table top wargamers

[remus]

noticed over the years a fair few of our airsofters mentioning 40k and other table top wargames so why not have a thread and show off some of our minis and stories. am sure a few of us apply our mini skills to our kit etc too as well. so... show us what you got!

[Albiscuit]

Pretty sure there’s already a thread for this somewhere 

[remus]

probably and ive likely commented on such before but as its likely quite old any harm in a new thread on it?

[Rogerborg]

Urgh, I haven't actually played tabletop mini games in... hmmm... decades.  Last army I had was 40K Epic 6mm Marines, but GW have long since dropped that because the profits weren't there.  When I look at the hilarious prices they're charging now for single minis, and their strategy of declaring that stuff they sold you literally last week can't be used in tournaments or in-store any more because "new Codex = all new minis", I just pity anyone getting into it now.

 

I love what they created in the past, but loathe what they've done with it now.

[Shamal]

13 hours ago, remus said:

noticed over the years a fair few of our airsofters mentioning 4ok and other table top wargames so why not have a thread and show off some of our minis and stories. am sure a few of us apply our mini skills to our kit etc too as well. so... show us what you got!

Hi @remusI would be interested to see some pics cause I haven't a clue what it's all about lol.

👍

[Rogerborg]

2 hours ago, Shamal said:

Hi @remusI would be interested to see some pics cause I haven't a clue what it's all about lol.

👍

 

Playing with dolls with silly made up rules.

 

Completely ridiculous, not like playing with toy guns with silly made up rules.  

[remus]

On 31/07/2021 at 09:05, Shamal said:

Hi @remusI would be interested to see some pics cause I haven't a clue what it's all about lol.

👍

Will take some of mine. Primarily is miniature collecting and painting with the addition that you can play games. Think dungeons and dragons but army's rather than single models. Full table loads. 40k is a Sci fi grim dark future one-hand both expensive and has a great depth of lore and several video games. But there's games for everything now. Fantasy. World wars. Many video games are even releasing them. But it's not just the game or models it's the building and cleaning up and paining etc. There are competitions in most areas but it generally dosent pay. Iv definately sunk far more money into it than airsoft unfortunately 

[Shamal]

2 hours ago, remus said:

Will take some of mine. Primarily is miniature collecting and painting with the addition that you can play games. Think dungeons and dragons but army's rather than single models. Full table loads. 40k is a Sci fi grim dark future one-hand both expensive and has a great depth of lore and several video games. But there's games for everything now. Fantasy. World wars. Many video games are even releasing them. But it's not just the game or models it's the building and cleaning up and paining etc. There are competitions in most areas but it generally dosent pay. Iv definately sunk far more money into it than airsoft unfortunately 

40k? Wow you must have a bloody big tabletop. 🤔

Regards 

[remus]

just a few of mine from years ago. its scary if i costed up this stuff in todays money as back when i was playing ida bought a kit every few weeks on my part time job to keep me ticking over in my free time. all those £20s add up... easily 1000s of quidds worth but would nowhere near be worth as resale unfortunately. 

[Shamal]

17 minutes ago, remus said:

just a few of mine from years ago. its scary if i costed up this stuff in todays money as back when i was playing ida bought a kit every few weeks on my part time job to keep me ticking over in my free time. all those £20s add up... easily 1000s of quidds worth but would nowhere near be worth as resale unfortunately. 

So they are

two sets of armies?

Like you say its a lot of £20's.

And you have to paint models as well?

 

[remus]

yes so respectively the top army is space marines, humanitys finest fighting back the horrors of the universe. the second is tyranids, xenomorphic aliens intent on consuming everything. there are many other races and armys  and a libary of books and back storys and rules and lore. models rance from  few £ for some of those smaller ones to character ones now at 20, tanks are around 30, bigger ones 50 to 100, oh and then theres the resin specials... Mars Pattern Warlord Titan Body | Forge World Webstore- thats not including guns

oh and not only paint but asssemble clean moldlines remove mould relesease agents etc... and decorate and so onthen if you decode to play somehow box up in foam and move in a way you dont break them....

[Rogerborg]

2 hours ago, remus said:

character ones now at 20

 

£30 and up now for some single models.  Utterly bonkers.

 

And the resale value of your armies might be close to zero, as it really does seem like GW have a policy of "if it's not the latest version, from the latest Codex, don't bring it to a tournament or shop".

 

Heck, last time I played 40K it was with a box of knock off "Space Rangers" which cost a whopping £10 for a box of 50 at the time.  I hit them with a rattle can of white gloss, an ink wash, and a few licks of gunmetal, and was good to go.  Now I think GW would take out a restraining order if I brought them within 2 miles of a store.  

 

https://em4miniatures.com/products/space-rangers?variant=31784032698486

[remus]

Aye in the few years i took ff most of my models have been made near obsolete to the point of stupidity, the bits ive been reading up on recently mostly have further confused me but i feel what i do now will be more cause i like the models' rather than wanting win at all costs armys. think instead ill work on a few lore trinkets to build into airsoft loadouts like chaos star and purity seals but will see as one of my mates has a few he plays with. 

[Rogerborg]

2 hours ago, remus said:

think instead ill work on a few lore trinkets to build into airsoft loadouts like chaos star and purity seals

 

Cosplay, do it, do it, doooo iiiiiiit.  

 

That's the thing, I love LARPing in my pretend space soldier gear, but haven't otherwise engaged in the hobby for decades.

[Shamal]

9 hours ago, remus said:

yes so respectively the top army is space marines, humanitys finest fighting back the horrors of the universe. the second is tyranids, xenomorphic aliens intent on consuming everything. there are many other races and armys  and a libary of books and back storys and rules and lore. models rance from  few £ for some of those smaller ones to character ones now at 20, tanks are around 30, bigger ones 50 to 100, oh and then theres the resin specials... Mars Pattern Warlord Titan Body | Forge World Webstore- thats not including guns

oh and not only paint but asssemble clean moldlines remove mould relesease agents etc... and decorate and so onthen if you decode to play somehow box up in foam and move in a way you dont break them....

Wow must take years to amass these armies and understand the rules.whole different world.

So do you actually make figurines from moulds?

 

[remus]

Yup the rules are constantly changing between the main rules and army specific rules. A large degree of that is to drive sales rather than have the perfect game which they have had in a few of their smaller game systems like nexromundia which is a small  skirmish version but 20 would pay for all the models you'd need for such where as they want you to expand and expand. Can easily spend 1000s on army's. From when I actively played the meta in the tournament scene changed monthly. And learning your own stuff wasn't enough you needed to know everyone else's tricks to know where mis interpretation existed.  Iv used cheaters misknowledge against them to stunning effect purely cause I figured out how they were trying to cheat and yhe judges were on their side so I let em. Lol. 

Generally no but when I last was active I was getting into playing with putty and making a few parts rather than buying. It's mostly buying the various kits. What's better though is with 3dprinters and kickstatter and improvement in tech is that the competitors have caught up with games workshop and alit is changing just unfortunately games workshop is still the best and most innovative and expensive with their monopoly and ip policy protection. 

[Shamal]

11 minutes ago, remus said:

Yup the rules are constantly changing between the main rules and army specific rules. A large degree of that is to drive sales rather than have the perfect game which they have had in a few of their smaller game systems like nexromundia which is a small  skirmish version but 20 would pay for all the models you'd need for such where as they want you to expand and expand. Can easily spend 1000s on army's. From when I actively played the meta in the tournament scene changed monthly. And learning your own stuff wasn't enough you needed to know everyone else's tricks to know where mis interpretation existed.  Iv used cheaters misknowledge against them to stunning effect purely cause I figured out how they were trying to cheat and yhe judges were on their side so I let em. Lol. 

Generally no but when I last was active I was getting into playing with putty and making a few parts rather than buying. It's mostly buying the various kits. What's better though is with 3dprinters and kickstatter and improvement in tech is that the competitors have caught up with games workshop and alit is changing just unfortunately games workshop is still the best and most innovative and expensive with their monopoly and ip policy protection. 

It does seem very complicated 🤔

Can you play this at home or do you have to go to a venue?

 

[Rogerborg]

1 hour ago, Shamal said:

It does seem very complicated 🤔

Can you play this at home or do you have to go to a venue?

 

There are all sorts of systems available with varying complexities in just about any setting (fantasy, historical, science fiction, naval, aircraft, spaceships) and scales from pub punch-ups to Waterloo.  The best systems let you concentrate on actual tactics and putting yourself in the position of a commander, while Games Workshop stuff is much more about meta-gaming to exploit an ever changing set of special rules and trick units, then setting up and rolling huge handfuls of dice without much by the way of actual decisions or tactics once you're playing.

 

You can play at home, the problem these days is finding folk near you to play with who are interested in the same settings and systems as you.  That's where Games Workshop shines, they have retail shops and run tournaments where you can use the hugely expensive models that they sold you, and God help you if you try and bring anything else.

 

You could jump on... urgh... Facebook and see if there are any Localtown wargaming / tabletop clubs.

 

 

1 hour ago, remus said:

From when I actively played the meta in the tournament scene changed monthly. And learning your own stuff wasn't enough you needed to know everyone else's tricks to know where mis interpretation existed.

 

True that, I once reduced a grown man to tears in a tournament by exploiting the hell out of Epic with a force composed entirely of cheap Scout Marine companies and Thunderhawk dropships (part played by de-bladed Micro Machines Apache helicopters from the local toy shop).  He deploys. My whole army is off table.  Turn 1, Thunderhawks drop from orbit to any point on table, and deploy swarms of Scouts directly into close combat with his expensive Titans and super-heavies.  Then comes the Epic cheese of "Titan stomps on Scouts, next stand is +3, Titan stomps on Scouts, next stand is +6, Titan stomp on Scouts, next stand is +9, wins, reactor hit, boom."

 

Rinse and repeat until by the end of turn 1 he's lost all his big stuff, and he's trembling and choking up and saying "But all you're doing is trading your cheap units for my expensive ones!"

 

Life is hell in the grimdark, chap.  

[remus]

Amaze. I remember one game I didn't play but saw where white scars vs tau  army. Whole biker army trys to flank around tau and leave nothing for them to shoot at (tau shoot. Bikes chop. Bikes need to get close so it's and excellent tactic) but the tau knew and was able to set up and compleately block Bikes even entering the table and win via default... dirty dirty tactic... I had the opportunity to do that myself once and deny table space with my bid horde and did tell my opponent after he got cheeky what I could do and there was nothing he could do to stop that. He quickly wised up but the next month started copying my army... he never did as well as I did though. 

To be fair the stores would do a walk through game and do teaching sessions of games and building etc. But it's the smaller skirmish games that are far more interesting. I worked in a nerd shop briefly and got to try out a few and tried making my own once (zombie game) it's fun to game from a different perspective especially dice ones where rng is compleately visible. There's even ones where more like dungeons and dragons you keep you team for following games and damage and such impacts play and next games. Eg my heavy gunner getting shot in the head but not dying and intact becoming psychotic and trying to smash anyone with his gun... the odds are tiny but happened with his replacement too...

[Rogerborg]

Urgh, yes, one thing that always bugged me about GW run tournaments and games was that their policy seemed to be to approve, encourage and reward cheesy exploits, on the basis that "Well, there's no rule against it... yet".

 

Every exploit is clever and funny (for everyone but their opponent) the first time someone spots and abuses it, but then word gets out and it just becomes a case of finding the exploit to the exploit, or waiting for GW to errata/addenda it away. 

 

One version of 40K (briefly) had off-table artillery and no limit on how much of it Guard forces could use, so again I did a no-model setup, said "Now find my hidden Vindicare spotters" and let the off-table Basilisks and Whirlwinds put his minis back in the box while he railed (quite rightly) "But there's literally no way for me to win and you didn't even bring an army!"

 

Utterly abusive, but "there's no rule against it."

 

Decent clubs, referees and opponents will adopt the airsoft ethos of "don't be a dick", but that never seemed to be the case with GW, which is one of the reasons why I just dropped it.

[Shamal]

8 hours ago, Rogerborg said:

 I did a no-model setup, said "Now find my hidden Vindicare spotters" and let the off-table Basilisks and D-Cannons put his minis back in the box while he railed (quite rightly) "But there's literally no way for me to win and you didn't even bring an army!"

 

 

Cool 👍 but didn't you just mug yourself by not getting to play?

I assume you have to pay to go to the GW  and have a game?

 

[Rogerborg]

2 hours ago, Shamal said:

Cool 👍 but didn't you just mug yourself by not getting to play?

I assume you have to pay to go to the GW  and have a game?

 

No, they have retail shops that provide table space for playing their games as well as tournaments and even painting competitions (they flog super expensive paints and brushes as well).  It's a smart move, especially with the competition from those vidjya games the kids are into these days.

 

I should stress this is a 1990s anecdote, when some shops were still run by sweaty neckbeards who'd let you get away with shenanigans like no-mini setups (I was at least clutching and citing a purchased rulebook).

 

No chance these days, they have a "no sweaty neckbeard" policy, and their only goal is to flog starter sets and get people hooked on the plastic crack.

 

Fun aside, Henry Cavill (Superman) is a massive GW nerd.  He can probably just about afford it as well.  

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-39B5ShMWw/

 

Oh, please bear in mind that there are plenty of other systems and settings available (and you can play them for a lot less), it's just that Games Workshop are so dominant in the hobby now.

 

[UPDATE] Dammit, you've got me looking at the Glasgow and District Neckbeard Society now, I might drop by on Sunday and hang out with the other geezers. 

[Jaylordofwaargh]

If we are remenicing about the days of yor (or some shit) my quickest win in Warhammer Fantasy (before gw actually let the bad guys win, - it was grim in the past as well) was in my opponents first turn. They went first - his Vampire Counts vs my goblins & orcs, billy big bollocks lines up his large unit of black knights lead by The Count himself does shenanigins to get a charge off. He gets off put by my smile getting bigger and picking up dice.....release the shroomed up balls of death that were night goblin fanatics all somehow pile into the count killing him outright as the poor guy conceeds, didnt bring any necromancers. 

Good times. 

Picked up an Eldar force for modeling and painting purposes with thoughts of finding somewhere to play.

[Rogerborg]

11 hours ago, Jaylordofwaargh said:

night goblin fanatics all somehow pile into the count

 

Fun times (I used to have a goblin army back in the day too) but again illustrates the trick rules and wild randomness baked into so many GW products.  I mean, there's nothing wrong with that as long as you don't take it too seriously.  But with the prices they charge, and actual prize tournaments, it might be hard not to these days.

 

Oh, I went to the local neckbeard club, it was fairly varied.  I'm keeping that in the back pocket as a winter alternative to airsoft.

[lukeB]

I had a very large high elf army back in the day and medium space wolf and eldar 40k armies.

 

My dad used to paint them to a very high standard. 

He would get sick of mithril silver and space wolf grey, so I ended up with a number of blood bowl teams and necromunda gangs just so he had something different to paint.

 

I was never a big fan of actually playing warhammer or 40k though, Blood bowl was by far the best game.

I'm surprised people still play the table top given the costs these days, especially when you have some decent GW video games.