NEWS FOR TODAY

  • Our own insignificance

    Or: The universe is a vast place, and you won’t be missed.

    written by Alex Woitalla, 11.11.08

    imageInitial When I’m recalling my first contact with the Warhammer Universe, I see a half-adult nerdy figure, leaning over a crammed table that is hosting badly painted miniatures of Tyranids and Space Marines, scattered over a richly coloured floor plan of a hive ship. A friend from university hooked up with my cousin and lured her into playing this botch of a game. I remember me looking at those figurines, wondering where this all would lead at that evening.

    We had a beer. And another. And started playing. I didn’t get the rules at first but the wondrous effects of stout made me actually enjoy the semi-tactical game play. Maybe it helped that no one of our gathering was used to that kind of gaming, since we knew Trivial Pursuit. And Monopoly and The Settlers, but a dystopian, militaristic universe was far off the edge for all of us. So I admit, we enjoyed the evening and that friend from university became one of my best friends, thanks to that strange dystopian universe called Warhammer 40,000. Several desperate attempts of playing Advanced Space Crusade we got hold of a copy of the Rouge Trader rule set. Alas, we thought, what a decent game. But it soon proved to be very crude and not easy to get into. But I liked the artwork, and excellent artwork and visuals always get me.

    Two or three years later, me and my friend went to London to do some sightseeing, to visit a Star Trek exhibition with props and costumes (nerd-alert!) and paid the Games Workshop store a visit. And there we were… entering paradise. A full sized Space Marine guarded the entrance, shiny blisters told of the Promised Land awaiting us behind crystal clear shop-windows. People like him and me where actually playing 40k, painting miniatures and chatting about rules and units. Those where the days… The patronage was clearly older than 12 years, the miniatures where affordable and the guys from the staff were even playing the game itself. And gawd... we spent our dough there. Back at home, I started to paint, glue, dry-brush, customize and assemble my dreaded Space Wolves Battle Group, lead by Ragnar Blackmane and supported by Bjorn the Fell-handed. And how fought battle after battle, honouring the fallen brethren in our toasts, guarding the eye of terror, defending the Segmentum Solar from the warp-cursed ill-beings that the Dark Gods hurled upon us. *sigh*

    But now these days are over. The hobby got insanely expensive, and life was shifting more and more into being a adult, caring for a family and trying to fit into a job, that pays the rent. So what is all that rambling about? You might think “Stop that whining about your past and get back to the battlegrounds!” Well, I got past it, and maintaining a complex hobby is not an easy thing to do, when there are things like a wife, a daughter, friends, pen and paper, EVE-Online, days work etc. Still I don’t want to lose track of all that is related to the 40k universe – the fiction, the computer games, the newly released role-playing game and so much more stuff. We decided to create this blog to force us into not losing track, to think about the good old times, thus questioning our deeds of the past, looking at the stuff to be released in the future and providing a view from a somewhat mature point, but still nerdy enough to keep our readers entertained.

    What you can expect us to do here is not reviewing the latest 40k games, may it be tabletop or computer games, but giving you a good read, sharing our deranged thoughts with you out here. If you don't enjoy it, move on... all in all, this is to have fun. So have fun, already!

    20 comments, so far. - Permalink

Comments

  • said, on 11.24., at 09:31 PM
  • Picture of The Horned One "Wohooo...those where the days! thanks for sharing your thoughts."
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  • said, on 11.24., at 10:23 PM
  • Picture of Alex Woitalla "You´re welcome!"
  •  
  • JollyOrc said, on 12.04., at 04:58 PM
  • Picture of JollyOrc "hah, quite the trip to memory lane. I remember the moment that I firmly left the GW-trail: Entering the local GW-store, I got greeted by a drone dressed in (what I assume to be mandatory) GW-Sweatshirt: "Hello Sir, are you interested in the Games Workshop hobby, or do you seek something as a present?". I was friggin' 27 years old! On my (hurried) way out, I couldn't avoid to notice the colour-coded and GW-branded music tapes next to the stores PA-system..."
  •  
  • said, on 12.04., at 07:44 PM
  • Picture of Alex Woitalla "Yeah... drones in stores, always a bad idea. Our local fantasy store in kiel ejected from the franchise and returned to being a comic and frpg store. Before they turned their souls to the Evil Greater Gods, I remeber really strange guys sitting at the counter, talking about stuff like Castle Wittgenstein and the River Reijk, being overly important cause they knew the store owner, bloating of nerdiness. I wasn´t impressed, as I played the campaign over a year ago at that time and mastered it twice since then. Nerds... gotta love them."
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  • said, on 12.04., at 08:24 PM
  • Picture of peekoo "I like being a nerd. wink"
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  • said, on 12.08., at 03:41 PM
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