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I know, I know, stand up for yourself blabla. I'm a 14-yearold, I can't go around telling everyone I paint little plastic guys and then use them in fights. That would sound ridiculous. What is the best way to say that I play warhammer (preferably with the painting part in focus) without making me sound like a total nerd?

Dude, you paint toy soldiers and then use them to play mock-battles.

You are a total nerd.

Thing is, so are the rest of us. Why is that a problem?

Painting miniatures for tactical wargames.

If you try, you'll fail. You're going to have much more success and happiness by owning who you are and what you do. If people would throw you out for a hobby, why even bother building a fake persona to please them?

If I thought the person might remotely get it, I'll say I paint miniatures (science fiction, fantasy, historicals). If I don't think they'll get it, I said I paint scale models.

I'm almost four times your age though, so I really don't care what people think, and I tell them I paint models for use in wargaming. :-D

Why go around telling everyone in the first place?

One of the hallmarks of nerdly behavior that gets us a bad rep is failing to twig that other people aren't as passionate about your interests as you are and fanboying at them regardless, sometimes for inappropriately lengthy periods of time.

If there's really nothing else you can talk about, I'd suggest you have a think about broadening your interests, otherwise only talk about it if it comes up naturally or you're asked directly, and convey the bare minimum of information "I build model kits" or similar. Let the other party's reaction dictate if you offer anything more.

Give it another 10 or 15 years and you won't give a gak, but always remember that just because you love something it doesn't follow everyone else will.

 Nevelon wrote:
Painting miniatures for tactical wargames.

This. Anyone that thinks poorly of it will think poorly of it regardless of how you describe it.

It's going to sound nerdy however you describe it.

The real issue you have to face is accepting that and having the confidence to be yourself, regardless of what others think.

Anyone worth knowing will accept you for yourself, and anyone who has a problem with it probably isn't worth knowing.

Yes, rather than try to hide it, embrace that nonsense. Tell 'em you paint tiny doll men and that it's amazing and fun.

Then kick them in the shins.

Wait, maybe not that.

'Tabletop wargaming and modelling' sounds a bit better. But yeah, having the confidence to be yourself and admit to liking what you like is probably more impressive. More difficult too.

Keep it to yourself mate! No need to blurt it out. If people ask you about it, tell them - you enjoy table top gaming. Don't be ashamed but also don't preach! Easy.

Nothing wrong with being "a total nerd". You have a hobby that you enjoy and you play a tabletop strategy game. People who paint on canvas with oils aren't nerds, they are probably artists. People who roll dice and figure out statistical probability are often times gamblers. People who play games with pieces and/or cards on a table top with other people are playing games in a social situation. All of this is "nerdy" and yet people won't think twice about it. Mix them together and suddenly its somehow different but the reality is that its the same as any other hobby. Embrace your passions and interest and be true to what you like. Those that would judge you negatively for having a particular hobby are either closed minded to new things or generally not worth your time associating with.

If you want to describe the game say that its sorta like Risk where you move pieces and roll dice for combat to capture objectives. And in this hobby you assemble and paint your pieces for your army. Most people will get a vague idea what your talking about from that.

As you are still a Youngling, I can imagine that your fellow Younglings would not be too positive about you painting and playing with miniatures. While the advice about just telling the truth sounds great, at your age I doubt it will be well accepted.

I am 41 years old and when I was young, I played on the Commodore 64 and Amiga 500. Back then, anyone playing with computers/gaming was a Nerd. I didn't talk much about my hobbies, only my 3 friends knew about it, and two of them were also "Nerds".

So, my advice would be not to mention it, at least not to too many people and not until you are a bit older. Kids these days can be ruthless (actually not much changed from when I was young, except the use of bullying through Social Media), especially to Younglings with different interests.

Should you really want to tell people, be advised and prepared for flak coming your way by a lot of Younglings as it really sound Nerdish to them. It's a shame, but that is how it is.

Just vent all your Warhammer(40K)-Geekness here, with your peers.

How about not telling them? If you don't want to tell them, don't tell them. There is no requirement to tell people anything.

I'm a three-dimensional artist.

 Matthew wrote:
I know, I know, stand up for yourself blabla. I'm a 14-yearold, I can't go around telling everyone I paint little plastic guys and then use them in fights. That would sound ridiculous. What is the best way to say that I play warhammer (preferably with the painting part in focus) without making me sound like a total nerd?

Easy. Don't.

 Matthew wrote:
I know, I know, stand up for yourself blabla. I'm a 14-yearold, I can't go around telling everyone I paint little plastic guys and then use them in fights. That would sound ridiculous. What is the best way to say that I play warhammer (preferably with the painting part in focus) without making me sound like a total nerd?

Bro I am going to give you some sagely advice: I have been proudly geeky since well before and all through high school. I had a ton of friends who were in the "preppy" caste who would still come over and talk and hangout when I was reading D&D books. It's all about how you carry yourself and being willing to use some self depreciating humor to be able to beat them to the punch.

Be proud of who you are, and don't change for anyone. I am to this day still a geek of epic proportions. And here's how I look:



I don't hide my geeky self from anyone. Hell, I am well known as being a major attender of renaissance faires and I'm even on the local faire's cast. And the other thing man is High School is only temporary. Yes, it can be nasty. But at the same time it's 4 years. Don't worry too much about other people. Make it the best years you can.

'I play board games. I paint models as well.'
You don't need to tell every person you meet your life story. If they ask for more detail, you can offer a little more. Either their eyes will glaze over, or possibly they will be interested.

 Cleatus wrote:
'I play board games. I paint models as well.'
You don't need to tell every person you meet your life story. If they ask for more detail, you can fill in the details.

This as well. I think it's more he wants to hide it from EVERYONE because he's worried people would talk behind his back about it and ruin his reputation.

You don't need to volunteer the info that you paint space soldiers, regiments of skeletons, wizards, or dragons. If you just say plastic model kits, quite often they assume they are things like scale cars, tanks, planes, etc. These things seem to be acceptable to them, so it's really the content that is the qualifier. People have never made fun of me when I tell them "I assemble and paint plastic model kits". They don't need the specifics nor do they care in my experience.

you paint minis for a table top strategy war game

It's not a hobby that describes well.
When someone sees your models you can explain. Until then, I wouldn't bother much.

"I collect spoors, mold and fungus"

Say you collect scale models and you'll be fine. Collecting stuff is perfectly "normal".

You could try " I build/collect models". Still a bit geeky, but maybe not as much as some of the alternatives.

The other alternative is just to keep it to yourself. Tell your friends if you want but it's nobody's business but your own who you tell.

Nydhog wrote:

Nice Bass. What kind is it?
Im generally pretty knowledgable about basses but I don't recognize it.

I live in the emperors light.

Dude just say you paint models. And then show someone what that means. Watch as they wanna do it too. It spreads. I accidently converted my entire freshmen class at uni.

Toy soldiers works for me before asking what other people's hobbies are!

At 14 it's difficult to come out. Even coming out to your parents at that age is hard enough. I was lucky, my brother was like me too, and a few friends were also that way inclined. Then I tried something with someone and foudn third edition an experience too far. Now, years later, I found someone else like me and came out to family, wife and everyone... and now I'm happy... it took 19 years to admit who I am. There's plenty of time. Don't rush it.

 Matthew wrote:
What is the best way to say that I play warhammer (preferably with the painting part in focus) without making me sound like a total nerd?

By telling them you play football.

 Matthew wrote:
What is the best way to say that I play warhammer (preferably with the painting part in focus) without making me sound like a total nerd?

Tell them " When I'm not training for my future MMA career or dating older women, I enjoy painting toy soldiers. It helps me relax and focus on my up coming fight "

We wrote:

 Matthew wrote:
What is the best way to say that I play warhammer (preferably with the painting part in focus) without making me sound like a total nerd?

By telling them you play football.

Ah football. Knowing every match score since the 60's and following the lives of star players on and off the pitch is somehow not geeky, but hey I have a model tank and I'm dorkmeister mcnerdfart...