The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread - Gaming Clubs

Hi all, Johno here,

I would just like to discuss why joining a gaming club can enhance your hobby and bring your enthusiasm to a whole new level. Simple things like chatting with like minded individuals and discussing basic views on parts of the hobby are just some of the advantages to getting involved with your local club.

I would like to kick this off by giving a scenario that I think most of us have been in at one stage or another and where I think most of the gamers in the country are at currently. There are the gamers who haven’t yet discovered a vibrant and active community such as ours with players attending tournaments regularly and at their local clubs and participating online in various forums and blogs. For the few hundred players that we all know and that take part on online sites such as www.w-ired.org, I am convinced that there is at least twice or three times that amount of players who have started collecting a wargame and are completely oblivious to the Irish war gamming scene and on their own.

Obviously the Irish war gaming scene is relatively new in its current format that we see today. For instance when I played in 2^nd edition WH40k back in the 90’s there were no clubs around where I was from. When I got back into the hobby about 5 or 6 years ago I did what a lot people did, I went online to GW and checked out their models and since then I have never looked back. For two years or so I collected by myself, not knowing anyone else in the hobby until one day I went online and discovered Drogheda Gamers had a forum. Through there I met Jan Karnowski who was also living close to me at the time. We played nearly every week against each other but we realized we needed more opponents because although they were always fun games, we needed fresh blood so to speak.

I discovered www-w-ired.org run by Nigel Kavanagh and promptly wrote a post on behalf of Jan and myself looking for local gamers to play and perhaps set up a club. Nigel got back to me informing me that NWG and Grumpy Old Gamers were also looking to merge and form a new club and heard that a new hobby shop (The Hobby Shack) were opening in Wicklow town. On September 1^st 2011 5 of us met up and formed The Last Chancers gaming club over a very late pizza. Since then the Club has gone from strength to strength absolutely exploding in size and attracting players from miles around.

Since forming the club we have held painting day’s and competitions, ran painting tutorials and airbrush tutorials, hosted games days and held gaming nights every Thursday. Sure at the start there were Thursdays where sometimes on a rare occasion there were too few of us turning up every week to consistently get games in but we grinded it out and over time this has become a less and less an occurrence until it basically never happens anymore with up to 20 players or more playing one game or another on a Thursday evening.

What a club can offer is a group on enthusiastic gamers who all have similar interests to you and love sharing their ideas and talking and playing the hobby. Ever need advice about good or bad units or army lists? The lads will always jump hurdles in order to help you out. Members are always buying new armies and getting rid of old stuff. I can’t even begin to imagine how many bargains I have gotten from fellow TLC members over the years.

If you are really lucky like TLC is or some of the Dublin based clubs are, your club will obtain a base for gaming regularly. If you and your buddies are looking to start a new club in your area the first thing you need to do is secure a location to do your gaming week in week out. Without this it is very hard for your club to get off the ground. TLC was blessed to have The Hobby Shack’s support and indeed it was crucial to the clubs success to date.

If you are living in an area of the country where you think there isn’t any other gamers and you feel that enthusiasm for the hobby is slipping away, try dropping a post on www.w-ired.org and you never know what other players might be closer than you think…

I thought I would just leave you with some pics from Thursdays gaming in the club. Enjoy :)

Johno

 

Space Wolves Aegis Defence Line

Aegis Defence Line Complete

Hey guys,

A little diversion from my usual Eldar chatter but I thought I would share pictures of my finished Aegis Defence Line for my other army, my Space Wolves. Hope you like it :)

 

How did I do it?

 

1. Basecoated with Army Painter Wolf Grey
2. Washed all pieces completely with Devlan mud making each piece much darker and worn looking.
3. Used large brush to cover all metal area's with leadbelcher followed by black wash.
4. Used watered down tin bits paint on the nuts and bolts to give rusty look.
5. Used shining gold on the Imperial Symbols followed by a black wash and then once that was dry I gave it a heavy wash of Thraka Green to give the copper symbols the appearance of oxidisation from age.
6. Highlighted the metal with chainmail silver.





 

Grey Army Syndrome

Grey Army Syndrome

I think we are all guilty of this at some point, a large collection of your favourite models sitting there collecting dust waiting endlessly for some of your love and attention. There is nothing worse, yet we all do this. I have lost count of the amount of times I have bought a single box of miniatures or an Army Codex in the hopes of starting a new army, only for them to sit idle in my bottom drawer.

Only this year I bought the Dark Angels Codex and got some models too and then ended up trading them or selling them. Then I bought the Daemons Codex in the hopes of doing a Khorne Daemon army only to lose interest again and as a result I have a wasted money on Daemon Codex doing nothing. I bought the Chaos Space Marines Codex, I bought a box of Grey Knights, Orcs and Goblins army book and battalion, the list goes on. Heck I even bought an entire 2000pts Logan Wing Terminator Army that is still only half assembled not to mention the Forgeworld Thunderhawk Gunship that is still only partly assembled in its box.


The only army that I bought and assembled and then painted straight away was my Eldar Saim Hann jetbike army. I dunno what it was but if I had to describe the motivation I got during this project it was pure passion for the fictional race itself and the models I truly love. I love their history, their advanced technology, their sleek vehicles and who wouldn't love a space elf army led by a molten daemon running around with a big sword?

There was a national tournament coming up and I had just ordered my entire army. It came in a large cardboard box filled with all my jetbikes and grav tanks. Needless to say it was like Christmas! Straight away I cracked open the boxes and got to work not as a burden but in excitement. Leading up to this I had been telling myself "man I really would love a fully painted army, i'm just sick of making excuses and making false promises". So I had about 6 weeks until this tournament and I was determined to get a fully painted original looking army done by then.

Six weeks later and the army was complete and I was a very proud owner of a 2000pt themed Saim Hann Jetbike army. These days I have so many ongoing projects that I am kinda swamped but I am waiting to rekindle that same passion once the new Eldar codex hits us in June. I am thinking of doing a Ilyanden themed army which should be good.

Until then I am ticking away on various projects notably my Space Wolves and High Elves and the odd addition to my Saim Hann army. Still though, I love playing my Saim Hann army more than ever and can see myself playing it for many years.

If I had to give advice to somebody stuck with a grey army it would be the following:

• Set yourself a goal like have a fully painted army to bring to an upcoming event like a tournament.
• If you have an army you don't really like the look of then STOP. I'm telling you now you have already lost. My best advice I could give for this situation is try sell/swap it for an army that you find irresistible.
• Use anything that makes the project easier, for me it was Army Painter basecoat spray. It's a lifesaver and timesaver!
• Paint even when you aren't in the mood. I know this is hard but over time when you start seeing your army coming together you will become more enthusiastic than ever.
• Lastly, batch paint everything. Some people love painting each model individually but if you have a grey army you are a similar type of person to me and trust me you need to batch paint. Stick on Deadliest Catch or The Wire and drone away at this for hours. It pays off in the long run.