Pimpcron: When Proxying Is a Sin in 40k
Pimpcron is asking on behalf of your hobby salvation.
People! Oh, and non-people too. Don’t wanna be exclusive. Secretary of Humor, Pimpcron, is here again with a question that many of you will squirm over. I had a conversation with a guy from my gaming club last night about when proxies are acceptable in our community and when they aren’t. Here’s a guide for players to make everything clear.
Why Are You Proxying?
So a guy (or gal, or non-person, or sentient pebble, or futuristic anthropomorphized emotion) comes into your club and has an army full of proxies. If you don’t already know, this is what is going through our heads when we are looking over your army and ready to judge you. Why is this person proxying these models?
Proxy using IG rules to represent Hrud – nice!
The person (or otherwise) is proxying models to fit a theme for their army that you otherwise couldn’t pull off with the standard miniatures.
Most of us would be fine with this. Like someone wants a different style of Guardsmen regiment hailing from their own home world the player made up. The player bought 3rd party models or bits to make their guardsmen into animal people, or WW2-style soldiers, or whatever nobody would have an issue at all. I’ve seen all manners of Chaos Spawn, Possessed, Beasts of Nurgle, etc. proxied with really cool looking models. Even some cool Tyranid proxies that look cool.
Two of my Heldrakes.
The player is proxying expensive models with very cheap models.
This is tricky territory. Is your Imperial Knight just a Megazord from Power Rangers that you pulled out of your childhood toy box? Not cool. Is your entire army Power Rangers themed? Okay, then we’d have to let it pass because it may not have been proxied for cheapness purposes, but to fit the theme. Are you using that Megazord in a friendly battle to try it out before buying a real one? Most of us are cool with that too. It’s smart to test play something before dropping a hundred or more dollars on it.
My Daemon Prince with wings.
The Proxy is not the same size as the real model.
This is the red zone people; this is almost never acceptable. The biggest issue with this used to base size due to templates, but that isn’t a problem anymore. Now the biggest problem with a size disparity is line of sight or line of sight blocking. Anybody would call foul if you proxied a Meganob for a Morkanaut. Seriously? That is not cool. If you are trying it out for rules purposes before buying, then find ANYTHING that is roughly the right size and use that instead. A Solo Cup, a small potted cactus, and lazy kitten, anything. Not only does that make you look like you’re intentionally trying to cheat, but it doesn’t give you an accurate feel for how it plays anyway. Not often will a Morkanaut be completely out of LOS. If your proxy is bigger, that is more acceptable because it is generally a disadvantage to you the proxier. But don’t make it a habit, go buy the real thing soon.
Obliterator.
The proxy’s models aren’t recognizable as the original weapons.
Absolutely not buddy. The main reason for having models in this game is so that your opponent can look at the model and tell what it does. Weapons are generally what the model “does”. If you bring a sword-carrying proxy and tell me it’s a lascannon, I won’t be happy because I shouldn’t have to ask you every five seconds what each model is supposed to have. It makes it even worse if there are multiple models with the wrong weapons.
[start of the game] “Okay, so just so you know, this sword guy is a Lascannon guy. This Captain doesn’t really have this Power Fist, he is just a chainsaw dude. This whole group of people holding clubs is actually Cultists with guns. See these Jump Pack guys? Yeah, they are just regular guys without jump packs. And I didn’t give them either of those Meltaguns or the Power sword, so just remember that they are bog standard. Now, these regular looking marines are actually Noise Marines, the Flamer is a Doom Siren.” [gets punched in the face repeatedly]
Couple of my Chaos Bikers.
In Recap
It is generally acceptable to proxy if you are going for a unique theme to your army, and your models are the appropriate size with analogous weapons. If any of your army doesn’t fit this format then you may run into trouble with other players. This is an expensive hobby and we all expect a certain level of investment. If it looks like you are proxying just to be cheap, then you’re gonna get dirty looks. Don’t be that guy who shows up with his “Imperial Guard Army” of green army men.
What is the worst proxy sin you’ve seen?
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PS, Top image is a papercraft template for a terminator.
