Doctor Z here from Doctor Z's Laboratory
Next time you play a game of Warhammer don't forget to bring the fun. as it turns out it's actually kind of important.
We as players or fans of any given game often spend as much
time complaining about the subject of our adoration as we do about why we love
it. Weather permitting many at my local gaming club will sit outside of the
store on game nights for an hour or more after it has closed. Discussing in a semi
formed circle the games we just played, what models performed or didn’t
perform up to par, what’s good in the new codex and so on. I can’t help but to
assume that this behavior is not unique to my particular club and that this is
more likely than not how things play out at game nights all around the world. We
all love our game of choice for me it’s Warhammer 40k.
Over the last 10 or 15 years, really since the start of the internet age the way people approach games has become increasingly homogeneous.
Over the last 10 or 15 years, really since the start of the internet age the way people approach games has become increasingly homogeneous.
“X forum says Y unit is good so I’ll put Z number of them in
my force to beat you”
Sound familiar? It’s how the internet works. I’m guilty of it as much if not more than anyone reading this. I mean I’m the guy on X forum telling you to put Z number of Y units on the table. To be honest I don’t have a problem with this, if I did I wouldn't be doing it. I actually kind of like it as it adds a degree of depth to the intellectual challenge of the game. for those of you who didn't read it I wrote last week last about how I like to try to beat the more powerful meta lists with less powerful lists and the age of the internet makes that style of self challenge possible. My concern is that the farther into this flavorless cut and paste world of gaming we go the more of what makes the game fun in all the non intellectual ways we lose.
Is Warhammer losing its soul?
I’ve thus decided to compose a self righteous list of the
things competitive gamers (myself included) sometimes forget are the best parts
of this game. Please don’t think this is me taking a short at competitive players,
I love them, I am one, but sometimes it's good to get back to basics. It helps you to appreciate
what you have.
Randomness
The opposing argument goes something like this "Yeah, but its fun!" In a casual game where nobody needs to win in order to justify having dropped $300 on airline tickets randomness can be awesome. When a forest turns out to be made of man eating plants that chomp down 3 Marines it may seem sad, until that same forest eats 6 of the Orks that charged them on the following turn. What about that one time the Eye of the Gods Table turns your Chaos Lord with a single wound left into a daemon prince. All of this makes for a lot of excitement as the game goes along, but only when you’re in a state of mind where winning isn’t crucial.
Unique Characters
Do you remember your first army, who was the general? I bet
you remember. What’s more I’d be willing to bet you thought of him as a general
not as an HQ choice. Maybe he was just your favorite special character but for
a lot of us we did what Games Workshop does better than any other company and
we customized our own, he probably had a name, and a back story, and more likely
than not a poorly converted model which you had literally sacrificed your own blood to
produce (razor blades are dangerous for noobs). I miss those kinds of
characters, some of my friends had them too and I was secretly jealous of them
and how cool the model or the rules were. I know some people who even went so
far as to name all their sergeants or in one person’s case every single model
in his whole army. These kinds of characters are fantastic and again add a lot
to a casual game. Just naming your Shield Eternal captain on a bike “Billy” is
not what I’m talking about here in order to make this worth doing you kind of
need to sacrifice here and there. My local club had a “Fluff Campaign” night a
few weeks ago and it seemed to me a good opportunity to pull out my Salamanders
First Company list it included a 4 man Honor Guard squad with a Chapter Banner
and My custom built Tu'Shan Chapter Master of the Salamanders Model equipped with
Terminator Armor and 2 Thunder Hammers. That is a terrible set up from a competitive
sense, but come on how bad ass is a Chapter Master with Two Thunder Hammers. On
the charge with the Chapter banner in the unit that guy had 7 Master Crafted (Salamanders)
attacks; I haven’t had that much fun with my HQ choice in years.
Heroic Moments
It’s turn 4; I have a lone tactical marine with a missile
launcher sitting on an objective in the woods. Lord Commander Dante the oldest
and one of the most powerful men in the Imperium declares a charge on him Calmly
our hero raises his weapon and fires his overwatch shot. It hits, it wound’s….
don’t roll a 1 on your save... don't roll it…. IT’S A 1. DANTE BITES IT!!!!!
That actually happened in a game I played almost 3 years ago
and both I and my opponent still remember it. if you ask I’d tell you that I
think I won the game but to be honest I wouldn’t want to put money on it, I
can however point out which of my 4 missile launcher marines it was that did the deed. And
really that’s the important thing to remember.
Yes these types of moments can and do happen in competitive
games but by their very nature these kinds of moments are about defying the
odds and unfortunately competitive 40k is so much about the overwhelming application
of force that it becomes nearly impossible to do so. In addition the
built in redundancy in many competitive lists makes it feel less exciting when
my missile launcher Marine blows up 1 of 6 wave serpents by himself. The Chapter Master I mentioned
above despite being a bad competitive choice single handedly won me the game I
played him in. over the course of the game he killed 5 Nobs with his orbital
bombardment, as well as an Ork Warboss, a Morkanaut, and a Battle Wagon in close
combat. Was this lucky? Oh yeah but it was still awesome to see 2 Thunder Hammers
rip through an entire army. We all have seen these types of heroic moments in our games both for and against us.
Friends
Yeah I know it’s a cliché so I won’t dwell on it, but that
doesn’t make it any less true. If you’re not making friends playing this game
it’s probably because you’re the asshole power gamer that everybody hates, or you’re
the guy who complains about everything all the time. Don’t be one of those guys
and you will make friends playing this game. It’s that easy how fantastic is
that for a bunch of socially awkward gamers like us.
A night/day away from real life
Life sucks, as it turns out nobody just gives you stuff
because you’re awesome. What’s up with that? You’re expected to do stuff, and pay
bills, and feed your children. Who came up with these rules?
Oh, well at least we have Warhammer night. Once a week I can
wave a middle finger to the world and say
“Screw you. I’m going to play with my toys”
Sometimes we take this for granted a little too much but the
reality is that a lot of non gamer type folks out there don’t have this kind of
release.
Many years ago way back in my teenage years was standing in
my friends living room coat on and about to head to the hobby store. On the way out
my friend went up to his Grandmother and said “Hey Grandma, can I have some money
to support my hobby. It keeps me off the street and from doing drugs.” the
woman handed him a 20 dollar bill. In all my years this was the single most exploitive and awesome
things I’ve ever seen someone do for Warhammer money. But I’m not 100% sure
there’s not some truth to what he said.
Zen and the art of painting
 |
| Cute Girl not included |
So it’s the middle of January and you live in Minnesota, Wisconsin,
Mane or some other such stupid to live in during January place. It’s Sunday night, your
significant other is reading his/ her book and you’ve got the oh, so sweet
combo of playoff football on TV and a brand new just out of the unit of __(fill
in the blank)__ to build/paint. Grab yourself some slippers a beer (or cup of
cocoa) my friend because life is good.
Roll around in the endless piles of fluff.
Do you have any idea how much fluff has been written about
this game. I don’t think we realize just how lucky we are as 40k fans that
Games Workshop puts as much love into the fluff as they do. There is so much
out there for us, army books, campaign sets, Imperial Amour, Black Library,
audio drama’s, THERE’S A FREAKING MOVE NOW! I mean it’s not very good but THERE’S
A FREAKING MOVE! There are other elements of fandom out there that would collectively
sell enough of their kidneys to buy one of those new Smaug models if they could
get this kind of background content published. If you want to complain about the rules,
knock yourself out, but while you’re at it try to enjoy the part of the hobby
that Games Workshop is actually putting its energy into.
It’s Expensive
Okay I know that sounds weird but stay with me. I hate the
fact that these models cost so much just as much as the next guy, I’m poor too. That
being said there is something great about the fact that almost all the people
you meet playing this game will have invested a staggering amount of time and
or money into their armies. There is a certain level of commitment that goes
along with being a Warhammer player that isn’t necessarily part of a lot of
other hobbies. Most players love their armies; they have a connection to them that’s
built up over not just a couple of weeks or months as might be the case with a
card game but over years. The people who play this game almost without exception
care about it not just as a pass time but as a part of their life. Maybe that’s
why we complain so much.
Mail bag
Did I leave out the reason you love the game the most? Do you hate some or all of these things?
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