Lost Gamer

Thenick18 · Post by **Thenick18** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 10:53 pm

Since the dawn of 8th my games I've actually played have been minimal and my intrest in the hobby has taking a stall. What happened was my gaming group, for various reasons the other (3) quit and at this moment in time their return is uncertain. I find myself stuck between the propect of quitting myself altogether, but I find I enjoy the hobby a little more than not having anything to do with it. I always find myself wanting a game or some event on the weekends when I have time and during the week I still find myself painting and touching up hastily/crappily painted models that I did when I first began. The closest GW stores to me ae at least a solid 20 minute drive if not longer, so in order for me to head out there I prefer to have a full day I can spend there which is few and far between. My army is largely built for 7th edtion, so I go back and forth with myself on swelling up the ranks or not to be successful in 8th, but as you can see the dilhema unfolding, I enjoy all aspects of the hobby, its hard for me to justify the prep wprk when I rarely actually am able to enjoy a match. Have any of you out there had this happen, and how do you deal with it. What keeps you interested / motivated to continue?

Nellamik · Post by **Nellamik** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 12:47 am

I went through a period when I could not find a game. I didn't totaly stop but definatly slowed down with the hobby. Then two years ago a GW store opened up 5 min. away. So now I game when I can but not as often as I want. I have many armies so there is a lot of modeling and painting to do.
I enjoy this aspect of the hobbie a lot. Right now I am trying to get my Druchii painted which is my biggest army. My games will come.
If you drive 20 min. to play that might not be so bad as you will meet new players and that's always exciting. Once you get to know some you can plan a day when you have it.
The 8th does require building up you ranks a bit and now you have the time.

Thenick18 · Post by **Thenick18** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 2:54 am

Yes I know it does, so it is driving me to finish the models I have, however it's a catch 22. I do enjoy painting and modeling a lot, but the lack of games makes for a lot less motivation to push onward. I've been watching lots of battle reports and living vicariously through them.

Bahamutzer0 · Post by **Bahamutzer0** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 2:55 am

I believe the only GW store in NY is the 8th st. one which I go to and takes a 20 minute bus ride and 45 minutes subway. I usually go once a week and actually rarely play games there, I usually just sit there painting and building as I hate painting at my house for some reason. Sitting there with my "GW family" for me is usually more fun than actually playing a game and when I do play a game there it is always fun even if I get slaughtered. I've got 4 of my friends that play within walking distance and I still rarely play, maybe 1-3 games a month. What helps me out is planning my games ahead of time rather than showing up at the store and asking who has a fantasy army with them. Do a little poo talking during the week and the anticipation really do help me get through the week and I usually can't wait till the day of my game.

I also play in a lot of the stores events, the Island of Blood battle, Tanksgiving, the managers 1k challenge, the doubles tournament just 2 weeks ago, etc. It also greatly helps that I'm running a map-based campaign with the General's Compendium for my noob friends, my one veteran friend and myself, said veteran friend just ended a campaign run through the store that lasted four months and had around 14 players in total.

Post by **Layne** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 11:16 am

Me, I've hardly ever been able to get a game, like, hardly ever you know. I do it for the hobby, I just like building armies. True there's nothing like a game coming up to get your motivation up and over 11, but there again, in the pre-game rush to get things ready is when I do my worst work. So what motivates me just now is, knowing I won;t get a game in the foreseeable future, I can just spend my hobby time making nice models. Get full value from my little bits of pretty plastic by making them up as good as I can.

Right now, I'd love to be in a position to go that far ; I have a backlog of commissions.

Post by **Loki** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 1:27 pm

20 minutes is not far to drive at all. It takes me 20 minutes to go to anywhere from my house

Seriously, if you make the trip a couple times, you'll realize its really nothing much at all.

Handsome jack · Post by **Handsome jack** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 4:23 pm

It,s all perspective, in North Dakota I wish a game store would open up within 20 minutes. I regularly drive 80 miles every other week to participate in a campaign and it,s hard to find other gamers closer without a gaming store to meet them. By driving to tournements I've been able to find a small group of loyal players who live nearby but it took along time. Don't get discouraged

Thenick18 · Post by **Thenick18** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 6:04 pm

Thanks for all the responses, its definately re-assuring to find that I'm not the only one who has run into this problem and I will continue painting and modeling.

Jadin · Post by **Jadin** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 6:27 pm

I think you should continue to paint and model and perhaps make occasional trips to the store, like once a month to see if you can get a game or two in.

My group has seen something similar happen, though we lost one of our members tragically, another member moved away, leaving only two of us. The other group member recently took a new job as head of the organization and now we barely get together twice a month.

I know things will change, so I have focused on getting my Dark Elves fully painted and ready for 8th edition, and I only have 18 more minis to paint(I have over 300 Dark Elf models).

Once that is done, I plan on finishing up all my Empire...all 200 models of it.

L1qw1d · Post by **L1qw1d** » Sat Feb 19, 2011 5:52 am

Duder, I totally feel the pain you're having. I have to drive about 30 minutes for games.

But I kinda 'get it' for a different reason. I lived in LA for 29 years, and was intensely in to the art and gaming communities. I moved North and... live in a vacuum. My job is the exact opposite of my previous work, there's SOME light gamers, and most people consider the visual arts "girls stuff" or REALLY frivolous.

But I doodle to keep from going crazier. Games come and go, Groups come and go (I haven't had a stable game group in 6 years), but finding what you like about the hobby and maintaining it for the level you want currently. One day at a time.

Thenick18 · Post by **Thenick18** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 2:35 pm

I made the trek to the store this weekend to be overwhelmed by an Apocalypse tourney going on. However there was an extra table open with a couple guys playing fantasy. There was a lot of interest from people around the painting station to play a fantasy game as well, we took the table being used to house all the Black Library books, with the shopkeep's permission of course, and ended up playing a 5000pt/side battle. Lucky for me I lined up across High Eleves who were supposed to hold the flank and failed, by turn 2 they were running, and I was able to wrap around.

Ont top of that, turns out at the end of March there will be a fantasy tournament, which I will post a list for an elaborate more in the other forum. It's a 1500 tourney, my list is 2k so I need help dropping 500pts cause I love my synergy atm. Thanks again for the support, I just needed that extra push to get me going.

Post by **Thanee** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 7:52 pm

Are there no hobby clubs in your area?

A 20 minute drive doesn't seem bad to me at all... some folks here go a lot farther than that to get their gaming fix.

Bye
Thanee

Thenick18 · Post by **Thenick18** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 9:57 pm

No there really aren't or I just don't know about them. There is one for 40k but that's not quite my cup of tea.

L1qw1d · Post by **L1qw1d** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 3:27 am

lol Thanee, in order to get away from the 12 year olds, and the fact i was working 77 miles away, i was doing about 55 miles for a good store.

I would probably just try to get to a tourney around once a month, and figure ways to get creative weekly.

Which is sadly what I do for the most part.

Noble korhedron · Post by **Noble korhedron** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 3:09 am

Nellamik wrote: I went through a period when I could not find a game. I didn't totaly stop but definatly slowed down with the hobby. Then two years ago a GW store opened up 5 min. away. So now I game when I can but not as often as I want. I have many armies so there is a lot of modeling and painting to do.
I enjoy this aspect of the hobbie a lot. Right now I am trying to get my Druchii painted which is my biggest army. My games will come.
If you drive 20 min. to play that might not be so bad as you will meet new players and that's always exciting. Once you get to know some you can plan a day when you have it.
The 8th does require building up you ranks a bit and now you have the time.

@Nellamik,@thenick18: I'm sorry, the two of you think 20 mins is bad?! I'm Irish - so my local GW is GW Dublin - which is bare minimum of approx. 15-20 mins. away. It can be up to 30-40 mins. and that's while I'm in the same city!! When I move back home from college for the summer, you can at minimum, double that!! And that's not to mention that before all I had was a GW - no independent gaming-capable stores!! And you guys think you have it bad?! Forgive me if all your moaning makes me me feel unsymatheticto the point where I frankly want to slap you!!

Borog · Post by **Borog** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 9:51 am

And I live on an island so it takes me an hour to get to the gaming store

Then again I hardly ever play, so I don't get to flex my muscles much these days.

When I lost my gaming group I just couldn't get back in that much. Now I only play in the summer when most of us come home from the holidays, and then it's still only a few games.

Anyone else that don't like playing against strangers?

I don't want to spend so much time travelling, setting up, spending most of my day only to play against an idiot

ofcourse, if I did get up and played some more, maybe I would get a new gaming group... :roll:

Tethlis · Post by **Tethlis** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 7:43 pm

I find that online communities and forums (such as Druchii.net) are great for keeping me in touch with the hobby, and for stirring up my excitement even when I'm too busy to paint or play. It doesn't take too long to check out some forums or post a reply, and reading battle reports or tactics discussions is great for getting me excited for a game.

Post by **Calisson** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 8:23 pm

Tethlis wrote:I find that online communities and forums (such as Druchii.net) are great for keeping me in touch with the hobby, and for stirring up my excitement even when I'm too busy to paint or play. It doesn't take too long to check out some forums or post a reply, and reading battle reports or tactics discussions is great for getting me excited for a game.

Perfectly said, I can only second that.

Nellamik · Post by **Nellamik** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 11:04 pm

Nellamik said:
I went through a period when I could not find a game. I didn't totaly stop but definatly slowed down with the hobby. Then two years ago a GW store opened up 5 min. away. So now I game when I can but not as often as I want. I have many armies so there is a lot of modeling and painting to do.
I enjoy this aspect of the hobbie a lot. Right now I am trying to get my Druchii painted which is my biggest army. My games will come.
If you drive 20 min. to play that might not be so bad as you will meet new players and that's always exciting. Once you get to know some you can plan a day when you have it.
The 8th does require building up you ranks a bit and now you have the time.

@Nellamik,@thenick18: I'm sorry, the two of you think 20 mins is bad?! I'm Irish - so my local GW is GW Dublin - which is bare minimum of approx. 15-20 mins. away. It can be up to 30-40 mins. and that's while I'm in the same city!! When I move back home from college for the summer, you can at minimum, double that!! And that's not to mention that before all I had was a GW - no independent gaming-capable stores!! And you guys think you have it bad?! Forgive me if all your moaning makes me me feel unsymatheticto the point where I frankly want to slap you!!
_________________
Regards,
NK.

Did you read my post Noble Korhedront? I never said I wouldn't drive 20 min. to play. I was only trying to encourage the OP. I have been playing since 1995 where and when I can. I don't think your comments are appropriate and I take offence to your refrence of slapping anyone.

I find that online communities and forums (such as Druchii.net) are great for keeping me in touch with the hobby, and for stirring up my excitement even when I'm too busy to paint or play. It doesn't take too long to check out some forums or post a reply, and reading battle reports or tactics discussions is great for getting me excited for a game.

And I will third that.
This is constructive as Tethlis always is.

xFallenx · Post by **xFallenx** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 6:31 pm

Tethlis wrote:I find that online communities and forums (such as Druchii.net) are great for keeping me in touch with the hobby, and for stirring up my excitement even when I'm too busy to paint or play. It doesn't take too long to check out some forums or post a reply, and reading battle reports or tactics discussions is great for getting me excited for a game.

I have to agree with this completely. My wife and I have a newborn to entertain now so I'm finding little time to do anything but read here on my lunch hours.

Bounce · Post by **Bounce** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 5:38 am

I have a good hour drive at least to find any WFB games and usually drive quite a bit further but its all worth it.

Thenick18 · Post by **Thenick18** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 3:22 am

Noble Korhedron wrote:
Nellamik wrote:

@Nellamik,@thenick18: I'm sorry, the two of you think 20 mins is bad?! I'm Irish - so my local GW is GW Dublin - which is bare minimum of approx. 15-20 mins. away. It can be up to 30-40 mins. and that's while I'm in the same city!! When I move back home from college for the summer, you can at minimum, double that!! And that's not to mention that before all I had was a GW - no independent gaming-capable stores!! And you guys think you have it bad?! Forgive me if all your moaning makes me me feel unsymatheticto the point where I frankly want to slap you!!

The point of the post isn't about how far you have to drive, its about keeping the motivation for the hobby going, thanks for the un-constructive post.

Greenwhy · Post by **Greenwhy** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 8:20 am

20 mins is great! If you're closer than that you're being spoiled IMO. Mine is 20 mins away but I have to play against kids usually. Also parking is tough and expensive. I wish I could find a stable gaming club.

Minigrift · Post by **Minigrift** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 10:35 am

Since my local GW is only a 20 minute walk from my flat it's easy for me to go there once or twice a week no trouble at all! None of my friends play Warhammer and I have still managed to keep playing on and off for the last 12 years or so. It's painting my models I usually don't have the patience for, but having said that, I am one of few people that actually attends with a painted army!

Sometimes you play idiots, sometimes you'll play people who will stomp all over you and spit out your entrails. Sometimes you'll win without even breaking a sweat... It's all good!

D.net has been a great inspiration for me since I began playing 8th edition. Anyway, the hobby is pretty vast and there is plenty you can do even if you only manage to have one or two games a month.

Thenick18 · Post by **Thenick18** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 12:43 pm

Greenwhy wrote:20 mins is great! If you're closer than that you're being spoiled IMO. Mine is 20 mins away but I have to play against kids usually. Also parking is tough and expensive. I wish I could find a stable gaming club.

This is exactly the problem I have.

Lost Gamer

Lost Gamer

Re: Lost Gamer

Re: Lost Gamer