Welcome to War gaming.

Roleplaying and board games reviews, podcasts, videos and interviews

WIM01-01[1]By Ben Monro

Little over two weeks ago now I walked into my now local gaming store Firestorm Games of Cardiff, Wales, with one intention in mind. I wanted to start a table top war-game, something which I’d never done before and it was something that I wanted to do to find hobby where I could shake my opponents hand, I will admit I had grown addicted to videogames and found myself spending countless hours sat alone at my desk while a trawled through Skyrim and standing up after a 3 hour play session and having very little to show for it, no I wanted a hobby neigh a passion where I could show of my artistic capabilities and play a game and then maybe even have a pint with my opponent afterward rather than just hitting ‘return to lobby’ It’s a personal situation I understand but looking for a more active and communal hobby I found war gaming and it’s filled the void nicely!

I was confronted by a vast array of platforms to choose from It was simply bewildering, I didn’t know the industry was so active I’d obviously seen the crossover into other mediums, games, films and the like of the flagship systems such that our beloved Games Workshop produce. However I wasn’t expecting to be faced with such a difficult decision of what platform to choose!

Did I opt for the massively popular rim darkness of the 41st millennium? Or maybe its fantasy counterpart. There was also the Steampunk brutality of Warmachine and Hordes, I could have even have opted for re-enacting the bravest and most brutal combats of WWII on a miniature scale.

But what’s the point I’m trying to make here? I suppose as new member to the world of War gaming I suppose I’m simply expressing my joy and excitement of such an expansive hobby from my fresh baby faced perspective, no matter which platform I opted for, I was presented with a live and active community populated with players of all kinds; those seeking nothing but a competitive edge and the gloating rites till they met across the table next week, or maybe the guy who’s list was full of fluff and story and we could build a story together through the role of the dice.

Not only that, I’m also finding my spare time dominated by either painting, building, creating discussions of forums, listening to podcasts and enjoying my time that much more. These hobbies are all encompassing in a manner I simply wasn’t ready for. I’m constantly checking my Twitter feed for the latest leaked images of figures to drool over, or watching hours of YouTube video’s featuring tips on how to improve my (very) mediocre painting skills.

Before I waffle on any longer and before I lose the attention of many readers out there, I’d just like to finish on a note to say that I couldn’t have found a better hobby with a more active community to replace my reclusive video gaming addiction, and would like you to hark back to those favourite hobby memories, maybe it is the very first time you picked up a paint brush? Or rolled a dice, you’re first victory or defeat which was more enjoyable?

And maybe you’d like to join me on my journey of hobby first timers, as I experience all that our hobby has to offer, I could even bust out the odd useful piece of information for all those new hobbyists as I search for the best painting tutorials or podcasts. Something that no doubt every hobbyist needs to know!

But I’ll leave it here for now, this has been a very selfish article, I understand I used “I” a lot! But if you come back to read again I’ll have some more tips and recommendations for you from my fresh and un-cynical perspective.

By the way, I’m currently constructing my very first Grey Knights force, I lost my first game to a rather rowdy Chaos Lord, and yet I can’t wait to hit the table again!

Thanks for reading,

Ben Monro.

 

Leave a Reply