Decade

It's been a year and a decade since I seriously bought into the whole miniature wargaming hobby.  I've had my share of wins and losses.  I've hosted events, helped others host events, painted, played, playtested; pretty much the whole shebang of what anyone can do in the community.

I've seen the landscape change.  I've been part of it.  People have seen me change, too.  Change has always been double-sided.  It can be good and bad at the same time.




Privateer Press

I can honestly say I lost my competitive edge because of the changes with what Privateer Press did.  In MkI, I got all the books and got as much No Quarter mags as I can.  I read everything to the point of memorizing stats and abilities of the models, just so I can fulfill Sun Tzu's "It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle."

Now, it's been a year since PP released MkII.  And I still haven't bought myself a copy of Prime MkII, Primal MkII or even my Khador Force Book.  But make no mistake, I still hold to the cutting edge authoring of PP rules, its models and its expansions.  I just can't take the pain it's going to cause (and is continually causing) my wallet.

A softbound core rulebook is 1,500 Php.  If I get both for WARMACHINE and HORDES, that'll snag me at 3,000 Php already.

A softbound force book is 1,750 Php.  Now, WARMACHINE has Cryx, Cygnar, Khador, Mercenaries, Protectorate of Menoth and Retribution of Scyrah.  HORDES has Circle Orboros, Trollbloods, Minions, Legion of Everblight and Skorne.  All in all, that's eleven faction books that I should have in order to go Sun Tzu mode again.  That's 19,250 Php for the force books.  Heck, even if I just get the decks (if ever ROS gets theirs out), that'll snag me a good 9,900 Php.

It should be realistically manageable, but WMH isn't the only game I play.  And with the 4K+ 3,000+ Php resin kits they will come out (at FA2 I hear), I dunno if I ever will go back to being competitive edge again.

But along with the bad, there should be some good out of it, too.  I'm now more relaxed with any of the games I play.  I still give my ace game as best as I can, but it doesn't annoy me as much to be surprised with some combo.  I give my opponents a more enjoyable time (I think) because I'm less technical now and generally more pleasant to play against.  Sure, I'll end up in the losers' bracket, but frankly, fuck if I care.

Games Workshop

What more can I say about the biggest shark in the ocean?  It's a mixed bag.  Playing 40K and WFB casually is still fun, but a lot more can be said for the precise authoring when it comes to competitive gameplay.  The models they come out with now are awesome!  They still have their usual price increases.  People here would still rather build second, third or fourth armies rather than buy into a different game system.

That's just the way it is.

Make no mistake.  I'll never get tired of building and painting their plastic stuff.  I'll never get tired of helping the local GW gaming community despite what they may think of me.

And that's the bottom line

Bottom line is: for me everything from PP and GW (and from whatever system I'll play in the future) are games that are meant to be enjoyed.  Sure, some find said enjoyment in breaking everyone's list in a high stakes tournament.  Thankfully, I've been there already.  But now, I'm just happy to see my other buddies enjoy their games and win their games, too.

More to the point -- I choose to enjoy all the games I play, and choose what system I'll play.  I choose to buy whatever miniature, toy, book or whatever I want; or choose not to buy anything.

For me, that makes freedom of choice a very good thing to have.