Having read the wonderful new e-magazine put out by some of the staff, I was wondering how the rest of you feel about your hobby. Dr. Grant seems mostly ashamed, except for within the wargaming community.

Me? I'm loud and proud, like the title says. My girlfriends bought me a curio cabinet for displaying my finished armies and Hirst Arts terrain pieces. It's also cat-proof. I show all my friends and their wives when they come over. No one ever heckles me about it, in fact they all think they're really cool. I take my finished pieces to the game store and show them off. I wanted to run a demo day at my FLGS, but there's no room now that the store is renovated. (They play in a church.) I actually used to get an employee discount there for introducing customers to the hobby and helping them pick up practical purchases.

I advertise to parents that the hobby can actually be quite affordable for beginners and the boxes make great gifts. Setting them up with an easy to paint but striking army like Minas Tirith after seeing the display cabinet isn't too hard. I usually say that playing is like chess, only customizable. Most people think chess players are smart, another bonus. I also tell them that we are a *community* and are more than happy to play with new players and help them paint their new gifts. We also have demo days for interested families. Being an ambassador helps parents see that responsible adults oversee the club and also the hobby as a whole. It's also interactive and allows kids to get out of the house on a Saturday morning or evening.

Maybe it helps that I'm a girl? Lately I've been taking photos and cleverly insert them into conversations involving photos of peoples' pets, babies, vacations... Sometimes it helps get the conversation off these boring subjects. Many people have friends or relatives that used to play GW games back in the day and are not foreign to the concept.

And honestly, there are a lot worse hobbies out there. With "50 shades of grey" floating around, aren't you proud that you think of:"Astronomican, Codex, Dawnstone , Fenris (or is that blue?)" not bondage?

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"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'nice doggie' until you can find a rock." -Will Rogers

Way to go girl, proud of you.
I am more than happy in my world of geekdom. With it being Good Friday I said to my wife, I could be one of those who says right then, pub all day. I would much prefer sat in the same room as her while I paint and she reads. We are blissfully happy.
Nothing to be ashamed of, like you I'm loud and proud.

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Commission Service Available

mallysminiatures.blogspot.co.uk

I may be a nerd but I am an alpha nerd
The beta nerds need to come out of the gaming closet and join the rest of the vertebrates.

Hey some of us like photos of the grandchildren and our young friends children

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

I am not sure where I stand. I don't hide that I paint and do show people pictures of models and post on Face Book some stuff.
But I am 6' 2" and workout 5 days a week.
I am also a parent and spend lots of time with my daughter doing many things, outdoor activities, activities with other parents and kids. Lots of social interaction.

I definitely am not mistaken for any kind of nerd. But when asked I tell people I am a nerd who paints models, plays RPG's, video games and watches sci fi films. I just don't let it run my whole life.

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http://www.sithious.webs.com

Same as sithious, except I'm 5'9". I dont flaunt it, but it doesnt take long for someone to figure it out. Ironically, it takes them longer to figure out that i do most of my own car work, work out 4-6 times a week, and am a concealed carrier.

Won't say I tend to shout it from the rooftops, but then again I'm not the kind of person to shout anyway, nor do I climb on rooftops much.

When speaking about hobbies and stuff, I'll probably mention it at some point, as it certainly is one of the activities that I spend quite some time doing. Don't see the problem either: it's a combination of the artistic (modelling, painting) and social (gaming). The main reason I may leave it out, is that it's difficult to really describe well (as opposed to cycling, archery or photography).

Given my general tidiness, there is a good chance some paint and brushes, or indeed partially painted models, will be on a table somewhere when people come over. Showing the end result will often be enough to win people over - the worst I've encountered is a 'I can't believe you spend (=waste) so much time on those tiny things', but honestly 97% is very positive, from interest to admiration. The kind of people that dislike it (and feel the pressing need to openly express that) probably aren't the people whose opinion matters much to me anyway, while those that aren't put off by the idea of spending two dozen quid on a tiny piece of resin, then spending a day or two painting intricate details on it with wonderfully small brushes and finising it off with accurately placed miniature grass.. well those are the people you want to keep around.

It also helps that the hobby most likely isn't the weirdest thing about me, so by the time people 'find out', it may come as a relieve that my somewhat hidden collection consists of plastic and metal Elves and Vikings rather than the kind of stuff seen in Hannibal or CSI.

I am pretty open about the hobby; if the subject comes up I won't hide what I do, and if any friends or family are interested, I am more than happy to go into as much detail as they want. When LotR was at its most popular I got quite a few of my friends into the game, initially lending them my own armies, and when I later picked up 40k, I did the same, building a gaming group that lasted a fair few years. Of the group, I was always the most 'in to' the games, but I've seen all kinds of people, often people that you wouldn't necessarily expect, take an interest in hobby. Of course, there is there is the odd bit of good-natured ribbing about still playing with toy soldiers, but I've never encountered any open hostility about it, or been told I should leave it behind. My family are very supportive of it, always keen to see what I've painted, and occasionally allowing themselves to be press-ganged into a game!

To be quite honest, wargaming is a great hobby to be in. It has an intellectual side, in the game itself, a creative side in the narrative around that, and an artistic side that is far more significant than in the vast majority of hobbies. The cost can be a bit alarming, but then I look at the price of new video games these days, realise I could buy a small LotR, Infinity or Malifaux army for that, and it really isn't that bad! Most Xbox games, apart from the really exceptional ones, I'll play for less than 20 hours, far less time than I'll take building, painting and playing with minis over a similar period. Even now, when I'm much more painter than gamer, I still feel like I get a better deal, when I can have a shelf full of hundreds of individual pieces of art that I created.

And as pointed out above, people who will judge you based on your hobbies are not really people that you want to worry about!

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Free fan-made BotFA Supplement

I am a 25 year old Harley riding, gun carrying, civil war reenacting, snowboard riding , Hobbit Strategy Battle Gamer!! Its positive, interactive, social, and strategic ! It is also a large part of a business I created as a professional terrain designer so it also pays the bills!! Who would of thought? Right ? I tell all my friends/family about the game and what I do for a living and their actually impressed and inspired. It is like chess with way more options and the terrain environments are truly exciting to play on! I really like this post because I always think about how people perceive those that play miniature war gaming . its interesting because it looks like there's many gamers that live very active and interesting life styles and no one would think they play this game! Very interesting, happy gaming guys!

This ^^

Although, when the guys at work ask what I did at the weekend, it is often easier to say 'out with mates drinking/ birthday party' than it is to say 'gathered round a table moving plastic figures'

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12th GBHL 2013.
13th GBHL 2014
9th GBHL 2015


Mid Sussex Wargamers

Me on the other hand, I am a closet geek.

In the words of Gandalf,
"KEEP IT SECRET, KEEP IT SAFE!"

But I am open with family and close friends, and others I game with, just not with people and colleagues in general.

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Leonardis
Army blog:Http://www.thewarofthering.blogspot.co.uk/

Hah, well seeing as my article seems to have kicked this off I had better chime in!

I'm certainly not ashamed anymore. I have a games room permanently set up with paints, scenery and figures and it always provides an interesting talking point when friends/family/workmen come round for the first time. The reality is I now couldn't hide the hobby even if I wanted to, the combination of doing the Youtube show and creating the magazine means that a quick google search of my names reveals a whole bunch of hobby related videos and pictures.

I'm very much loud and proud now, all my friends and family know as do most of my students, in fact, I've worked the hobby into various university courses through topics such as fan culture lectures for film students, adaptation lectures for English lit students and using the magazine as part of practical demonstrations when teaching InDesign and Illustrator etc.

Since rediscovering the hobby as an adult I've found very few serious negative reactions. Most people realise that it's a fun, creative and harmless hobby, just one they've often never come across before. There've definitely been a few raised eyebrows but normally after chatting to people for about 10 minutes (I find that the term 'free-form chess' is particularly good for conveying how the game works) most people are either nodding away interested or saying that they'd like to give it a go.

The article was actually more about me being surprised by most people's positive reaction and realising that the real battle I had was internal. Playing Warhammer from 10-20 years old I can assure you that there absolutely WAS a very negative feeling towards the hobby at my school, it's very easy to say "oh be happy with what you do, who cares what anyone else thinks" but perhaps those people didn't spend several years (at a deeply impressionable age) being bullied for doing the hobby they enjoyed and having their White Dwarfs/army books ripped up and stolen.

I absolutely did keep my hobby hidden from most people when I was a kid because if I didn't I suffered for it, getting back into it as an adult it's hard to shake that mind-set. However, as said, thankfully, the kind of people who pick on other people for doing things they don't understand aren't really on my radar anymore and, now that I'm not vulnerable anymore, it's far easier to ignore any derisive comments from people whose opinion I couldn't care else about.

My article was trying to encourage others who have had similar experiences to me to shake it off and try and be proud of what you do. However, I fully understand that some people, kids in particular, might want to hide their hobby. Ultimately, this is our hobby and we should all enjoy it however we want to. If I'm brutally honest I don't think that chastising someone for not 'coming out' about the hobby is much better than chastising someone for playing the hobby - both are examples of people trying to force their opinions on others, something I try to avoid. Obviously, the ideal is that we all I've in a place where everyone of all ages is free to do whatever they want without fear of any judgement from society, fingers crossed we get there one day.

Nice idea for a thread GreatKhanArtist, it's nice to see such a positive and empowering thread and it's nice reading of everyone's experiences.

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Finished 2nd in the 2014 GBHL. My Wife's so proud

Free SBG fanzine: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29569

Really ...all the music lyrics in the world and you went for Taylor swift...there are far better quotes to shoe-horn in

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12th GBHL 2013.
13th GBHL 2014
9th GBHL 2015


Mid Sussex Wargamers

For me, most of my friends know I do lotr sbg, but I don't stand on the roof shouting it to the world

( this is my 100th post yaaaaaaaaay

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In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit.

Sorry Sam, maybe people should just let it go….

Better?!?!

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Finished 2nd in the 2014 GBHL. My Wife's so proud

Free SBG fanzine: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29569

Much better

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12th GBHL 2013.
13th GBHL 2014
9th GBHL 2015


Mid Sussex Wargamers

I don't hide it, if people ask what I'm up to over the weekend or whatever and it's hobby-related I'll say so, and if people are over to the house there's plenty of evidence lying around, and I'm more than happy to show off models. But like Coen, I'm not much of a shouter or rooftop-climber, so if it's not pertinent to the conversation I'm probably not talking about it.

I'd say most people that know me know my nerdiness to at least some degree, although many don't quite get what wargaming is so I'm not going to go overboard explaining it to them. Generally just "I build and paint models, and play board games with them."

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Well, that's my 2 cents.