It’s the 21st century, why are we still playing in dungeons?
The age old question: why are there so many fully stocked treasure chests in the labyrinthine corridors? What is it about a romanticized semi-medieval setting that fires up the imagination? There have been plenty of medieval revivals over the years. The Wikipedia page on Medievalism is quite interesting. It ranges from what is now classic literature, to Danny Kaye in The Court Jester, to contemporary Renaissance Fairs and Larping. I think it’s because the fear of darkness, the unknown of rounding corners, mysticism of magic, and a general love of swords. Lots of kids go through a fear of the dark, it’s primal. We can’t see in the dark. There’s monsters there! We can’t see around corners either. There could be treasure! Also, there’s monsters there! Magic, fairies, wizards, and enchanted objects. That stuff goes back a loooooong ways. Just check out the Clan MacLeod fairy flag. Swords. So much of…
Who doesn’t enjoy a good April Fool’s Day joke?
Well, most people. Most people don’t enjoy April Fool’s Day. But I think this one is pretty decent. Happy April everyone!
One year of weekly hobby writing
This week marks one year of weekly hobby writing! The well of queued articles waxes and wanes, but I’ve had at least one come out every week for a whole year! The biggest surprise was that if I wasn’t writing about a specific game system or topic, I didn’t know what to do with the post. I’m doing the blog for my own personal enjoyment, but it’s fun having people check it out. So I didn’t know what to do with general hobby musings. I felt bad posting links on Facebook or Reddit because, well, nobody cares. Not in a bad way, but literally nobody cares what I think about where miniature painting fits in the cosmos. So I write those articles, and don’t promote them. No one gets spammed with my continuous posts, and no one reads them. But I said my piece and that’s enough for me. I…
Games Workshop
Games Workshop = Disney It’s easy to have a love/hate relationship with GW. On one hand, the minis are amazing. On the other, they’re OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive. $55 U.S. for three bats? Are you kidding me?! On one hand, the games are great. On the other, are they though? GW is the arbiter of our memories and nostalgia. Without them, we would forget what it felt like to be 13 years old. They’re also an easy target. When they make mistakes, they’re big. Cursed City for example. What the heck was that? All they had to say was “we’re having some production issues” at a time everyone on the planet was having production issues. We would have understood. At the same time, there’s a lot to love. They’re quirkily British. The minis are top notch, if you like that style. The back catalog of lore is voluminous. Their game properties are…
Abandoned Blogs
There’s something wistful about abandoned blogs. Someone started a site and poured their creativity into it, then, eventually… stopped. Maybe their interests changed, maybe they got out of the hobby, maybe they got too busy, maybe they had kids, or maybe the march of time caught them as it will catch us all. The most poignant aspect is the lack of a farewell. It’s a normal post with a future ahead of it. But then, that’s it. There’s no wrap up. No conclusion. It’s a cliffhanger. It could happen to any of us, even me. Disclaimer: I don’t know anything about the owners of these blogs. My most sincere condolences to those that are not longer with us. I hope everyone is still painting and playing. Take care of yourselves and others. Hug those kids, even if they’re all grown up! So here are some of the best abandoned hobby…
How much game is too much game?
It’s such a slippery slope. Young and casual gamers like smaller games with digestible rules, and fun, snappy outcomes. Grizzled veteran lifestyle gamers want complexity, depth, and advanced mechanics. So how much game is too much? For me, the test is: how often do I forget a step? In Mice and Mystics, we always forget to advance the ridiculous clock mechanism. So we don’t even mess with it anymore. It’s a fun game, but we spend so much time floundering with bad rolls we’d be facing continuous penalties. That is if we ever remembered to advance it. There are exceptions though. In Cursed City and Blackstone Fortress we often forget to roll for Inspiration Points. But that’s just like forgetting to draw a treasure card after an event. There’s no mechanic behind it. There’s definitely a point in the rules where I go: uggh, oh boy, this is too much.…
Why are models fun, and what is nostalgia?
Toy soldiers are a very British thing. Britains began in late 1800s, and European tin soldiers date back to the early 1700s! These toys are famous the world over, though sadly out of production now. So it stands to reason that a British company currently leads the world in model soldier production. Games Workshop, consciously or not, is the modern standard bearer of a legacy that goes back hundreds of years. So why are they fun? What is nostalgia anyway, and why to people feel it and/or seek it out? It seems like nostalgia for model wargaming and GW products are talked about so frequently that you’d think GW produced nostalgia themselves. And in some ways, they do. I imagine any entertainment company deals with nostalgia in some form or another. Disney has to maintain and update their parks to bring in and entertain guests. But they can’t change it…
Is your hobby escapism?
Diving into your interests and working on hobbies is a lot of fun, but what is driving you? The lure of imagination land is strong. There’s no boss, no deadlines, no school or homework. The only problems you have are pre-agreed upon. You know it’ll be hard to sneak past the dragon and use your ray-gun to “liberate” that treasure chest. You know the road home will be fought with hazards, brigands, and of course a murky swamp where you get stuck for three weeks and eventually die by vampire frog attacks. You opted-in to all that. You might not necessarily be running away from something in your real life. But for a bit, you don’t have to deal with it. It doesn’t matter about global or national politics, who your family is, or how much treasure is in the chest. It’s like watching a movie and forgetting for a…
How long have you been “in the hobby”?
How long have you been in the miniatures/painting/gaming hobby? For me, medium-ish, I’d say. Not as long as others, but the time since beginning to now is substantial. It all started when I was a wee lad in 1989 or thereabouts. There was a local hobby shop that carried trains, toys, squirt guns, model car kits, games, miniatures and paints. That is the origin story of my hobby experience. That store was pretty much all I could think about in those young dawning years. Ral Partha, Citadel, Grenadier, Marauder. Rogue Trader, Space Hulk, Advanced HeroQuest, Man O’ War, and many more. This was our mecca. From 5th grade to 9th grade were the gaming years. Not that I was a big gamer. I really wasn’t. I liked the art, painting, and building. Hobbying started to tail off a bit in middle school, then high school rolled around. 1993-1994 and that…
Modern miniatures and the uncanny valley
I’d like to revisit a topic I talked about a couple weeks ago. Modern Games Workshop models. This is a controversial topic because people are passionate about both old and new. It’s really great that people have found things they genuinely enjoy, and I do not meant to diminish anyone’s interest in anything. This is a longer article than I usual write, so if you want to skip right to the uncanny valley section, it starts in section 3. I’ve been trying to psychoanalyze myself as to what drives my personal preference in miniatures. Opinions and biases are 100% subjective. I am in no way saying something is right or wrong. I’m going to be talking about my own personal preference. I’m sure this won’t ingratiate me with anyone. To break it down, I’d say there are 3 factors driving my preference toward older miniatures. All of those are real…