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 Argive wrote:
Im ever so sorry but the option of "crushing my enemies into the dirt and enjoying lamentations of their women" is missing?

Asking for a friend..

Jokes aside, I love modelling and converting.
Making things is rewarding.

This! "Making things is rewarding" is such a simple statement and for me is the most important part of the Hobby.

Can't find my option, theorycrafting / testing new things. My favourite time of any army is when a new codex is out and I can trailblaze. I don't necessarily do it to find "the power", but more to find "the thing that will beat the list that is built to beat the power" if you get what I mean. Usually it's pretty simple to identify right away what's the better entries in a codex. And I never really want to play that thing. Riptides is a good example, 6000 points and 0 Riptides. But my mobile MSU Tau do well against lists that expect me to take Riptides.

Modelling & painting and the making of terrain.
I buy/make the models I want because I like the look of them.

The game is simply something to do WITH the shinies after you have the rest of it. A bonus if you will, not the primary reason to have the shinies.

I've chosen painting, but there's a few options up there that could win.

LoftyS wrote:
Can't find my option, theorycrafting / testing new things. My favourite time of any army is when a new codex is out and I can trailblaze. I don't necessarily do it to find "the power", but more to find "the thing that will beat the list that is built to beat the power" if you get what I mean. Usually it's pretty simple to identify right away what's the better entries in a codex. And I never really want to play that thing. Riptides is a good example, 6000 points and 0 Riptides. But my mobile MSU Tau do well against lists that expect me to take Riptides.

That is exactly my kinda thing as well! how do you build out that Tau list? Id love to hear whacha figured out. if not here, then in PM.

Bdrone wrote:

LoftyS wrote:
Can't find my option, theorycrafting / testing new things. My favourite time of any army is when a new codex is out and I can trailblaze. I don't necessarily do it to find "the power", but more to find "the thing that will beat the list that is built to beat the power" if you get what I mean. Usually it's pretty simple to identify right away what's the better entries in a codex. And I never really want to play that thing. Riptides is a good example, 6000 points and 0 Riptides. But my mobile MSU Tau do well against lists that expect me to take Riptides.

That is exactly my kinda thing as well! how do you build out that Tau list? Id love to hear whacha figured out. if not here, then in PM.

It's very different before and after the recent Chapter Approved, so much so that it's pretty much all different. But it used to be very Piranha heavy, now they are gone replaced by max allotment of Ghostkeels and Stealth Suits, with two 11-strong squads of Vespid. I'm experimenting with Kroot, but that's mostly just my obsession with making what feels like an all-stealth-ish army, and I do have 60 Kroot, might as well use them. CA really made Stealth Suits and Vespid great for the points. And Vespid have never been more relevant with the amount of Marines running around. Ghostkeels is the part I feel still aren't cheap enough to really recommend to someone who don't love them. With Ion Raker and Burst Cannons they are still pricey for what they do. But they do synergize with everything else I mentioned, making a mobile blob that can defeat any bubblewrapping tactics of buff characters. It's still in its infancy, but I have high hopes so far.

Beware that my local group don't have any Knights, Necrons, Mechanicus or Craftworld Eldar, so my testing doesn't cover these bases. I suspect my list wouldn't be so hot against Knights or an IG player spamming Baneblades. But it works wonders against Iron Hands

I like painting so much I have a problem keeping the sheer number of painted models I own in my house so now I do commissions.

 Adeptus Doritos wrote:
Anyone who has an Ork army and isn't going nuts for conversions and kitbashing...

...is basically like someone buying the most expensive Swiss Army Knife out there, just for the corkscrew.

I took the remaining Loota/Burna parts and placed them on boyz to save a little money, clipped a grot's arm to my him look like he is pointing more as a Kill Team leader and I put a backpack and commissar hat and on a Nob to make a Kommando. That counts right?

Part of the reason I just have a very large Ork kill team and not an army is I am not big into conversions/kitbashing. I basically have every variation of out the box Ork boy which is enough for Kill Team. It is also my secret shame with my Chaos Space Marines I have done very little alterations from the standard builds. I just don't particularly enjoy the modeling part of the hobby. I mostly see it as the step to get me to the part I do like: painting. I think that is why I really enjoyed Primaris as they have minimal modeling involved getting me to the paint step right away. And they take paint so very well.

For me it's probably a mix of converting models and playing.

The key aspect is that I enjoy converting models to use on the table.

It's the difference between converting a Corsair Prince (remember when they still existed?) to have wings instead of a Jump Pack, and bolting Wings to an Archon even though it has no mobility options at all.

The former gives me something I can actually use on the table, the latter only exists to remind me how dire the Archon is in terms of options.

@OP:

You forgot the most important one in your poll:

- Ridiculing GW's big business decisions.

Its not as clear cut as the poll suggests. I love modeling and building and army/list to then play with on the table for a night of beerhammer, but only because the lore and setting is amazing. Each aspect feeds the other one basically, none are the best and they are all amazing because of each other.

Opening one of the big box sets for the first time (e.g. Dark Uprising, SoB Box), including the period of waiting and anxiety between ordering and receiving it. The smell of a new box, going through a fresh rulebook or fluff part for the first time. Taking a first look at new sprues, sorting everything out, imaginig how those parts will fit into your army and getting ideas on how to build and paint them...it isn't THE best thing about the hobby, but it's way up there.

I selected making scenery/terrain, but in truth it's posting in forums about tactics. You'd be surprised how much of the military's training on strategic level wargamming comes into play.

I have yet to see someone in a local game not fall for a flanking movement, or diversionary hit and runs. I love discussing tactical strategy/reading AARs.

 chromedog wrote:
Modelling & painting and the making of terrain.
I buy/make the models I want because I like the look of them.

The game is simply something to do WITH the shinies after you have the rest of it. A bonus if you will, not the primary reason to have the shinies.

Sums it up perfectly for me. Modeling, converting, painting, then sharing with my group of like-minded friends and having a great time.

Building/converting, rules/scenarios crafting, terrain making, that is the order for me. But in reality those first three are so intertwined that they are a single aspect for me - I'm a narrative player first and foremost, so for each game I need a selection of models that convey the story, the story itself to play out, ruleswise tools to tell that story and a scenery to tell the story on. One simply doesn't work without the others and because of that they fall into the same "metafun" of being immersed into wargaming. Painting is next one on my list, but is something I regretfully neglect too much - I jumped head first into enlarging my collection as fast as I could reasonably spend my money on plastic crack and now have a huuuuge painting backlog. To makes matter worst for me, I like either monochrome battles or fully painted ones, everything between diminishes my enjoyment of the game. So I try to paint what I don't use often, but then I lose motivation to paint in favour of other aspects - it's a bit of a Catch 22...

LoftyS wrote:
Can't find my option, theorycrafting / testing new things. My favourite time of any army is when a new codex is out and I can trailblaze. I don't necessarily do it to find "the power", but more to find "the thing that will beat the list that is built to beat the power" if you get what I mean. Usually it's pretty simple to identify right away what's the better entries in a codex. And I never really want to play that thing. Riptides is a good example, 6000 points and 0 Riptides. But my mobile MSU Tau do well against lists that expect me to take Riptides.

Good call. I should've had that on the list. "Homebrewing Rules / Campaigns" also should've been on there.

getting my kid into it (I've played two games of floorhammer with my 6 year old - he beat me twice, iron hands OP)>
List building (following the meta) >
playing in tournaments/playing with friends (I love the post game analysis/prep with the good players I know) >
messing around with paint schemes (trying different color combos, base/wash/drybush combos but having to paint an entire "coherent" army can suck it)>
everything else

I was really hoping at least one person voted for dioramas, i secretly think they are awesome.

I’m in it for the minis.

It’s cheaper to build and paint them yourself, and easier to customize when building it. Dioramas or putting them on an interesting looking battlefield is also enjoyable.

It’s also nice to have a game and a story built around them.

But in the end, it’s all about the minis themselves.

MiguelFelstone wrote:
I was really hoping at least one person voted for dioramas, i secretly think they are awesome.

LOL I had an idea for one but I don’t have the skill.

I heard someone say on Voxcast that dioramas have only recently started popping back up in the hobby after being gone for a long time, but I only returned to the hobby this year after a 20-some-year absence, and they were always in White Dwarf back in the 90s, so I was like "What??? Why would people stop doing dioramas? Dioramas are cool!"

I wanted to do a side on diorama of a few Deathwing descending a long, dark set of metal stairs with cultists charging up at them. The lead terminator would spraying a heavy flamer down causing a big OSL flare and it would be called “A Light In The Darkness.”

 Fajita Fan wrote:
I wanted to do a side on diorama of a few Deathwing descending a long, dark set of metal stairs with cultists charging up at them. The lead terminator would spraying a heavy flamer down causing a big OSL flare and it would be called “A Light In The Darkness.”

You bought a lead terminator? Not pewter? That must have cost a fortune on e-bay!

I have an old terminator inquisitor who is probably lead.

Background / Lore / Setting is by far the biggest. The reason the poll doesn't show that is because most people who are in it for the lore don't hang around the forums.