The love that dare not speak its name...

I is just like saying nothing about these too, that is like disgusting man ... innit!

Prefix

Just a quick aside ... gaming is ensuing apace, but unfortunately not on the 40k side. As you may have noticed from the previous posts, Infinity has grabbed my attention this year, and I fully intend to make 2011 the year of the small skirmish games, with Infinity and Malifaux topping the pick of the pops, pop-pickers!

As such I've been busy painting up a whole series of Infinity Haqqislam models, with photo's to follow (as soon as I've thought through the final touches on the paint scheme AND the basing...)

Back On The Subject ... and the only one in the village?

Back when I was at school in the 80's and the 90's, the title of this piece would have solely been the regard of the most alienated kid in the Derbyshire School. The gay ones.

Nowadays (thank goodness), the UK has moved away from wholesale discrimination of Gay men and Lesbians and its a lot nicer place for it. That's not to say that it still doesn't go on, but any aggression is usually propagated by the same group who are also inherently racist and sexist, so clearly they like to collect a full set of prejudices.

Main stream gay men like John Barrowman and Graham Norton are BBC talent and the nation as a whole accepts Stephen Fry as the national treasure he is, things are pretty good. It may be different where you live, but the UK has a long and progressive history of either hating or loving our gay icons... just check out Gruber from 'Allo 'Allo.

Either way, the result for double-entendres has a special place in an Englishman's heart, even if at the time we were as homophobic as the next country!

And the relevance to wargaming...

Well, it polarises, doesn't it. Some people are infinitely interested, while others look at you aslant with somewhat akin to a complete destruction of their interior perception of you and your credibility. Perhaps this changes elsewhere, but my 'small plastic men' are a topic which must be handled carefully ... and with tact. In the past I've found myself not joining in communications with less scrupulous uber-geeks as I am neither familiar with the company and keen to make a good impression ... not unlike Gruber above it's best to speak in code.

Why is this? Why should I feel shame at the prejudice of others? Alas, I have discovered that people are quite happy to use 'toy soldiers' in a derogatory way and belittle me. I'm successful, have a beautiful family and a very happy life and great business.

How odd?

Being a 'geek' has never been more fashionable, yet if I admitted to playing chess, I'd be considered an intellect. But I see something else in (some of) their eyes when I admit to wargaming. As such I have formulated the following table of socially acceptable geekidioms...

Geek Scale of Cooldom (an Oxymoron if ever I heard one)

• Harry Potter and ilk, Stardust, Startrek, Starwars etc (totally mainstream)
• Computer Games on a TV based platform (mainstream)
• Computer gamer on PC (bit more geeky)
• Call of Duty Online player (totally normal - working class)
• World of Warcrafter (opposite - very geeky, and danger danger, your life will disappear!)
• Hacking = cool, but/because illegal
• Programmer = largely dull, except if you design online/iphone games
• iphone games = mainstream
• Wargaming = GEEEEEEEK ALERT
• LARPing (Live Action Roleplay) = even I run away screaming at this stage, completely fucking weird!
• Cosplay - I used to live in Japan, I speak Japanese - cosplay is weird, Japanese people have a particular weird subset that is explained by BEING JAPANESE. Westerners who copy them are beyond weird...

...Rant over.

EPIPHANY!

Perhaps I should introduce my passion thus: "Infinity? Oh it's a bit like chess, but not so basic." He shoot's, he scores!

What's your experience, your feedback and your friends (non gaming) appreciation of wargaming? WII's, PS3 and XBox are now so mainstream my mother owns one, but somehow 'wargaming' is still in the geek-fringe (very straight, with pimples below). Why? Am I in a hole, along, quietly cradling my plastic crack habit and weeping softly?

Throw me a line here!

Passing of a hero...

For those of you that didn't get the news flash, Dick Winters (92) of 101st Easy Company died on the 2nd January 2011. Like many normal men (and women) around the world, he was called up to fight in WW2. Unlike many, he was widely credited for being a brilliant leader, a superb officer and a good reason why so many men of Easy made it back.

Unlike so many heroes of the Second World War and other conflicts, Mr. Winters has had his story of bravery and heroism documented (with artistic licence) by both Stephen Ambrose and Tom Hanks/Stephen Spielburg in 'Band of Brothers'.

For those of you who own it, it's time to dust off 'The longest Day' and 'Crossroads' and give some time to think of those men who gave their lives to enable the world we have today. For those of you who don't own Band of Brothers, who (heavens above) have never seen it, it's worth it. They gave us a world where we can thankfully choose whether we want to be in the armed forces or not.

And those other men in their millions (on all sides), each unique and beloved people who cherished and sought and wondered, whose bravery is now sorely forgotten, whose actions are lost with their deaths or misplaced in the miasma of history.

My grandfather was lucky enough to survive the War, despite being shot down over Germany and spending half of the war in Stalag Luft, but he spent his remaining days a broken person in many ways.

How lucky we are.

Damian Lewis as "Lt. Winters" in Band of Brothers (HBO)

Pathfinder "inter-blog-web-thingie" - 200 posts in.

100 followers, 200 posts - when did that happen?!?

Good grief, that snuck up on me! Due to insane business (oh and getting married, never a low-key undertaking) in May and June, I've stumbled - blinded and bleeding - across the line of my 200th post!

In just under 2 years, I've lost friends from 40k (My brother ... Devilin) and gained others (Anton and Spence to name a couple ...although they're not actually an item, but you get my meaning...), collaborated with Ron at FromTheWarp and put faces to online names (here's to you Mr. and Mrs. Drax).

My war gaming has gone from a dining table habit to a weekend wonder. I've played in doubles tournaments, APOC games, Battle Missions, Planetstrike, Hordes ... and my enjoyment of war gaming has blossomed ...

I've also come to terms with my 'embaressment' at being apart time uber-geek. Certain wargamers still scare the bejesus out of me ... but wargaming tends to attract the extreme ends of asbergers intended individuals, and that's cool... just don't ask me to hang with you while you're doing your velociraptor impression ... as a bell-curve, these guys (and girls, yes girls ... I know - its truly terrifying) populate a small percentage of the population.

The wargaming fraternity I've met have been welcoming, intelligent, erudite and very very funny... doesn't count for everywhere, but my experience has been overwhelmingly positive.

Finally, and not the least. I'm touched that so many people find pleasure in the innane drivel and detailed batreps I pound out for your entertainment. The combo of 40k, my club and the online environment has been a particularly potent mix. So thanks to all the commenters, visitors and followers who've stuck around with me in the last two years...

Stick around, thing's are getting interesting!

What's next?

Well Chaos Marines are itching for their first coat of paint .. and I have rhino's to buy and build. Malifaux's itching at the edges and there's some final Imperial Guard models to do. My 40k experience is far from over ... but its edging towards the banal ... except "SPEARHEAD"... time to roll out the tanks!

Shout Out to a Buddy - Spense/Spin/The Undercoater...

Just a quick post to 'big-up' my mate Spense ... who has finally succumbed to the tinterweb and started a blog. Alike to Anton (my mad, frenzied painting buddy), Spense is ex-GW staff. Unlike Anton, his nickname is 'the undercoater' because he rarely (if ever) has painted anything, ever.

He does however have a pile of interesting ideas about the wargaming scene ... although he bitches about the loss of 4th edition SOOOO much! Check out Spense's ramblings here:

THE ORACLE

It's all gone a bit Midkemia?!?

Spearhead ... you what?

Grab yourself a cup of tea, turn the brain on,

and prepare to delve into the nefarious minds of GW...

What's GW up to? Apart from trying to ship more plastic crack (that's a given), it seems a little unclear. Alike to other bloggers, I usually eschew the expensive advertising that is White Dwarf and get my kicks from the tinterweb... however the new Spearhead release had me (and I suspect a lot of gamers) sneaking into WH Smith's for a sneaky Dwarf.

My excuse was that "I'd been asked to pick up" - and hence why I couldn't find it on the shelves... what's your?

SPEARHEAD - First Impressions

Well, its a bit odd really isn't it? Apart from the aforementioned plastic crack reasoning it pretty much grabs the whole 40k armylist rules, shakes it about and then drop kicks it into next week. As far as I can ascertain (and this is written in the best GW 'vague-o-vision'), you can run a 'Spearhead' game and thereby take 1 or more (read more) spearheads, which allow you to take many many many many tanks, with APOC type squadron upgrades.

Interesting? Yes. Weird? Definitely!

On first glance, I like it. It's weird, but quirky. It's cleverly bridging the gap between APOC and 40k. Allowing Superheavies on the small scale etc. We've mostly been doing this anyway, but this legitimises it.

If you were expecting a more in depth analysis than that, well sorry, no. I'm far too busy and have Malifaux to learn for Tuesday. Apologies ... but here's the payback.

SPEARHEAD ... BATTLE MISSIONS ... KILL TEAM ... REGRESSION

A few years ago I was a steady user of forums. IGMB (Imperial Guard Message Board) was literally hunted down by the ubiquitous suneokun, and at the time the 'we've git a crap codex' was in full flow. But I digress... another comment discussion which frequently comes up but online and live is the 'rosy tint' argument. "40k ain't what it was", they say. "Good." I say, "The psychic round was more like a pokemon battle, every round lasted an age and remembering everyone stats (like MOVEMENT, INTELLIGENCE etc) was deadly dull. Too much information.

And running, TLOS and cover saves rock.

But I do miss the 'story' of 40k. The rules had become maybe too balanced while the codexes got dull. Since then two things have happened:

1) Codex release has increased ... but codex creep has too, and;

2) APOC has demonstrated that fair doesn't always equal fun!

There's something particularly British about the notion of a fair fight. Just ask Michael Caine in Zulu, no scrub that. Or the Crimean, no not that one either. Ummm ... the second World War, we Brits love to think ourselves plucky and backs to the walls and 'fighting on bridges' etc.

All cobblers really. But we are obsessed about 'fair play', hence why the English codified nearly every mainstream sport in existence. Cricket, football (not gridiron), rugby, tennis, badminton, crochet, golf etc etc etc. Fair, fair, fair, fair, fair... which is good.

If I was allowed a machine gun, even I could beat Nadal (alright ... I could wing him). Just look at Formula One, an intrinsically English sport. Ok, its more international than anything else (although Button, webber and Lewis are kicking butt), but the mindset is very English. Cars get too fast, slow them down, cars get an advantage, chop it off ... its all about skill.

Which is where it should be.

But 40k ain't tennis. It requires little physical training (watching youtube batreps speaks volumes... the skinny dude always gets pawn'd!) beyond beer drinking and fine hand-eye coordination. Hence the 'britishness' (or englishness) of 40k has led with a high focus on 'level playing field'. Now I'm not arguing that 40k is balanced, no no no. It has many problems, but the ruling ethos is very much focused on keeping balance in the game.

A slight loophole and the players scream "BROKEN!" - I won't even go into how many guns can fire from a chimera (it's 5 by the way, any gun I want, even lascannons). This commentary on 40k balance has become more and more feverish ... until GW stopped listening.

Allesandro did (I think) a great job with the 5th Edition rules. It's a neat system and great fun. But it was born old. You see the Ethos has changed. The old rule was 'fair', the new rule is 'fun'.

This is influenced by three things:

1. Hordes and Warmachine ARE balanced, but the combo's are all about pimp-slapping your opponent in turn two to three... the hyper aggressive american influence frankly rocks. The game system is dynamic and intricate in a way that makes GW seem a little 'stilted' ... GW are aware of this and the march of Hordes/WM on the interweb and sales figures...
2. Apocalypse demonstrated to GW that players actually care LESS about fairness than they do about getting the latest pimped out superheavy or squadron. Fairness IS important in a tournament, but if you go there with a 'weak' list you'll get bitch slapped.
3. Fairness doesn't sell models. Build cool models, make a bitchin' list, watch the money pile up. GW are heavily into the 'plastic crack' version of an arms race now. Models will hit the shelves and hit them harder than the previous generations ... codex creep is here to stay. The Space Wolves/ Blood Angels are clear and unequivocal examples of their fast production turn around UBER PIMPED codeci money making plans.

So what does this mean? Well actually it means that GW of the teenies (2010-2019, what would you call them?) will actually be closer to the GW of my childhood ... and here's why!

SUNEOKUNS GW W40K PREDICTION 2010-2019

First up, the interweb has chewed out whitedwarf's monopoly of GW related stuff. It's faster, more up to date, nearly as official and actually more effective. The hype generated for the latest edition and the codici's was all about the web. GW are tied into this now, feeding information to BOLS and elsewhere and pricking the hype to feverpitch. WD doesn't deliver this.

The only readers of WD are those with that habit. Otherwise why bother?

As such, Spearhead gives a wonderful indication of how they CAN increase sales of WD and the first 'step backwards' for 40k. In the olden days (1980's-90's) batreps were rare, but WD was all about rules, stories and inspiration. An article the size dedicated to Spearhead and 6 new tanks available would be waxed about ONE new metal cadian SQUAD available. Woop!

On the up side, rules for 'Confrontation', or Genestealer Cults, or new vehicles would be a frequent addition. This 'build your own' stuff meant that WD was an essential part in keeping your army fresh and getting the latest Psychic abilities for Ork Weirdboyz. GW lost this years ago, changing from fan mag to pretty advertising (and pretty pointless) magazine. An OK read, but no tactical use (beyond a rolled up striking action).

Now we see a full circle ... which is intriguing.

My second point is GW's abandonment of 'balance' in favour of fun. The Orks, Guard, SW, BA all pushed the bar out on counter-balance. There's an arms race going on out there and its real fun. 40k is now less about fairness and more about fun. Lets face it, 40k is half a game (read sport) and half a narrative or story. We're seeing a 'healthy' move towards the 'narrative' flavour of 40k. I don't actually really care that much if my Tau are rock solid, but if I beat you with them ... you'll know!

So what do you think? Is 40k soaring away from the balanced 'tabletop' game and back to basics with the more 'RPG' narrative elements of the game. Battle Missions was straight out of Rogue Trader ... are they fabricating these elements to rock the old 'fairness' boat? Spearhead effectively throws the core 40k army list rules away and buffs everything ... but it'll be fun, won't it?

Is the obsession with balance over?