy one army what would it be?
Tyranids. Even though I have loads, I LOVE the look of a swarm coming across the table, and my scheme is super quick and easy to do so I would get LOADS done!
What do you hope to improve with regard to your hobbying in the future?
Painting skin. It’s my one biggest downfall on my painting skills.
You were one of the main faces of Warhammer tv when it was starting up in the early days, was this your first time working for GW?
It wasn’t. I started off in Oxford Street Games Workshop in London, and soon after was part of the team that transitioned over to Warhammer Tottenham Court Road which has become the flagship store! It was such a pleasure to work here and the manager Pete taught me so much about the hobby and myself and pushed me to always strive for being better. This led me to taking over the Twickenham Games Workshop store until I needed to step away from life. However I never stopped hobbying and eventually plucked up the courage to apply for Warhammer TV.
Any advice for people wanting to do that type of work in the future?
Don’t be scared to make a fool of yourself. If you can laugh at your mistakes you will feel much more at ease when they stick a camera infront of you!
Where are you now?
I now work for a company called Zero Latency which does Free-roam social Virtual Reality games. Basically, you get to go into a VR world with your mats, and fight for your survival against Zombies, and I get to sit and laugh at the screaming and people stepping over things that don’t exist!
You have since gone over to steam on twitch, how did you decide to start doing this?
A little bit of a push from my partner, but I also massively missed talking to the community! The chat are the best (even if they do choose terrible stripey squig armies for me to paint) and make my streams much more fun.
Do you feel a pressure to maintain a constant level of content delivery?
Yes and no. I want to stream as it gives people a place to go when they need to chat about Warhammer in a relaxed and fun environment. But they all understand that my job and health comes first so if I can’t stream they are mostly forgiving!
Do you feel your streaming could have a negative effect on your enjoyment of the hobby?
Possibly, but I try not to let it. I do sometimes hate that I HAVE to do some hobby, but at the end of the day I managed to get some hobby done and I'm closer to finishing that project.
How is the Aos Tournament scene, I don’t play the game myself so have no insight? It is the best. The people are lovely and there’s a huge mix of players and skills, so you will always learn something in a game!
Can you have enough squigs?
You can NEVER have enough Squigs. Buy more. Yes you, all of you, go now!
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