A not-so-great beginning to 40k

[klinesmith]

At work I had a few friends who were into the 40k game that enticed me with their stories of awesome tabletop battles and sweet army fluff. I heard all about space marines, orks, necrons, sisters. I heard about Horus Heresy and the way it was the start of the chaos marines rise.

I enjoyed hearing about tactical discussion of Eldar vs Tau and what the little nuances of each codex meant. I enjoyed discussing rules and what they meant and how to get into the game itself.

In short I was pumped to play.

My first army (only army) was/is orks. Dakka dakka dakka. I love the fluff, I love the hilarity and fun of the army itself. I love being able to have diverse and crazy units. I primarily love creating my own unique weapons and vehicles based upon wild concepts that involve crazy ork thinking. I played a few games with these friends and it was fun over a few beers.

So I take my army with my far, far more experienced friends down to a local game shop. While those two set up to play each other on an awesome board I was just going to watch. I was approached by a man in his mid 40s to play a game. I said sure but pre-warned him I was extremely fresh into the game.

He unpacks his army of space wolves. The army is fully painted, frankly I didn't think it was anything to write home about, and I start to unpack mine. I have painted as much as I can with the money and time I can allocate to 40k between a full time job and a heavy, heavy school schedule. He took one look at my relatively unpainted army and from there is spiraled downward.

He and another guy he apparently knew chastised me heavily for being unpainted. I mean I couldn't believe what was going on. I had no idea that it was a requirement, only an extension of the game (and admittedly painting is the primary reason I wanted to play). These two older gits were as obnoxious as I've ever met. I was told that if I intend to play this game I had better come with a painted army and that he was insulted that I came down without one. I literally couldn't believe my ears. I explained I had a lack of time and was doing what I could when i could and was told quite literally:

"You're in the wrong game then."

Needless to say I left and have never gone back.

I know of these forums from my buddies and as I'm on this site I'm seeing all these posts about painted armies and why they matter. I'll be honest, after that run in I don't know if I'll continue this beyond our little circle. That's a massive disappointment because I was looking forward to expanding my game. I just don't get it. This was supposed to be a fun way to pass time and all aspects of it are for leisure but from the looks of it it should be treated as a second job.

End rant I suppose. I guess I was curious about your takes on a new player and his inception into this game following this mentality that says "YOU MUST PLAY THIS WAY."

How does this help develop the game at all?

[Dark_Templar]

Honestly, they sound like complete wankers who you should have told where to go. Unfortunately, they are a large part of the hobby, as forums such as this will display.

This forum is better than something like Warsewer, but in general, there are a lot of people in this hobby that are a waste of oxygen.
This is the reason I no longer play, I am in the hobby for the fluff ans modelling aspects, nothing more.

Sorry to paint such a bleak picture.

DT.

[SotonShades]

I pretty much agree with you fully. Although I do like having fully painted armies (not that any of mine are fully painted... too many projects to work on at any time, and adding more all the time!)

I don't like the arrogant attitude a lot of Vets take, assuming the way they play is right. This extends to everything from painted armies to their interpretation of the rules. They seem to have forgotton how long it can take to get in to the hobby... Sure, when you are a kid, everyone expects you to have an unpainted/over painted mess of a few models that barely make a legal unit or two. When you are a grown up, you are supposed to be able to produce a fully painted army at the drop of a hat, having never picked up a paintbrush in anger before? It's mad!

I always try to give new players a break, especially if I'm playing in store. I'll make tactical mistakes, and point them out as if I hadn't realised to give them a bit more of a chance (and regularly make tactical mistakes without realising...). If they don't have a fully painted army, no worries. Especially true if they haven't been playing long. All the better to make a new friend, get them into the hobby and get them up to speed as soon as possible so they actually pose a challange.

What I do not like is that guy who habitually turns up with the same army with a couple of units painted, maybe only a coupld of models, and half the army left as bare plastic, with all the special weapons missing. I'm not saying WYSIWYG all the time and we have all started getting models out at a game only to find the Marine with the Plasma Gun has lost both his arms and we've turned up without any glues. It's those guys who seem to change what special weapon the squad has each turn because they haven't marked it properly. Best way to mark it is to actually have a completed model in my opinion, but these guys dont seem to get that.

"Oh but I've left the gun off so I can fine tune this list and put it on when I've decided."
So why have you been playing with the same list for the last 6 months and not completed it? I think it's as tuned as it's going to be.

It is these people who we see and get annoyed with. Unfortunately it means a lot of us see an unpainted army and assume that this player is going to be one of those palyers. I always try to have a chat with people before I play them in store. I try to find out how long they have been in the hobby, some of their favourite models they've built/painted, what kind of game they are looking for. It takes a few minutes longer, and on a few occasions I've gotten so deep into conversation we've ended up forgetting to play the game. Still have a good time though and we are all the more prepared for the next time we meet up.

So I sympathise with you klinesmith. I hope you don't give up on your hobby and do make it back to that store. Just maybe avoid those people who snubbed you last time, those guys I've mentioned in my post and try not to become one of them. If all else fails, I'll give you a game

[Sparda]

Just refuse to play people like that and tell them to shove their foot up their ***. Theres sadly a ton of people like that but theres also some really cool people out there to, just ignore people like that and try to play some non-****bags.

[eldargal]

I'm the first to say that you should aim to have a fully painted army on the table, but how long that takes depends on a whole lot of factory. To expect a new player to have a fully painted army right away is absurd.

[Aldramelech]

At my club we do not play with unpainted figures, full stop, period. Now that does not mean we are rude to new people or discourage new members. What would happen if a person turned up without a painted army? Well we play lots of multi player games and they would be more then welcome to join in. If they wanted to play a specific game then, if possible, someone would lend them an army. Our club nights are planned in advanced the week before, some guys will arrange one on one games, others will arrange a couple of multi player games and at least one member will agree to arrange the "open" game. This is for any members who are not present to arrange which game to play or if new people turn up. (This is a Wargames Club, not a GW Club, so the games will be a mix of historical, board games and GW games) We do not have "Pick up" games.

Now this does not suit everybody and if this isn't your thing there are 4 other clubs in the area to choose from. There is the club that meets at GW and they do what you guys on here are more familiar with, pick up games etc. This is good for the younger kids as we also cant have under 18s as we meet in a pub. There are two clubs that meet in independent shops, one of which does not sell GW and will therefore not allow GW games to be played and there is a group that meets at a social club that do mainly GW but do other Sci-Fi/Fantasy things, they tend to pre arrange games, but do have pick up games.

Now for you to go to a club at a shop where pick up games are the norm and experience what you did is unacceptable.
In that type of club it should be expected that people such as yourself will arrive to try out the game and they should be offering encouragement.

[Mauglum.]

HI all.
Why does the OP story remind me of the old saying...'never take an idiot with you , you can ALWAYS find one when you get there!'

MOST gamers are happy to just play the games , the asthetics are a nice bonus , but NOT the prime concern.

A good game doesnt need a set level of asthetic exellence to be enjoyed.

Unfortunatley as 40k rules are not that great in comparision to other games ,so there is far more emphasis on the asthetics.
As Jervis said, '...the games are just the icing on the cake...'.

So mal adjusted folk feel the need to berrate those who dont have fully painted armies.
(Without the asthetics to distract from the rules, the games are not as enjoyable for some.)

Remember its YOUR hobby , so paint and play at YOUR own speed and spend time on the parts of the table top gaming hobby YOU enjoy the most.

TTFN

[energongoodie]

I feel bad for you buddy. It is a real shame those muppets put you off.
Don't give up on it though.

[rogue.trader.voril]

@klinesmith: I have to agree with the earlier posts. There are jerks out there, but there are some really good friendly players out there. I feel very lucky to have run into the group I did, because they are awesome players and very veteran. There is no petty crap to deal with but ample amounts of help. I took 15 years off playing, so starting back up is really starting all over from scratch... except I'm already familiar with the fluff and have some painting ability. We have vets who can paint excellently and some who couldn't paint their way out of a paper bag. Some of our members even prefer to buy painted ones on ebay just because it's easier and better than they can do. One uses spray cans exclusively... no brushes... and it looks just like you might think it would. I think that help ground them and remind them that it is tactics not paint that proves a player.

Another way I lucked out is that the friendly players are the majority here and are behind the counters, too. So that kind of behavior usually ends up with some kind of social consequence. For example: any whining and you will have to wear the "Pacifier of Shame".

I can stand up for myself, and have, but I leave a challenge to those vets who don't condone that type of behavior: More than questionable rules or lack of Codex, with out new players this game stagnates quickly. Nurture not ridicule! Stand up for a noob.

"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do."
-Benjamin Franklin

[synack]

Next time tell him that they're your models. If you want to leave them unpainted, or shove them up your arse and cover them with ****, then thats totally your prerogative. It's your money, your time and your models. If he's got such an issue with it, tell him he can paint them for you.

Don't let one or two guys spoil you game. Next time something like that happens, pack your models away and choose opponents that are a little more courteous.