May has been a relatively quiet month.

 

I type that realising that it's not exactly a captivating opening to a blog entry and I'm likely to lose many readers immediately. But it is kind of the truth in the context of what this blog is about. The first 4 months of the year have seen fairly gaudy numbers of models in and out of the pile of shame whilst May has seen pretty modest values on both sides. For various reasons (which I will expand on below - oooo what a tease please keep reading) this is likely to change in June. For better or worse is very much up in the air.....

 

Before all that though, I wanted to share some musing about the wider hobby, the social side of it, and whether games companies (and in particular GW as the absolute giant in this area) have a certain responsibility to their community.

 

I've been into Warhammer now for 20 odd years. I fell away from the hobby in my mid 20s before returning, like many, during the early days of the COVID lockdowns. Lots of sudden free time and a minor mental health implosion presented the need for something new to occupy my mind and time. Building and painting these little soldiers fulfilled this brief perfectly and became an almost meditative endeavour as the months passed. It gave me something I'd been missing for a while without realising it - a creative hobby.

 

However, I also started looking for ways to interact with other people and to learn what was new and what I'd missed in the years I'd ignored Warhammer. And there was a lot of that! Primaris, command points, stratagems, what on earth is AoS, where are the square bases, there's Custodes models now, there's how many Horus Heresy novels etc. People still seemed to dunk on Tau though for reasons that I didn't quite understand, but that at least felt familiar. B&C was one of the first places I went to as it was where I used to lurk back when I felt shame about being a nerd in person. And it was wonderful to find it still going after all this time.

 

I did decide though that I actually wanted to play some games. In person. With people. But where. I hadn't been aware of FLGSs during my first foray into the hobby so had missed out on that experience and the discounts. Turned out that there was a great one just 2 minutes from my house (shoutout to Board in Brum) and a thriving community. I turned up, met people, played some games, loved it. I then moved house, found a new group and venue and it became a regular part of my life and gave me a really good group of hobby friends.

 

There's a big BUT though. FLGSs aren't always the most profitable of businesses it seems. In the last 2 years, 2 stores that I used to frequent, including my group's home, have been forced to close. Both were in town or city centres with good foot traffic. Both were always full of people playing board and tabletop games. Both had diversified into providing food and drinks. Both were thriving hubs for a host of communities from DnD to Warhammer. But both failed. As it currently stands, our gaming group is struggling to find a new home that won't cost a fortune to hire. And the longer this goes on, the less people game, the less people engage with the hobby and each other, the closer the group comes to dying off completely. 

 

Now I've no idea if this is down to enthusiastic hobbyists not making the best business people. Or an issue with the model itself. But gaming stores - especially those with gaming spaces - feel vital to the health of the hobby community. It's usually impossible to have a game in a GW store - space and/or policy makes it a non-starter. So venues like this are so so important to keep bringing people together and giving new people a way into the hobby.

 

Anyway, what is my point? Well it's more of a question really. Do GW (and other manufacturers, but GW are the biggest name in town by a long way) have a responsibility to support and nurture these communities and the stores/venues that support them? We've all heard that margins are being squeezed for 3rd parties while retail prices are going up. At the same time as inflation issues and hangovers from COVID (loans, rent arrears etc). I'm not saying that GW should be funding these places, but is there something that they should be doing to support the in-person side of the hobby beyond tournaments, and to support the venues that provide that? Or is this all just capitalism playing out and FLGSs should get better at what they do if they want to survive?

 

Maybe this is more of an Amicus question. Might post it there.....

 

 

Right enough waffle. Nobody has likely read this far. But here come the pictures.

 

Completed this month! Some ad mech!

 

A trio of breachers to give me a full brick of 6. Went a lot quicker and easier than the first 3 I painted. I think I'm in the swing with my ad mech now where I can knock them out fairly easily and be at least fairly happy with them.

 

Another tech priest, because more leaders are apparently needed.

 

It was about time I added some tank to the army so along came a dunecrawler. This is such a great model. Really enjoyed every bit of it and will likely get a second.

 

Finally for the Ad Mech, a pair of robots. These are in a slightly different scheme to the rest of the army since I figured they predate the force and their own personal scheme. They're not so dissimilar though as to look out of place. I hope anyway. Tried more airbrush stuff with this to get some transitions. Still a complete noob with the airbrush, but gaining confidence with each project. More of these are definitely on the list. Next month I aim to paint up their babysitter too so they don't get tempted to wander off mid-battle or something.

 

 

I also added more of those gorgeous Solar Auxilia I made a start on last month. This month saw another 10 man lasrifle squad completed and a Legate Marshall with the first of his Lifewards. He also has his pet pooch for company (cyber familiar in game). Yes I know his base is way too big, rules wise, but rule of cool won out when building him. I also based the dog's colouring on my own staffy's and I'm very happy with the result.

 

 

 

Finally a tiny addition to the completed pile. I picked up this little guy when it was the free mini of the month earlier in the year. After months of indecision about how to paint it I eventually settled on the White Scars. I really enjoyed painting this. REALLY enjoyed it. So much so that I rushed through the transfer stage and messed them up a bit. Not ideal. But overall I'm very happy with the final result. 

 

And this is where the potential storm comes in. I've been on the fence about Legions Imperialis for some time. I love the idea, but the DLC style release approach and need for more books that I have arms has put me off. But now I've painted a model......I might be sold. Question is how would the models count for the spreadsheet? By base, or by the somewhat misleading approach GW take on their product listings? The idea of the starter box adding 200 odd new models to the pile of shame seems embarrassingly counter productive in the context of this blog. As does buying into yet another system frankly. But they're so small I could conceivably knock a lot of them out quickly.......

The other complicating factor is that next month we welcome baby number 2 to our family. Which means painting time is going to be even thinner on the ground than it is now. Also there's roughly a 50/50 chance that I'll be on the redundancy pile during a work restructure which will be fun. Next month could involve painful decisions, regrets, and a return to the gaudy numbers we all love/hate. Watch this space....

 

Anyhoo, let's round out the month with the numbers:

 

Models IN: 5

 

Models OUT: 26

 

May TOTAL: -21

 

YTD TOAL: -108

 

A small, but steady, bit of progression and we're in triple figures! I'm mostly impressed that I've maintained some momentum with regards to my painting. It's something I've really struggled with previously and I can safely say this blog, and both of you who read it, are behind this improvement. So thank you! And apologies in advance if June's entry is a little late. I'll be running on caffeine and little else by that point.