Looks Aren't Everything

When anyone is interested in a wargame, their first question is often "which army should I choose?" To which many respond "whichever army looks best to you!" Unfortunately, this advice rarely comes with a footnote.

Years ago when I was interested in 40k, I did a huge amount of research in to which army I'd theoretically choose if I were to start. I really liked the look and flavor of Orks, but I liked the small-but-powerful-units playstyle of Space Marines. I frequented a few popular forums, and everywhere I went people stuck by the tried-and-true "pick what army looks best to you." So years before I even had someone to play with, my mind was settled on Orks because looks seemed to be the big decider.

It's an easy answer to default to, but I'm not sure everyone considers the weight behind what they're saying. In a hobby with several factors to it, it's dangerous to assume that one answer will apply to everyone. I'd like to talk about three guys in my group and how this single answer would affect them.

Fritz: Fritz is a gamer first, rules-monger second and hobbyist third. In the year I've been playing with him, I've hardly seen him lose. It's also a running joke in our group that he has never had a painted army (although there is a legend that he painted some 40k stuff back in the day).

If he were to play an army solely based on looks, he'd be miserable. He approaches wargaming for the game more than the story. Although he will play (and win) with any army, and he knows every piece of 40k lore imaginable  what they look like isn't a factor. So to him, this concept could lead to a very bad purchase because it doesn't address what he's looking for in the game.

Chris: Chris is at the opposite end of the spectrum (as the current discussion on our Facebook page can attest to). Chris sees games as a more narrative experience, and everything he brings to the table needs to make sense to the game's story. In Warmachine, it means bringing tier lists (a restriction that gives benefits for only bringing models that go with a certain leader). In 40k, you can hear him talking about how a certain army list doesn't make sense because it wouldn't happen in the story.

To Chris, "play what looks good" is the driving factor in his purchases. Chris will only play "good guys" in a wargame. Even if Chaos Space Marines fit his playstyle perfectly, he won't play them. Likewise, he'll agonize over how his army is painted. Everything has a purpose, and no amount of work is too much if it gives his models the look he wants. Yes, that includes 100+ layers of glaze just to get a good white color on this Thunderhead.

Josh (and me): We are somewhere in the middle of these two wackos. We both love having painted models whose looks we enjoy, but the army needs to play how we like it. I'd argue that Josh leans more toward Chris while I allign closer to Fritz, but we both like to win with good looking miniatures.

Regardless, "whatever looks best" only tackles half of our decision. Josh may like how Khador (my primary Warmachine army) plays, but if he doesn't like the Russian inspiration of the army then I can guarantee he won't play them. Likewise I love the look of Cryx (steampunk zombies!!!), but I simply can't wrap my mind around the idea of shrugging when your paper-armored pieces die, so I don't play them.




My point is that there is often more to it than just the looks of the models. It's also important to point out that the onus for explaining what type of gamer you are falls solely on the shoulders of the person asking the questions. No one should be expected to answer such a shallow question with a thorough answer. If you want to know what to play, you need to tell people how you want to play.

That leads me back to Orks. When I finally decided to make the plunge in to 40k, I already knew what army I wanted. I liked the looks and story of both Orks and Space Marines. However, Orks were crazy and full of character so I chose them with little regard to their playstyle. I knew they were random and died by the masses, but I figured that since I liked their models I would learn to love their playstyle. I made the mistake of not studying both parts of my "army criteria."

Mistake.

I played a few games with them and I nearly lost my mind. If I got shot, I died. If I shot them, my bullets harmlessly bounced away, sometimes laughing at my audacity in actually shooting with Orks. But if I engaged the enemy in melee, whoo buddy were they in trouble! And that's about what the army demanded - running everything forward, ignoring casualties and trying to get to them with enough troops to do something.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against the idea of acceptable losses. In any game, you know that some of your things will die. Chess, Magic, wargames... if you control multiple pieces, you must accept that some will perish.

But with Orks, I wasn't prepared for just how many things needed to die in the name of "acceptable losses." I could lose half my army before getting in to melee, and that was deemed lucky. Each round I was tossing Orks back in my box, and everyone else just raised their eyebrows at me as I tried to rationalize how this was considered a close game.

In all my gaming history, I've always used a powerful few over "strength in numbers." I like knowing just how powerful an individual piece is, and how many I can lose before I no longer have the upper hand. With my poor math skills, that always meant that "swarm tactics" never worked with me. I don't like the idea of having power in numbers - I want each card, each model, to have a powerful, direct purpose in my game.

With Orks, no individual piece brought power to my list. They worked through eventuality - throwing enough bodies at the problem until it eventually succumbed. My mind doesn't work that way, and although I enjoyed Orks and their randomness, I just couldn't get them to work with the other half of what I need to enjoy the game.

But I've learned my lesson. I can't be all things in all games, and I need to maintain balance. So I'm selling my Ork stuff, painting up my Grey Knights (which are the epitome of small, powerful models), and only playing what I'll enjoy; models I love with a playstyle to match.

See you tomorrow!