Hey, I'm Alexander!

[Alexander W. Hofing]

Coming to you straight from the frozen wastes of Naggaroth... Damn is it ever great to be using an old school forum again!

I'm Alexander and I'm a historian from Canada! When I'm not trying to finish my doctoral thesis on the Knights of St. John (some day!), I'm busy tutoring, teaching and selling my soul to an AI company which will remain legally unspecified! My scholarly interest is primarily the study of violence as a historical, cultural and technological phenomenon, and I primarily deal with the early modern period globally, as this is where we see technology and culture interacting in the sphere of both war and personal violence in fascinating ways. This means I likewise find representations of violence to be fascinating axes of intersection of all of the above, and that, naturally, dovetails very nicely with Warhammer as an object of academic study.

I only joined the Conference last year, where I gave my talk, New Dark Age: Synthesizing Historical Understanding Through Warhammer! I hope to present this year as well (whenever I finish my abstract!), and in any subsequent year in which the Conference will have me! I find this to be an extremely important interdisciplinary nexus of scholarly inquiry, and I am grateful to our organizers for creating this space in academia.

I also present at historical conferences, where I've presented The Brazen Head: Sorcerer-Scientists, Artificial Intelligence, and the De-Enlightenment (work forthcoming on that one!) and Swords and Sensibility: Fencing Manuals, Nobility, and Society in Renaissance Italy, which reflect some of my diverse academic interests.

Outside of academia, I can mostly be found playing video games, the medium through which I first found Warhammer (Dawn of War!), painting on canvas, attempting to paint a growing Strike Force of Grey Knights, practicing the longsword (Fiore dei Liberi!) and rapier, and learning to play the hurdy-gurdy (poorly!).

Very glad to be here!

[Mike]

Welcome Alexander! I am a big fan of the DoW series. As an old Command and Conquer player I did find a lot to love in the first, however, it was the second that really stole my heart. I actually got pretty good at it in the end! Never got round to #3 though

[Alexander W. Hofing]

Welcome Alexander! I am a big fan of the DoW series. As an old Command and Conquer player I did find a lot to love in the first, however, it was the second that really stole my heart. I actually got pretty good at it in the end! Never got round to #3 though

Alas! I'm something of an advocate for the third game, it had some very serious aesthetic missteps (imitating the Blizzard house style for animations and the like was a terrible move) but was extremely solid in its fundamentals, with some amazing sound design (I still love the whine of the Terminator Assault Cannons). It was definitely gone too soon before it had its time in the sun, but what's done is done, and we can only hope the fourth is good in turn!

I did very much love the second game though, The Last Stand was fun and I had some good times trying to climb the multiplayer ladder in the early days of Retribution!

[Mike]

I LOVE the last stand! It's such a cool game mode for a strategy game.

[WBRB-Dimitrios]

Hey Alexander! Welcome on board! It's fascinating that you study renaissance martial arts! I did dabble a little bit in Fiore dei Liberi myself, but mostly got taught Hans Talhoffer, when I was still in Greece and attending ARMA (Association for Renaissance Martial Arts, now HEMA).

[Alexander W. Hofing]

Hey Alexander! Welcome on board! It's fascinating that you study renaissance martial arts! I did dabble a little bit in Fiore dei Liberi myself, but mostly got taught Hans Talhoffer, when I was still in Greece and attending ARMA (Association for Renaissance Martial Arts, now HEMA).

Renaissance martial arts comprised the bulk of my Master's degree research actually, it was a fascinating read so naturally I had to get into it. Still haven't taken the plunge in joining any of my local HEMA groups, but I think Buhurt might be more my speed anyways once I have enough disposable income to justify buying both expensive tiny plastic men and a full suit of armour. Great to see other practitioners!