Member Spotlight: Lee Burns

Some members of West Allotment Wildlings feel like they have always been there. Lee Burns is one of those people. One of the earliest members of the club, Lee has become a fixture of our hobby nights, a font of knowledge about pretty much every game system you care to name, and someone whose company at the table makes every session better. We sat down with Lee for a proper chat about how he got into the hobby, what keeps him going, and why that first Night Goblin still has a special place in his heart.

A Kid with White Dwarf Dreams

Like a lot of people who find their way into tabletop gaming, Lee's story starts with Games Workshop catching his eye as a youngster. GW was on his radar as a kid, but as he puts it, his parents couldn't quite understand the value of plastic elves and Space Marines. He made do with the occasional issue of White Dwarf and one of those old starter sets with a few paints and a couple of minis.

At around age 12, a friend had a copy of Blood Bowl, the one with the polystyrene pitch. It looked incredibly cool, but when they actually tried to play it, the rules defeated them completely. They went back to John Madden on the Mega Drive. The hobby would have to wait.

Back in the Game

Fast forward to 2016. Lee is 35, browsing eBay, and finds the Island of Blood and Skull Pass fantasy sets for a bargain. That was it. The door that had been ajar since childhood swung open. He thinks it was nostalgia, a wistful pull towards something he had always thought looked fun. The Warhammer Fantasy setting hooked him immediately, that grounded high fantasy world of vampires, elves and dwarfs slogging it out in something resembling a mud-soaked Holy Roman Empire.

That first Night Goblin he painted back then? Lee still has it. It looks rubbish, obviously, he says, but he thinks it is great to keep your first minis around as a reminder of how far you have come. That is a lesson worth passing on to anyone just starting out.

What He Is Playing Right Now

Lee describes his current game list as too many, probably, but that is precisely where being part of WAW comes in. You are pooling resources and enthusiasm with people who are deeply into all of this stuff, so there is always someone to give you an intro game of something new, or who will happily dust off a copy of something a bit esoteric like Man o' War.

His most played game is Kill Team, which he rates as one of GW's better systems and takes genuine pleasure in running demo games for new players. He has also got time for Conquest, Frostgrave, 40k, various flavours of Warhammer Quest, One Page Rules, Bolt Action and Warmaster. And right now, like a lot of people, he is absolutely loving Trench Crusade. The miniatures lend themselves to a Grimdark painting style he really enjoys: blood effects, barbed wire, streaking grime. Maximum result, minimum effort.

Painter, Gamer, or Both?

Definitely both, and Lee would not have it any other way. He has found that having a game planned in the near future is one of the best motivations there is to get a new unit painted and on the table. The two feed each other. Most of his painting is aimed at what he calls a nice tabletop standard. He has too many games to play to be doing three edge highlights on anything. The pleasure of putting beautifully painted minis on the tabletop only to roll a bunch of ones for them never gets old.

The Hobby Space and the Headspace

Lee is thoughtful about how he sets himself up to paint. Often there will be a podcast on, or YouTube running in the background, though he admits he can end up watching YouTube instead of actually painting. He references Roman Lappat, a painter he admires, who talks about the importance of painting without distractions when you are trying to do your best work, and he thinks there is something in that.

His advice: change up your hobby environment and see what works, and recognise that what works today might not work tomorrow. Above all, if you can have a dedicated space for your hobby, do it. It is a game-changer.

The Minis He Is Most Proud Of

Lee is particularly pleased with his Trench Pilgrims warband for Trench Crusade, where he experimented with techniques he had not tried before, including the superglue method for unusual skin tones and enamels for realistic blood and dirt effects. It fits his philosophy of maximum result for minimum effort, which is not laziness but good sense.

He is also fond of his Necrons. The main armour is painted quickly with streaking grime, rust effects and drybrushing, but he took time on the weapons, using glazing to get some lovely white-to-green-to-black transitions that make them stand out on the table.

And then there is the moment that Darren Latham commented 'great work!' on an Instagram post of a Space Marine face he painted. That was quite a moment, he says.

How Lee Found WAW

During COVID, Lee was missing being able to play 40k and Kill Team. He saw a Facebook post from Craig, who was in the same boat. They arranged a game in Lee's backyard, which was allowed under the restrictions at the time. Craig mentioned this club that had recently started up. A while later, Lee turned up, played a game of Kill Team, and that was that.

He is genuinely grateful for that connection. The club has given him great hobby times and, just as importantly, a bunch of brilliant friendships.

Peak Wargaming

There have been plenty of memorable moments at WAW over the years. A game of 3rd edition 40k with Will. Epic moments in Liam's Blackstone Fortress playthrough. But Lee gives top billing to Josh's Frostgrave campaign. Josh put real effort into writing the scenarios, the group playing through it was excellent, and Frostgrave as a system gets out of the way and lets people have fun. That, says Lee, was probably peak wargaming.

If You Are Thinking About Getting Into the Hobby

Go for it. That is Lee's simple answer. The scene has exploded in the last three or four years and there are so many great places to play and meet people. A club like WAW gives you the chance to see what people are playing before you dive headlong in, so you do not end up bouncing off a game or system that was never really for you. The Discord is also a brilliant way to enjoy other people's hobby on the days when your own motivation is not quite there, and a great place to get honest feedback on your painting.

Start small. A skirmish game like Trench Crusade or Kill Team that only needs 6 to 10 minis is a much better entry point than a full 2000-point 40k army sitting in boxes. That path leads to demotivation. A single box of minis you think look cool, painted at your own pace, is a much better start.

The Big Question

If he could only keep one model from his entire collection? After some thought, Lee would probably keep that very first Night Goblin, just as a reminder of where he started. If it had to be something he is genuinely proud of how it turned out, he might pick the wizard from his Frostgrave warband, one of his Necron HQs, or maybe his Chaos Sorcerer from HeroQuest for the retro vibes. He is leaving the question open, which feels about right for someone who clearly loves the whole collection too much to choose.

You can find Lee on Instagram at @morehammer81. Go and give him a follow.