Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

It seems common for people to drift away from the hobby then return to it some time later!

It certainly happened to me. I started playing Warhammer 40,000 (Dark Eldar) and Warhammer Fantasy (Bretonnians) in high school; must have been around 2004-2005. I didn't have much disposable income for buying models, but I did have a solid group of friends (the ones who got me into the hobby in the first place). Unfortunately some of them got tired of the hobby after a couple of years and stopped playing. I lived in a fairly small town at the time, so opponents were few and far between.

Fast-forward to 2013-ish, after I moved to a much larger city (Ottawa) for a well-paying job. Having no social circle in this town but much more money in my bank account, and being in need of a hobby (and perhaps a bit nostalgic), I got back into 40k at the cusp of 7th Edition. This time I went with Cadians (later White Scars and Drukhari). It's been my main hobby ever since.

This game has the pull of a grav-gun.

.

Define "hobby". As I was out of 40k from the end of 5th ed to 8th, but I was far from inactive in the wargaming hobby, which GW is simply a part of.

 Grimtuff wrote:
Define "hobby". As I was out of 40k from the end of 5th ed to 8th, but I was far from inactive in the wargaming hobby, which GW is simply a part of.

That's a good distinction, and it's one of the things I want to know about. Some people take a break from GW, while others take a break from wargaming in general. Both are relevant to this thread.

I should add that during my break from wargaming, I remained quite active on Internet forums about GW's intellectual property, though my interests in those years leaned towards the fluff side. For example, I've been playing several play-by-post roleplaying games set in the Warhammer Fantasy universe, using the WFRP 2e system. The Warhammer universe(s) never really stopped being a part of my life.

.

Same as grimmtuff, altough more with a habit of dropping off after new editions hit.
In a way always hoping for a better ruleset and sofar 8th kept me in the longest before I drop to other games. Altough i think I am done, kt is better atm and infinity and Co KG just more allround solid and fair rulewise.


It's a wierd love hate relationship with 40k and gw.
Love the universe, love generally the designers job hate the rules and number pushers from gw.

I stopped when 15 in 1996 and looking for something to do in the evenings, started again when 33. Although I mainly just paint with the occasional game of watchmaker quest.

I was always into Airfix kits and stuff as a kid, and was happy to jump into 40k as an 11 year old in 3rd Ed when I was first introduced by my new friends when I went to secondary school. Immediately fell in love with this new facet of my modelmaking hobby. A few Eldar kits and some paint later, my mum banned me from buying any more because she thought it was far too expensive and probably had visions of me wasting all of my pocket money on it.

As often happens, being banned from something quite possibly made me want it more, so I bided my time then picked it up again when I went to university and collected mainly WHFB, a bit of 40K and some BFG around 2006-2010 or so. It was around 2010-11 I just sort of drifted away for no apparent reason - stopped any sort of modelmaking/wargaming. I'd never been much of a player so it was mainly a build/paint thing for me, I guess I just needed a break and then didn't pick it up again.

Around late 2016 I visited a friend who was deep into GW, and he showed me the then-new Deathwatch sprues. I thought they were really cool, and decided then and there that I was going to re-start. Given that I was now a professional adult I could afford to jump right back in and have been accumulating models at a ridiculous rate ever since.

Got into 40k circa 2002 as a kid... Could never afford it really as we were poor AF so mostly was just collecting a few bits and painting but having full armies wasn't an option.. Got back into it around 5 years ago when my flatmate got me back into it but didn't really pan out and only painted like one squad of guardians due to many factors and sold the big pile of plastic I had... Mostly played board games instead.

Long story short I've been back for just under a year and with the resources available I got further and deeper than ever before!

Think its quite common for people to come on and off from wargaming if I look at my local facebook page always have someone returning and someone checking out.

I think once hooked that's it. It might take 5, it might take 20 years but sooner or later people come back because its a very enjoyable hobby and you actually get a finished product for all the time you put in unlike computer games. Therefore never sell anything you've painted Lesson learned the hard way.. Having resource to buy whatever the feth(tools/models/paints) I want definitely makes the hobby more enjoyable.
.

I think its normal. Tabletop wargaming takes a fair amount of time and there are only certain periods in ones life where you can go for it full-bore.

I saw the same thing in Renassiance Fairs, HEMA, and MTG. It's not tabletop specific

I played pretty hard from Rogue Trader through 4th. At various points in time throughout those years, I toyed with a few other table top miniature games- Legions of Steel, Inferno, hero clicks, Hero Quest, Battletech...

I never fell in love with any of those other games. I never bought in hard, and I didn't stick with any of them long. I also play roleplaying games- too many to list, live action roleplaying games (Vampire Masquerade), and collectible card games, also too many to list.

So it's not like I need tabletop miniature gaming in my life- I just have always loved the 40k universe. By the time I actually went on my GW break (5th- very end of 7th), I wasn't playing any other miniature games, so my 40k break was a wargaming break.

The Genestealer Codex at the end of 7th brought me back; I bought the GSC dex, but by the time I had the money to buy the rule book, Gathering Storm was underway and we learned that 8th was on the way. Sisters guaranteed my return for 8th, and Indexes made the transition possible.

I left GW products for about nine years. Recently came back with 8th, but have fallen back out of love with it.

I'm probably done with GW going forward. Their changes in game design and product philosophy have more or less killed my interest as a consumer.

I'll keep my models and play some 2nd edition or 8th on occasion if a friend demands, but I'm more or less done following the franchise.

I played off and on until about mid 2E (my primary game was D&D, wargaming was limited to Battletech and 40K). As I had only been playing infrequently up to that point, after getting trounced by my brother's Chaos, I stepped away.

I still bought models for a while - starter sets, and a Tau force, but didn't play again until my oldest son took an interest in Dawn of War. That, and the new Necrons came out.

I came back to the game to find it in much the same state I'd left over, but now drowned in larger models and factions I wasn't as familiar with (my first returning game was my Tau vs. Space Wolves. I lost to Jaws of the World Wolf in the 3rd turn). I haven't played a large number of games - playing a full game of 40K is tedious - and that's after you've spent a good hunk of money, cut the models out, assembled & painted them. And the rules aren't all that great.

Still, every few months I make an effort to pull the models out and try to get my money's worth out of them.

I've been buying miniatures and books since 2nd edition 40k, so about 22-24 years now. I've played the game from 3rd to 7th edition before giving it up, hopefully for good. These days my interest is almost entirely on collecting vintage models and painting them.

I started in the 90s with 2nd edition, and was pretty heavily into the game until I emigrated from Ireland in 2010. Then I lost my club (which I had started when I went to uni and stayed gaming with from 2002 til 2010, so that was a big blow).

I played a couple of games with friends I made in England, but when I moved to Germany I kinda fell out of the hobby due to having no language skills at first. This was also when GW were going through a lot of problems with the Kirby era, and 6th and 7th editions were released in rapid succession. At the same time, I was not in love with 8th edition fantasy, and then they blew up the setting entirely. I had always been a big fan of Fantasy, so I was upset by this.I considered the rules of those editions (6th, 7th and AoS) to be pretty terrible so I gave up on playing GW games completely. I focused more on roleplaying games and started incorporating my miniatures.

Recently I have found the old wargaming itch becoming unbearable, so I have been looking around to see what I can do. I am still not a fan of the direction GWs games have taken so I am looking at using One Page Rules to start a new group and working on making terrain and painting miniatures for our games. I have decided not to buy into "pick up game" culture and to instead be self sufficient, having my own gaming experience the way I want it, as long as I can find like minded people to do it with. My German is good enough that I can play with the locals and that makes me very happy.

I never really gave up on Wargaming in this period, I was always interested in what was going on, but I did give up on GW. In a way, I still am, but I love the miniatures and the world I played in for years so I am looking at how I can keep that alive.

Started in 1991 with some Salamanders, fell in love with my Squat bikers, they got Squatted, said "screw" you GW and didnt buy anything (other than random models I liked) until 8th.
Now I have 7500pts of Salamanders, 5k of Metalica w Knights, and 1250 of Ynarri just waiting for plastic aspects.


The game is great and is soo much fun(when played with like minded people). I'm looking forward to the Salamanders
supplement, Sororitas & whatever else may come from the Psychic Awakening.

Started early 2nd Ed. Played through early 3rd. Break for school. Started again in late 3rd and played through about the start of 5th. Break again for heavy workload at job. Picked up again in late 5th, playing steadily until 2nd kid, (4 months ago). Hard to get games at the moment, but there's a local tourney coming up and hopefully I can get to it.

Played a tiny bit when I was a kid in 3rd. Skipped 4th through 7th. Came back for 8th as an adult.

I've been a lifelong wargamer. I started 40k in 2nd Ed, but left when 7th came around. I was still playing Flames of War. I got back into 40K when 8th dropped and have been having fun since. I have drifted from FOW since 4th Ed came around. Who knows what the future will bring?

Life gets in the way as well. Kids and deployments have an effect on gaming.

Well, my hobby is gaming.
With 3 distinct aspects - RPGs, Miniatures, & Board Games (includes all types of card games as well be it Poker, MTG, etc). With a bit of dabbling in computer/counsel gaming & gambling along the way.
I've been at this for nearly 40 years now. Over that time my focus has waxed & waned between the three.
I'll break it down as being predominately;
'80-'90 - mostly RPGs, my dads Avalon Hill bookcase games, & a bit of BattleTech.
Early 90's - Some RPGs, BattleTech, ever growing GW stuff (mostly WFB)
'94 - 2k - A lot of MTG, a lot more GW (now firmly including 40k stuff). Dabbling with historical & other minis games. Some RPGs
2k - '06 - A heavy focus on 40k. Increasing historical & other minis games. added board games, almost no RPGs (once a year at GenGon)
'06 - '17 - heavy focus on RPGs. Heavy focus on Historical & other minis games. Ever declining GW - to the point where for a while nearly only time I'd play something GW was at GenCon. Though I'm assured by friends that YES I did play one game of early 7th ed 40k at the shop (I didn't realize the edition had changed! And they didn't realize that I didn't realize. :/)
'18 - Heavy RPG & historical minis focus. Lightly dabbling in 40k 8th ed
Jan '19 - present - Heavy RPG & historical minis focus. Lightly dabbling in AoS 2e, declining 40k (for every aspect of 8th I like there's at least 1 thing I dislike)
Sometimes these shifts of focus were gradual. Sometimes more abrupt.
Coming soon I think the focuses are going to shift again. It's vague atm, but I sense the currents beginning to alter.... I hope it's a gradual shift as I'm not really a fan of the abrupt.

I learned of 40k a week before 3rd edition was released. My friends who played already told me to wait. I started with Chaos but used loyalist models. We didn't fully understand the rules so avoided close combat at all costs. We also played in a way that is very similar to 8th.
Then one day I opened up the Rogue Trader pamphlet in a White Dwarf. I saw a new store had opened up a few blocks down the street from me... Dakka Dakka.
I stopped in and fell in love after being taught how to play properly. I became the guy that was always at the club, always painting and always buying.
I was a devoted Dakka member before there was even a website and participated in every painting competition and mega battle I could.
Then 5th hit. I left the game and returned for 8th. I'm still not happy with it and have moved over to AoS.

I was out for about half of 4th edition. I also phased out of 7th 1/2 of the way through, jumped on the WMH bandwagon *just* as 3rd ed was dropping and the official site got nuked...

I got back into 8th edition, but the game doesn't do much for me... but Kill Team? Loving it. Buying model kits again, and hadn't bought 40k for a couple of years (other than some passion projects).

I find I go on a tear for a year or two... get bored and fall out for a year or two, get pulled back in by the new hotness... get irritated by an unfun game... come back hopeful and positive, back to dejected by go first? Win most of the time.

We use TONS of scenery. but 9/10 games are won by the player going first. We play hard, and we don't pull punches, so it seems like the first turn advantage is too great to overcome in 8th for my group's playstyle.

So I'm playing MtG again, after an 8 year break.

I started when I was about 10 with 2e. Played through into 3e and then had stopped completely by the time I'd gone to university. Didn't think about it much for a long time. Dabbled a little in 7e but didn't get on with the rules much. Finally got tempted back properly at the start of 8e with the fantastic Primaris sculpts and revamped rules, and I'm more into the game now than I've ever been. Great time to be into the hobby in my opinion!