Tuesday 23 October 2012

Only H.U.M.A.N

Should set out my stall now and admit to the first instalment of a two part vaguely related post.

Bolt Action....in action!
Made it down to the club last Tuesday for the first time in a while. Bit of a test run for how my recently extended hobby commute might work out. Was only about for a couple of hours in the end but enjoyed catching up with the toys-boys (no innuendo, no Zs).

When I've been explaining my miniature affliction to a "normal" I've almost always attempted to draw attention to the social side of what might otherwise appear to be a rather solitary hobby.

It suddenly occurs that video games are far more reclusive, offline definitely online on slightly less so, where the proper nerds need to congregate and, possibly, not just for mutual protection.

But I digress which might become more of a regular feature :)

So in short I didn't roll any dice but still got to immerse myself for a bit. The 40K infestation reared its head briefly as I sought out and then flicked through the Chaos Codex wondering how viable a cultist base force might be.

I feel the pain!

Flicking through the various unit entries considering their relative stats points and special rules I realised that I didn't have the blindest clue anymore when, some years ago, I had the second sight that allowed me to pick out worthy vassals from the pages themselves.
Not so sure that's such a bad thing :)

A few of the guys were running through some Bolt Action action four to the table learning as the game played through. Positive human experience +1.

Two of the 40K games featured Gaurd deployed behind Aegis Defence Lines which I'm aware are now part of the army list.



I was then joyfully informed by one such player how "We've already broken this game!" and how scenery can be traded in for groups of static quad autocannons. I scurried away as he informed his how "we've worked out that I could get 21 on the table!"

I closed the codex and gratefully returned it to its owner. Positive Human Experience -1. Or am I being a bit harsh??

So back at the apparent point a lot of this geek-tastic hobby revolves around actual human interaction which to some might be something of a surprise. The quality of that interaction, and its relevant importance to those engaged within it, may vary but it's always there.

Live long and prosper my friend :)

2 comments:

  1. Why is the 40k tables are always like that? About calculating the how each player can find the most powerful combination allowed in the rules. I swear I seldom hear them talk about the colours they used on miniatures etc but rather harp on and on about how this or that army can have this new super duper laser.

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  2. Having spent 6 years as a slave to that particular darkness (a GW employee....I do jest though :)) i think a lot of that potential perception comes down to how some gamers are brought into the hobby.

    Come in via a gW store and its all pretty much spoon fed into you and thats the result you can often get.

    Get proper adults down to a club of proper adults and there tends to be an awful lot less of "that sort of thing" or at least in my experience.

    As a GW manager I was amazed that I couldn't get decent gamers in my store to go to the local club where they would get and become so much more.

    I put it down to security i.e. being a bigger fisher in the smaller more comfortable pond.

    I'm rambling again ....... :)

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