Wargaming ASKEW: Will the Original Playerbase Please Stand up?
This post contains copious amounts of Nerd Rage and possible hypocrisy you have been warned.
Have you seen him?
He is dead and sadly been replaced with this guy…
I really miss the first guy, he respected his art. It was an extension of him as a person. It was a way of life. The second guy only wants to win or revolutionize the mullet for the 21st century. He is really no different from a Lakers’s fan–fake and full and botox. What “sweep the leg” was for Karate Kid now boring Mech Guard Lists are to 40k.
Gone are the historical nuts that just loved to put down a random assortment of Guard painted in the correct colors for their Battle for Stalingrad theme army. Instead we are now faced with wave after wave of players that find it easier to play what they read on the Internet than explore the 40k universe first. It especially doesn’t feel right with Imperial Guard; shouldn’t IG players be wearing silly military hats and always talking about Band of Brothers?
Maybe the second guy thinks that Ard’ Boyz is the ultimate test of list building and the Leaf Blower is the pinnacle? Well it turns out that you just can’t auto win without some playing testing of your newly Internet approved army. The blame though can’t be solely placed on the Internet circus. I blame one thing more than any other.
It is you
Sorry wrong Valkyrie I meant this one
This little bugger has changed everything; with its large stand, cargo space, twin linked lascannons, and hot turbines. It gave Imperial Guard an easy way to break out of the Gunline paradise it once inhabited. With this one release the size matters 40k rednecks bought these faster than free beer with purchase of your monster truck rally ticket.
The result is the infestation of similar looking soulless armies that really have not won anything to justify their worship. The old IG player loved the IG regardless of win or loss and for that it made him a relic of 40k years gone past. They played the game as it was originally intended, for fun and stories.
In the time before the Internet you could walk into any local game store and simply look at an each person and know what army they played. Now I have to guess among the last three latest releases. I want my stereotypes back 🙁 When was the last time you saw a honest to goodness rune necklace, wolf shirt wearing Space Wolf player? I certainly have not since the new codex. What I have seen though is Thunder Cav, Las Plas, Ed Hardy T-shirt wearing androids that have no idea Fenrisian refers to a planet.
I must be getting too old for this game, because why would I want to walk into a tournament and know that 1/3 of the players are playing basically the same army list and oddly don’t even know how to play it. Last time I checked Warhammer 40k still does not require the Konami Code to win, no matter how much you think a Chimera plus Veteran Melta = ftw
So please for the good of the game look inside and play what really speaks to you, not just what you think will win. Trust me, because if you actually like what you are playing you can still win (including Necrons) with it. Wouldn’t you rather be the player that gets flamed on the Internet for posting a Foot Eldar list than the mindless player cowed by the latest netdex consensus?
Even if deep down I don’t believe it can win; my side is with the Foot Eldar guy, along with the World War II enthusiast and his Desert Fox IG force, and even the guy that thinks that Dante would be cooler if he looked this…
Wait I take that last part back– no one should anime emo their Blood Angels.
Is there a problem with people taking Internet lists and not knowing how to play their armies? Do the old school players still exist? Would you rather see more variety or what you think are “good” lists?
Never fear TastyTaste and Blood of Kittens is here!
