Awesome Hicks! I've been playing miniature games for a long time and have quite the hand at painting, so if you want any tips just ask.
These are some of my favorite games, the only real problem being the Dungeons and Dragons dilemma:
I have to play with real people. That becomes a challenging combination of living in a little town and dealing with the usual player base, which are pre-teen to snotty emo mid-teen or 35 year old mouth breather.
That sounds judgmental, but I've been there man. It's not fun lol. Hard to find a good gaming group in a small community.