The Life of a Wargamer: Part 1 Moving on.
This week sees us here at Cob launch something a little bit different.
At Cob we've been in many discussions this week. With 40K having moved on to bigger and better things with 8th edition, and Warhammer Fantasy being snugly put to bed a couple of years back, we've been struggling with the decision on what to do with our hobby. Do we stick with the games we know and love with the models we've lovingly collected over the many many years? Or do we get with the times and get some new books, get some new models and play some new games?
It's been a long and agonizing chat (that is still on going!) In some ways we're reluctant to move on, but we also want to try out all these new and exciting game modes.
We can't really decide what to do for the best...Perhaps we're having a mid-life crisis having recently turned one!
And so, we came to a different conclusion! Why not open up the discussion to our loyal Cob fans? And so we're happy to introduce our 'Life of a Wargamer' blog! Where we'll be discussing the highs and low's of our turbulent wargaming lives! We'll be talking about all things concerned with the hobby in these instalments and we're going to start our first instalment by discussing the painful topic of moving on.
Life of a Wargamer: Moving On.
So, you've done your research, you've selected your army, bought the rule book, bought your codex and started the painstaking process of collecting and painting your army. After months of saving, collecting, building and painting, you've finally got your army up and ready to play out some games! You've spent months learning the game rules, tinkering with your army, experimenting with artefacts and equipment and tactics! You've built your models to suit your play style, equipped your Gors with two hand weapons to pack that extra punch in combat, kitted your Space Marines with melta-guns to one shot those tanks, even bought some beefy Leadbelchers as mercenaries for your Chaos Warriors. It's been months, even years of mastering your craft but you've finally got it nailed!
And then...
GW announces it's updating the game to it's next edition...or changing it all together. The rules you've spent months memorising, are gone, or altered. Your codex is out of date, your models have received upgrades, or down grades or have been removed from the game all together! Your Gors don't get extra attacks anymore, your melta-guns aren't as effective and your Leadbelcher's cannot ally themselves with Chaos! Disaster!
So what do you do?
Do you start all over again? Buy the new books, new models, new paints? Do you snip those extra hand weapons off and swap them for much better shields? Do you buy yet another pack of a Space Marines Tactical squad and kit them out with much more effective flamers? Or do you just ignore the fact that times change and keep on playing the game you've perfected and enjoyed?
It's a tough decision, a one that we here at Cob are currently wrestling with! And no doubt all of you have struggled with as well!
We love this hobby, it's why we play it! But we have two key issues to contend with: Time and Money.
Our primary and biggest constraint is time, we are sure that many of you feel the same. We have family, friends, other interests, chores and full-time jobs that often have to take priority. Finding spare time is difficult, finding a friend to who is also free at the same time to play a game with is even harder. So eventually you learn rules, build and paint an army only for it to change, when learning new rules it can feel like you have wasted your time, after all learning rules does not come naturally to most of us.
And of course we appreciate that GW has to make money and be profitable in order to survive and keep doing the great work it is doing. They're not making money off of the gamers playing the same game for years on end.
But the hobby is expensive, and buying a new rule book and codex for your army is gonna be setting you back £50-£60, and it may only last a couple of years at best. Sadly, for most gamer's being priced out of the hobby is a major factor and a major hindrance in their willingness to move on with the progression of the hobby.
We love new models, and always get excited by a new release and although the new models are incredibly well made and look so dynamic, they are getting pricier by the year also. A new Primaris Captain setting Space Marine Players back a whopping £22.50 for a single model. The expense of moving on cannot be denied sadly, but it is the price you pay to support the hobby and keep new, fresh and exciting content rolling in.
Because change isn't all bad! The games do not get changed or updated for no reason. A lot of the time the new editions fix bugs in the old games, balance the rules out to make the game more fair for everyone as well as really simplify rules to make games easier, faster and more accessible to new players.
Change is usually frowned upon by the more die hard players, and we won't deny that we here at Cob are feeling the same! We loved 7th edition and Fantasy, they had their flaws (both games being WAY too complicated is one of them) but they have kept us entertained for many an afternoon!
You see we've been thinking Cobbers, no one is forcing you to play the new edition, or buy the new books, or the new shiny models, the money we've lovingly invested into the hobby hasn't been wasted, after all we have a fully functioning table top game that you can play for years and years. So don't rush to Ebay to flog those old models! Keep them saved up and you can crack out a game of Fantasy or 7th edition anytime you like!
The conclusion we've reached really, is moving on, is down to you! It's down to your budget, down to your willingness to learn new rules, and invest time in new armies and codex's! And if you aren't willing, then try expanding your collection of the old edition and taking real good care of those models and books to get yourself the most complete version of an old edition you can to play practically forever!
We know that isn't much of a help...but we are trying to provide a balanced argument after all!
So what do we here at Cob suggest for those gamers trying wrestling with the decision to move on?
Well Cobbers! We have a solution! (For Fantasy players at least...we're still working on the 40k solution!!)
Well, we've been doing our research, and something we really want to commend GW for, is their handling of the switch over from Warhammer Fantasy, to Age of Sigmar. After a mere few minutes on the internet, we discovered you can find pretty much any and every Warscroll for any and every model, all the downloads are free, legit and offered by GW themselves. You can download the (admittedly very simple) rulebook that provides you with all the rules needed to play a game of Age of Sigmar. So GW has offered you all the tools to get your old Fantasy army together and ready to play Age of Sigmar...for free!
We think it's a great move by GW giving gamer's a chance to trial the new game and allowing the players to decide whether they think the new game mode is worth investing their money and their time in!
We'd be fools not to take our own advice and give it a try! So we downloaded all the Warscrolls we needed and the rules and accessed their incredibly handy and competent Warscroll builder (also free!) to get ready to trial Age of Sigmar! And see if these old gamers can maybe find the strength to move on!
We'll let you know how it goes, and what conclusions we reach next week when we play our very first game of AoS!
Let's see if moving on doesn't have to be as painful or expensive as we think!
Let us know your thoughts over on our Twitter page
Until next time Cobbers!
Happy Wargaming.
