What Bits Of The Hobby Do You Enjoy Most?

[SV52]

This is my hit parade, 50 years of wisdom distilled 

1. Research.
Used to be difficult, requiring access to an extensive library (British Library scale).  Nowadays with the iternet, much easier.  I can and do spend hours chasing things down.

2. Planning.
What figures, paint, bases.  Again much easier with internet.

3. Organizing.
Once the blighters have been selected, how do they go together to form units? This is relatively straight-forward if vendors have illustrations of their ranges.  I'm a 1/72 plastics fan, so a site like Plastic Soldier Review (PSR) is golden.  Cut/paste and it's possible to more or less see how a unit will look.

4. First Paint Run.
When all the colours have been applied to the appropriate places and you get an idea what a finished figure will look like.  The final point of direct involvement of real interest

5. Paint Finishing.
Fixing all the overpaints and runs, tedious.  Especially as once photographed they still look as though they haven't been touched!

6. Basing.
What a bore this is.  Nowadys everyone expetcs every base to be a mini diorama.  In the good old days the base got painted green and that was it; perfect.

7. Gaming.
Lifetime soloist. My attention span is fleeting at best.  Hate rules and using them, all that fuss and bother.  The best days were hordes of Airfix hoover-fodder being mown down on a carpet battlefield by match-firing artillery. Oh the joy!  Yet I'm still interested in wargaming goings on, collecting 'armies', watching games at conventions, reading (short) AARs and generally looking at what people are doing.

8. Model Preparation.
Flash removal, filling, sanding, etc., etc.  What a waste of life's most precious resource - time.

This is a light-hearted contribution, please keep it that way 

[Steve J]

1- The history and research of a period, army etc.

2- Planning. Can be fun but often I've moved on to another project by the time the figures have arrived !

3- The game. Mostly solo these days, so hard to get motivated to get the toys out onto the table given the pressures of real life.

4- The painting, but only when the Muse is upon me, which is sadly quite rare these days, again due to the pressures of real life.

[FierceKitty]

Gazing upon the slain body of my enemy, beholding the humiliation of his tribe, and hearing the lamentation of his women.

[Nick the Lemming]

1- The history and research of a period, army etc.

2- Planning. Can be fun but often I've moved on to another project by the time the figures have arrived !

3- The game. Mostly solo these days, so hard to get motivated to get the toys out onto the table given the pressures of real life.

4- The painting, but only when the Muse is upon me, which is sadly quite rare these days, again due to the pressures of real life.

Same things, same order, for me, apart from the solo gaming, most of mine is still with other people.

[Ithoriel]

1. Fellow gamers and banter round the table

2. Gaming. Solo if necessary but preferably multiplayer

3. Planning the next big thing

4. Research

5. Buying stuff, half of which will never get painted ... doh!

6. Cleaning, converting, painting, basing, varnishing - mind numbingly dull but essential

[Leman]

1. Research and planning an army. 

2. Trying out different rule sets.

3. Shopping - great therapy, but horns having to be pulled in quite severely these days

4. Basing - I have tried many methods over the years and have now hit upon one which is perfect for me - having had a great deal of help from El Mercenario and Fat Wally

5. Applying the final wash

6. Painting the base colours and highlighting them

7. And now the WORST and least enjoyable aspect of the hobby - painting straps, belts and reins. Tedious and usually the major contributory factor to my figures not looking as good as they could. 

[Shedman]

Playing - especially The Recrimination Phase and saying to your opponent no later than half way through the game "I'll tell you where you went wrong"

[Leman]

Fraid you would not leave the table without an axe between your eyes. Sure fire way to ruin a game. Enjoy your win, but smug comments lead to death - at least of playing live opponents.

[Ithoriel]

The joy of multiplayer games is the knowledge that your side's victory was entirely due to your brilliance or that your loss was entirely down to the ineptitude of your fellow generals

[Leman]

Funny how playing the actual game didn't even make my list. Probably because it can swing between the most fun you've had in a while to the most incredibly crap three or four hours in a long time. This has nothing to do with the result but usually to do with either who you are playing or the set of rules being used.

[Westmarcher]

Finally finishing a unit (hate all the painting and basing beforehand).

Rules that move along swiftly and don't give me a headache.

[Ben Waterhouse]

Wot the moggy said...

[fsn]

1) Research
2) Planning
3) Varnishing ('cos I've finished painting)
4) Gloating over my hoard
5) Gaming
6) Painting
7) Putting together tiny artillery pieces
Painting horses

[Chris Pringle]

1) Gaming. I am blessed with having found circles of great like-minded gaming buddies who always guarantee good times.

2) Research. I love the voyage of discovery to learn about a historical battle, and then the challenge of translating that into a tabletop game that is both historically accurate (usual caveats and parameters apply) and entertaining to play.

As for all the craft elements of the hobby, I virtually never do any painting or modelling any more. This for both positive and negative reasons: the negative being that I just don't have the time, the positive being that between me and my mates we have plenty of armies and terrain already.

Chris

Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BBB_wargames/info
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/

[Orcs]

1 Taking the p*ss of FSN or Techno
2 Figures on the top totty page........ Oh sorry you mean actual  wargames figures.

Ok start again

1 Gaming
2 Planning what I need to buy
3 Buying stuff
4 Painting
5 basing, Cos this means it is finished
6 The satisfaction of putting stuff on the table for the first time
7 Taking the p*ss of FSN or Techno