In 2003, I started having strange experiences with my body. My neck would tingle when I looked down, my balance got a bit wonky, parts of my body would sporadically go numb. I figured maybe I had a pinched nerve or something so I gave a chiropractor a ton of money to have him crack my back and ultimately fix nothing. After perhaps six months of that nonsense I caved and went to a real doctor, in this case a neurologist. Several MRIS, blood tests and a spinal tap later he told me I had Multiple Sclerosis. Not ideal.
Right after this both my hands went numb. I'm talking trying to put on gloves and don't notice that two fingers are in one hole kind of numb. I had a hard time typing, playing guitar and painting. I figured that my days of using them for anything more intricate than punching a hanging bag -which I did a lot- were done, so I tossed my paints and sold my guitars.
The doctor put me on some medication and after a couple months and a steroid infusion I got my hands back. I decided that to celebrate the triumph of modern medicine I would get back into 40k with the release of 4th edition, and with the customization available with the marine traits system I opted for a marine army. After perusing a lot of fluff and image galleries I settled on the Raptors chapter. The first model I bought for it was the missile launcher scout model and I've more or less steadily built on the army for ten years now. Here they be (at least the stuff that is done, I have several other units and vehicles in varying states of completion):
