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I worked for GW for 8 years and as a result I have a MASSIVE collection of half assembled, half thought out projects. I should go through and clean it all out but I'd rather focus on my current project.

I loathe stereotypical nerds. I know plenty of folks who are in to wargaming who are perfectly normal, can hold a range of conversations, and are decent folks. The counter is when I see a 40 year old man who reeks of BO wearing a knit 'jester cap' I immediately can't stand that person.

I have ruined several models by simply being impatient and trying to move to the next step too quickly so I have a box full of models with imperfections that are self caused.

I've bought just about everything I've ever seen that has the words "Space Hulk" on it. Including 3 different editions of the game, the card game, lots of extra models, the novel, and maybe even accidentally a comic about a big green guy going to space.

Although I've been buying Space Hulk sets and 40k novels for many years, I never actually played a game of 40k until late June of this year.

I bought my wife a Kindle as an excuse to get my son the First Strike set. Wanted to make sure she didn't balk at me spending $40 on plastic space army men for him out of the blue, so she got something, too. It worked like a charm.

I spent way too long deciding what color scheme to use for my human blood bowl team, and changed my mind about 15 times before finally starting.

I've had the Assassinorum board game for about 8 months, and although I really do want to play it, I have yet to snip 1 piece from a sprue to start building the models.

I build armies to different games with one ultimate purpose in mind: to crush any* opposing armies I will ever face**. Do note that I don't pick the faction I play based on this factor and I am loathe to switch factions in general***. I also have aversion to spamming because that is just boring from the hobby perspective****. But apart from that? Crush them. Crush them all with a single faction that has loads of options.

*TAC is where's it at.
**At least, that's the plan.
*** Starting from a scratch all over again? No thanks, I'd rather have a wide collection for one faction and get really good with it.
****Or does a general reliance on basic infantry units count?

Also? I think basing is silly. I only paint the base because otherwise a mini would look stupid because of lack of contrast in color scheme. Adding barrels, stone columns, grass, bushes, anchors and what not would be okay if I were to make a battlefield diodrama.

 General Annoyance wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:

Doctoralex wrote:
I'd love to join a fencing club or a cooking group, but all those hobbies are not what a real man should be doing in his free time.
A real man spends his time in the gym, hanging out with friends in the bar and going to watch sports matches in the weekend.

No, a "real man" says you to anyone who disagrees and does whatever he wants.

Pretty much.

Also, since when are those two hobbies "not things that real men should be doing"? Fencing is the sport of a true gentleman, and cooking has been 100% scientifically proven to attract girls

"Any man who must say, 'I am the true king,' is no king."

My entire eldar army (Sam-hain), about 5,000 pts. worth, was bought for my brother to use. It's been used once, back in 5th.

I have several Chinese recast figures, and they have 150% better quality than GW's official finecrap.

After an epic buttstomping back in Warhammer 4E, I still refuse to use or play against armies that have named characters.

The local gaming club has forever soured me against ever playing in ANY sort of tournament scene, 40K or otherwise.

Until recently, I never realized I was actually just a model collector, and that I garner rather little enjoyment from actually playing the game.

Up until about 5 years ago, I was primarily a RPG'er, and board games/TTG's were a side thing I collected.

And, I hate basing with a passion.

I don't understand the reluctance by people to tell others about the hobby, although appreciate not everyone is the same when it comes to social interactions.

Told all my ex-girlfriends that I play, how could they not notice the number of unassembled plastic kits, not a problem at all. All my work colleagues know of WH40K, I made them! As a joke, if someone is looking for me and I am not at my desk they just say....he is off playing with his 'Warhammer', I shan't name the part of my anatomy they are referring to but suffice to say I am male.

OK, rant over.

Confession:

Buying stuff which I like the look of and which I know will never see daylight let alone a tabletop!

 General Annoyance wrote:
cooking has been 100% scientifically proven to attract girls

For real. Cooking is the most underestimated BF trait ever.

I am 42, 6'2" and bathe regularly. I am gainfully employed, own a house and two cars, I'm happily married and I do my hobby gak at the table.

I am a practicing musician, and while my bandmates (men and women) occasionally poke fun at me for wargaming, it's no different than how we poke fun at our guitarist for hamming for pictures, or our drummer for being a drummer, etc.

I provide for a wife and three dogs, and if anyone thinks I'm less of a man for playing with soldiers... I'd probably just laugh at them. I mean, who cares how anyone relaxes?

Plus, I am an AWESOME cook. Just last week I applied Hot Pie's words of wisdom from GoT to some empanadas and they were incredible!

 argonak wrote:

 Verviedi wrote:

Doctoralex wrote:Ugh, all this talk about peeps talking about 40k on their dates....

It honestly took me all the courage in the world to even begin this hobby. Simply because of 'what will my future gf/potential wife think if she sees it'.

The fact that I will sell my models as soons as Ill have a serious relationship also gnaws at the back of my mind.

In fact, im so ashamed of having 40K as my hobby that Ive never told any of my close friends about it and I have NO IDEA how Im going to hide it from them, they come help me move next week!

Why? What's so shameful about the hobby?

Because when we were young (or even old sometimes) some kid or adult teased us about something we liked that was out of the "norm." Those memories may be forgotten, we may grow up and tell ourselves we don't care, but deep down its still there a part of your character. Its a tiny little voice that tells you what you're doing is wrong and you should be ashamed of being different.

Its like that crack in the foundation of your house that lets in a little cold air during the winter. It can take years of mental growth to patch them, and sometimes the patch wears off and then the crack is back anyway because of what someone says or does. Minds are fragile houses. And people can be real mean.

Yep. I still remember the sarcastic "awww, you're playing with little toys" from my freshman roommate's girlfriend in college, back before I'd figured out that in the real world nobody actually gives a crap what you do or enjoy, and having something that's actually different is often much more interesting than something everybody else does.

But I'll be the first to admit that for the first few months of dating my now-fiance, I would lie about why I wasn't available sunday mornings and I was pretty dodgy about keeping my models hidden away in a box. She only saw one or two figures on my desk along with the paints. I got over it when her first christmas present to me was a converted shot glass case into a gorgeous miniature display case. Blew me right away, and I've now got a big ol' shelf with all my stuff on it.

Confession #1;

I have 3 friends who will assemble and paint on commission. I don't have the heart to tell 2 of them (that want to start working as full time commission people) that my very first painting attempt following YouTube guides is better than their top-of-the-line service.

Confession #2;

All my friends that play Chaos epitomize the "I want to be an edgy, tough, and unique snowflake" lifestyle, so now I assume that most people who play Chaos only play it because they think they're edgy and tough.

Clay_Puppington wrote:


All my friends that play Chaos epitomize the "I want to be an edgy, tough, and unique snowflake" lifestyle, so now I assume that most people who play Chaos only play it because they think they're edgy and tough.

Heh, this is pretty much what I think of chaos as a faction*. Bunch of edge lords who sold their souls for bigger muscles... without realizing that comes with tentacles, disease, malformations and/or eternal mental/physical/psychic torment. And being the whipping/carrier boy for some gigantic space mollusk.

*Not judging the players but... this is the faction they've picked. Following a guy who is a corpse makes so much more sense in this context.

I started playing Orks back in 4th only because I saw a Trukk get shot up, roll kareen on the ramshackle table, move up the table and explode killing half the Orks inside along with half of an enemy squad.

Now I have ~20k points of them...

 JohnU wrote:
I started playing Orks back in 4th only because I saw a Trukk get shot up, roll kareen on the ramshackle table, move up the table and explode killing half the Orks inside along with half of an enemy squad.

Now I have ~20k points of them...

And I thought Goblin Doom Divers and Night Goblin Fanatics are the epitome fun.

the_scotsman wrote:



Yep. I still remember the sarcastic "awww, you're playing with little toys" from my freshman roommate's girlfriend in college, back before I'd figured out that in the real world nobody actually gives a crap what you do or enjoy, and having something that's actually different is often much more interesting than something everybody else does.

But I'll be the first to admit that for the first few months of dating my now-fiance, I would lie about why I wasn't available sunday mornings and I was pretty dodgy about keeping my models hidden away in a box. She only saw one or two figures on my desk along with the paints. I got over it when her first christmas present to me was a converted shot glass case into a gorgeous miniature display case. Blew me right away, and I've now got a big ol' shelf with all my stuff on it.

Keeper.

Whenever I go into the Games Workshop store, which is less and less as time goes by, I tell them I got my models as gifts, or something else, because they're so incredibly pushy and demand to know why I didn't buy the models in their store.

I don't actually like anything to do with the Horus Heresy and think that all of the Primarchs and their stories are boring.

I secretly can't stand playing people who are FOTM net listers, yet I do it anyway.

I find painting a chore and something that stands in the way of the fun gaming :p

It bugs me when people tell me it's 'unusual' for a girl to play 40k... despite the fact that I've played against several others myself.

I secretly enjoy tabling an opponent in the most one-sided way possible... even though I shouldn't.

I've never even looked at the forgeworld website, let alone bought anything from them ( I have been into their store, though).

 Marmatag wrote:
Whenever I go into the Games Workshop store, which is less and less as time goes by, I tell them I got my models as gifts, or something else, because they're so incredibly pushy and demand to know why I didn't buy the models in their store.

I hate this. Thankfully my GW is really close to Warhammer World so the staff hardly ever push sales or question why you didn't get something from their store (because Warhammer World is so close and are more likely to have stuff in stock being the HQ).

Karinlikee-da-space-elves wrote:
I secretly enjoy tabling an opponent in the most one-sided way possible... even though I shouldn't.

Seconded. There's something just so satisfying at owning someone, despite my best intentions to make it a fun game for both (primarily why I play Orks, enough dead bodies makes it feel like the opponent did something).

Karinlikee-da-space-elves, probably the best username ive ever seen, btw.

Karinlikee-da-space-elves wrote:

I secretly enjoy tabling an opponent in the most one-sided way possible... even though I shouldn't.

It is great, isn't it.

Note the lack of a question mark.

1. I'm an extremely meticulous painter. It drives me nuts when people don't take the time to do the small details on their models, like rags wrapped around ork/cultist weapons or leave purity seals unpainted, And yet, I couldn't care 1 bit about mold lines.

2. My biggest dislike of the hobby is scrapping mold lines. I cant stand wasting hours prepping models. I had 15 metal eldar wraith guard that had mold lines so bad, I threw them in a box and haven't touched them for 17+ years.

3. After 20 years playing 40k. I've got one finished army. Its Dark Angels, but they're on 25mm bases. Ive been painting them for so long even the Death Wing are on their original 25mm bases.

4. Ive been playing Orks since I started 40k in mid 90s and absolutely refuse to get the big trucks. I bought about $200 worth of trukks then and Im getting my moneys worth- darn it!

5. Ive attended one local tourney but haven't since. I made the mistake of eating some kind of cream soup and blue cheese dressing on my salad.

6. Ive come to the conclusion that the hobby isn't about finishing anything, its about enjoying the journey. I discarded a bunch of shoulder pads and bought special shoulder pads. When someone asked why? and mentioned the price. I replied because I wanted to. I'm the one who would have had to look at those shoulder pads, I couldn't stand, forever.

7. I have every model Ive ever bought, And every model Ive painted, except for models Ive painted for friends.

8. My first warhammer army was Chaos Dwarfs. When no one played Fantasy around me anymore, I used the square based orcs to play 40k feral orks.,,and left the square bases on. They're still on 20 years later.

 Phydox wrote:

7. I have every model Ive ever bought, And every model Ive painted, except for models Ive painted for friends.

Ditto.

Selling or throwing away (gasp!) sounds like something that would scar one for life. At least if you aren't a soulless automaton with infinite time and money.

 Adeptus Doritos wrote:


But we got close so I decided I had to come out of the bits box.

Side note: stealing that phrase

Confessions
I play Tau, and am really glad they got nerfed.

When I paint, I most often stop after a wash

Basing is my least favorite part of painting models

I highly dislike the community of 30k players. They always act so superior to other players. When asked why I'm getting out of 30k, I said it was because it wasn't switching to 8th.

I also play MtG, and get a little uncomfortable with the amount of hatred sent that way.

Well you can be disappointed then since Reece has confirmed the Riptide is being rebalanced in the second last frontline gaming. From the sounds of it the Tau will be re-balanced and properly balanced because I guess GW seen the actual proof and evidence of them sucking without commander spam.

So you know. I guess there is that to look forward too. On the upside they will likely increase commanders price, and this will be fine if they make them actually good at commanding to make up for it. Right now they are spammed for their alpha strike and definitely not their leadership buffs.

I play 40k even though I don't enjoy it

I love playing fantasy 9th age but can't find a game since my group has always stuff to do, and me too

I didn't buy the wargames factory storm-troopers when they existed ( got only a sws with 3 GL)

I really want to sell my 40k army but my friend who I play with is the only guy with who I enjoy 40k and it discourages me to sell it

I only won my first game of 7th Ed, then lost the remaining 6 or 7.

I have 2 painted armies I have never used.

I still haven't played a game of 8th Ed... and I'm not real familiar with the rules, so I'm a bit hesitant to go to the local GW and try and get a demo game.

I paint a lot more than I play, and better, apparently.

I hate painting infantry. :(

I hate highlighting with a passion.

More confessions of a hobbyist:

A couple of annoyances, even if in truth they are good advice:

Homeopathic painters who will tell someone who has painted their model exclusively with washes and glazes they should thin their paint further.

'Consistency of milk' have you really ever loaded that stuff on to a palette and pushed it around with brush? Didn't think so.

I have one: when new people wanted to join the hobby, generally their 2nd or 3rd game was with me and I used... Eldar. In 6th ed.
I don't need to tell ya most of them didn't remained playing, right?

But it was their fault! They wanted to play Space Yiffs! I'm totally innocent on this!

 General Annoyance wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:

Doctoralex wrote:
I'd love to join a fencing club or a cooking group, but all those hobbies are not what a real man should be doing in his free time.
A real man spends his time in the gym, hanging out with friends in the bar and going to watch sports matches in the weekend.

No, a "real man" says you to anyone who disagrees and does whatever he wants.

Pretty much.

Also, since when are those two hobbies "not things that real men should be doing"? Fencing is the sport of a true gentleman, and cooking has been 100% scientifically proven to attract girls

I think Doctoralex was being sarcastic

 Vector Strike wrote:
I think Doctoralex was being sarcastic

It's hard to pick up sarcasm on the internet. It's why I typically avoid it.


Another confession from back when I kept the door closed on my hobby. I used to go into school with paint in my fingernails that I would have failed to scrub off; people really thought that I had a lot of thick dust in my room that I cleaned on a weekly basis, each weekend

I have bad eyesight and am terrible at painting.

I have multiple base coat armies with only painted guns.

My painting will never move beyond that after having my painting skills mocked back in second edition.

Game stores come and go in my town. I play my armies against, well.... myself. I like it more than playing other people. All my guys have a story, friends, and rivalries with other guys in my other armies. I really do forge a narrative for 20 years..
I play 2nd, 3rd, and now 8th edition.

I hide my gaming purchases from my wife. She knows what I do in the basement, She just doesn't know how many "toy soldiers" I've added. I pray she never sees the imperial knight and its price tag.

40k is my main hobby. Nobody in my offline life other than my wife knows.

I say meme stuff while playing. "Waaaauuuggggghhhhh" "The Emperor Protects" and such.