Poll: What brought you to the hobby?

Discuss the art of war for the Dark Elves and the inferior races that dare to oppose them here.

Moderators: Layne, The Dread Knights

Post Reply

From which source came the incentive for you to start miniatures wargaming?

I visited a store.
8
21%
I saw some commercial advertisement.
1
3%
A community member convinced me.
26
68%
I visited the Warhammer world through non-wargaming activites first – read books, played WH online or WHF roleplay, for example.
2
5%
I found some fan-made content such as a painting blog.
1
3%
I was researching games in general.
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 38

User avatar
Marchosias
Assassin
Posts: 594
Joined: Fri Apr 26, 2013 7:53 am

Poll: What brought you to the hobby?

Post by Marchosias »

Just for fun and to hopefully ignite some light discussion and nostalgic memories. There are many claims about the end of Warhammer et cetera so I thought it might be nice to look back at the happy beginning times.

Note that the question is NOT about what did you like on the hobby but rather how did you find out.

If your start was different from the options listed above, please try to find a similar one anyway. We want DATA!!! !mad! :D
User avatar
Marchosias
Assassin
Posts: 594
Joined: Fri Apr 26, 2013 7:53 am

Re: Poll: What brought you to the hobby?

Post by Marchosias »

I should probably start. :)

I was actually introduced by two community members. First, some ten years ago, a friend who was playing told me some stories about his glorious conquests and I thought such a game might be fun. As I am no modeller, though, I did not start it actually - until Rowena started painting miniatures for her pleasure and begun discussing it with me. This reignated my interest and soon we found out we are a perfect team. :)
User avatar
Diobarach
Black Guard
Posts: 296
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2014 12:24 am

Re: Poll: What brought you to the hobby?

Post by Diobarach »

A community member for me, who has since given up on the game after 15 years. The game is pretty much dead in my area, so I'm not far behind on that respect. It'll be interesting to see how many picked it up via a non-community member option.
User avatar
Amboadine
Miscast into the Warp
Miscast into the Warp
Posts: 3510
Joined: Mon Nov 19, 2007 11:07 am
Location: Investigating Mantica

Re: Poll: What brought you to the hobby?

Post by Amboadine »

Well for me it all started with Middle Earth roleplay. This led me to buying some of the original ME miniatures that citadel made.
Then onwards into WFRP in school lunch times. Our group has now being going for over 25 years and still going strong, well we still meet at least every six months which isnt bad considering we are spread across the country now.
It wasn't then much of a step to move to WFB from the first edition and been playing ever since.
User avatar
Rowena
Highborn
Posts: 665
Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2012 5:30 pm

Re: Poll: What brought you to the hobby?

Post by Rowena »

I got into (the painting and modelling aspect of) the hobby via a store and it wasn't even one in my own country. :D I was in Edinburgh, in the middle of the Fringe Fest, wanted to hide from the crowds for a moment and saw those tiny (and very cute) figures in the window of a Games Workshop store. I went inside to admire them and was persuaded to try and paint one. And the rest is history. :) I would have never even come close to the wargaming aspect had it not been for Marchosias, though.
My painting blog

Even without Games Workshop, we will endure. Armies of the Unsupported Age, the models are out there.
User avatar
Calisson
Corsair
Corsair
Posts: 8820
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:00 pm
Location: Hag Graef

Re: Poll: What brought you to the hobby?

Post by Calisson »

Roleplayer, back in the '80s and early '90s. Knew WH roleplayong environmeny although never played in that specific environment, for lack of an interested group. Bought some GW models, among other companies, just for the look. Read a couple of WD.
In 2000 one of my kids was introduced to WH40k, so we started it.
A couple years later, I bought for us Blood Bowl, a lot of fun and a way to introduce them to Fantasy.
It worked! Soon we developed our own fantasy armies.
Winds never stop blowing, Oceans are borderless. Get a ship and a crew, so the World will be ours! Today the World, tomorrow Nagg! {--|oBrotherhood of the Coast!o|--}
User avatar
marcopollo
Assassin
Posts: 570
Joined: Mon Apr 29, 2013 7:44 pm
Location: The thin edge of the wedge

Re: Poll: What brought you to the hobby?

Post by marcopollo »

A community member introduced me to Mordhiem, which I loved. And I won a raffle at the local GW store for a full size Lizardman army back in 1998. My painting skill imroved and was able to win a tourney and sell paintings for profit. Am very sad to see that GW is killing fantasy, but business is business and hopefully our gang will continue to play it.
User avatar
Red...
Generalissimo
Posts: 3750
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2009 3:09 pm
Location: Baltimore

Re: Poll: What brought you to the hobby?

Post by Red... »

Since I was very small, my parents had lord of the rings miniatures, which I think were the precursors of GW today. By the time I was 8 - which was the age threshold my parents placed upon being allowed to paint the items that we then called "lead figures" (ironic now, but they did used to be heavily lead back then) - my older brother had been buying, painting, and playing with GW models for some years, so I followed in his footsteps. Our local GW was I think one of the very first ones (the GW store in Hammersmith, long since closed down), which a few hundred meters away from the school that my brother then attended and I attended upon turning 9.

The first games I played there were "Warhammer Fantasy Regiments", which was a box set of 10 wood elves and 10 dwarfs on the good side and 10 dark elves, 10 skaven, 10 orcs, and 10 goblins on the evil side. It was more or less impossible to win as the good guys - your wood elves could either engage in a missile war with the dark elves, which they would lose very slightly, leaving the dwarfs to be overwhelmed by the three blocks of evil enemy infantry, or the wood elves could attack the evil foot soldiers for the first few turns, while getting shot to ribbons by the dark elves, leaving the poor dwarfs left to slugging across the board to try to fight through the remaining evil infantry models and then fight the untouched dark elves too. It was a fun game, and I remember when they decided to abandon it that I was able to pick up the entire box set for £7.50. The models stayed in my collection for many years, and when I started collecting dark elves again during my second (re)introduction to the game, I supplemented my 10 dark elf crossbowmen from that set with about 40 more purchased on ebay for about £6 in total. Other games soon followed, including 40k (with my army choice being imperial guard, who back then lacked any vehicles and had to stay within 12" of the command group at all times - fun times) and eventually 4th ed fantasy, which I chose High Elves as my army of choice. My brother selected dwarfs, and for the next few years when he agreed to play against me (and didn't ditch me on a friday night to go out with his friends instead, grrr), he would total me because I could never figure out the final rung of strategy. He outranged me (30" crossbows versus 24" bows IIRC), outpowered me (S4 versus S3) and out toughed me (T4 with a 5+ save versus T3 with a 6+ save made useless due to his S4) in the missile fight, out fought me in the combat fight (nasty dwarf lord along with S4+ and T4 infantry with nasty armor saves versus poxy elves with S3 and T3 that cost the same or more per model), out magicked me (due to that pesky anvil of doom, which back then was nasty in the magic phase), and outmanoeuvred me (curse you overpowered gyrocopters with your S4 steamcannon that ignores armor). I never quite figured out that outmanoevering him and finding favourable match ups was the key to winning - somehow I always seemed to try to rush his big fat unit of fighting dwarfs with my own fighting block, only to get charged instead (curse you rune of +1" to move) and slaughtered. Of course, the strategy section in the high elf army book didn't help much, as it suggested that in a high elf army out shooting and out fighting your enemy was key (thanks GW, brilliant advice), and I'm now more than a little suspicious of the fact that every game we played he put a river across the middle of the board with a very narrow bridge across it - ideal for channeling my faster troops directly into his slow, but nastily solid blocks of infantry. I remember drooling about epic when I saw it being played at the store, but never really had a chance to get into it. I did, however, play in the local store's Imperial Titan versus two Mega gargants showdown competition after that box set was released and somehow managed to come first (one of our mega gargant's managed to roll a 6 on the damage dice and destroy the Imperial titan in a single shot, then when we rolled off to see who would win out of the two of us, I rolled a 2 and he rolled a 1 - you couldn't make that stuff up.) It's one of the few things I've ever won by luck in life.

Anyway, I took a hiatus for many years from about age 11 to 26. Then, one day, I did a "work at home day" and went down to the local computer games store and purchased Dawn of War ultimate edition. I played it for a bit and showed it to my wife, confessing my happy memories of the game to her. A day or two later, she told me excitedly that one of her friends played magic at a local games club and that they played Warhammer Fantasy there too. She took me along, and from age 26 to 32 I played there pretty regularly and built up a good group of gaming buddies.

Sadly, I moved to the US about 1.5 years ago and haven't really had the connections, energy, or time to get back into the gaming scene here, so I'm on a bit of a hiatus at the moment. Once my job situation is more secure and I have more free time, perhaps it will work out. In the meantime, there are papers to grade, jobs to be applied for, a daughter to be had in November, and many other things to manage on top of that. The saga will, I'm sure, go on. But when and how? That's an undiscovered country...
"While all answers are replies, not all replies are answers. So answer the question."

Don't be a munchkin?

Image

I am an Extraordinary Druchii Gentleman
User avatar
Fr0
Trademaster
Posts: 3170
Joined: Wed May 25, 2005 7:32 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada
Contact:

Re: Poll: What brought you to the hobby?

Post by Fr0 »

Walked into a video gaming store who happened to have a Warhammer night with a big turn out. Looked like every person playing was having an absolute blast. I looked at the rack and picked out Dark Elf 4th ed, flipped through and bought it and some Witch Elves with the Cauldron that night. Ended up working there a month or so later, got a full DE army thanks to an additive employee discount and a Club discount - paying 15% of GW 1998 prices (when rxbmen came in blisters of 2). Had some time off in between editions but always come back to it.
User avatar
Haagrum
PhD in Dark Magic
Posts: 592
Joined: Thu Oct 10, 2013 11:54 am
Location: The depths of the Black Library

Re: Poll: What brought you to the hobby?

Post by Haagrum »

I can lay the blame at the feet of my older brother and one of his mates. They got into Warhammer back in 3rd edition. I was already interested in fantasy settings (mostly thanks to the Lone Wolf and Fighting Fantasy book series), and the idea of actually having a battlefield full of minions running around doing my bidding seemed irresistible. I got pretty heavily into Necromunda, too.

That was over 20 years ago, which is a frightening thought given that I'm barely in my mid-30s now. Warhammer dropped off the radar for a while thanks to computer games, cards, beer and having a social life. What got me back into the miniatures was a GW store opening near me, which was being run by an old school friend, about 10 years ago. I was mostly painting for fun and collecting for the same reason - I didn't get back into actual gaming until about 2.5 years ago, but I haven't looked back since.

I suppose that makes me a lifer. :burns:
"The wrath of a good man is not to be feared. They have too many rules."

"Good men don't need rules. Today is not a good time to find out why I have so many."
User avatar
cultofkhaine
Chief Cultist
Chief Cultist
Posts: 1993
Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2008 6:45 am
Location: Being tempted by the Cult of Pleasure!
Contact:

Re: Poll: What brought you to the hobby?

Post by cultofkhaine »

When I was about 12, some 25+ years ago I was given the board game "Hero Quest" for Christmas. I spent the whole holidays playing that game with my brother and a friend. We had a blast and played it to death for a good couple of years, customising our own game. I loved painting the models for it and found a local gaming shop in the city "Valhalla" that stocked lots of mini's. During this period I collected and painted a lot of early GW miniatures. After a few years we grew out of it doing other things.

It was about 6 or so years ago I found my old models in the back of the cupboard, pulled them out and just for laughs thought I would paint some more. That was a mistake because I have not stopped since (hurt the wallet a bit). I now have the my sons hooked on the game as well and they are painting their own mini's. :D
User avatar
direweasel
Malekith's Personal Guard
Posts: 920
Joined: Mon Oct 07, 2013 9:58 pm
Location: Terre Haute, IN, USA

Re: Poll: What brought you to the hobby?

Post by direweasel »

Blood Bowl
Chinese Relativity Axiom: No matter how glorious your triumphs, nor how miserable your failures, there will always be at least one billion people in China who don't give a damn.

Apocalypse Drow! Plog: http://druchii.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=75360
User avatar
Gnosis
Hard, but Fair
Posts: 3754
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2003 4:01 pm
Location: Southern Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Poll: What brought you to the hobby?

Post by Gnosis »

It's been a while since this topic was created but I figured I might as well chip in.

About half my life ago (and I'm 29 now) I was on a city trip to Brussels with my mom and my sister and we chanced by the local GW store. There were goblins in the display - I think it was around the time the 6th edition O&G book was released - and my mom looked through the window and said "Hey, one of the staff actually looks like a goblin!" Me and my sister pretty much tacitly agreed, being all cool about any practical jokes made by anyone aged thirty or above, and naught was said about it again.

Then, some months after, flush with cash from getting good school results or, more precisely, the incentive laid out by my elders, I chanced upon the store once more. I looked at the display models, decided I could do better, and picked up a 6th edition starter set, spray coat and starter paint set. Needless to say, my first paint jobs were rather horrid, as in: pure blood red, elf flesh, chain mail etc. with no shading whatsoever, excessively applied with the woefully inaccurate starter brush. I got better, got a few games in, decided the game really needed more painted models, got better again, started 40k, dropped out of it, got more fantasy, started 40k again, dropped out of it again, got more fantasy, continued painting fantasy, joined forums, became a mod on here, left, got back, got into historicals, looked back, got more fantasy, stayed with historicals. Got better at painting up to the point I now run a part-time commission painting rig!

And there you go :)
Count them:

Painted in 2013: 500
Painted in 2014: 600
Painted in 2015: 854
User avatar
Tarbo
Morathi's Best Friend
Morathi's Best Friend
Posts: 1203
Joined: Tue Oct 04, 2005 5:06 pm
Location: Flanders, Belgium

Re: Poll: What brought you to the hobby?

Post by Tarbo »

Oooh, that's a long time ago. :) Kindling the ol' brain!

Family member got me warmed up while I was a teenager, so we bought a battle pack (or something) with Brettonians and Lizardmen back around early 5th Edition (1997?). We scrounged together some more, ending up with some Skaven, Chaos, and Undead, too.

That puts me with "through a community member."

Then came the time to buy other, metal units, and the prices just stunned me. I was appalled. A serviceable unit of Skink riders set me back quite a bit, and I put off other purchases. It wasn't so much that I didn't have or couldn't spare the money, but I didn't want to get that invested into something I played only occasionally. Ravening Hordes came around (1999?), and we had a bit of fun with the new army lists, but I threw in my hat before 6th Edition became a thing.

Cultofkhaine wrote:When I was about 12, some 25+ years ago I was given the board game "Hero Quest" for Christmas.

Testify! :D Good old HeroQuest. I really liked StarQuest, too. (So many wipe-outs. I think we got entire Space Marine chapters killed.)
User avatar
Red...
Generalissimo
Posts: 3750
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2009 3:09 pm
Location: Baltimore

Re: Poll: What brought you to the hobby?

Post by Red... »

Yeah, Heroquest was a major contributor to my family's passion for fantasy that interwined itself with Warhammer. I still have a bunch of the models from there kicking around, especially (for some reason) lots of skaven rats from Advanced Heroquest (which sucked monkey nuts, IIRC).
"While all answers are replies, not all replies are answers. So answer the question."

Don't be a munchkin?

Image

I am an Extraordinary Druchii Gentleman
User avatar
Darkspear
Malekith's Best Friend
Posts: 1524
Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2003 2:50 am
Location: A Tropical island near the Pacific

Re: Poll: What brought you to the hobby?

Post by Darkspear »

A warhammer DE player showed me the dark elves. I was interested immediately. If he had shown me any of the other armies, I will not be involved in this hobby at all.

6th ed Dark elves. Everything started from there.
In my land, everyone calls me the darkspear. The most famous spearmen commander of all.
User avatar
Darkprincess
Chosen Babe of Slaanesh
Posts: 2625
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2003 10:20 pm
Location: Wales

Re: Poll: What brought you to the hobby?

Post by Darkprincess »

For me it was a friend who has played Skaven and Nurgle since the late '80s who first got me interested. I didn't play for several years, but I developed an interest in the fluff - and then I learned about Slaanesh and I was hooked :p My first army was High Elves (what can I say? It's a girl thing I guess) and then I turned to the dark side :twisted:

Nowadays I have DE Cult of Slaanesh (we play 6th edition - still the best IMO) and VC. I also like developing new armies, often based on D&D stuff, which I've been into in one way or another since forever, and other sources. I like fluff-linking various different systems in a way that works for Warhammer Fantasy.

I don't play 40K, but I regularly use 40K model bits in conversions...
The Dark Princess
High Priestess of the Cult Of Pleasure


Give yourself over to absolute pleasure
Swim the warm waters of sins of the flesh
Erotic nighmares beyond any measure
And sensual daydreams to treasure forever
User avatar
Noble korhedron
Empire General
Posts: 1213
Joined: Thu May 06, 2004 3:37 pm
Location: Leinster, Ireland

Re: Poll: What brought you to the hobby?

Post by Noble korhedron »

I actually got into WH40K first, after I was given an Ork Warbuggy as a present, not sure for what occasion though....
Regards,

NK.


http://ulthuan.net/forum
http://warhammer.org.uk/phpBB/index.php
http://warhammer-empire.com/theforum/index.php
http://www.bartertown.com/trading/index.php

Give me a sense of humor Lord. Give me the grace to see a joke.
To get some humor out of life and pass it on to other folk.
Post Reply