My name is David McBride and I am originally from Chattanooga, TN.  I grew up on a high school day/boarding campus.  I went to the University of Virginia where I double majored in history and religious studies.  After waiting tables and substitute teaching for a year in Richmind, VA, I moved to Atlanta and started teaching at a brand new school named Whitefield Academy and have been there ever since.  I have a wonderful and supportive wife Lucy and three awesome kids–Archer (8), Winnie (5), and Meg (2).  My wife and I are filling out the paperwork to adopt a child from China so we will hopefully be adding a fourth in the next year to year and a half.

2. How would you describe your company in just a few sentences?I am a small company dedicated to producing 15mm fantasy and Dark Age historicals but am open to whatever whim or fancy catches my attention like 20mm woodland animal warriors or 15mm post-apocalyptic.  I strive to provide great service and great communication to my customers.

3. What types of figures do you carry (scale, historical periods, etc)?I carry primarily 15mm fantasy and Dark Age Historicals but also have 15mm post-apocalytpic, 20mm fantasy and woodland warriors.  The fantasy ranges I cover are very broad with common types like elves, orcs, and dwarves but also uncommon types like Leonines (catfolk), ratmen, and The Sons of Horus (hawk-headed Egyptians).  The Dark Age ranges I have currently cover the Age of Arthur and much of the 1066 period.  the range I am most excited about at the moment is the 15mm Dungeon Crawl line.  As my kids get older, I plan on running them and their buddies through some rpgs and want a bunch of great player characters and classic monsters for them to face.

4. Your fantasy figures are excellent. What drives your interest in fantasy battles?

I grew up loving Middle Earth and Narnia.  Everything about them captured my imagination.  I also have a father who is into gaming and into fantasy.  He had years and years worth of old Tolkien calendars I would spend hours pouring over.  He would set up massive battles for us to play and I am trying to do the same with my son (hopefully daughters soon!).

5. Tell us about your other figure ranges.

One of my favorite ranges is the 20mm Woodland Warrior range.  It is talking animals with weapons.  I have always loved books like Narnia, the Spellsinger series and more recently Redwall.  So I asked Bob Olley to sculpt some up for me.  They were originally intended to be 15mm but they ended up larger and beefier to I just made them 20mm since I loved the sculpts so much.  I also love the post-apocalyptic range I have done.  My brother in law is now 2 books into a self published post-apocalyptic series (his name is Stu Jones and the first book is named Through the Fury to the Dawn) and I decided it would be fun to have some sculpts done around his book.

6. What ranges and/or ranges do you have planned for the future?

I would love to do more with the 15mm fantasy Egyptian line.  I have some undead and hawk-headed figures and would love to add as much of the Egyptian pantheon as possible, with some being major powers and some being more mercenary types.  I would also like to continue adding to the Dark Ages line and would love to do some Runequest/Glorantha style figures.

7. How did you get involved in the war gaming hobby?

My father has been a gamer since he was 16 years old and ordering Jack Scruby figures, so it was just a part of my life as long as I can remember.  I had a play table in my room my dad built for me covered with miniatures and I could sit in there and play for hours.  I ended up starting the business after getting frustrated looking for 15mm figures I needed for an army.  My wife and I used to take long walks (before three kids!!) and she very patiently listened to me rant about what I wanted to see and then has been very supportive as I launched into getting my own figures done.

8.  What are your favorite war gaming periods to game? What scale and rules do you prefer?

Over the years I have enjoyed playing Warmaster, Pig Wars (Dark Age Skirmish), Song of Blades and Heroes, and Chipco’s Fantasy Rules.  These days I mostly play Pride of Lions (massive fantasy battles with lots of figures and couple hours to play), Mighty Armies (smaller armies and 30 minutes or so per game), and some homegrown skirmish rules I am working on.  I mostly use 15mm these days but also love 28mm figures and have tons of old LOTR figures from Mithril and GW.

9. Please share a little information about what conventions you will be attending this year.

I have been taking most of the year off from conventions and have only made it to Siege of Augusta and Nashcon.  I love going to cons but with a full-time job and 3 (maybe soon 4) kids it is hard to put in the hours and hours of prep for a show and then go for whole weekends, only to come back exhausted.  I have started moving towards down-scaling what I take to shows and just going to mostly play and hang out.  Mike Renegar (Rebel Minis) and I did this for Nashcon and had a blast!

10. What’s the best way for customers to order from you?

The best way is to go to our website – splinteredlightminis.com/

David – thanks for the interview! We love your figs and are really looking forward to your new releases! Take care and Good Gaming! Cory