Rantings of an old school gamer

By. Overlord

Greetings masses!  Overlord here with the start of a new blog for the Weekend Warriors, Rantings of an old school gamer.  This blog covers that which have caused me ire, it is not meant be a series of complaints but more of a series of observations much like Andy Rooney from 60 Mins. So without further ado here begins the first Rant of an old school gamer.  

Wargaming and the Internet:

When I first purchased what would begin my Warhammer Fantasy Empire army, Karl Franz himself if I recall correctly, at the right ole age of 15 the internet was a flight of fancy.  Sure it existed but in the scope of AOL and chat rooms only.  Blogs such as this were not a trend yet and using it for communication had not exactly caught on yet. 

In those days Warhammer 40k was still only in its 2nd edition and companies such as Wyrd and Privateer Press had not existed yet.  As far as the gaming community was concerned Games Workshop, Ral Partha, and TSR was their world.  Since then the gaming community has changed radically, national tournaments, dedicated gaming websites have evolved due to this changing meta.  And this meta has created a slew of useful features, never before has it been easier to learn a new game, find a gaming group, or resolve a vague ruling that the local gaming group can not come to a consistent answer for. And in all of these uses I applaud the internet as it has made the gaming community tighter than ever before.

What has caused me ire is how the internet has changed the way players view and interpret a new codex or army book.  We have reached a point as a community that even before a book is released it has been picked apart and judged based on how powerful it can be.  Only the best units are worth looking at and all others are considered trash and a waste of time, money, and print.  Many years ago if one was to enter a gaming store a collection of players would be found running armies based on their favorite units, or a theme to the army, or a particular play style.  Then if one was to travel to another game store and witness the same armies in use they would be constructed in a completely different manner based upon that player's unique play style, even speaking to players in the same location would have a diference in opinion in how the army felt best to them.  

Now with the meta changing to one focused on national tournaments the terms "fluff" and "theme" are passed off almost as a curse to a player inciting feelings of being inadequate or not up to par.  Today the codex has been distilled to the greatest game breaking combination and given a "glorious" title such as Screamstar, Jetseer, or Taudar. New codexs that follow in these shadow are broken apart to find the next newest and greatest game breaking combination and players take issue with a codex that is "sub-par" in comparison.  To this I say let the internet have its jetseer and taudar as they do have a place in the meta on the national stage but let the local players come to their own opinion once again on how an army is to be run.  Let their own feelings and desire for theme and fluff drive them to create armies that are just as impressive to see on the battlefield as they are to battle against.  Let the spirit of gaming come to the fore and not the spirit of competition.

Sincerly-
Overlord