The LAF Games Workshop Discussion Thread

[ithoriel]

Hmm, I dunno, does it? If you did this with historical games, would everyone still think the same, or would they feel it's tedious and get quickly bored of indulging you? 

I remember a 25mm Gallic army that included Asterix, Obelix, Getafix, Vitalstatistix on his shield, et al. Amused me every time I saw it.

There was also the Arab army that had banners with inscriptions taken from confectionery wrappers, the Ghazi fanatics' one proclaimed,"Warning: may contain nuts."

Or how about the Chain of Command Volksturm unit based on the kids from Jojo Rabbit?

IMHO, war is a truly serious business, wargaming not so much.

[Cubs]

There was also the Arab army that had banners with inscriptions taken from confectionery wrappers, the Ghazi fanatics' one proclaimed,"Warning: may contain nuts."

Reminds me of a Warhammer game back in the 80's - my brother and his mate were having a game one day round our house, Men of the West (my brother) vs Men of the East (his mate). The Eastern general was jauntily mounted on a flying carpet (no special rules) and he pointed at him proudly saying, "Guess what his name is!" After much shrugging he replied, "Mustafa Coffee," whilst looking at me pointedly. There were a few seconds of awkward silence before the penny dropped and I shuffled out to the kitchen to put the kettle on.

[Daeothar]

40K is full of parodies. Heck; as mentioned it IS one big parody, and in the right setting, a 'fun' army can be hilarious. I also remember a Hello Kitty space marine army and who can forget the Angry Marines?

Point is; there are those who take the whole setting way too serious, and even though I'm very, very well versed in 40K lore, I still recognise it for what it is.

Also, it's the out and out tournament players that are often way too serious about their game, most often only just meeting tournament requirements of at least 3 colours of paint on their miniatures (and often crappily so), because they're just there to field their killer list. But in my experience, those guys are also often not amused by out-of-context armies, no matter how well executed.

At best, the garish, out of character paintjobs will distract them enough to possibly allow for a more balanced game against their top-tier list and at worst, you've pissed them off with it. Either way you will probably lose the game, but will have achieved a moral victory

Mind; my experience of the 40K tournament scene roughly covers the decade between 2004 and 2014, or thereabouts, and it might have changed dramatically since then. But I realized that scene was just not for me, as I never actually felt it was enjoyable, so I stopped going.

Oh, and then there's the fact that even though I'd love to maybe one day do a 'funny' army, I'm such a slow painter, that the time and effort required would almost feel like a waste. As that spent time could have been dedicated to doing something a bit more useful. Also, since I don't do tournaments anymore, the point of doing up such an army would be rather moot anyway.

But I do still like me a good funny army every now and then.

(I do still have the components for a Saga Viking army, lead by pewter renditions of the TV-series Ragnar Lothbrook and his co-stars. Would that count? ).

[ithoriel]

Reminds me of a Warhammer game back in the 80's - my brother and his mate were having a game one day round our house, Men of the West (my brother) vs Men of the East (his mate). The Eastern general was jauntily mounted on a flying carpet (no special rules) and he pointed at him proudly saying, "Guess what his name is!" After much shrugging he replied, "Mustafa Coffee," whilst looking at me pointedly. There were a few seconds of awkward silence before the penny dropped and I shuffled out to the kitchen to put the kettle on.

Bit more inventive than Mustapha Khamal :-)

[v_lazy_dragon]

I struggle with 'silly' armies like the HelloKitty Marines, but ones with quiet nods like the aforementioned Astrix characters or Daeothar's planned Vikings work for me.
Ages ago, Gripping Beast previewed some greens for some 'Viking Reenactor models' (glasses, extra weight and all) that really appealed...

[ithoriel]

Back when I played EVE Online I really wanted one of these, alas not actually available in game 

[NotifyGrout]

There's a time and place for both lore-accurate and just-for-kicks gaming.

Pick-up games at a local store, or tournaments are generally going to be the latter, barring specific instructions being provided well beforehand. As long as creativity isn't being used as an excuse for an unfair advantage, it should be welcomed there.

They're all toy soldiers in the end. People who take toy soldiers too seriously are likely not very fun to be around in general. If everyone's having fun, the rest is secondary. The problem, which sadly seems to hit the 40k community hard, is that some players can't have fun unless it's at someone else's expense.

[Storm Wolf]

There's a time and place for both lore-accurate and just-for-kicks gaming.

Pick-up games at a local store, or tournaments are generally going to be the latter, barring specific instructions being provided well beforehand. As long as creativity isn't being used as an excuse for an unfair advantage, it should be welcomed there.

They're all toy soldiers in the end. People who take toy soldiers too seriously are likely not very fun to be around in general. If everyone's having fun, the rest is secondary. The problem, which sadly seems to hit the 40k community hard, is that some players can't have fun unless it's at someone else's expense.

here-here, could not agree more.

Glen

[YPU]

I think its fair to say thats the competitive scene, or at least a part of it. There is plenty of friendly 40k games going down but lower stakes club events and games among friends etc.

[NotifyGrout]

I think its fair to say thats the competitive scene, or at least a part of it. There is plenty of friendly 40k games going down but lower stakes club events and games among friends etc.

The tournament/forever tournament prepping crowd definitely has a much higher instance of it, and to be fair, it seems like things are more laid back than they were a decade ago. The mid-2000s to the early 2010s saw a lot more focus on tournament gaming.

There's also a potential generational issue- many of us are old enough to remember when non-historical miniatures gaming still had stronger ties to RPGs and storytelling, like in Rogue Trader. I feel that the rise in popularity of RPGs seems to be having a knock-on effect in making narrative miniatures gaming more popular again.

There's room for both. I just think it's funny that people continue to try to do 40k tournaments when GW themselves have multiple games that are a lot more suited to competitive play.

[FramFramson]

Without getting all political (don'cherknow), it's also worth remembering that 40k often suffers from the "Verhoeuvre" problem, where something intended as parody is subtle enough that certain folks (generally ones who're predisposed to this sort of thing anyway) end up missing that point entirely and instead end up embracing it all at face value.

In GW's own case there was a fair stretch - not all that long ago! - when they themselves fell to taking themselves rather over-seriously, so IMO it's good that the current owners stepped back a bit to remind everyone what the Empire of Man is really all about. While a few players who remember that era of GW might cling to it in a frankly embarrassing way, I think most players have been good about the reminder, if they needed reminding at all.

[Belligerentparrot]

Excellent point, Fram! And even when the parody was subtle, stuff like the old Ork rules ('Ere We Go, Freebooterz etc) added a hefty dose of silliness to the fluff that was hard to miss.

Can you imagine someone complaining "Your bright pink flower marines are ruining my vibe! Start taking it seriously! Now, let me fire my heavy weapon that involves tricking lots of cute little creatures called Snotlings into jumping into the warp, where they'll reappear inside your marines' armour defecating wildly"?

[modelwarrior]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-63998585

So much opportunity to finally do this justice. If Amazon can do this correctly its an endless conveyor belt of money for Amazon and Games Workshop,but more importantly it can open the world of Warhammer to the mass public and allow them to see its more than little figures in a shop window. So many fantastic books covering the Warhammer world world make block buster movies on thier own.

[robh]

........ If Amazon can do this correctly ........

"Henceforth my comfort and best Hope shall be,
By scorning Hope, nere to rely on thee."
Henry King 1643
 

[Wachaza]

Cunning moves. Not the Witcher, not Superman but Warhammer. Cavill hasn't been out of the news for weeks. Excellent publicity.