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I have noticed that some talk about the hobby is in terms of list building, and other in terms of army or model collecting.
When I got into the game, 40k was something like playing D&D with a train set.

So, simply - is 40k about list building or army collecting? Or ... something else?

There are different ways to interpret the question.

The purpose of this thread is to ask for suggestions, from which I will compile possibilities.

And, I like polls.

So, after we collect suggestions, I hope to post a poll.

For me, it is primarily model collecting, modeling, narrative, and meta-level discussions about rules and interactions with like-minded hobbyists.

Originally, I liked Warhammer because it seemed to provide an umbrella for the use of so many tropes and themes from fantasy and science fiction. From Tolkein to Moorcock (Fafrd and the Grey Mouser?) and Heinlein and the tragic hype of techology failing to deliver civilization from itself, 40k was immersive and interesting at least partly because it borrowed from what I had been reading since middle school, somehow resonated with the emerging dystopia into which my life was emerging, and allowed me to paint goblins while I thought through other ideas with which I was presented in my later studies.

That remains, but perhaps is rather uncommon.

Yes

For me it's the hobby of collecting and painting an army of models. So I picked an army whose aesthetic and lore appealed to my preferences. Which in this case is Orks. I don't chase the flavour of the week. The rules come and go and the meta is constantly shifting. The game is actually secondary to me. Stick to an army and collect enough and you'll build enough variety of army types to either match the current local meta or even break it.

its collecting from which you can build a list to play a game if you so choose to no ?

As a player I've always thought it was about playing games....

List building & collecting are merely parts that contribute to the playing of said games.
They aren't even 100% mandatory parts. You could just throw models on the table in whatever mix suits you & your opponent. You could proxy every model with tokens or card stock pawns. Or bottlecaps. Again, whatever suits those playing.

From GWs (or any other minis manufacturer) POV? The game is about selling you things - mostly minis. So collecting.

40k is whatever you make it. For some it's the lore and novels, for others it's the competetive play, others it's painting and conversions, and others still it's narrative games (and that's not getting into those who fall into multiple groups).

The only wrong way to engage with the hobby is the way that makes you unhappy.

It's the whole thing.

I predominantly collect so I can play the game and have fun, which includes list building and competitive considerations.
But I wouldn't play if the models weren't fun to collect either.

It's whatever you want.

I'm a gamer, so I play it for the game (shoddy as it might be) and the socializing. Stuff like painting is a distant objective, and collecting for the sake of collecting not there at all.

 jeff white wrote:
I have noticed that some talk about the hobby is in terms of list building, and other in terms of army or model collecting.
When I got into the game, 40k was something like playing D&D with a train set.

So, simply - is 40k about list building or army collecting? Or ... something else?

There are different ways to interpret the question.

The purpose of this thread is to ask for suggestions, from which I will compile possibilities.

And, I like polls.

So, after we collect suggestions, I hope to post a poll.

For me, it is primarily model collecting, modeling, narrative, and meta-level discussions about rules and interactions with like-minded hobbyists.

Originally, I liked Warhammer because it seemed to provide an umbrella for the use of so many tropes and themes from fantasy and science fiction. From Tolkein to Moorcock (Fafrd and the Grey Mouser?) and Heinlein and the tragic hype of techology failing to deliver civilization from itself, 40k was immersive and interesting at least partly because it borrowed from what I had been reading since middle school, somehow resonated with the emerging dystopia into which my life was emerging, and allowed me to paint goblins while I thought through other ideas with which I was presented in my later studies.

That remains, but perhaps is rather uncommon.

Like, yes? It's about a lot of things. Among those include building and painting models, developing strategies, and implementing tactics.

Me personally? Army/force building, I think.

I find a concept or theme I like, even if that's as simple as a certain method of painting an army, and I'll make a small force on that theme. The actual list isn't that important - if it turns out to be ineffective with the release of a new book or not, I'll probably keep it as is.

So, something like building a long-range AdMech hunter-killer assassin clade interests me far more than making a good AdMech list.

 jeff white wrote:
I have noticed that some talk about the hobby is in terms of list building, and other in terms of army or model collecting.
When I got into the game, 40k was something like playing D&D with a train set.

I don't understand what this means. D&D started as a tabletop wargame, same roots as warhammer. Complete with terrain and etc, movement measured in inches and so on.

But then I don't understand the general question either. It isn't 'about' lists or collecting. Those are both pieces/steps for the game.

GW calls it The Hobby because it is about a lot of different things.

You collect models.
You construct and paint those models.
You play games with those models or based on those model.
You read stories about the things those model represent.
And soon you get to watch shows of stories about the things the model represent.

 alextroy wrote:
GW calls it The Hobby because it is about a lot of different things.

You collect models.
You construct and paint those models.
You play games with those models or based on those model.
You read stories about the things those model represent.
And soon you get to watch shows of stories about the things the model represent.

Exactly. There's no set "what 40k is about", because there's such a broad range of things to enjoy.

You can be a 40k fan and not pick up a single model - you read the lore, or play video games, or draw fan art.

 Sgt_Smudge wrote:

 alextroy wrote:
GW calls it The Hobby because it is about a lot of different things.

You collect models.
You construct and paint those models.
You play games with those models or based on those model.
You read stories about the things those model represent.
And soon you get to watch shows of stories about the things the model represent.

Exactly. There's no set "what 40k is about", because there's such a broad range of things to enjoy.

You can be a 40k fan and not pick up a single model - you read the lore, or play video games, or draw fan art.

Or, as some people on the internet do, post salty comments about the game.

Any miniatures war game is a couple of things:

An excuse to collect and play with army men.
The play then gives rise to the excuse to paint ones army men.

To me that’s the definition of what a war game is and encompasses - it’s an excuse for me to collect and paint army men and play with them.

I'm a big fan of the lore, I also like assembling/converting miniatures, and painting can be relaxing. Playing the game is a natural byproduct.

List building is a fun mental excercise to see what I can put together.

Collecting and painting models, writing a narrative for your army, playing missions that bring your narrative to the table, developing strategies, socializing and laughing about the over the top nature of 40Ks fluff.


I think for GW 40K is about just one thing: Space Marines.

It's about nothing fixed.


Building, converting, painting, sculpting, playing, collecting. There are loads of different aspects.


Some people only want to play competitive games and don't enjoy building nor painting; so they pay for prebuilt and paid models and list-build them. Only buying exactly what they want to play with.


Others might be not just converting and painting but sculpting elements or whole models of their own and might see a table for a casual game only once in a blue moon if that.



There's no correct approach and the game is different things to different people. Even though a persons life their focus might change. Someone might be really into some aspects more than others and then their personality or situation changes and they focus on other aspects etc ....

Looking back over the last Several years people were balanced fairly equally between building and playing during 6th and 7th. 8th started strong, then diminished sharply with the release of Kill Team. This is also when a shift to more build over list building and playing occured. Initially this made sense because of new content and people expanding into new skirmish armies. KT playing steadily increased until about six months in. Since then there has been little playing, just building and painting.

Locally we have groups on platforms like Discord where we share projects. I see an increasing number of non GW products including SW Legions, Marvel CP, various KIckstarters, and I have moved on to historic interests. Based on the initial local response about 9th, particularly around GWs miss on updating the turn sequence, I anticipate more building and painting among a diminishing group with very little or no playing.

To me, 40k is the most complete hobby I've participated in. It is equal parts:

Collecting
List building
Painting
Playing
Converting/ modelling
Reading
Writing- both background for my armies, campaign rules and fan fic

Take any of those away, and it isn't 40k anymore- at least not from my perspective.

The game is intentionally designed to emphasize list building and army construction. If you could win more often than not via skill rather than game knowledge they wouldn't sell nearly as many models.

40k isn't designed to be a good game. It's designed to facilitate additional sales.

 Sledgehammer wrote:
The game is intentionally designed to emphasize list building and army construction. If you could win more often than not via skill rather than game knowledge they wouldn't sell nearly as many models.

40k isn't designed to be a good game. It's designed to facilitate additional sales.

Except they do that in an incompetent manner. How often do they bumble and make 20 year old kits OP?

I'd say it varies person to person: if your into competitivness, list building, if you're in for the giggles/painting/moddeling/fluff mostly, less so. So it's kind of an answerless question!

I'm primarily a Warmachine/Hordes player. I will likely jump on the Warcaster bandwagon and actively play that game.

However, I collect AoS and 40k armies, write lists with them, paint them, and develop backstory. If I travel, I'll probably bring my GW stuff instead of my PP stuff, just because finding a game is a lot easier.

For me its always been about the setting (40K) and the miniatures. Playing is a nice excuse to keep buying new models to the pile of shame, as no other reason would make sense buying new stuff when old isnt finished

Playing also encourages me to collect terrain, as it usually seems the thing thats lacking on the table the most. Many people I play with only ever invest their time+money into stuff they can field on the tabletop, terrain to them is an afterthought, leading into mediocre overall visuals.

Fluff is very important to me in a perverted way. I always twist it a little to something I like more than the strict canon, but respecting the roots and traditions of Rogue Trader formative years of 40K lore. In my minds eye, I have a strong vision of how the factions of the game differ from each other, both visually and in terms of units / fighting styles. I try to enforce this vision at the expense of "list competitiveness". This always means never using / collecting units to any factions that contradict with the vision, one example being "Space Marines never use attack bikes. Only Orks and GSC use bikes" or "Space Marines always wear helmets on the battlefield". Small stuff, but it all adds up and creates a slightly more personal playing experience.

I suppose I am a "modeler" at heart. If 40K wouldnt ever have existed, I would probably spend some of my free time modeling plastic kits (cars, boats, planes, military modelling). I do like coming up with custom paint schemes though, and easy conversions make models feel more like my own.

For me its more collecting. Then I build a list out of my collection. I don't think I've ever bought a model primarily for its rules, so I don't think I see the hobby for me as list building.

That being said, I do have an eye on what is legal for my army when I get new models, but it is mostly based on rule of cool.