Aloha amigos! Thank you for letting me wax poetic on the last post about the frustrations I felt about cosplay and gatekeeping. Today I’d like to talk about the fun but stressful process of getting back into the wargaming community, after over a decade of having nothing to do with it!
When I was in my hometown in Arizona, I managed a comic and gaming store for about three years and worked at another for about two. These shops were awesome places for me to really be able to surround myself and develop knowledge on all sorts of things nerd: learning how to play magic and Yu-Gi-Oh, destroying everyone at Pokémon, World of Darkness LARPing on Saturday nights, and reading thousands of comic books was formative in the best way possible.
On Sundays, we had warhammer tournaments and I reserved special tables for the players and painters every day of the week. At the time, war gaming was definitely outside of my price point and I already had enough busywork to where I couldn’t add a new addiction on top of everything; But I always found the armies, designs, and especially the painting and customization aspects so fun and interesting.
To be honest, I’ve never been the biggest fan of strategy games. I’m mostly blaming the ADHD for that. However, the creative aspect is something that I never lost interest in even though I never had the opportunity to really pick it up and get into it, not to mention learning the ins and outs of actually playing. I’m also now fully understanding the importance of who you play with when it comes to maintaining interest in a game so complex. When Noe and I decided to start working together, I was so grateful to have a supportive friend who was able to help me get reintroduced to what’s obviously such a fun, expressive, intense game in a way that I’ve never had a chance to before.
I’m sure you can understand where I’m leading to with all of this. I would love to have you come along with me on this ridiculous journey, see how many figures I end up repainting 14 times because I’m not going to be happy with it, learning the game but if I actually end up playing it remains to be seen, and just otherwise finally giving wargaming, specifically Warhammer 40 K, the chance to hook me. If you haven’t really played before/are really only interested in the creative aspect, get your minis pre-painted so you can hurry up and smash your enemies, are completely new to all of it, or you’re a wargaming vet that just wants to laugh at my noob antics, I'm excited to see what you think. Please give me the crash course in the comments and in future installations, and hang out with us on Twitch so we can talk story while I paint!
And yeah, I’ve fully come to terms with the fact that I’m probably going to end up making a sister of Battle cosplay or something. I accept my nature.
In conclusion, please have some Warhammer painting memes that I’ve been collecting!
