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If I were in a position to be giving hobby advice to myself in 1996, the state of 40k in 2020 would not be very high in my list of priorities.

My hobby advice to 1996 me would be "take some live drawing and sculpting classes, move to a country who's consensual crime laws don't [censored] [censored] harder than a colonic irrigation before you put down roots, get into tabletop wargaming but treat whatever you play as a way to meet people until Privateer Press releases Warmachine, and don't get too heavy into that because Hordes will be compatible and better."

I don't regret my time with 40k, but it's the only game in town.

If this were the edition, backstory, and the range of games, then absolutely no.

gundam wrote:
If you could do it over again, would you not get into 40k? Or what would you have done differently?

I'll still skip 2nd edition but otherwise no, I wouldn't change anything.

gundam 794986 11017840 wrote:how many units did you end up buying

took my confirmation money, and the store owner had a GK army to sell, he said it would get an update soon. And he didn't lie the GK codex came out in like 3 weeks after I bought it. In the mean time my sister bought a tablet with her money.

I got 20 termintors, 5 strikes, 2 dreadnought, 1 NDK, 1 draigo, 2 rhinos without turrets and a termintor armoured character which I later found out to be brother captin stern. out of all the models only the NDK and rhinos were plastic, and I got a box to transport the army too.

Whilst perhaps not 40k specifically, my 31 years in the Hobby has left an indelible mark (well, marks) upon my life.

From 1996-2003, it was how I met my friendship circle. And being in a relatively small town, everyone I now know all these years later are no more than 3 steps removed. This includes my girlfriend, as I was introduced to her by the first friend I made when I moved to England, and it was GW stuff that lead to that friendship. If anyone has joined in on my video painting sessions, you’ll have met Paul as well.

And in terms of career? It was going for and being rejected for a full time position, and receiving feedback that genuinely changed my life. Whilst my current career isn’t directly related to the hobby (nor something I ever really planned), it was that feedback that saw me belt up and push myself further than before.

Now it’s not to say another Hobby wouldn’t have resulted in all this. But if given my time over again? I’d still take this path - though I’d probably have that wee word with myself a lot earlier on!

I have gotten so much out of this hobby over the years and it has truly helped me through some tough times.

I think all I would do if I had my time over would be to make sure I took better care of my old rulebooks so I would still have them today, especially the old Codex Imperialis background book which I dearly loved but which I can only find really poor quality scans of these days. Would love to still have the cardboard ruins from the 2e boxed set too! And the awesome scenario book.

I would like to say that I would get stuff like BFG when it was still in print, but realistically, I just didn't have the money back then, and that wouldn't be any different second time round. I wouldn't have sold off my beastmen and lizardmen when moving country though!

Karol wrote:

gundam 794986 11017840 wrote:how many units did you end up buying

took my confirmation money, and the store owner had a GK army to sell, he said it would get an update soon. And he didn't lie the GK codex came out in like 3 weeks after I bought it. In the mean time my sister bought a tablet with her money.

I got 20 termintors, 5 strikes, 2 dreadnought, 1 NDK, 1 draigo, 2 rhinos without turrets and a termintor armoured character which I later found out to be brother captin stern. out of all the models only the NDK and rhinos were plastic, and I got a box to transport the army too.

Have you expanded upon this any since then?
Have you scratch built any turrets to convert your rhinos?

I would tell myself to buy the 54mm inquisitor models while I had the chance.

ccs 794986 11018089 wrote:

Have you expanded upon this any since then?
Have you scratch built any turrets to convert your rhinos?

Define expended. I bought the PA books, two CA books and the codex. I have not bought any extra models. And I don't have any scratch to build anything out of. Plus 8th didn't make me want to spend much on the army, specialy after the first year or year and a half. I mean I could have gotten a better GK army, but it would still have been bad, and it would require me to build 6+ boxs of strikes, and I bought don't and didn't have such money, and may as well have just bought a new army, that was actualy fun to play.

I did get a box of lumineth lightlords from my aunt as a gift from my aunt. I have them still foiled up somewhere in the attic.

I played quite a bit in my early years, which was a waste of money then due to how expensive the hobby is vs how much I was making at my job. I wouldn't do it over again, unless I was still that stupid.

I bought a lot of Tyranid models at the start of 8th edition. I don't think I've ever had a worse case of buyers remorse.

At this point it's come down to morbid curiosity that keeps me following the game in 9th edition. Just seeing how they can give xenos customers as little as possible while giving the majority of their time and effort to Space Marine and Chaos customers, who they obviously value far, far more.

If I could go back, I would have stayed out of 40K, or at best pick up nothing more than a kill team sized force - probably Tau & Tyranids.

Of course, I also would have stayed away from all the D&D 2E and World of Darkness RPG books too. I literally had three 6-shelf bookshelves full of that gaming material, and have cut it down to less than a single *shelf*.

I'm such a game hoarder.

I would have purchased the Dread Ambull BSF box before it disappeared; I wish EVERY GW product went to last chance to buy before it disappeared- it would make it much easier to make sure you have what you want. Right now I'm in a similar state of anxiety over some of the DE models I want; with an update on the way, we don't know whether the Beastmaster and Beasts or the Court of the Archon models will get disappeared or redone, and if the latter, we don't know if we'll like them.

I would have maintained my painting skills and schedule during the times were I wasn't actively playing.

I would have kept some of the models that I traded or gave away; good will trades DID allow me to get some really good models that I still have and treasure, so this one is harder to do-over than others.

 dotcomee wrote:
I played quite a bit in my early years, which was a waste of money then due to how expensive the hobby is vs how much I was making at my job. I wouldn't do it over again, unless I was still that stupid.

I bought a lot of Tyranid models at the start of 8th edition. I don't think I've ever had a worse case of buyers remorse.

At this point it's come down to morbid curiosity that keeps me following the game in 9th edition. Just seeing how they can give xenos customers as little as possible while giving the majority of their time and effort to Space Marine and Chaos customers, who they obviously value far, far more.

so would you call yourself a 40k gamer in recovery?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Karol wrote:

ccs 794986 11018089 wrote:

Have you expanded upon this any since then?
Have you scratch built any turrets to convert your rhinos?

Define expended. I bought the PA books, two CA books and the codex. I have not bought any extra models. And I don't have any scratch to build anything out of. Plus 8th didn't make me want to spend much on the army, specialy after the first year or year and a half. I mean I could have gotten a better GK army, but it would still have been bad, and it would require me to build 6+ boxs of strikes, and I bought don't and didn't have such money, and may as well have just bought a new army, that was actualy fun to play.

I did get a box of lumineth lightlords from my aunt as a gift from my aunt. I have them still foiled up somewhere in the attic.

so have you quit or are you in the process of quitting?

If I could start over I would have stuck only to minis I liked instead of minis I needed to keep my army current, never kept up with the rules, and started writing my own evergreen rulebook years earlier than I did.

 Eldarain wrote:
Probably not. If I did I'd hope I could stick to one faction.

so will you quit 40k? or are you so vested that you are going to ride it out?

gundam wrote:

 Eldarain wrote:
Probably not. If I did I'd hope I could stick to one faction.

so will you quit 40k? or are you so vested that you are going to ride it out?

I've been out since Marines 2.0. Haven't sold anything off yet. I loved my time in 2nd/3rd, beginning of 4th. Some of the most fun I've had wargaming.

I returned in 6th and its been pretty awful for the most part. Definitely played with some good people and had a few ok games here and there. Playing Word Bearers and Tyranids in a "only the bleeding edge" meta has made enthusiasm for the game challenging.

I actually do like what I've seen of 9th so far to the point I actually picked up one of the super cheap Indomitus rulebooks that have flooded the market.

So I'm waiting to see how they treat my armies this time before making that call. Regardless I'm going to cut down my armies for GW games. The book costs alone are kinda crazy to maintain multiple factions.

Messing with the time-continuum is never a good idea. But if I had to make one time jump to change things I would have played Space Marine (the old Epic) with the group in my FLGS circa 1993/94. I was playing WW2 micro-armour at the time, and while the 40K world intrigued me I was focused on WW2. They had some cool looking games. So I guess I would have started playing sooner, although on my student budget I guess I had one hobby and micro-armour was fun. Darned space-time continuum.

It's been a great hobby, starting in 1996. I left 40K with 7th Ed and came back for 8th. If they pull too many Psychic Awakenings on us going forward I would eye the door, but I am also lucky to play in a great group. As long as Saturday afternoons are fun (and Saturday evenings playing basement-hammer with my adult son) I'll stay on the ride.

If I could do it over again, I would still get into 40k. However,.I would have kept the basic (Non-SW) Marines from my Space Wolf collection. I would have also focused on collecting based on what I wanted rather than what was competitive.

( I'd have also limited my Starfleet Battles purchases to just be a couple of ships I liked rather than a pile of ships overall.)

Considering i started in 3rd yes-the game still appealed to me as a lore focused player and 4th as well as 5th still felt like the same game with a few tweeks/improvements

Like others have said i would only stay with one faction, unfortunately my favorite faction-cult mechanicus wasn't a thing in 3rd outside BFG. the thing is since my group has gone back to playing 5th with some house rule fixes, it is now the best the game has ever been.

I would have NOT sold off all my extra armies, and when I started Chaos the second time I would have painted them up as Ultramarines 1st Company

gundam wrote:
If you could do it over again, would you not get into 40k? Or what would you have done differently?

I would have gotten into Fantasty/AoS instead. It's a much better game.

Probably would, just buy a lot less. Would for sure have told myself to skip 6 and 7.

Oh, another thing I'd do differently- I'd have bought the Overkill box before it disappeared.

I would have started the hobby sooner, but otherwise I wouldn't change too much. I bailed on 6th/7th edition, and looking back, I don't think I missed much.

I've gotten a lot of good out fo the hobby, both in terms of my collection of miniatures, the friends I've made gaming, or even the friends I made here.

I would not have bought so big into Warmachine, OTOH>...

I don't know if I'd have started, I love the game and generally still do but I'd probably have started with Guard way back then.

Karol wrote:

ccs 794986 11018089 wrote:

Have you expanded upon this any since then?
Have you scratch built any turrets to convert your rhinos?

Define expended. I bought the PA books, two CA books and the codex. I have not bought any extra models. And I don't have any scratch to build anything out of. Plus 8th didn't make me want to spend much on the army, specialy after the first year or year and a half. I mean I could have gotten a better GK army, but it would still have been bad, and it would require me to build 6+ boxs of strikes, and I bought don't and didn't have such money, and may as well have just bought a new army, that was actualy fun to play.

Model wise. I've gathered you'd added books (or at least the rules). A single box of Strikes will help you a lot. 10 figures - that depending upon how you build them - can make 4 different units/2 squads. And there's modeling tricks we can teach you to make the equipment inter-changable for max flexibility.

You don't lack material for scratch building. Nobody does. At the very least everyone's house is full of it, you get more all the time, and you throw it away without ever thinking about it.
You need glue, a hobby knife (or scissors), and a bit of imagination. Then you need to look at bits & pieces of stuff as shapes/raw material. Puzzle pieces if you will. And some paint + a cheap brush.
Try this: Think of an Assault Cannon. What shapes make up an assault cannon? Not the little details Gw adds, just the shapes. Now, without spending a $, can you find those shapes small enough to make a 40k scale assault Cannon just by looking around your house? Then you start thinking how to add the little details.

Karol wrote:
I did get a box of lumineth lightlords from my aunt as a gift from my aunt. I have them still foiled up somewhere in the attic.

You should get those guys assembled & play some Sigmar. That set works well for small games. Or if you can, play some team games.

I'd choose to play WHFB over 40k during 6th and End of Times

Yeah.

If anything, I'd tell my younger self to not get distracted by haters into shittier, far inferior games like Infinity, Warmachine and all that crap and just stick with 40K.

IMO the best practice is to never commit to an extent that seems unrecoverable, whether it be 40k or any other hobby. Keep purchases at a minimum, test new stuff carefully and sell off things you are not excited about anymore to fund your budget for future purchases.

I've never regretted anything hobby-related since I have adopted this conservative approach.

If I could do it all over again I would still have gotten into 40k, but I would make significant changes.

Over the years spanning from 4th to 7th edition I bought into the following armies: Necrons, Tau, CSM, GK/IG. However, my taste changed significantly from when I started at 14 and mostly stopped playing in my mid-late twenties).

- Necrons - I chose this as my first army due to the easy of painting and lack of wargear customization since I was young and inexperienced. As a result I quickly grey bored of this army and eventually sold it off. If I could go back I would have never purchased Necrons.
- Tau - I chose this as my second army once I learned more about 40k and developed my taste. I don't really play now, however Tau would be considered my primary army which I have expanded over the years. No regrets with Tau
- CSM - this was the third army I started. My regret is that I wasted the best codex ever made (4th ed CSM) on thousand sons. I was a bit too young to fully appreciate the level of customization available to that army. Eventually I started to rebuild the army in 6th, but never finished. I don't regret starting CSM, but I wish I had gone deathguard or undivided from the start.
- GK/DKoK allies - when 6th edition was released I saw the allies matrix as the perfect opportunity to build a joint GK/DKoK (IG) army. The army looked cool and was easy to transport, but GKs being largely overplayed at the time took the charm out of the army. I'm debating on selling the army now as the DKoK figures have a resale price that only matches what I paid for them.
- Dark Eldar - when the new range was released I planned to create a hellion/jet bike list. However, I never went through with it and ended up selling the kits I bought. Luckily I pretty much sold the kits for what I paid for them.

In summary:

- I would have started with Tau as my primary army and stuck with it until now
- CSM would have been my secondary army: a split between undivided and death guard
- Looking back I think I would like to have owned a small army of SoB (as I've gotten older I see the charm in the old metal models)
- By focusing on less factions I would have had more time to put into conversions/better painting