Yet another blogger/Rich's folly

For those I haven’t met my name is John and I’m a glutton for punishment.

As you know Rich likes to get other people to write his blog for him, so I’ve volunteered, unlike everyone else who he has asked. I’m a member of DWARF (Dunfermline Wargaming and Role-playing Fellowship) and have been playing toy soldiers seriously for about 6 years now. For most of that time I've been a Bretonnian player. 

The latest addition to my Bretonnian army courtesy of Rich himself

The one thing I won't be talking about in my posts is painting.

I don't paint, cannot stand it, find it loathsome, would rather just stick the brushes up my nose pointy end first and self-administer a frontal lobotomy.

Over the last couple of years I have been actively organising (or assisting in the organisation of) Warhammer tournaments here in sunny Scotland, including the largest held north of the border – Winter War, DWARFs annual charity tournament. So I thought I would share a few thoughts on what I’ve learnt in that time.

Wargamers are a very accepting bunch on the whole. In the 5 years I’ve been attending and 2 years of organising events I have found that every person I’ve spoken to or had dealings with has been warm and accepting of those around them. This is an uncommon thing – compare the situation to say football. I’m an out man and after getting the initial “gay” conversation out of the way I’ve discovered that at heart not a single person cares about it in any way or form, however, not having fully painted and based models on the other hand is rightly punishable by death.

Wargamers hate change, that is until they absolutely love it and as far as I can tell this is not an analogue system. Love or hate. That’s it. 7^th Edition changing to 8^th was the death knell of WHFB………… I’m still waiting for the axe to fall,  and since it was published the number of tournaments and the attendance at them has risen here in Scotland . Everyone hates the End Times, until they realise they can have fun with it. Resin is awful, until they get something from Forgeworld… the list goes on. 

This has taught me that above all else the community will always face a change like a bear with a sore head that’s had his hibernation interrupted. At first its unpleasant for all involved but eventually the sun will shine and honey will be found.

 

Me on most Mondays

The amount of fun had by a player is directly proportional to the amount of effort put in to making their opponent have fun. After a club event I organised last year I was sent feedback from a player that they had not enjoyed themselves during their games, when I asked for more details it became obvious that this person believed that fun = winning. Unfortunately his belief that using a netlist would guarantee that fun was flawed, somewhat unsurprisingly. The point is that as players we are all responsible for making sure that we enjoy ourselves by making sure that we all enjoy ourselves. Being a gracious winner or loser helps as does remembering that the dice will screw us all eventually.

From an organisational point-of-view I have grown to understand that most players are much happier with events that expect them to make an extra effort in some manner. I recently held an event which was unusual in its almost comp free nature, the army size being 3000pts and including the nasty-nasty that is End Times. 

And here it is - Fall of the Old World, 300pts of stuff and nonsense!

 

What I discovered was within hours of announcing it people were embracing the ethos I had aimed for by looking to include the monster they wouldn’t normally use, or painting those extra Silverhelms/Dragons/Rhinox that they could never fit in to 2400pts. Other events do this as well, several include allowing players to bring extra themed characters or providing a comp that favours overlooked models and units.  

Finally, soft-scores. Some hate them, some love them. You can include or exclude them from a tournament. Either way someone will complain, repeatedly, so decide what you want and move on to the awkward rules queries.

That’s enough from me for now, see you in the funny papers.

John