Glad to see you are growing! So close to 1k. Love to see it!

I totally got you man. I was fully into researching a warband for Mordheim because Devs and Dice released a video about it, while I just a week before I decided not to invest my time into it because I simply don't have it at the moment. Weird how the urge for something new works sometimes.

Just to say, I am a Votann played 40k only for a long time. But I started out Seraphon a couple months ago and they are an absolute blast to play. They have been my favorite models to paint out of everything I own. Its so much fun. The models looks awesome. The fun with Seraphon in AoS, you can play 2 completely different playstyles. So whatever you wanna do, you got a build for it !

Format is great - keep it up! I am going through a similar situation in my area, but the game is Warmachine, rather than Old World The difference for me is that I want to PLAY Warmachine a lot, so it's worth it to me to make up cool looking terrain and demo armies to try and rustle up some interest. I'd say just get some random Lizardmen and give them a paint. Stuff like that is a great pallette cleanser, and you never know what the future might bring.

I've gotten a could kill teams for just painting and hobby. It has lead to me now expanding my votann because I really liked the models

Man do I understand this so well. Especially that "you look at a model from another faction and really like it, but your brain tells you , you shouldn't get it unless you're intending to start an entire new army" And not even that, simply looking at my votann, who are my number 1 love, and I'd die for. Sometimes maybe I just want to buy another unit I like, but I simply won't because "its not good on the table" or "you should get another 10 hearthguard instead "😂

Your not crazy. I magnetize my miniatures as it's cheaper than buying multiple boxes (very expensive in aus) I used to play Warhammer fantasy but too expensive as a young lad. Only got back into it after buying leviathan where i had two armies to use.

It takes a while to get better at producing video similar to hobbying ~ you do a great job at explaining things. Keep up the nice work.

this!!! freaking me with votann.

As far as a hobby project goes that will only sit on a shelf would be way cheaper to get a 3d print of a non gw model, could even look better if you get a good stl

This has become an increasingly frustrating issue for me. I'm in my mid forties now and I've played tabletop wargames for over 3 decades now, I'm a recent returned player to 40k after over 25 years away from them. I 'm really tiring of the "math-hammer" or "stat-hammer" view to the game, nbow don't get me wrong I like to play somewhat competitively but this situation where theres a "meta", "viability" considerations and "autoinclude units" is really eroding my enjoyment, after only 6 months back. People looking for exploits in rules, how they're written or min-maxing armies is really sucking the fun out of the hobby. Yes, as people keep telling me, I can ignore people like this, but it's so intertwined in the hobby now it's virtually impossible to ignore.

I think it's definitely the cost that does this, if 10 saurus cost 10$ would you even hesitate to buy them just for hobbying?

gained a sub from me! enjoy the rant cause this is where i am now. i just embraced the suck!

Bro, are you kidding me? You play Votann _and_ Blood Angels? You mean to tell me we play _the exact same armies?_ Right down to the _Space Marine chapter?_ That's ridiculous, dude. It's like it was meant to be. Regarding the core question about efficiency ruining the hobby...well, I'm gonna be real blunt, this seems like a you problem, and I don't mean like "you're the problem, you're being dumb", I mean this is a problem only you can solve. I completely understand getting into that Mathhammer mindset, where you wanna buy the one box of models and now you're thinking, well how would I expand this into a full army? But there _is_ a fallacy I think I can pick at and hopefully give you an in to help potentially change this. You act as if buying, assembling, painting, and displaying models means you're not getting value out of them, that you're not getting value out of them unless they're on the table being played. That's a fair argument but I do think it's fallacious. You put work into those models, you made them your own, and when you put them up on the shelf and look at them, I would imagine you probably feel a sense of pride seeing them up on display. That is value! If you ever have people over where your models are, you can show them your display models and say "look at what I did", and they'll remark on how cool they are, and that's value! That's a creative outlet and just because it's not numbers on a sheet doesn't mean it has no value, it just has a different _kind_ of value. Do you care about that value? When you walk by your shelf and see those models, do you feel a sense of pride and accomplishment from having painted them, or do you just look at them as game pieces not being used? If it's the second one, then yeah, buying and painting models and putting them on display is just going to lead you down that "but how do I use them" path, and it might be better to just not bother. But if that isn't a problem and you can draw upon that joy that completing a creative project can bring you, that's something no one can take from you. "Is the unit even good?" Who cares, dude. It's a side army. You gotta let yourself play by vibes sometimes. Your main armies, you should absolutely get as competitive as you like, but when it comes to an army you're painting up because "the dudes look cool", you GOTTA use the dudes that look cool. When you start getting into that competitive mindset for a side army, you are going to optimize the fun out of your list (unless the units you like are super strong in which case HELL YEAH brother that's a blessing and a half). It's like fighting games; if you have one specific character you want to get good with, that character has 100% of your focus and time. Every time you want to learn a new character, you have to split your focus between them, and while it doesn't have to be 50/50, it means they both can't get 100%. The question is, what percentage are they getting at any given time? And when it comes to a side army you're playing for aesthetics, that's a perfect opportunity to let yourself turn that percentage down low so you can just enjoy the ride and spend your precious time and energy making sure your main armies are at their peak while the side army comes out during the casual game nights with the boys. And like I said, it's totally possible that you just can't get over the "they're just game pieces and if they're not being used it's being wasted" mindset. I don't think it's an unfair mindset to have! It just means that yeah, you're gonna optimize not the fun, but the freedom out of your hobby, I guess. And that's gonna suck, but it is kind of a trade-off. It means you're gonna have to put all your focus on your main armeis that you're actively using, but those armies are going to get honed to a fine point and they're gonna feel great to play.

MATTY