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Recently I have been considering why I don't find 40K as interesting as I used to. The last couple of years has seen a big decline in how much I like playing, I still love the collecting, building and painting, but, more and more I find I am less willing to bother to play a game. I play 'Scars mostly, and I can accept the 2 d6 charge range, (why my bikes are as slow as a terminator does bother me), flyers,monsterous creatures and most other rule changes are OK, so I don't think its 6th, until I thought about what really jumps out of the game to annoy me.... MAGIC, the entire Psychic Disciplines thing just ruins the game for me, if people what to play as wizards, play D&D or Fantasy. Is this just me, or do other people feel the entire 40K universe is now losing its whole " feel". I've recently found myself looking at my 15mm Romans and Napoleonics, which I've not looked at for nearly 30 years! Also my 1/300 WW2 been idle even longer.

A) Psykers and the Warp are a massive and integral part of the setting, if you wanted a no magic/pseudo-science game I've got bad news for you.

B) Wrong section, this should be in General Discussions.

It's ok its not 40K its you. You've got bored.

This happens with hobbies; we can be all over them at one point and then suddenly we get too much and our brains want something fresh. It might only be one segment of a hobby (like for you its the playing) or it could be the whole thing.


The BEST thing to do at that stage is:
1) Put the hobby into storage, don't sell or give it away. Keep a hold of it, but just put it to one side.

2) Start something new and fresh.


In your case it sounds like its purely the gameplay and aesthetics. So try something else. Go for one of those other game lines and try out something new. Keep your 40K army and who knows in a few months or a years time you might well want to crack them open and have a 40K game. Till then you'll have a new game, new rules, new gameplay and new new models to play with.



Trying to "force" a hobby is painful. True sometimes you get in a little slump and push through; but when it gets longer its time to just put it to one side otherwise you're just going to end up feeling like you "Must" play rather than that you "Want" to play. That will make it less and less fun each time until its a chore for you; and that isn't what hobbies are about.

Kramanal wrote:
Recently I have been considering why I don't find 40K as interesting as I used to. The last couple of years has seen a big decline in how much I like playing, I still love the collecting, building and painting, but, more and more I find I am less willing to bother to play a game. I play 'Scars mostly, and I can accept the 2 d6 charge range, (why my bikes are as slow as a terminator does bother me), flyers,monsterous creatures and most other rule changes are OK, so I don't think its 6th, until I thought about what really jumps out of the game to annoy me.... MAGIC, the entire Psychic Disciplines thing just ruins the game for me, if people what to play as wizards, play D&D or Fantasy. Is this just me, or do other people feel the entire 40K universe is now losing its whole " feel". I've recently found myself looking at my 15mm Romans and Napoleonics, which I've not looked at for nearly 30 years! Also my 1/300 WW2 been idle even longer.

Wait why would the magic aspect ruin 40k for you? I mean, that's been in there since first edition of all things. Heck, this is a Sci Fantasy game where we have daemons that wield swords, guys that go for CC only or heavily rely on it, orks that possibly fuel some of their tech or capabilities by belief (I prefer to think they make tech that works just not logical to us but not all), saints that return from death as angels, the emperor that was the mightiest psyker that lived in the mortal realms, pseudo-gods of the material realm (C'tan), and an alternate dimension of souls. 40k was never sci fi to begin with. The feel honestly is the same, the reason why I'm glad they sell mini rulebooks without all the fluff

In all seriousness though, it's just probably not your type of game anymore or, at least, at the moment. Do what Overread recommends, shelf them for a bit and start up something else. Play it, have fun, see what you like. Our tastes change and other aspects shall rise and fall. Things you thought were awesome a year ago can become dull and trite in such a remarkably short amount of time. Don't stress it, just go out, play some other games and, preferably, have the models in case you ever want to scratch that itch again.

I prefer to think of 40k as science fantasy than science fiction, much like Star Wars.

 PrinceRaven wrote:
I prefer to think of 40k as science fantasy than science fiction, much like Star Wars.

...unless you're a total badass (read: Necron player). It's only sci-fi then. Magic is for weaklings!

 Sigvatr wrote:

 PrinceRaven wrote:
I prefer to think of 40k as science fantasy than science fiction, much like Star Wars.

...unless you're a total badass (read: Necron player). It's only sci-fi then. Magic is for weaklings!

Psssht nonsense. Your science lacks logic and have your souls in metal self healing machines whilst you have technology that just blows up whatever stars you wish to all the while having pseudo-gods that you then shattered into shards. Even you cannot escape from fantasy . Your science is magic!

Where are your C'tan now!?

Necrodermis, C'tan shards, soul transference, whatever the hell Crypteks do.

Need I say more?

Damn, I got Deathleaper'd

I'm with the OP. Ancient religions and hokey weapons should be no match for a good bolter at your side.

Also, of the 4 or so employees who have cycled through the GW store I used to live by, the wisest once said something along the lines of, "a lot of people drop this game for awhile and come back to it later in life. I think it's because this hobby takes so much effort to get into that if you liked it enough to do that the first time around, it'll still have that same strong appeal when you pick it back up years later."

So yeah, if you're bored, take a break. Get a PS4 and learn Madden or something. Start brewing your own beer. Buy an old Jeep and fix it up. Your plastic army men will be packed away waiting for you.

*edit*

Sounds like OP should be playing Black Templars or Sisters. Make your hate of the witches a part of the game.

Sister cost too much sadly and suck because they won't give them new models which means really limited range forcing you to get close which loses a few turns of shooting.

And Templars I never rated I heard how they were the hot new cc army back in Armageddon campaign never stopped my puppies eating them.

 slowthar wrote:
I'm with the OP. Ancient religions and hokey weapons should be no match for a good bolter at your side.

Also, of the 4 or so employees who have cycled through the GW store I used to live by, the wisest once said something along the lines of, "a lot of people drop this game for awhile and come back to it later in life. I think it's because this hobby takes so much effort to get into that if you liked it enough to do that the first time around, it'll still have that same strong appeal when you pick it back up years later."

So yeah, if you're bored, take a break. Get a PS4 and learn Madden or something. Start brewing your own beer. Buy an old Jeep and fix it up. Your plastic army men will be packed away waiting for you.

This happened to me exactly. Played when I was in college. Dropped it when I was getting established professionally and starting a family. Then got back into it when my oldest son came home all excited with a copy of an old White Dwarf.

I think the answer is simpler than that: It's the people you play with.

Oh, I'm not trying to insult them, I don't know them. Just hear me out.

I have trouble at times with some parts of the game. You will hear me complain a lot about the game, the company, stuff like that. So why do I keep playing? People. I play with some fun guys who make the game enjoyable, win or lose. I can enjoy being tabled because the people I play against are fun. I jumped into LOTR/Hobbit to play more games with them.

If the people you play with are fun, you'll be able to overlook some of the problems with the game.

And if you're not playing at a GW store, just agree to do some house rules with your friends. It's something that used to happen with a lot more regularity and it's sad that people are so uptight about playing RAW that they won't let themselves have some fun tweaking the rules to work better for their personal group. Give it a go, try something different. Tweak what you might not like. Add some crazy missions you might enjoy. Dig through old books and anything you have and see what's out there you might have enjoyed in the past and pull it out for another go-round.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 slowthar wrote:
So yeah, if you're bored, take a break. Get a PS4 and learn Madden or something.

Ha. If there was ever a game more broken than GW games... Hey, all I'm saying is, try to create a "high draft pick" running QB and then see what happens. Or even a "high draft pick" speed halfback. Also, they are much worse than GW about new editions. Madden 25's "new" features were often them bringing back old features with a new graphical interface (i.e. Owner Mode and team relocation). They've actually stripped features over the years. It's like they change some stuff every year (i.e. the draft) just to say they changed stuff. And the presentation of the games? Bleh. Every season, you hear the same comments for the opener, you hear too much canned dialogue repeatedly, and it's like they don't bother tailoring it to the situation, not to mention how messed up it can be at times (i.e. in Superstar mode, whenever you get a 1st down after going back to playing your offensive player, they'll make a comment about "getting that first 1st down in a game is very important!")... bugs that should have been fixed months ago.

In contrast, I'm playing NCAA Football 14 the last few nights and the games' presentation is nice. "Pre-game," commentary throughout the game, even focused on individual players, commentary that sounds relevant to the game, scoring updates at the bottom of the screen (which Madden used to have)... It is so much better, it feels crazy.

EA actually makes GW look good.

Kramanal wrote:I still love the collecting, building and painting, but, more and more I find I am less willing to bother to play a game

what really jumps out of the game to annoy me.... MAGIC

So, you like the game/hobby in general, but what stops you from playing is psychic powers?

I think this is the first time I've come across someone whose dislike of a particular bit of fluff has caused them to stop playing games.

I am curious as how you think the 40k universe is losing its "feel." Could you elaborate? (not sarcastic, genuinely curious.)

 StarTrotter wrote:

 Sigvatr wrote:

 PrinceRaven wrote:
I prefer to think of 40k as science fantasy than science fiction, much like Star Wars.

...unless you're a total badass (read: Necron player). It's only sci-fi then. Magic is for weaklings!

Psssht nonsense. Your science lacks logic and have your souls in metal self healing machines whilst you have technology that just blows up whatever stars you wish to all the while having pseudo-gods that you then shattered into shards. Even you cannot escape from fantasy . Your science is magic!

Where are your C'tan now!?

[read in Necron monotone voice] Actually our technology is hyper-logic, your primitive minds merely can not comprehend our genius. Our souls where devoured by those so called "pseudo-gods" who are nothing more than another primitive form of life, that we have conquered. Also our C'tan are being used to power our weaponry.

But in all seriousness 40k is either a space-fantasy or space-opera depending on how you look at it, magic and other such stuff has been ingrained into it since the very beginning. Admittedly it has become much more of a focus thanks to things like divination and battle brothers.

Kramanal wrote:
I thought about what really jumps out of the game to annoy me.... MAGIC, the entire Psychic Disciplines thing just ruins the game for me, if people what to play as wizards, play D&D or Fantasy. Is this just me, or do other people feel the entire 40K universe is now losing its whole " feel".

Son, allow me to take you back a few years, to the heady days of 1994 and 2nd edition Warhammer 40,000. Yes, twenty years ago, kind of "aging myself" in this hobby.

There was a boxed supplement for the game called "Dark Millennium." Do you know what it had? Full psychic power rules, including decks of psychic power cards. There was an entire psychic phase in the game at the time. Players drew cards, used those cards to fuel their powers or nullify their opponent's powers, and powers went back and forth. It was a key part of the game.

Third edition came along and stomped down psychic powers much like it did using any dice other than D6's; running; true Overwatch; vehicles having charts for multiple hit locations (so you could actually blow a tank's ammo!); and several other bits of rules. See, things like running instead of shooting, Overwatch, and psychic powers aren't some change to the game. They're bringing back core pieces of the game (albeit changed up) from the edition that they decided to scrap in favor of super-simple edition (there's a fun bit of irony to that when you look back on it now).

So the 40K universe isn't losing its feel, it's getting it BACK. Your problem, then, is that the 40K universe as it truly is, isn't something you're a fan of.

But still, "magic" is what bugs you? So you dislike Star Wars? Or other similar sci-fi? The demons made of thought energy were okay? The Inquisition was fine? Space Elves didn't bug you? But "magic" does?

Nothing is permanent, including our interests and desires. Find other things to do with your time, but keep your hobby things. You will probably want to come back to it one day.

 ErikSetzer wrote:

Kramanal wrote:
I thought about what really jumps out of the game to annoy me.... MAGIC, the entire Psychic Disciplines thing just ruins the game for me, if people what to play as wizards, play D&D or Fantasy. Is this just me, or do other people feel the entire 40K universe is now losing its whole " feel".

Son, allow me to take you back a few years, to the heady days of 1994 and 2nd edition Warhammer 40,000. Yes, twenty years ago, kind of "aging myself" in this hobby.

There was a boxed supplement for the game called "Dark Millennium." Do you know what it had? Full psychic power rules, including decks of psychic power cards. There was an entire psychic phase in the game at the time. Players drew cards, used those cards to fuel their powers or nullify their opponent's powers, and powers went back and forth. It was a key part of the game.

Third edition came along and stomped down psychic powers much like it did using any dice other than D6's; running; true Overwatch; vehicles having charts for multiple hit locations (so you could actually blow a tank's ammo!); and several other bits of rules. See, things like running instead of shooting, Overwatch, and psychic powers aren't some change to the game. They're bringing back core pieces of the game (albeit changed up) from the edition that they decided to scrap in favor of super-simple edition (there's a fun bit of irony to that when you look back on it now).

So the 40K universe isn't losing its feel, it's getting it BACK. Your problem, then, is that the 40K universe as it truly is, isn't something you're a fan of.

But still, "magic" is what bugs you? So you dislike Star Wars? Or other similar sci-fi? The demons made of thought energy were okay? The Inquisition was fine? Space Elves didn't bug you? But "magic" does?

Pretty much this. I've been playing since RT and the mix of hi and low tech with psycics and outright demons and magic was what brought me to it.
If you don't like Magic you can try Infinity? I hear lots of good things and the few minis I have are excellent quality!

For those trying to iron out how the viewpoint of the OP might be wrong; consider that the game evolves but so to does the player. It could well be that the game is getting "back to its roots" more or that its not as "magic" heavy as is being alluded to. But its their perception of hte game and it might just be that the recent ways that powers are being used is just part of what is turning them away.

It could also be a smoke-screen - the "magic" elements are not as major as they are making out, but they might just be the largest of a multiple number of reasons, some of which might not be easy for the OP to put into words to describe (because the reason might just be that there isn't anything "wrong" the OP iis just bored or overloaded with the game or has simply changed as a person and grown apart from the game as it stands now).

There's really no right nor wrong; people are either interested or they are not; if they aren't then storage time for the models (or in the case of a painter the painted display case) and move onto something else to refresh ^

Thanks for the insights,
I suppose 40K is'nt really the game for me.
I started in 40k to help a seriously ill friend who loved 40K and wanted help/company travelling to events/campeigns.
I liked the "feel" of the models and with VDR the incredible modelmaking opportunities. My first scratch builds were 2 squadrons of "Priestly" grav tanks.
Then my son became interested in 40K.
Things grew like topsy, I have about 200K points in marines, Salamanders, Iron Hands and 'Scars.
I don't use magic when I play, except when He'stan uses gate to travel.
I only take him for his special rules with flamers, meltas and thunderhammers.
Thinking about it I've not used him in 3 years.
Up to 6th Ed I have accepted "magic", accepting it is an expensive rare anomaly, that I have to live with, now it is common and points cheap.
I had been a historical wargamer for 20 years, then stopped playing for another 20. I have been in 40K for 10 years.
I suppose now I am hitting 60 I should polish up my Napoleionics, or maybe start Flames of War.
Or find opponents who don't want to be Harry Potter.





Automatically Appended Next Post:

 ErikSetzer wrote:

Kramanal wrote:
I thought about what really jumps out of the game to annoy me.... MAGIC, the entire Psychic Disciplines thing just ruins the game for me, if people what to play as wizards, play D&D or Fantasy. Is this just me, or do other people feel the entire 40K universe is now losing its whole " feel".

Son,

You really shouldn't call people "son", its patronising and insulting, I'm probably nearly old enough to be your grandfather!

I agree with the OP...well sort of. I personally got annoyed with the changing feel of the game when 5th came along. I started with 3.5 so don't have experience with the game before then. I like magic being limited personally. It is ok when a minor part of the game, but isn't heavy magic use something that should be reserved for fantasy?

I'd like to start up again, but the current rule set is very unappealing: flyers, cc basically useless, allies, apocalupse stuff in normal games. No thanks to any of that except in rare games. Miss the models and painting (which I hated at first) but don't really want to collect without paying a game I like.

 PrinceRaven wrote:
I prefer to think of 40k as science fantasy than science fiction, much like Star Wars.

I would describe it as just plain Fantasy, since there is basically zero science in it.

But then again I'm pretty strict on what I consider real science fiction

There is science, it just doesn't follow the laws of science as we know them, because it's fantastical science. Hence, Science Fantasy.

Kramanal wrote:

I don't use magic when I play, except when He'stan uses gate to travel.
I only take him for his special rules with flamers, meltas and thunderhammers.
Thinking about it I've not used him in 3 years.

Vulkan He'stan isn't a psyker.

Kramanal wrote:
Thanks for the insights,
I suppose 40K is'nt really the game for me.
I started in 40k to help a seriously ill friend who loved 40K and wanted help/company travelling to events/campeigns.
I liked the "feel" of the models and with VDR the incredible modelmaking opportunities. My first scratch builds were 2 squadrons of "Priestly" grav tanks.
Then my son became interested in 40K.
Things grew like topsy, I have about 200K points in marines, Salamanders, Iron Hands and 'Scars.
I don't use magic when I play, except when He'stan uses gate to travel.
I only take him for his special rules with flamers, meltas and thunderhammers.
Thinking about it I've not used him in 3 years.
Up to 6th Ed I have accepted "magic", accepting it is an expensive rare anomaly, that I have to live with, now it is common and points cheap.
I had been a historical wargamer for 20 years, then stopped playing for another 20. I have been in 40K for 10 years.
I suppose now I am hitting 60 I should polish up my Napoleionics, or maybe start Flames of War.
Or find opponents who don't want to be Harry Potter.





Automatically Appended Next Post:

 ErikSetzer wrote:

Kramanal wrote:
I thought about what really jumps out of the game to annoy me.... MAGIC, the entire Psychic Disciplines thing just ruins the game for me, if people what to play as wizards, play D&D or Fantasy. Is this just me, or do other people feel the entire 40K universe is now losing its whole " feel".

Son,

You really shouldn't call people "son", its patronising and insulting, I'm probably nearly old enough to be your grandfather!

You do know you can change any rule you like? If you are playing with friends, then adjust the game to how you see fit. For me and my son when we use to play, and plan on playing again soon, we do, I move/you move, I shoot/you shoot then we assault. Basically using the rules in Lord of the Rings from GW.

So if you like, collect and paint the minis, and play the way you want.

Davor wrote:

You do know you can change any rule you like? If you are playing with friends, then adjust the game to how you see fit. For me and my son when we use to play, and plan on playing again soon, we do, I move/you move, I shoot/you shoot then we assault. Basically using the rules in Lord of the Rings from GW.

So if you like, collect and paint the minis, and play the way you want.

Yes, but then you cut your potential playing pool down by a significant amount if you want to cut a large chunk like the magic out. Also why keep trying to patch up and "fix" a game which is the wrong game to start with for that person. It's sort of trying to limp the hobby along and that oft doesn't work for long. Far better to start a new game that does fit the rules, the aesthetics and the gameplay that the want.

I've recently gone through this, I put everything away and played games I didnt have to paint and that were quick to play and didnt take much thinking (war at sea).

Starting a new army with new models and I'll all energized for 40k again and really looking forward to painting my guard!

Everyone goes through this phase, I think it just varies how long it lasts and how long between phases.

Personally I turned to X Wing, played that almost exclusively for a few months, and as the shine started to wane on that, guess what? I really fancied a game of 40K again!

So you're probably on the right track by thinking about playing something else, if you give yourself chance to miss playing 40K, you can come back to it. If you don't miss it, well, I'm considering starting a home for lost and abandoned Space Marine Bikers...