Why do we play what we play?

    This question has come up of late as a topic of discussion between me and a good friend it began out of a conversation of nostalgia of our first games and our first armies/factions within them. The conversation show cased changing of our tastes and motivations through the years and it eventually came to the question of why do we play what we play now? As I have thought on that conversation and that question I have found it to be two fold. The first part being the obvious, why do we play the games and the factions with them that we play now? The second is the motivations of why we play tabletop miniatures games.

    I'll tackle the first part of the question first. I started into miniature war gaming when I was a senior in high school at the ripe old age of eighteen, being deep into RTS games on the computer I saw some people playing 40k at a local game store, I watched the game and immediately became hooked when I saw an IG basilisk fire that big blast template and make a squad of dark eldar wyches vanish in pink mist. But at the time my faction that I enjoyed the most in RTS was the terrans from starcraft and I bought my first army that resembled them the most, Space Marines. I can say when I dove into 40k the first time I was eating up as much stuff as I could get my hands on books, fluff blurbs, anything. Looking back now on that time I can't think of any other time that I have been so passionate about 40k or any other miniature game period.

   But time passed and I found my tastes changing and with it what army I was investing every penny I could get my hands onto. Over the next several years I got into Tau for their anime like ascetics, Eldar, when I got into my elf fan boy stage (Arguably I have never left that stage just taken vacations), Blood Angels, Grey Knights, Dark Eldar, Tyranids. I also branched out to other games, Warhammer Fantasy, Warmachine, Dystopian wars, Infinity, Blood Bowl, Firestorm Armada, Dropzone Commander and I am sure the list goes on a few more places that I have forgotten and minis are put away somewhere. I can sit here and think back to each of those times when I got into those new armies or games and remember the reason as to why. Be it ascetics, play style, competitiveness, fluff, boredom, only thing being played, etc.

    But take away all the mechanics, the rules, the models and you come to why do I play these games? This is where I will tackle the second part of the question. I have found in this introspective that my reasons for playing these types of games to have changed over the years as well. I started out in those early days with the badly painted space marines to just have fun, hang out with friends, and sometimes make up a crazy story or purpose as to why our armies were fighting. I remember writing in a bunch of old notebooks fluff about my chapter and the battles they fought. Now I cant say I won more than maybe ten battles with those space marines the first year but I never even thought of that. I was having fun, who cared? But after a time that started to change, as I got some more knowledge and skill under my belt and started my second army I started to win far more than I lost. Now that I could win, I started to play a little harder for that win and regrettably I probably made a few people not enjoy the games they played against me.

    Again as time continued and my skill (I thought at least) got better I started to think more and more about tournaments and got into that mindset. I did not make any more fluff in notebooks though I did often keep a short story or explanation in my head. My army lists were more geared towards what was the most efficient. Which was fine as the players I played with then were all like minded. But yet again as time went on I grew weary of trying to stay on that razors edge of competitiveness. I found my joy in the game lessening. At that point I strove to try and refocus the game to back to what it had been before for me just having fun with friends who enjoy the same hobby as mine. But such transitions are not always painless, because I had at first went back to the lists that were fluffy and not competitive I once more started to lose more than I won. Now I admit this could be far more from other factors than the lists or my play style. But when you have a past with a game or game systems where you were proficient at once before you soon become your worst enemy. You start questioning what you did wrong? You focus on all the dice rolls that did not go your way to the point that you don't notice the times they go well for you. I am not saying that there isn't some merit to any of these but when you start to focus more and more upon that it does poison the joy in playing the game.

    I have not found any real answer to deal with those problems when they arise. I guess the point if there is one I am trying to make is that what ever you reason for playing do it because it brings you joy, these are games. But we should always remember what ever our reason or how ever we derive joy from the game we should never forget there is always someone opposite side of the table from you. That they are wanting to have fun and we as decent respectable human beings should not try to take that away from them. Well I think I have been on my soap box long enough. I will try to get into the swing posting at least once a week.

A Beginning

    Hello there, my name is Jason and I have been been playing tabletop miniature war games for well over a decade now. I have decided to create this blog to share with you reviews, opinions, and progress of my hobbies as I get them. (Also to slightly motivate myself to actually you know... progress them further.) Predominately I play Warmachine/Hordes, Dropzone Commander, Dystopian Wars, Firestorm Armada, and I have a nice and large Warhammer 40k army that is staring daggers at me from its dust covered shelf.

    A good friend of mine over at Enter the Maelstrom has been posting quite regularly on his blog and it had helped drive me towards the creation of this one. It is my hope to post every Wednesday at the start and who knows where it will go from there. An idea that I had to help add content to this blog was to tap into another one of my passions and that is philosophy. Now I am selecting a specific book, Sun Zzu's Art of War and post excerpts from. It is a book I have had for a long time and woefully never really looked into. It is regarded by many as cornerstone for military and business strategy. I had the idea that posting excerpts from it we as both the blogger and the reader could discuss about and perhaps learn a little something from. Well that is the hope any way. So here is the first excerpt from Art of War.

Of Old the skilled first made themselves invincible to await the enemy's vincibility

 Invincibility lies in oneself.

 Vincibility lies in the enemy.

 Thus the skilled can make themselves invincible.

 They cannot cause the enemy's vincibility.

 

 Thus it is said, "Victory can be known. It cannot be made."