FUNdahammer - Introspective Wargaming Thoughts

A humble introduction.

I'm not sure where it started. Could have been the many amounts of amazing toys that littered my bedroom floor from 5 years old. It may have been the many board games and strategy games like checkers and chess my mam played with me. It may have been football and wrestling cards. It may have my Grandads collection of lead British cavalry figurines. Or maybe the little characters we jumped around the board on Monopoly. It may have been the Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone adventure books. It may have been comics like the Beano. 

Whatever got me started on gaming and doing tabletop hobbies, I thank it. At 40 I've been a tabletop gamer for 30 years now. From second edition Dungeons and Dragons, from Magic:The Gathering beta, and second edition Warhammer 40.000! These amazing hobbies predated me by years, even decades. We owe it all to those gone before and those who developed them our age group are not the 1st but we walk in the footsteps of giants.

Why do I game?

It got me away from life. It gave me friends and helped build relationships that lasted centuries. It gave me the best ever memories. It kept me out of trouble. It helped me develop math, strategy, memory, and social skills. And a safe place to learn from mistakes.

Why do I do it now.?

The very same reasons. And I've spent that gaming career developing the areas I've lived in to be able to facilitate my own hobbies. That's the real selfish reason. I wanted people to game with. That knew me. And understood me. February the 7th 1995, my dad took me to a club that a work colleague said he went to. And that they played with miniature games. The week before, me and a mate went halves on an Orc Warbike. Metal and chunky, like some kind of custody battle fought for years over that Orky wonder. I have no idea where it is now. Or who won it. A shop in town stocked Citadel miniatures, just on one shelf. I spent one night looking at people's expertly painted armies, listening to them play cards, and telling stories. And I was hooked. 

But that was it. A 10-year-old hooked on all the great stuff we know and love. A full force to battle with was expensive, but that's what nannas are for. Soon, I was painting up very poorly painted Orks and Goblins and some even worse looking Space Marines. I took part in my 1st ever dungeon adventure. A dwarf with a green afro. Why not? You've all played worse.  ThenI discovered Magic: The Gathering... those damn goblin cards. I collected these, and soon, it became a lifelong game. 

Fast forward to what I've been involved with over the years and what things I have done. A good friend made me realise recently that my name carries a history of gaming with it. So, I looked back at what i had done.  Over 10 clubs created. One now peaks at a combined 300 members and grows still with the next generation who have the time and, frankly, the energy. I've been the northern Gaming Club Network representative. I was 11th in Europe in Magic: The Gathering, and a good friend of mine joined me in joint first for a team format in Magic also. I've held 40k events and helped start one of the only wargaming shows in the north. I've written articles and ran the biggest card trading group in the UK and founded an altered art appreciation page. I have been involved in comic conventions and taught various rules to hundreds of people. I’m proud of the fact that I’ve ran an 8 yearlong D&D session, which along the way opened doors to supporting fringe hobbies like cosplay and model painting.

The effects of all this mean I've influenced so many gamers to pick up dice, cards, and paint brushes. Saw couples form and have babies that become gaming club members. There’s something truly humbling about people who I'd influenced and gamed with go on to form clubs and businesses and travel abroad for events they loved. 

From a very niche hobby, there were few to champion the games virtues, too. 

But now the 10th edition Warhammer 40k is the most popular wargame ever. With tens of thousands of players worldwide, events with thousands of players. And it all started from Nottingham and the gamers in the UK. Some of which I have had the pleasure of knowing.

Magic The Gathering was the 1st ever trading card game and everyone that came after can give thanks to it. 167 sets released over 27000 individual designed cards. I've played most of the other tcgs out there. But Magic is still in my blood.

According to Wizards Of The Coast, Gary Gygax's, wonderful creation is the most popular roleplay game ever. Dungeons and Dragons has an estimated audience of 50....million players. (Stranger things I'm looking at you) 

30 years has seen the niche hobby grow to being one of the top 10 hobbies in the world. Reading, arts, and craft are included in that list. But the point is. Tabletop gaming is now the best way to get socialising. Doesn't matter what you play. Get down to your local gaming club, support it, and help it grow.  Your opponents are there for the same reason you are, the hobby stockists have families, and your on-line mates, podcasters, and content creators all do it for the same reasons. 

I'm 40 now. I've gamed for 30 years. But I'm not done. There are great things yet to achieve in this new world that now supports all the things myself and others like me have spent a life time see grow.

What is in it for me?. And for those who came before me. The joy, and the pride of seeing people enter the hobby and it make it their own. . Weall put the hand out to help someone else up, and get comfortable in their own hobbyspace. We’ve all been on both sides of that , Every gamer who said to their mate, "Have you heard of this game?" 

Every person who paid subs at their gaming place. Everyone who cracked a pack of cards. Picked a paint brush up or said......" Once upon a time, there was a dwarf called....." 

Now I can sit on a train, and someone will mention a game they played. I can instantly have something in common with them. And sometimes....just sometimes they will have a deck of cards with them. 

I'm not alone anymore.  Why do I still spend hours painting? Why do I spend hours poring over online articles and podcasts? Why do I still push local gaming? Why am I a nerd who geeks out on these things? Why do i care? 

Why....because it's fun. 

In this vein, I'll be talking to many, many gamers about their stories and why they do,  what they do. 

So, it's time to put the fun at the forefront of things, and to reap what those three decades of tabletop have sown. This introduction is to explain who I am, where I came from and what I want to do going forward. This comes in the flavour of “FUNdahammer*”, which will be a series of articles where we will connect with gamers, those who have gone before and those at the start of their gaming journey, all based around the big three tentpoles of tabletop gaming. An archive of the games people have played, silly stories, and ridiculous dice roles.

Alongside comes "MTG Shenanigans" will continue from previous articles of the same name around different game modes and the stories people have from them, with "Left for Loot" focusing on the silliest moments and stories people have from their own games. 

If you would like to share any stories, I'll be aiming to release an article for the Fluffenhammer every few months once stories have gathered. 

Thanks once again to the inspirational gamers I've met. And yet to meet.

Let's have fun

Your humble Trollslayer....Scott Ferguson

*Say it Orkish