... again to Warhammer

In August of 1999 I endeavored to keep a promise I made to my wife of just two months to quit smoking. I came up with this idea that I would "allow" myself to buy into the very expensive hobby of miniatures war gaming if I quit. I had been considering it for a while, and then one day I drove to Horizon Games in Clear Lake. I threw my lighter and what remained of my pack of cigarettes in the garbage outside the store and went inside. I had already decided I would play Lizardmen, they were in the 5th edition box set, and I came out of the store with the starter box, a Slann Mage Priest, and the magic box.  I stopped at the store on the way back home a grabbed a giant bag of sunflower seeds.  Between the seeds and a lot of miniatures assembly/painting I actually managed to quit on that day.

Over the next 4 - 5 years Warhammer was my primary game. I played at least every weekend, and sometimes more often. I met up with guys at Rice University, we started a Yahoo! group, and started organizing and building the Warhammer community in central Houston.  All was good. We started holding tournaments at stores around town, and travelling to the other Texas Indy GT's. I went from one army to 4, and added 40K, Warmaster and Mordhiem to my mix of Games Workshop games.

It was about 2003 when my interest in the game started to diminish though. All of the tournaments meant that games had become far more competitive, and I was honestly just not as good as many of the more competitive players. Games became more about testing out the latest combo for an upcoming tournament than about just playing to have fun. It was no longer like the Saturday mornings over at Rice. In 2004 we moved to Dallas, and I started playing board games with the group up there. Board gaming became my focus and I left Warhammer (and most miniatures gaming) behind.

I have watched the game over the years, and seen the armies brought to tournaments like OwlCon (even played in a tournament at OwlCon a few years ago). It really seemed that the power armies had taken over, I was glad I was not a part of it.

Ever since 8th edition was announced I started thinking that it was time for me to re-examine the game and see if it had anything to offer me. While I still see massive potential for "cheese", I think that some of the changes they have made are meant to address the issues that have. I have heard it said that this edition dumbs down Warhammer. I don't agree. I have always felt that if you wanted a strong tactical game you should be playing something else. Many of the fiddly rules and restrictions didn't make the game more tactical, just more fiddly and argument prone. *th edition seems to have worked many of these things out (mostly with movement). I think they have made a game that is cleaner and should be more straight forward and fun to play.

Because of this feeling I have decided that it is time to play again. This blog is going to be about my journey back into the game. My army, my assembly and painting, my wins and losses. If you are a Warhammer Fantasy Battles player there should be something of interest her for you.