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Il preface this post by saying in no way here is this aimed as a dig at 40k's detractors. I'm no GW fan boy and believe me I realise this game has its fair share of issues. But after reading so many negative threads on here (some admittedly quite valid) I got to thinking if someone considering getting into the hobby came on dakka to find out what it's all about they might think twice. This I think would be a great shame as they would miss out on some awesome experiences.

It is for this reason and also because I just want to share With someone an awesome experience of my own that I'd like to tell you about a game I played yesterday.

The club I play at held a massive team game pitting a coalition of chaos and orks against the armies of the imperium. It was played over 3 adjoining tables of gorgeous terrain and all up there was about 20k points on the board. All manner of superheavies were in play, from Stompers, to warhound Titans and baneblades. As a fairly new player without a lot of these flash toys Il admit to feeling a little intimidated as to whether I'd be able to have an impact on the game. But to see the for the most part fully painted armies deployed was pretty awe inspiring.

Anyway the game ate up the whole day but was an absolute joy to play, it was packed with unbelievable cinematic moments such as kharn the betrayer cutting the legs of a warhound in one round of combat. Abaddon mulched through a 50 man guard blob squad only to be killed at the end by the surviving commissar with a power fist. My terminators deep struck onto the opponents skyshield to assassinate Creed only for the librarian with him to gate of infinity him out 140 inches away leaving them scratching their heads. The were plenty more moments like this but you get the picture, In a word it was epic. These moments created genuine suspense and had us all laughing and cheering. No one really cared about winning or loosing it was just about seeing how things unfolded. It really felt like we were playing the game as it was intended to be enjoyed, and it gwas an absolute blast.

In the end the orks and chaos won, at least we figured, having long since abandoned any mission objectives in favour of killing stuff. One thing was certain though, everyone had had a fantastic day.

I came away from this game absolutely buzzing about what's possible in this hobby, and just wanted to share that feeling and encourage others to share their own thoughts on the best way to enjoy this game.

Again I know that 40k can be a bit of a mess sometimes especially for competitive players. But when it hits that sweet spot like it did for me yesterday it really is incredible.

If anyone thinking of getting in reads this, then my advice is to take the plunge, accept the game warts and all, imerce yourself in the awesome fluff, don't take things to seriously, find some guys on your wavelength and above all enjoy it.

I remember some of the better games I played when I first started were taking my badly painted small Eldar force and joining in with what I had with the larger apocalypse games. Seeing big things like baneblades which seemed invincible at the time.

Still good to do those games although now I can have much nicer painted things to bring to them and my own big models to hopefully make the game look more interesting for anyone else who might be new there.

That's a good point about joining in larger games, it seems increasingly that 40k is intended to be enjoyed on an epic scale (obviously to sell models). I can see how the cost to an individual to play at that level is pretty eye watering. But getting some friends together for a big team game lets you experience that epic scale while sharing the cost.

I think you'd be doing a disservice to anyone by not having all the flaws of a product out in the open and having as many opinions as possible for someone to make an informed decision. With that, I'm sure many would be 40kers reading these boards would also find a lot of alternative games, many of which are cheaper, simpler, and offer more tactical and skilled play.

That said, I only participated in one Apoc match many years ago. I think it was around the 10k point, very few superheavies, just our whole collections on a weird board with bridges between some of the tables. Fun afternoon.

I try to stay positive about "the hobby", I tend to not be overly positive about 40k

There is of course opportunity to get together with people and have a good time doing something, and that something might be 40k, but when discussing 40k online I tend to separate the "it's fun to do something with mates" from "is this game actually a good game?". I tend to think that's why AoS is going to fall flat on it's face in the long run unless GW make some sweeping changes, while people might have fun with it initially (simply because wargames are fun and playing with good folks is fun) but in the long run I don't think it's good enough of a game.

When I first started in the hobby, some of my favourite games were those ones where we pooled our collections and played across a big 12 foot wide table.... as I've matured as a gamer I find those games less interesting than they once were.

I guess it would still be fun to *occasionally* do that sort of stuff, but not fun enough or often enough for me to actually stay in the game, pay GW for incessant rules updates, pay to keep my army up to date and put up with all the crap about 40k I don't like.

I think it's better to get my "big game" fix simply by playing different scale games (eg. Using 15mm or 6mm games when I want to see big armies go at it and leaving 28mm for games that revolve around small forces).

I think there's only so much Grimdark you can take before it gets into you and your outlook becomes negative.
That's why I've enjoyed the more happy Sci fi settings of Infinity and Firestorm Armada.

Blacksails, don't get me wrong, I'm not being critical of people with a negative opinion on 40k. As I said a lot of concerns expressed on here are perfectly valid, many I agree with myself.
I'm sure there are plenty of other great games out there for people to make an informed decision to play instead.
I just felt that on balance there is more noise made that's down on the hobby. I just wanted to share my experience and say that although 40k has its flaws, you can still have a great time playing it.

Blood-for-the-blood-god wrote:
Blacksails, don't get me wrong, I'm not being critical of people with a negative opinion on 40k. As I said a lot of concerns expressed on here are perfectly valid, many I agree with myself.
I'm sure there are plenty of other great games out there for people to make an informed decision to play instead.
I just felt that on balance there is more noise made that's down on the hobby. I just wanted to share my experience and say that although 40k has its flaws, you can still have a great time playing it.

It's very hard at this point; they've gone all-in on players self-nerfing.

Blood-for-the-blood-god wrote:
Blacksails, don't get me wrong, I'm not being critical of people with a negative opinion on 40k. As I said a lot of concerns expressed on here are perfectly valid, many I agree with myself.
I'm sure there are plenty of other great games out there for people to make an informed decision to play instead.
I just felt that on balance there is more noise made that's down on the hobby. I just wanted to share my experience and say that although 40k has its flaws, you can still have a great time playing it.

Just remember that wargaming is the hobby, not GW/40k.

Oh try to be positive but every time ok visit dakka, some one's butthurt about something just changes my mood.

 Filch wrote:
Oh try to be positive but every time ok visit dakka, some one's butthurt about something just changes my mood.

You know what isn't positive?

Calling someone's opinion 'butthurt'.

Disagree or agree with the OP, but at least OP is posting the way they want Dakka to be. Bitching about the whining, or complaining about the haters, or calling something butthurt is only perpetuating the negativity.

So, if you want Dakka or anywhere else for that matter in your lives to be positive, you have to be positive yourself. And I can assure you it doesn't come from dropping in to call something butthurt.

Guys didn't intend to start an argument on here it was just a post to share a positive experience and to see how the rest of the community thinks 40k is best enjoyed.

Blacksails, sorry if you feel I'm doing other games a disservice by thinking of the hobby in terms of GW.
It's just as a relative newcomer 40k pretty much is the hobby for me. In no way am I saying other games can't be enjoyed as much or more, but i can only comment in terms of what I've been exposed to.
Also not saying I want dakka to be more positive, it's a forum for debate and quite rightly a hot topic will often be areas the game can be improved. I just wanted to punctuate some of the negative stuff with an enjoyable experience I had and to say to prospective newcomers that despite some legitimate issues when it comes to competitive play, you can still have a lot of fun in this game.

 Blacksails wrote:

 Filch wrote:
Oh try to be positive but every time ok visit dakka, some one's butthurt about something just changes my mood.

You know what isn't positive?

Calling someone's opinion 'butthurt'.

Disagree or agree with the OP, but at least OP is posting the way they want Dakka to be. Bitching about the whining, or complaining about the haters, or calling something butthurt is only perpetuating the negativity.

So, if you want Dakka or anywhere else for that matter in your lives to be positive, you have to be positive yourself. And I can assure you it doesn't come from dropping in to call something butthurt.

BlackSail, I got nothing against u. But this is the kind of attitude i am talking about on dakka. People getting so upset over nothing. Its like a forum full of hormonal prepubescent boys or old angry bitter neckbeards. U see how quickly that escalated from 0 to 100?

 Filch wrote:

U see how quickly that escalated from 0 to 100?

It really didn't.

But you've clearly come in looking to disrupt, as is evidenced by your first post simply blaming other people for your attitude (pro tip: pull on your big boy pants and take responsibility for your own outlook, rather than letting it be dictated by other people) so you just really want it to.

Blood-for-the-blood-god wrote:

Blacksails, sorry if you feel I'm doing other games a disservice by thinking of the hobby in terms of GW.
It's just as a relative newcomer 40k pretty much is the hobby for me. In no way am I saying other games can't be enjoyed as much or more, but i can only comment in terms of what I've been exposed to.
Also not saying I want dakka to be more positive, it's a forum for debate and quite rightly a hot topic will often be areas the game can be improved. I just wanted to punctuate some of the negative stuff with an enjoyable experience I had and to say to prospective newcomers that despite some legitimate issues when it comes to competitive play, you can still have a lot of fun in this game.

I just wanted to clarify because its often said on these forums, but GW/40k is not a hobby, just one game in a hobby.

Filch wrote:

BlackSail

My username is literally in the quote block. At least spell it correctly or use a comical abbreviation.

 Filch wrote:
Oh try to be positive but every time ok visit dakka, some one's butthurt about something just changes my mood.

It's posts like these that create negativity, so bravo, you just showed your own "butthurt" changes your mood

@OP: "the hobby" is not GW. The hobby is wargaming. You'll notice that 99% of the people on here are positive about the hobby of wargaming. Regardless of what GW wants you to think, they are not the hobby. They are a part of the hobby.

 Filch wrote:
. U see how quickly that escalated from 0 to 100?

Something that could have been easily avoided had you not chosen to drop into the thread with an off-topic, inflammatory comment. Please avoid these sorts of remarks in the future.



So, moving on, folks - This would be an appropriate time to share positive experiences with your games of 40K, this being the 40K discussion board and all. We can have the '40K is not the hobby' discussion somewhere else, if you're really so inclined.

I seem to have riled a few people up by referring to 40k as "the hobby". I can only apologise if this offends you. It was a throw away remark, as I have said previously I am not dismissing other games, merely talking about my hobby in terms of what I have experienced, having only played 40k.

I love playing that kind of big team game - it's just so filled with cinematic moments, the tide generally turns at least twice, and it's great fun!
The last one I did was in July, with 3000pts of competitive Grey Knights and Necrons going against 1K of Chaos (me) and 2k of Ultramarines and Knights (I think it was their third game ). We all had a nice time, and had some bery cinematic moments - with a huge dreadnought melee on the left, a single Heldrake expertly dogfighting it's way through and around 2 Doom Scythes, A shooty Knight and a fortified position full of tactical squads and devastators on the right repulsing several grey knight assaults before finally giving it to a Deep Striking Monolith, 20 Warriors, and a Dreadknight.
For those wondering, the Game ended in a Chaos and Ultramarine victory as the Chaos forces used their unlikely allies as "bait", as the Daemon Prince Ansalaor the Immortal defeated a C'tan Shard of the Nightbringer, a Destroyer Lord and a whole lot of Paladins after luring them into charge range with some tasty, tasty assault squads with a Relic.
For those wanting Individual heroics, we have a single Paladin who fought his way through 7 plague marines over 5 full turns
I believe that he's a captain now, and his model gained a purity seal.

Is this positive enough for you?

*Edited for mod warning.

Nothing to see here.

Move along.

Blood-for-the-blood-god wrote:
I seem to have riled a few people up by referring to 40k as "the hobby". I can only apologise if this offends you. It was a throw away remark, as I have said previously I am not dismissing other games, merely talking about my hobby in terms of what I have experienced, having only played 40k.

It's not necessarily you. GW in their arrogance, often refer to their games as The Hobby as if there's nothing else out there. It helps to keep some of their customer base sequestered.

*Wonders if he's wandered into a general wargame forum instead of the 40k General Discussion forum....Nope, it still seems that he can assume every general offhand reference to a game can be tied to 40k*

If you like positive 40k people, listen to Partial Arc's Roll to Seize, Forge the Narrative, Frontline Gaming, and The Long War's podcasts, webcasts, and battle reports. I'm sure there are others out there as well...

When I started the hobby, it was with the Dark Angels from Dark Vengeance, when they come out at the beginning of 6th. I painted them all up (poorly I might add) and went on to battle some friend with similar low model not well painted army.

Then I moved to another town, where I had to find new player to go up against. So I end up participating in a big game (well I thought it was huge when I started). 8k against 8k. No super heavy or apoc rule. I was bascily a normal game, but with multiple CADS adding to 8k and some custom rules about how the points were calculated and some random weather event screwing up people. It was 3v4 if my memories are right. On one side, you had Dark Angels Deathwing (not me lol), Tau and Imperial Guard. On the other end, you had Dark Angels (me ), CSM, Daemons and Renegades.

That was AWESOME lol. It was one of the best game of 40k I had. But lately, in a 1v1 against my best friend (with wich I can't play that often because we live just far enought to be a pain in the $!@*) I had even more fun. 1500points DA Ravenwing (ya, I'm back to my roots of DA lol) vs 1500pts of Nidz. Maelstorm style, and we roll the mission were you can capture the other guy objective card. The game ended in 7th turn. with only 1 points separating us. It was soooo much fun (even tho I lost lol)

I've never been more positive about the hobby of wargaming. But for me, GW keeps putting up more barriers to enjoyment of their games. I'd rather not jump through hurddles to get a good game in when I can much easily have an enjoyable experience that's more rewarding from other games.
With a close group of like-minded friends, yes. 40k can still be very enjoyable. But not everyone has that luxury.

Funny a thread that is supposed to be about positivity pretty much ends up as yet another negative GW bashing thread. The dakkadakka community never fails to dissappoint in that reguard.

What I find positive about the 40K hobby (yep I said the 40K hobby, damned the folks saying it need to be more boradly defined) is the large number of players in my area. There is no other game that can compare. There are a few pockets here and there of other games, but 40k is by far the most popular. So it is really easy to get a game. I also don't seem to encounter any real bad opponents that require extensive agreements before the game. I just go to the store and get a game. This makes 40 very positive for me as it is just really easy to find and play games with generally nice people.

Yeah wow, thread title is dedicated to positive experiences. Yet there's more complaints and judgements on 40K than anything else. Pretty par for the course in terms of DakkaDakka though.

I've always loved the variety and different types of games you can play. You run across such a wide variety of folks and have the chance to get to know them over the course of a game (sometimes 2 to 3 hours of small talk and banter). I've always loved pairing people's play styles and personalities to their army choices. More goofy and crazy players are typically Ork, regimented and organized are SM, outside the box fall towards DE or chaos, etc. I mean, these are probably not all that accurate, just what I've seen.

40K also has a special spot for me since it's largely how I've gotten closer to my brother again. Years ago, back in 3rd or some such edition, we picked up a starter set. Must have been 10 or 11 years old at the time. No idea what we were doing, loved the models and messed around with loose rules. Models we're shelved in my parents basement up until about 2 years ago.

Now, we game on a regular basis and have each other over to our houses for some beers, pizza and agonizingly slow 40K games (attention spans get shorter and distractions come quickly). Our games tend to be pretty similar with CSM vs. IG, but I always have a blast.

Fun experience? When I first started playing back in 3rd ed, I was in a 12k game of 6 players, 3v3. Me with my SW with IG and Eldar Allies against my bro's DE and 2x Chaos players. My IG ally had a Baneblade and this was back when those were only available to Forgeworld, and in our gaming area, it was the only supertank I'd seen or heard about. I thought we were going to take the house with that bad boy. Unfortunately for us, a dark lance shot destroyed it Turn 1. Besides the hissy the IG guy threw, the rest of the match was fun and my LR Exterminator (back when SW could take those ) ended up wrecking my bro's side with its TL autocannon and 3x HBs. Partially thanks to the other side ignored my LR to focus on my allies' tanks, but whatever.
I've been a fan of the 40k universe for about 13-14 years now. Started playing in 3rd edition when my bro and I got the SW/DE starter box. I've drifted in and out of the game, unfortunately, over the years. In the last few years, I was ready to get back into it after college and training. That was a big enough adjustment of going from beginning 4th ed to 6th/7th ed. Played for a few months, then got a short-notice deployment to the desert. For that, I was away from the tabletop for about 9 months-year when you take in pre-deployment prep and leave and post-deployment leave and readjustment. I come back and find all new codexes and a new edition of rules. It's been a rough go of the tabletop for me.
BUT, I've always loved the lore, especially for guys like the Flesh Tearers, one of the reasons I chose to start them when I got back into the hobby. During my absence, I kept up reading some BL books, albeit in spurts when I had time, and continued to lurk online during campaigns/new releases and I really enjoyed getting to play in my first summer campaign after years absent. My 3rd ed infantry-heavy armies of FT and SW didn't do so well, but I enjoyed it still. I'm not super competitive, I just enjoy hanging out and playing, so I don't take it as seriously as some do.