I've been run off my feet this week so finding time to actually post anything here has been a bit difficult but I've managed to listen to an interesting assortment of Youtube videos on wargaming.
I've also noticed the hoohah that seems to be spreading from the real world into wargaming which I found a bit of a shame as I see my hobby as a bit of escapism from said real world and would prefer to avoid politics and whatnot in said hobby.
This got me thinking about where I am, wargaming wise these days and it also got me to pondering on a bit of a different tack. Essentially I have decided to give Games Workshops product a miss from now on. This isn't to do with anything other than they have enough fans to pump money into the business of making great figures and games. I want to spend my modest hobby budget supporting some of the smaller companies out there who aren't global titans and may appreciate some small amount of business and what little I can do to showcase their products.
It's a bit of a difficult decision to make as I do like the looks of the new 40k and the specialist games GW has produced of late look ace. I just feel it's time to move on a bit and support other manufacturers who could actually use a bit of support, especially post lockdown when folks are rather short of cash.
The Original Tales From Farpoint Header!
Over the years, I've probably spent thousands on GW gubbins, be it direct from stores or via the second hand market but that is but a drop in the ocean compared to many hobbyists who will spend that a year, rather than over quarter of a century so I doubt my patronage will be missed.
I must admit that I'd pretty much drifted away from GW gubbins over the last few months and I need to admit to myself that I am never going to have the time, space or indeed patience to collect, paint or indeed game a 40k or classic Fantasy Battle army. Instead I am increasingly sculpting my own stuff or if I do buy stuff, it has by and large been from the rather more eclectic or small scale ranges that catch my eye.
Moving forward I want to do this more often and support smaller companies who produce interesting stuff or indeed sculpt my own figures so I can lose myself in the worlds I create and not be limited by having to buy a set codex or super cool unit.
Therefore, I hope to begin supporting small!
Whee! This post has become a bit ranty but I hope that I'm not sounding judgemental or indeed trying to bash the many, many gamers who love GW product. I just feel that I personally have found my hobby has evolved in a different direction and want to meander further in that direction and continue enjoying myself!
With the increasing number of manufacturers now available with a click or two I find I'm heading in two directions:
ReplyDelete1) Skirmish battles where I can buy a few figures that I really like OR keep a few I already have and sell the remainder off.
2) Mass battle games - these will be 15mm or smaller allowing a few figures to represent 100s with simple quick rules.
It's amazing how hard FOMO is to master - good luck but remember ENJOY THE GAME
Same here!
DeleteAt present I seem to be floating between 15mm, 6mm and 2mm for mass battle with skirmishes using 15mm or my own non scaled stuff!
Yeah I still like the background and am playing Necromunda. The Rest of the games just are not grabbing me from GWs. And I mostly jumped into Necro for the chance to get some gangers to pull double duty in Sci-fi RPGs.
ReplyDeleteI am more honestly more into my historicals, Pulp and alternate histories at the moment.
Necromunda is a fantastic game! I loved the original edition and must admit if it wasn't for my self imposed restriction, I'd probably pick up the newer one too!
DeleteI seem to have hit a bit of a wobble about what sort of game I'm interested in at the moment as I have found myself rather unsure what to do about it and am thinking I need to just go for something different for a bit of a change which is why I'm tempted to dabble into a bit of historical or pseudo historical stuff...
If pseudo history is a thing your interested in. Maybe give the "1938 VA very British civil war" thing a try.
DeleteOnly requires as much as your willing to out into it.
Yeah, so far wargaming has been relatively free of the crazy political stuff. I hope it stays that way!
ReplyDeleteI continue to collect my two 40k armies, but I've no idea if or when I'll ever use them. I agree about the small-scale stuff. It can be just as satisfying to do 10 models well as 100 models quite well. Glad to hear that you're doing more sculpting - your sculpts are very good and I like the style. Of course, if you ever wanted to do more illustrations, that would be cool too...
Fingers crossed but it does appear that there's a bit of a flame war going on between different folks with different political views over GW at present but neckbeard rage has been going on over GW stuff for years!
DeleteI've actually finished a bunch more Kuld for my War of Ashes project that I need to get some photos of and am thinking of delving into Frostgrave with my own stuff too...
I seem to have built a bit of a hate/love relationship with GW over the years. Their newest miniatures are gorgeous, but I keep on harking back to the days before I quit buying their products for a long while when they gave up on their Specialist games. After 2nd edition and the earliest incarnations of Kill Team and Combat Patrol, it was these games that kept my flame for GW products going.
ReplyDeleteNowadays it's all about smaller companies, 15mm and reminiscing about the old GW rulesets for me. 2nd edition 40k in 15mm
has been a lot on my mind lately.
Looking forward to your new sculpts!