02 – Casual Warhammer 40K gaming (Funhammer) – Chapter Approved

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February 8, 2017 •

02 – Casual Warhammer 40K gaming (Funhammer)

A short episode, attempting to explain in my own terms what casual wargaming means to me, and why it’s not so casual after all.

Relevant links:

greggles

Sounds great Jeff! One suggestion. When you mention a link, or twitter handle, maybe put it in the notes below the podcast for easy reference!
- Tibbs
  
  Yeah, man! I plan to do some kind of transcription and show notes at some point. It’s a bit of work so I’m looking into ways to make it a bit easier on me from a workload perspective. It’s going to be pretty important on some episodes so I’ll do my best to include that. Thanks, dude.
Eric Wier

This was a really excellent episode; it is good to say some words on it, as I feel many do not seem to realize how much time “casual” players put into their work. I know I spend more time assembling a single model then many competitive gamers do a whole unit, painstakingly removing moldlines and filling seams with green stuff. I am more invested in the hobby then I have ever been, despite virtually never playing, ha ha.

Alos, I am really exited to hear you have some episodes talking with Mr_Pink!
- Tibbs Forge
  
  Thanks for all your comments, Eric. And yeah, I think the Inq28 communities probably fall into this category of gamers who don’t really play, but are uniquely hardcore in a sort of casual way.
Greg Wier

I always had my two brothers to play with, so I never had a huge desire to go to shops to play. Over the years, a lot of friends of mine have started to play the game, so I have always had people to play the game with. I played much more when I was in high school and college, but always with friends. None of us were ever big on competitive gaming, or building the ideal lists (certainly in high school, none of us had the money to build the ideal units). When I went to graduate school, I did not have as much time to play, but still stayed interested in the hobby. My brothers and I started Between the Bolter and Me as a way to keep motivated about the hobby during our time in graduate school. It was also a way of showcasing what we liked best about the hobby, and not focusing on rules and competitive lists.

Chapter Approved is shaping up to be just the sort of hobby podcast that I am interested in.
- Tibbs Forge
  
  Thanks! I appreciate the insight. I think there are a lot of “us” out there.
Alpharius

I found this episode interesting, as a casual 40ker who used to be more competitive. I’m among more experienced players in the group, so I’ve been put in charge of smoothing out the odd details in GW’s rules writing. The group found that the gap between some armies was too large for them to have casual fun. They’re keen to build an ongoing narrative, but “Orks and Guard die everywhere and Tau reign supreme without any challengers” isn’t much of a story. Weirdly, this has made me think that balance is /more/ important for casual players. The cut-throat powergamers will take that in their stride, and realise that they should build a stronger army. The snakebite player who’s put lots of time into converting their feral boyz and wildnobz is going to get sick of losing, but not make the changes the game requires them to in order to compete. Which is a shame, because it’s not that old mate playing Tau is out to give him a bad time, he just liked the look of a few of the stronger units and giant robots, and suddenly they can’t play a fair game without a pile of house rules or a handicap. So as much as many people in the group think “Oh, this new thing looks cool.”, I’m generally thinking “How can I let Dave play with his cool new thing without making John have to pick up all his models turn two?”
- Tibbs
  
  Oh wow. That’s a really interesting point. We don’t play often enough for these things to come up yet but one of the folks in our group does have a new Tau army that hasn’t seen the battlefield yet. Maybe there’s an element of Rogue-Trader style GMing for those games? Or, as you said, some gentle houseruling. I really like that your group is cool enough to go that far, and it’s another reason why playing with some buddies can be very different from pickup games at a store.
  
  I’d love to hear more about this! What sort of modifications you’ve made and whatnot. If you wouldn’t mind, maybe shoot an email to tibbs@chapterapproved.com?