Why We Play

[Zman]

I'm in this hobby to enjoy.
Modeling, painting, and sometimes, play a match with friends or another players. I enjoy with this so much.
The only black points in this hobby is the bad players, and GW don't update old codex...

[TheKingElessar]

I learnt to play thanks to my dad, who played. I've always loved the fluff, and been competitive, so having a vivid imagination and being pretty decent are naturally reasons to continue - I grew up with the game, since I learnt at 8, back in 2nd Ed.

I wouldn't have any interest, however, in continuing if not for the social aspect. I dropped out for a year or so, back in the day when my local GW staff were jerks, and my opponent pool dried up to two. Having gotten back in at the very very end of 4th was good, it allows me to read 5th Rules without a 4th Ed bias - a lot of players still confuse the rulesets, or play outdated lists. Luckily, the internet has expanded my social sphere beyond the 40 or so I regularly get to interact with.

[SotonShades]

Well lets see... Originally I got into the hobby because of the beautiful models, both those painted by my mum's cousin and those at my local Games Workshop (Leicester, UK). As I got more into it I got more and more into the background, reading as many of the Black Library novels as I can get my hands on, as well as all the fluff in the codexs and army books before I even get to the rules and models.

Not to say that I dont love blowing stuff up. The social side of the game is fantastic, and seeing those special moment in the game in an almost cinematic fashion in my mind keeps me coming back to see my army get thrashed over and over.

Oddly I've come full circle in the roughly 12 years I've been in the hobby. So much recently I've been doing models for the sake of the models, rather than their background or how they play. It's even got to the point where the manager at GW Leicester is asking to put my models in the display cabinets, and chatting to new hobbiests hopefully inspiring them to get into all this stuff.

[Lord Sandwich]

Well, to be honest, Warmachine is a better Skirmish game. Flames of War is a better mass battle game. So what does 40K have going for it? In my opinion, two things: first, the fanbase. As far as I can tell, no other wargame has as large a fanbase as 40K. You can walk into nearly any wargaming store and find a person or two who play. The second thing is the background. No other game has such an established background (FoW is historical, so real history doesn't count) or such a COOL background. In my opinion, it's BECAUSE of its dark, Gothic background that makes 40K a superior game.

Oh, and also, there's so much more room for creativity than in Warmachine/Hordes. After all, there's millions of Guard regiments, and a thousand Marine chapters. You could be playing with anyone from anywhere. Your battle could have happened, regardless of the time period: who's to say it didn't happen? In Warmachine, you're playing with what? A specific individual, leading a specific force. Not nearly as interesting.

[Occam]

I play because I'm fortunate to have a cousin who is cool enough to fly me out east, buy me all of my modals and then spend a week making them together. Really, I'm too poor to be able to play otherwise.

I play because it reminds me of all the GI JOE wars I used to have with my older brother who died from drugs several years ago.

[Daemonette666]

I do not like the Fluff, storyline or any of the other backgrounds that go with the 40K universe. Why I left 40K, Fantasy and Epic Space marine back in 1995 was that they kept on changing the rules, base sizes, dropping races and army lists and making it so I could not enjoy the game.

Why I got back into 40K in 2006 was that I had a friend who showed me 4th edition and I really liked the Chaos Space Marine miniatures. I love painting, and had already amassed a collection of 1000 Classic battletech miniatures by this time, and my mate wanted to play 40K more than he did any other gaming system (He owned minis and rules for about 5 gaming systems).

I enjoyed the 3rd edition re-release Chaos Marine codex, and then GW hit us with the dreaded 4th edition codex we have now. I changed with the times, and my tactics also changed.

What kept me in was my love of the Chaos Space Marine miniatures, My desire to paint those miniatures, and that when the 5th edition rules came out, although they Sucked a bit because of the altered close combat rules and true line of sight thing, they were still manageable.

Gaming tactics, miniatures and painting are what keep most people in the game. I would have to say that fluff is a separate thing that some like more than others, and it is not the thing that draws or keeps most people in the game, especially when they start to whinge about changes made, or new army list that that are released.

[eldargal]

The 40k universe is right up there with the best sci-fi universes created, in my opinion, with more interesting races and atmosphere than most. That is a big plus. The rules while a tad clunky, have character and make for a fun afternoon of gaming. The models are the finest commercial models out there, the only figures I see that ar superior are the sculpts put out by small companies in small numbers.

Re skirmish games, 40k isn't really a skirmish agame and hasn't been since RT/2nd ed. If you want to compare something to Warmachine, compare Necromunda. I think Necromunda comes out better. If only they would make a second edition.