Interested?

Going into six years into this hobby, I've come across many people who've shown interest in miniature wargaming. Here in the Philippines, the common mentality is that new guys always ask what is the strongest/most winning-est/best army? And from the veterans that I've known, some may have nice answers, some might not. My answer is one that's not nice:

Goddammit! If there was only ONE army that ONLY WINS ALL THE TIME, then everyone here would be playing ONLY THAT army, now wouldn't they?!?

Jeez! If only most new guys had enough balls as they have interest, then it'd make this hobby more interesting!

A sad reality about Pinoys is that we're a tad more competitive than anyone else in the world. We always have a chip on our shoulder pushing us to be "a little better in something" than the next white guy, black guy, aborigine or eskimo. That's not so bad isn't it? But mix in the in-bred lazyass nature of Pinoys, THEN you get why most new guys ask that dumb question.

I understand that investing in a hobby only to lose and lose isn't such a hot idea. I should know. I WAS exactly just like that years back when I started. And I don't want to see every new dude being like that.

Like I say to all new guys, "get an army that you know that you'll enjoy painting and building and collecting." Noobs won't understand that on the onset. Personally, those who don't understand it aren't worth the bother. These are the ones who may have bought and put together an army, then after a discouraging losing streak of 2 months, he decides to pack up, quit and sell his badly-done models. He then proceeds to succumb to regret and starts blaming the game and the players for causing him such misery. Well I say, fuck all these whiny losers!

Pick an army, build it, paint it nice and make it win!

You lose a game, that can be accredited to being new. You lose for three months of constant gaming and THEN quit? Then I suggest you shove your fingers up your ass and enjoy a chocolate-covered pretzel, you dumb shit, because I'm sure that's all you're good at. You start blaming your losses at other people is just plain pathetic. Go back to whatever shithole you came from and stop infecting my gaming community.

If you're stil reading and haven't thought about flaming me, then I'm sure you understand my colorful sentiments. In the Philippines, miniature wargaming is a very niche game. VERY few people play it, even fewer on a regular basis. Personally, I prefer it that way. Quality over quantity.

SO if you're a noob and you're still interested after reading all that crap, build your 2K WFB or 40K or 500 WM and drop me a line. Show no quarter, because I'll be out to hit you with a bitchin' smackdown!

The Price To Pay

Alright, here's the deal. I won't fool you into believing what's what with how much you're gonna spend with a miniature hobby. If you're serious with the hobby, you will spend.

Don't take it too bad. Trust me, ANY hobby is expensive. It's just varies on certain aspects. With CCGs, the startup is affordable, but the long-term expense becomes taxing. New expansions within a year force you to keep your current collection up-to-date. Either you spend a lot and keep buying booster pack after booster pack, or you sell off your cards to earn back some amount of money (sometimes even more if you're good) that you spent on them.

I'm not trying to discourage people from playing CCGs. My roots at number-crunching can be traced to MTG. But I'm not a rich person. Buying boosters constantly is something that is just impossible for me. And I totally suck at selling stuff. That basically just made playing on Type 2 tourneys unattainable for me. And when I decided to stick to playing just Type 1, someone out there was hoarding all the Tundras, so I wasn't able to put together a real nice Type 1 deck without those nice cards. The same goes for Clix games. It's the same booster mentality. Sad to say, I'm just inept at an environment.

What I wanted was a game where having a super rare card did not give you a straight advantage. I wanted a game where buying and buying did not give you a straight advantage. I also wanted a game where you can be creative and still be competitive tactically. If you feel that way, then miniature wargaming is also for you.

The initial startup for this hobby is costly. Not only do you need to buy expensive miniatures, you still have to invest on hobby supplies as well. I will discuss about this in great depth in a future article.

Bottom line is, people shouldn't turn away from miniature wargaming because of it being expensive. EVERY other hobby out there is even more expensive than this, you just don't know it yet.

What Is Miniature Wargaming?

As taken from Wikipedia, Miniature wargaming is a form of wargaming designed to incorporate miniatures or figurines into play. The miniatures used represent troops or vehicles (such as tanks, chariots, aircraft, ships, etc.). The games may reflect historical situations and armies, or may be futuristic or fantasy-based.

Many miniatures games are played on a floor or tabletop, with terrain represented by miniature scenery (hills, forests, roads, etc.). In this respect, miniatures wargames theoretically offer players great freedom of play, as well as a visual spectacle. Movement of the miniatures is regulated using a tape-measure. However, like boardgames, miniature games can also be played using gridded terrain (demarcated into squares or hexagons) or even gameboards.

One of the main reasons people play miniature games, as opposed to computer or boardgames, is because many find the tactile element of soldiers and scenery on a tabletop to be aesthetically pleasing; additionally, some hobbyists enjoy the challenge of painting miniatures and constructing scenery. Miniature wargaming may be seen as combining many of the aesthetics of tabletop train modeling with an open strategy game predominantly, though not exclusively, with a military theme.

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In the words of a great mini-wargamer himself, Jay Estaris: it is the hobby where grown men get to play with little toy soldiers on top of a large table. They move the soldiers around and pretend that they’re generals in a small war.

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Whatever definition, for me, I'm in it because it's fun!