What Bits Of The Hobby Do You Enjoy Most?

[paulr]

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

Going by your AARs isn't it usually your partner who gazes upon your slain body...

[Nick the Lemming]

1 Taking the p*ss of FSN or Techno

Isn't that more of a vocation than a hobby though?

[paulr]

It's hard to say which I enjoy most and that is one of the things I truly love about this hobby

Research
The Internet has made this so much easier and allows us to go as far down the rabbit hole as we wish
With my Free French Flying Column, March 1943, I went from one mentions of French Foreign Legion (wrong, it was the 1 BIMP), armoured cars and tanks to identifying each crew member of the tank squadron (Crusaders and Shermans) and a potted biography of each officer. Plus discovered my favorite Frenchman, Sgt Fred Moore, born in Paris after his father resigned from the Royal Navy

Modeling
I really enjoy the almost meditative nature of painting and the creative side of painting and basing
The planning of the force and your orders is another delight
The preparation can be a little tedious but the quality of Pendraken castings reduces this

Playing
I'm fortunate to have found a group of like minded players and we have mostly settled on the rules we use for the periods we play
For King and Parliament has allowed the recent addition of ECW
We also interact with both the local clubs which adds welcome variety
The discussion and banter that surrounds the game is almost as enjoyable as the challenge of a well designed scenario or trying to rescue a plan from contact with the enemy

The insights into history and the understanding gained both in playing and in research is also fascinating

[Norm]

1. Research.
Yep.

2. Planning.
What figures, paint, bases? I feel more a hostage to this than it being a 'enjoy most'  item!


4. First Paint Run.
Yes, like to get the block painting complete

5. Paint Finishing.
No, this is the point that i ruin the figure and 3 times as much work goes into the rescue ...... my problem is dipping / inking.

6. Basing.
I like this bit, it means the (expletive) painting is finished.

7. Gaming.
The whole point of the exercise surely! And yet I find too many of the steps to get to the gaming point actually get in the way of playing!

8. Model Preparation.
This is why I need to be a millionaire ...... so someone else can do it!

9. I do like the internetty thing, blogging and all that ...... but sometimes I feel it contributes to getting in the way of just plain old gaming.

[mollinary]

Well the politically correct answer would, of course, be 'all of them" because they are all (even basing!) essential to my hobby! But actually I would come down in favour of research, because it contains as a subset battlefield walking. I love walking battlefields, and I have never been to one without being astounded as to how different it looks in real life, as opposed to the clinical clarity of a map. In particular you come to realise that contour maps are not produced with combat in mind, as the difference between contours is always too large to show militarily significant differences in height between positions! It is amazing how often seeing the field instantly answers those nagging questions as to how and why a particular battlefield incident occurred. But no battlefield walk is complete unless it has been well prepared in advance.  The culmination of all this is the fun of meeting with like minded friends for a day of gaming. All in all, a brilliant hobby!

[SV52]

Fascinating.  Like-minded isn't in it, apart from the true gamers not like me.  Hobby seems to tick all the same boxes for folks.

[fsn]

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

I was number 1 for a while! 

[mmcv]

1) Research - love of history got me into this and learning about new periods or getting deeper into old favourites is a big factor driving it.

2) Planning - partly because I can do this anytime I've internet access and partly because it's a natural follow on from research. I enjoy planning out units and scenarios long before I've the materials to do anything with them.

3) Painting - putting those plans into action and getting something looking good (or at least not terrible) can be relaxing and satisfying. Except for cavalry. Bloody horses with all their straps and tacks and awkward angles...

4) Gaming - mostly solo and rarely have time for it but do enjoy putting the finished products on the table and letting slip the dogs of war when I can!

5) Basing - to be honest, it's growing on me now I have more materials to use and can make something a little more interesting.

6) Prepping models - trimming, clipping, gluing, priming and other such necessary evils... One of the things that put me off 28mm pretty quickly was all that faff with sprues and glues. Not so bad at 10mm except for artillery.

...
...
...

10) Buying things - looking at all the lovely models for potential projects I really can't afford at the moment!


I guess terrain building should be in there somewhere but not sure where as I've not had the time, space or motivation to do any yet. Plan to do some hedges, tree stands and a bit of scatter in the near future though.

[FierceKitty]

Going by your AARs isn't it usually your partner who gazes upon your slain body...

It's like champagne when it's my turn, then. 

[paulr]

6) Prepping models - trimming, clipping, gluing, priming and other such necessary evils... One of the things that put me off 28mm pretty quickly was all that faff with sprues and glues. Not so bad at 10mm except for artillery.

I recently used a touch baking powder with super glue following advice on this forum, sets almost instantly and forms a much stronger firmer bond

[Westmarcher]

.... In particular you come to realise that contour maps are not produced with combat in mind, as the difference between contours is always too large to show militarily significant differences in height between positions! It is amazing how often seeing the field instantly answers those nagging questions as to how and why a particular battlefield incident occurred.....

Agreed. I found that with Antietam/Sharpsburg and the boulder strewn ground sloping up to Little Round Top at Gettysburg - so different from what I had previously imagined. 

[mmcv]

I recently used a touch baking powder with super glue following advice on this forum, sets almost instantly and forms a much stronger firmer bond

Yeah I've used that trick myself recently, it does help, but I've not the most delicate of hands so can still be quite fiddly!

[SV52]

I recently used a touch baking powder with super glue following advice on this forum, sets almost instantly and forms a much stronger firmer bond

Haven't tried that, currently use a spot of Blu-Tac with superglue, it sets like concrete.  Must investigate.

[Techno]

As long as you're not making something that will end up in a vulcanising press....Like what I do.

You can get away with murder.

You can also try Black-tak......FAR stronger than Blu - Tak

Cheers - Phil

[Leman]

Re. Mollinary's comment above: I too enjoy battlefield walking and was surprised to find how much the supposedly flattish battlefield of Mars la Tour actually undulates. I had wondered how the Prussian cavalry could have taken French 6th Corps' gun line by surprise. When standing on that spot it is noticeable that in only a short distance ahead the ground drops away by no more than thirty feet, but ample to conceal a man on horseback.