Choose your own adventure..

One of the most fascinating aspects of the Warhammer hobby for myself is army selection, namely how people select their army and secondly how people create lists to for said army. Regardless of whether you play Fantasy or 40k, there are a huge range of factors that people take into consideration before choosing their army. Whether it be the hobby aspect (painting and converting), the sheer 'awesome' factor, narrative (fluff),  play style, whatever it may be - everyone will have their own reasons for selecting their first army.

Something that I have come to realise is that the first army you collect will often be the one most dear to your heart. If you are wealthy enough or have been a hobbyist for long enough,you may have multiple armies, but I can guarantee that you still remember the first time you picked up a Space Marine, a Crisis Suit or High Elf Dragon.

I first got into the hobby when I was around 12 or 13 through my best mate Julian. He had bought some Wood Elves and the minute I saw the miniatures I was intrigued. I somewhat half heartedly collected Space Marines for about two or three years, before falling out of the hobby largely due to teenage peer pressure. I would still buy White Dwarf on occasion, and never really lost touch with the hobby, but it was in this 'floating' period that I fell in love with a new race that were released, being the Tau. A new Games Workshop had opened up closer to my house and had some Crisis Suits, Fire Warriors and a Devilfish in the window. They were simply beautiful. The suits looked imposing, the weapons looked awesome and I knew that if I returned the hobby, I would have to get my hands on a few of these models.

I ended up re-immersing myself in the hobby just after I turned 19. I went to my local GW and bought my first Crisis Suit commander box and Codex and got cracking. At this stage I didn't even have the fourth edition rulebook, but it didn't matter. I had my Crisis Suit and that was all I needed. 

What followed was an interesting three or so years of learning, adapting and growing in the hobby as I learnt how to play, and win with an army that has very quickly become somewhat weak as more and more fifth edition codicies were released. Having said that I still love my Tau, and do not for a single moment regret starting them as my main army.

Too often I play against people that are on the fringe of giving up with their army - whether it be from a host of successive losses, bad luck, tough opponents, or the lure of a new codex/army book. The most recent example was a player I met at a tournament who had a beautiful looking Dark Angels army that utilised black as the main colour. He was on the verge of giving up after his very first game, simply because he got an unlucky draw against a somewhat cheesy 'new' blood angels list and couldn't handle how much better the Blood Angels codex was in comparison to the Dark Angels book.

If you are one of these players, have a good hard think about what it was that first drew you to your army. Find the reason you were once passionate about your army. If it was the hobby aspect - go and convert some new units and spend twice as long as normal painting them, make them a centerpiece, even if it's a unit that looks awesome but isn't that great in game. If it's the fluff, go and read your old codicies or Black Library books. If all else fails, rest assured that soon enough it will be your turn. If you're disheartened that the Blood Angels might have the floor at the moment, remember that those guys have had to wait the better part of ten years for their new codex!

Given that this is my first post on my new blog - for all of those that do take the time to visit, please forgive any initial teething problems that I may experience. Thanks for taking the time to stop by!

Sladie