Wargames and Cynicism

I was tempted to open up with a discussion and defence of cynical works, but what would be the point? I’m sure by now we all know the deal. It is usually a lot easier to just go with the flow and assume that almost everyone on the Internet already expects angry people pretty much everywhere. The cynic, more than anyone else, is often surprised that most people aren’t completely livid by now.

For the most part, I’d like to avoid the Internet tendency to take negativity too far (hence why this blog will also be featuring articles and fluff), but obviously, there is little point beating about the bush when something is annoying you. If you’re sailing on a sea of turds it is often hardly worth the effort of getting scented sails for your boat.

My title of ‘Wargamer’ is a bit misleading, because I much prefer the more general term of ‘Hobbyist’. For me it is as much fun putting all those models together, converting a few and sticking paint on them as it is playing the games. I suppose the main reason most people complain about their hobbies such as Wargaming, is because generally the effort they put into it starts making the whole aspect of it personal. You start seeing things you don’t like about the game ruining your experience, because after all that personal investment you put into it; it does tend to annoy you when witnessing the company that provides you with it screwing it up.

You can see this fanaticism with webcomics, films, TV series’, computer games and everything else in popular culture. There isn’t a great deal of difference other than the extra time, blood, frustration, curse words and patience invested can make you a little more obsessive than you might be otherwise. There is one main thing that unites us all, our passion (or more likely fanaticism) that we put into it. It is often easy to forget that most people get angry because they care, and nothing makes you care more than change.

Ultimately, none of us like change, but the Wargamer actively fears it, especially if they play GW games, or at least did at one point. It’s not just the gamers who still experience Games Workshop either. Recently those involved with Privateer Press’ wargames (Warmachine and Hordes players in particular) have started to realise the stigma of ‘change’ isn’t just limited to GW. Those very few to experience Rackham before At43 and Confrontation: Age of Ragnarok, may remember the older version of Confrontation. I mentioned in my greetings post how I no longer play Confrontation. The change (the most radical of any wargame I’ve ever seen) is why.

When a game you love takes a radical u-turn, it is hard not to get more cynical. With change brings new rules, ideas and concepts. These aren’t necessarily bad, but in a competitive world where any business needs to make money, most of the change tends to revolve around improving the company’s ability to make more money than anything else. The ‘art’ or the ‘ethos’ of it can end up in the recycle bin with, what can be assumed, less than a moments’ hesitation.

It is a sad indicative of society that we find that moaning comes so easily. The media knows this so well that they can devote pages to doing it, or invoking it in their viewers/readers. They know it so well that they (particularly in British media) can often make stuff up just to add fuel to this endless moaning. You often hear the phrase that ‘everything is politics’ well, technically speaking, yes. Hobbies are however, how we try to distract ourselves from such things as politics. In our dependence on it, and our investment in it, we find that it as much political and just as prone to driving us completely mental over it as anything else.

Wargaming is one of those hobbies that is very diverse indeed. There is plenty of material to mull over, wax lyrical and complain about. Although I want to quickly get up to date with frustrations and such, the easiest place is to start at the beginning. For me, the beginning was with GW’s Warhammer 40,000, which although wasn’t my first wargaming experience (that was Necromunda) I started 40k about 15 years ago, and it really doesn’t take all that long to get annoyed with GW, it just gives more fuel to resentment.

You could view this post as the introduction to the Wargaming Cynic Series, as I set what will hopefully be the tone of a series, which I’ll try to keep more or less on the rails of the constructive, with a little deconstruction for artistic affect (honest!). The temptation is to spout into rants about everything, but let’s keep it strictly trivial shall we?

Thanks for reading.

TWC.