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Your tip is: don't.

Hi

Ahhh... to be young and think that the SO in your life should be involved... THINK VERY CAREFULLY ABOUT THIS.

For myself, I got my then girlfriend (now wife) to be involved. The result is 6K in Lizardmen of which 2k are painted, 1500 in SoB, of which two squads are painted... and both of these armies are absolutely off limits for me to start on my own.

We are both very competitive, and it she was willing to put in the time to become good at the game, it would be all right. She is not, so the experience is poor for both of us.

On the other hand, we have played in a few doubles tournaments together, to the tune of Best General in Fantasy and Best Overall in 40K. Those were good times.

Also, her ability to paint pushed me to become competent enough to win a Warpstone Trophy.

So, as you can see, good and bad things occur due to involving the SO. In the end, I prefer to have my hobby mostly to myself, with my guys night out typically being a gaming night out followed by beer and burgers at the local pub.

Cheers,
Carlos the Craven

Don't try to do this. Big mistake. Sounds like she enjoyed space hulk- be glad she understands your hobby and can see what you like about it.

Somewhere, on a knitting website, some woman is posting "how do I get my husband interestied in knitting" and all the posters there are telling her to relax!

Hi

Not sure how valid my opinion is , as I've only recently started wargaming as a hobby but I read the books for a while and i'm a big geek. I tried to teach my girl friend about the Warhammer 40k universe and get her involved in my other hobbies. Epic fail complete lack of interest.

However since i bought the models her interest has increased. We even played a quick game in store which she enjoyed. She has always enjoyed painting and I think thats the aspect she is most interested in. She became very jealous of my 00 brush.

I think its nice that you want to share a hobby, especially if you don't get that much time together (I can relate, i'm in a long distance relationship) but like alot of other people have said previously I don't think you can force it.

If she enjoys painting them brilliant, one day she might even start wanting to play.

remember if you build it they will come.

I don't know what I'd do without my west country lass undercoating my hammerheads... the nids have yet to feel their true bite

To try and bridge the gap I made my girlfriend a little two-page Twilight dice game. I statted out nearly every "good guy" from the series with a couple stats each and one "special power" and she liked it. She's extremely non-competitive so I doubt she'll ever play 40k (unless I buy her another pair of diamond earrings).

My girlfriend noticed my dormant, unpainted SW that were waiting for the new codex (I hadn't touched them since I had heard rumours.. this was a painfully long time ago) and she was interested - mainly about the painting aspect. At this point in time I had AoBR sitting around unpainted, so I told her she could have the orks to paint if she wanted to. She had done art throughout her schooling and took to it nicely, boldly doing check patterns where no man has ever gone before.

We played a few small games (500 points.. all we could really manage with the orks) which she did not really take to, maybe due to my poor explanation of the rules where I would just tell her what she needed to roll. My bad...

I had also been playing Space Hulk on my laptop (Teardown's version) at this point, and she would always hold my hand during those tense jammed moments... so I knew there was hope gaming wise.

Anyway, she came home one day and told me she had ordered 5 aobr nobz off of eBay - to which I replied that if she was going to start buying, she should maybe check out some of the other armies. Unsurprisingly, WH; or more importantly SoB, caught her eye. She got very excited when I handed her some fluff, told her mum all about it and bought some troops and HQ.

We haven't played a game yet due to her still painting them all, though we have played the new SH board game which garnered me fond comments such as "I hate you" and "You are the worst boyfriend ever" as my genestealers tore through her ranks. Yeah.. maybe I should have gone marines first

So my point is.. er.... women like women in armour. Maybe.

Iron Priest wrote:So my point is.. er.... women like women in armour. Maybe.

I don't know why, but that make me seriously laugh out loud. A great 'summary' of your post. LOL!

I think that it is more of a question of how much does she want to be involved. I had successfully escaped wargaming by the time my wife and I got together; she got me back into it with a vengeance. She gets to be as involved as she liked. The gaming aspect has no allure for her, but I buy her whatever she wants to paint, and when we installed budgets for our hobbies (I then cut out White Dwarf because I didn't use it much) she told me White Dwarf doesnt come out of my hobby budget because she enjoys reading the painting articles. I have a million stories about how she has supported my gaming. I can't tell you how much she has spent. But really, she is as involved as she wants to be.

In the end, mine got me back into my hobby for two reasons. 1) she saw me as being massively self-destructive when she met me, and gaming was an opportunity for her to channel me into something that didn't involve me pushing my personal limits quite so hard 2)she enjoys feeding other peoples addictions, and pushing them into doing things they want to do but have sense enough not to do.

I know a few couples who game together and are happy. I know many more that don't game together who are happy as well. If your SO is into this hobby or isn't things will work out.

My wife isn't interested in my hobby and that's okay with me. I usually paint when we're watching tv or when she's sewing (her hobby).

If you really want her to play games with you I'd suggest Space Hulk.

Tip for getting sig. other into games?

Start dating dudes. much more likely to get a dude into it then your girlfriend...

I do and he's still not interested

My girlfriend has a small space marine army (Captain, Tactical Squad, Terminators).

She became interested in 40k as I talked to her about the background of Space Marine Chapters and general 40k storyline fluff (that our son and I take over the dining room table from time to time with 40k battles!).

She was interested in the stories and background and wanted to start her own chapter of marines. After purchasing the marines and getting her all her own brushes and paint and super duper GW paint pot she's on her way to painting 'test marines' for color scheme.

With the recent launch of planetstrike, she's also taken an interest in building and painting some of that terrain too - so I think the foundation has been set for my girlfriend's foray into 40k!

First post! Hope I'm not playing thread necromancer here, but thought I may be slightly useful, as a chick who is in the stage of being dragged into Warhammer by her significant other. Not speaking for all chicks, but figured an opinionated post from the kind of girl being discussed would be useful. References to 'you' are not direct, just used to make my points clear.

1. Don't force it. It's been said a lot before but I, for one, absolutely loathe being told or guided into doing something. What I like is having the resources and guidance available for when I wish to pursue something. Don't suggest that I get something to paint, or badger me about playing. If I see that you're enjoying your hobby, and I'm genuinely interested, I will make an effort to find out what you're doing. My interest in Warhammer began with going through my guy's White Dwarf mags from ages ago, and being interested in well-painted models and a few interesting sculpts. He hasn't fed me anything, just made resources available, took me to a GW store when I asked, and explains things that I don't understand or want to know more about.

2. Girls have hobbies too, and this can be useful to 'lure us in'. I enjoy art and good fiction, so naturally the things I'm most interested in right off the bat are lore/characters and painting. Find something that has an equivalent within the hobby and try to make these clear to her - but again, not in-her-face. Leave out a Warhammer novel, or a browser window with well-painted models open, and if she's interested she'll pursue them.

3. Be patient. Nothing, frankly, drives me batty quite like someone who isn't patient with trying to get you in their hobby. I'm not going to understand all the rules immediately, and slapping a few Codex in front of me does nothing to help. As well, if she plays other games, keep in mind her playing style. Does she play aggressively? Defensively? When it comes time to let her play an army, pick one that you know she'll enjoy. For example, if she likes to go into games aggressively, guns blazing, don't force her to play a strategy-reliant game. If she likes to win, let her win her first game; if she is more interested in playing to learn the rules don't be afraid to beat her (but explain afterwards what you did, why it worked, and how to counter it).

4. If it isn't working, it isn't working. If she knows about the hobby, has looked into a bit, maybe tried painting or playing a round, and decides it isn't for her? Let it go. You can't win it all, and if you try too hard to get her into your hobby (no matter if it's Warhammer or not) she's going to hate it. She won't play your 'army dudes', you won't make a scrapbook.

Again, not speaking for all chicks. Sorry for the wall of text, just cringed a few too many times reading the ways you guys get your ladies interested. 'Pologies in advance if my post is out of place or whatever.

Cannerus_The_Unbearable wrote:To try and bridge the gap I made my girlfriend a little two-page Twilight dice game...

Sister_Lucy wrote:Since she is already interested this is what i would suggest..


1. Make your hobby supplies fully available to her and EASY to get to. If she finds it frustrating sharing your supplies go out and buy some for her. Clippers, paint brushes, wet pallet, hobby knife and so on.

2. Take her out shopping for minis to paint and paints that she likes. Don't push 40k on her but let her pick out the minis that she wants to paint.

3. If you go to your local gaming stores to play, offer to take her with you and suggest she bring her paints so she can paint while you play if she chooses.

4. Be Supportive (like you wouldn't)

5. Find painting and modeling Tutorials online & in Magazines for her so she can learn how to paint and model on her own time.

Good Luck!

Sound advice for anyone!

Old thread is old...