So … that Warhammer 40,000 thing

I have made a horrible mistake!  Not a bad mistake, a good one.  I bought a starter box for Warhammer 40,000 over the weekend.  With all my experiences and familiarity with role-playing games, there are two areas I am sorely lacking in knowledge – miniature games and card games. My girlfriend (yes, I have one – yes, she’s real) and I were both talking about our shared curiosity in a miniature-based game and so I went down to the local gaming store to have someone break it down Barney-style for me.  I liked what I heard and curiosity had already latched onto my mind with its shadowy cash-leeching tendrils, so naturally, I bought stuff.

As a note, I tend to prefer going in and talking to people at a local shop about games I am unfamiliar with.  Though I will research information online, I prefer to interact with people and even more so enjoy the sense of community and welcoming you can get from gamers.  Support your local game stores, get involved with them – there’s often a wealth of knowledge behind the counter or sitting down playing.

I came home with the Warhammer 40K: Dark Vengeance box set and Citadel’s Hobby Starter Paint Set.  The box set came with 49 miniatures for two different forces, a paperback version of the rules, a quick reference sheet, an assembly guide, a roster sheet, dice, templates, a how-to book, and an info sheet for an Aspiring Champion.  My first reaction after opening the box… “What have I gotten myself into?”  So many pieces – about 200!  Sheets of plastic cutaways and snap-fit miniatures.    Okay, there’s $200 spent.

Oh, but the miniatures aren’t put together and they are unpainted.  I was almost upset at first, what – I have to do someone’s job for them?  Then I started looking at the detail of the miniatures and the paints I had from the Citadel Starter Set.  Oooooh the options!  I was grinning like a kid with the different color schemes in my head.  Last night, I stayed up three extra hours because I was gluing and painting one miniature.  One.  ONE!  And I loved it.  I’m not even done yet.  Now I begin to understand the allure, I’ve dipped one toe into the water of miniature gaming.

So far, I’m loving it.  The logic behind the box set was it came with everything we needed to learn to play.  If we aren’t interested after figuring out the game – lesson learned.  My girlfriend claimed the Dark Angels forces and soon my Chaos Space Marines will crush her (or so I hope).  Soon, we will do battle.

The rules are thorough to say the least, the miniatures are amazingly detailed, and the game truly comes with everything needed to start learning and playing.  For anyone who is interested in picking up Warhammer or just interested in painting miniatures, I highly recommend going by your local game store and checking out their minis or the sets gamers bring in to play.  The detail I have seen on some of these things is uncanny.  I sense there will be more to come on this matter…

Also, I suck at painting.  The red figure is a Chaos Space Marine Chosen in the paint process as I learn.