Monday 25 October 2010

Getting into 40k as an adult.

I thought I would make my first blog entry to just introduce myself. Like Gav I got into 40k about a year ago after a decade off. As a teenager I had a few minis, never brought the rule book because I just couldn't be bothered to read that much and never really finished painting anything.

However as an adult and an avid Science Fiction reader I grew to love the 40K universe! The first Black Library book I found myself reading was Wolfbalde and I loved it. Sitting next to my 40k things I have over 600 Marvel comics the majority of them containing the God of Thunder himself so its easy to see why Vikings in space who loved drinking, farting, feasting and fighting appealed to me.

The one thing that didn't appeal to me with 40k was the company them self, I had stopped buy books from Games Workshops because I was sick of their pushy sales staff constantly asking the same questions and trying to put the hard sell on me. there was never time to peruse the shelf's at my leisure because even if I avoided the staff I was being banged into by small children wielding poorly painted armies or the latest box that their parents HAD to buy.

Eventually however I relented and brought my first minis and some paints and painted some Ultramarines who although I don't think I did a bad job on I didn't love. I ventured into a store looking for some Wolves or Grey Knights (another favourite) and found that I had to order in Grey Knights and that Wolves were getting a codex so I was sold on some Black Templars Sword Brethren. I augmented these with an Ebay steal of 100 marines a couple of tanks and a land raider for 50 quid but I still rarely played with them. I found it hard to learn in store. I am surrounded by squabbling kids every day I didn't want to be on the weekends as well.

So September came around, I still hadn't played any games and yet a howling could be heard. At last the fabled wolves had been updated and I started constructing an army to play with. Now anyone who has seen my Army and I will get some pictures on here will attest I am sure that while not anywhere close to eavy metal standard on each one I had laboured some time and for that reason I didn't play until a month later when I attended the first company vets for the first time. Work kept me from going again until after the new year. In the December copy of White Dwarf you may recall an article about a game a week for a year well that was my resolution and it started well! A loss but I learnt something about my army and planned for the next week for disaster to strike! I was rushed into hospital to have major surgery that put me off my feet for the better part of two months.

Since then however I have stuck to my vow, slowly getting 'better' and learning about my army until Open War approached and I was gifted with that all important team Claws and Fists T Shirt.

11 comments:

  1. Well, good thing is you started at a very good time :) In my opinion 5th ed is awesome all all the new armies for it are exciting to play with and also have very good models. It is a very good period for the hobby and I think it will be getting better and better :)

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  2. I played most of my games in 2nd edition and I have to say that 5th seems a much better ruleset - far more straightforward. As for the minis, I have to admit that the current set of plastics are fantastic.

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  3. Argh! I hate the pushy sales staff! I've been in before and literally had stuff forced into my hands. I always have to politely leave it on a table and walk out lol

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  4. I also entered the hobby as an adult, and a middle aged one at that. There is something advantageous to having an attention span when painting miniatures. I do not play nearly as much as you hope to (something on the order of 4 or 5 games a year, with other adult gamers) but have found a fun group of hobbyists who congregate at my house to paint once a week after the kids go to bed.

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  5. You made the From the Warp Tuesday Top 10 with your first post!

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  6. I got back into the game earlier this year after a 12 year layoff. I was a little worried about it being all kids and pushy staff (Maelstrom Games is my local), but its actually been quite the opposite. The only thing I regret is having stopped playing all those years ago.

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  7. erm I was wondering why this post has more views than all of mine put together. Welcome to the blog Mike, you will now be required to stay ... forever!

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  8. I found the hardest part taking that first step and actually coming to the club since I didn't know anybody. Everyone has been really friendly though and I haven't looked back

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  9. haha you got a winner here guys, make him stay!

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  10. I played as a teen, left the hobby, and - like many others - came timidly crawling back. Then, just as I started getting a few games fixtures with some Army buddies in Cambridge I done went and moved to Devon.

    It's taken a couple of years to build my courage(!) but I now go to a great (and I do mean that) club, which has given me new energy for the hobby!

    In addition to finding the staff and spoilt sprogs at GW stores infuriating, I have the double whammy of also being a teacher, and I can't abide having those same sprogs badgering me about 40K at work, so I have to keep it under my hat. This is fine as I'm a closet geek anyway, but it has meant that I have to travel outside of the school's (large, rural) catchment area in order to find the aforementioned awesome club.

    Now, if only my car wasn't broken...

    Welcome aboard, mate!

    - Chris.

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  11. I just started playing in my 40's. I understand the worries about playing with Kids but at the end of the day the games breaks down age barriers. Geeks together!

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