This 100%. My computer desk doubles as my hobby space. I consider it 'tidy' if I can keep enough open space in front of the keyboard and mouse to use them.
I'm always disheartened by people posting pictures of their immaculate hobby spaces. Yours filled me with gladness. Mine is so untidy that I don't use it and have formed a smaller satellite hobby space next to my TV watching chair :D
@@joriankell1983 if the original poster is anything like me, you CAN clean it up, and it lasts until you decide to start working on something, then all the clutter comes back.
@@andreacook7431Agreed! I consider myself a very neat person, but even my hobby space is pretty messy. It's just impossible to neatly store everything you're working on. That said, my setup is greatly helped by using a computer desk, the narrow kind with a slide-out keyboard shelf. I do my building on the slide-out shelf and my painting on the top of the desk. This saves me having to worry about dust on my painting area, allows me to be simultaneously building and painting without having to put anything away, and also keeps the place looking neater when the shelf is slid away :)
Like with most social media posts people tend to only put forward the best parts of themselves. For every amazing photo they post they probably have tons that aren't flattering that never see the light of day. I think people do that with their hobby spaces too. They will post a pic just after the tidy it up but then a week later it looks like a disaster area again. Are they going to post the photos of their disaster area? Probably not.
Uncle Atom, I'm a historical wargamer, so many of the games you discuss in your videos, I'm not familiar with. I'm a big fan of yours none the less! This is a terrific channel. You always have great hobby advice, down to earth, and always advocating good common sense. Thanks for bringing this channel to all of us out here in the hobby, you are truly greatly appreciated! 🍻
I am an old gamer, I started in the early 80's. Lately I struggle with motivation and enjoyment of this hobby. Watching your videos refreshes my enthusiasm for gaming, thank you.
Regarding Deadzone - It's in our club one of the games we introduce to parents of kids who come to our club. We suffered in the last years a natural growth of our club since many parents had issues with the pricing of certain Wargames. Kill Team and AoS are games with a high entry point (regarding rules and money). We considered the games as not optimal for club youth work. Especially since they are bto complex for children or parents. Deadzone can be explained in about 30min. Also it's a good start for people without a high household income who want to try painting and wargaming. Other games in our youngsters program: Gaslands Kings of War Ambush
Paint encroachment is real. I have really nice tidy shelves for the paint pots, but despite my efforts to herd them back into the shelves they always end up at the periphery of the bit of the desk I'm working on. Slowly getting closer. Closer.
Man Deadzone is great!! I wish more people would give it a shot. If you ever make it back to Valhalla I would love to do a game with you for my channel and I can do a game for yours if you want as well!
If I knew about the Deadzone starter set when I got into the hobby, I probably would have gone for that rather than 10 space marines. The Veer-myn and the terrain look great, and the rules seem really fun and intuitive. Plus the Mantic factions are compatible with One Page Rules along with Mantic's own Firefight ruleset.
Deadzone - my observation is the same as yours (I’m in Minnesota, practically the hobby capital of Minnesota even). It isn’t in any local stores. At all. You can buy it from the big box online retailers though. I’ve got a few friends who play it locally, and as a game system I think it’s one of the best I’ve ever tried, but I realize it’s limited audience makes it harder to be a topic.
I'm pretty sure "Power Armor" was first mentioned in the Lensman series by E.E. "Doc" Smith in the 40's & 50's. But that was just a minor side-note. It really became a major focus of the story in Starship Troopers by R. A. Heinlein in the 60's.
Unfortunately, people knowing anything about the history of fantasy/sci-fi is dwindling. There are very few people under the age of fifty who have ever heard of the early classics like Doc Smith or Van Vogt. Hell, even greats like Clarke, Asimov, Bradbury, Heinlein, Niven, Burroughs, etc are completely lost on Millennials and later. I have relatives in the GenZ/Alpha range who have never heard of Homer, HG Wells or Jules Verne! WTF do we even teach in school anymore!?!
I like making terrain, but I know it can be hard to approach. I'd love to hear your thoughts on approaching terrain for a new game, from the bare-bones "I just bought a starter set of a game but have no terrain to play on at home, what do?", what kind of premade things are out there, household items that make good stand-ins, knowing what you actually need minimum to have a good time (maybe a basics checklist for skirmish-scale things?). It's really easy to find tutorials on making stuff out there, but a lot of it is "how" you make specific things and not "why" those specific things might be important, and even more of it has some crossed wires with RPG terrain rather than wargaming specific stuff.
I have plans to make some terrain videos this summer, actually. They take longer than most videos, however - and I’m kinda swamped from now until early June with AdeptiCon, layout and marketing for our next game, and then TMX. But I’ll do some. Thanks for watching!
Intresting. Funny thing I backed the OG Deadzone KS YEARS ago. Painted 1 faction played 1 game. My 2024 resolution was as usual hit the pile of 'opportunity' I Probably will Never play it again but as of LAST night I have painted 4 complete warbands and terrain. I felt quite proud of that 😂
What I find most fantastic about your videos are the reflections on the world of miniatures and wargames more than the topics themselves. And so I continue to enjoy it every week. Thank you very much for that.
Yea longtime viewer/subscriber here and I gotta say the quality of you videos remains top shelf even after all this time. Thanks for doing what you do brother!
Thanks for your honesty. I love Battletech and Bloodbowl so your comments are super real and welcome. As someone approaching his 50's I can reflect on seasons of gaming. Sometimes games become great because of the friends you make. Other times we step away from those games to what the group wants.
Honestly the section about keeping my work space tidy probably made me laugh more than anything else I've seen or heard this week. I am with you on that one 😂😂. Good video. Love your philosophy. Keep it up 👍🏻
I know nothing about gaming. I was fed your channel based on (I think) using non crafting items in the shop. Now I want to watch you with my Friday morning coffee, even if you are speaking Greek. Great presentation style, tone and pacing. You were made for this!
I agree on the topics you don;t talk about. I like the approach of "it's not something i can talk about with a level of competency, so i wont discuss it" I try to do that approach myself, but being more of a general hobbyist sometimes leaves me struggling when certain things come up as "hot" topics. You can chase the views, sure, but what you make may not be the most sincere and honest take. And I think in the hobby space on youtube, passion and honesty ranks higher than being book smart of a particular game etc..
Deadzone is a weird one. We really have a love and forget relationship with it. When we pull it out and play it. We enjoy it, it gets solid reviews and interest, we say we are going to get in more games. Then it just gets memory holed and vanishes for a few weeks or months until someone pulls out the terrain and put a it on the table. Theb everyone suddenly remembers deadzone exists. We play another couple of game, everyone thinks it's great and then immediately forgets about it the next week. How do we get the whoops random mantic terrain? Well one of the group members uses it on their infinity board. But their main game is MCP.
I am glad you talked about the topics you don’t talk about, I had a vague idea about how the vision statement was introducing the hobby to new people, and I think the comments regarding not being a game journalist is very informative as I think people may assume that, thanks for sharing or not talking about the topic you’re not talking about.
Hey Wisconsin Deadzone fans, stop bothering Uncle Atom and come to the Twin Cities; the Mantic scene is very sizeable here. We're actually having a Deadzone tournament tomorrow. Lots of Kings of War and Firefight to go around, too. Feel free to reach out if you want to be added to our groupchat.
I've been mini painting on and off for years so wouldn't class myself as a Newbie but I still enjoy your content and still learn stuff, so keep doing what you do is all I can say.
I've only recently discovered this channel, and I'm already getting much from it. I understand the not touching certain topics, especially to keep them as evergreen as possible.
This is not a topic recommendation, but a game recommendation for someone who like skirmish games. Corvus Belli's Infinity has been my favorite wargame for a long time. They have a really unique rules system (free) and one of the best army builders on the market (also free) and the army builder even has each special rule linked to a wiki for quick look-up (again... free). I'm not looking for you to talk about it on your channel or anything, but as one skirmish gamer to another, I would sincerely recommend it. I love your videos, you are a great inspiration for the hobby. Check out the Corvus Belli adepticon booth this year if you go.
Idk, models that are out of production seem like fair game to me. Its like if theres some obscure video game from the 90s that isnt sold in any official capacity, do I have to find a used copy for $300? Or can I just emulate it? I definitely agree that "models are too expensive" is not a good excuse, and either buying used or supporting a small 3d sculpting/printing business is the way to go there. "Im going to steal this model because it is too expensive" is a bad take because if GW was really taking a hit for their models being too expensive, they could make it cheaper by 1. Paying their workers/contractors less or outsourcing more to shady companies 2. Using lesser quality materials 3. Snubbing the markup for your FLGS or local GW franchisee If GW has to cut corners to make things cheaper, it is going to be at the expense of the people at the bottom or middle of the production process, the execs/shareholders are never going to be the ones taking the hit. Same goes for video games or anything else. You should always ask "who should get paid less to make my toys cheaper" and saying "the people in charge" is not a real answer.
Enjoyed it! Mysteriously missing: robot squirrels and cats. Like, seriously?! The internet was INVENTED to share pictures (and later videos) of cats, and robot squirrels are just... ROBOT SQUIRRELS, MAN! Next game should definitely be "Robot Squirrels Vs. Cats", a skirmish about the epic struggle between evil mechanical squirrels about to take over the world, and heroic cats thwarting their nefarious plans. Feel free to steal! DO EET!
In regard to Deadzone, reviewers have suggested that the new Halo game is lift and shift of the Deadzone rules. Could get more traction due to the Halo IP.
I really enjoyed the video and the topic this week. You may not be a journalist but you are a hell of a communicator. Thanks for keeping your videos friendly, open and instructive, and keep up such an amazing job. Kind regards from sunny Spain ☀️😊
The views thing is quite understandable, traffic simply drives a fair portion of the production once you get the opportunity to do something like this as more than 'just' a hobby. The downside is that that does tend to lead to a ton of folks handling the same topics and brands, GW is particularly. Which for this channel really isn't a thing luckily, tons of other goodies on here. I do find the mention of Deadzone amusing. Enjoy the vids in general, but this one literally caught my eye because of the Deadzone minis in the thumbnail. ;-) Certainly not a game for everybody either, though it is a fascinating case of gaming design.
I’ve had those minis painted for nearly a decade - I figured they should show up in a photo at some point. However, I generally paint better now. Thanks for watching!
I got into printing some Battletech minis that were originally models from the recent video games. Video games generally use OBJ files which can be converted to STL, but since they weren't created to be in the real world, some Blendr work is generally needed. I've since painted up some of them, and a few of the official Catalyst minis. The official ones are really fun to paint, but I have a soft spot for the models that got me back into Battletech. Plus, more mechs = more fun, I'm pretty sure. 😊
Always good to communicate some boundaries. I admit that I'm still hopeful that one day we'll see a "Why I like It" for Stargrunt II, partly because I think the game needs a bigger audience than it has (even if it's getting a bit long in the tooth), but mostly because that would mean that you *liked* it. :D But I don't mean to suggest you've any sort of *obligation* to like a game just because I do - and I really appreciate you saying plain and clear that you're not here to *review* games, so there won't be a video unless you get a chance to try something out and also like it.
Hey Uncle Atom, I am a wargaming community founder from Bahrain here. Started introducing the hobby to the Island back in 2017. And always wondered what topics I should avoid bringing up with a normie asking about the hobby? A hobby advocates version of "10 Things you dont say on a first date" if you will. Iv been practicing my mainstream events / community outstreach pitches to onlookers for a few years now, and am always looking for tips & feedback on how to best keep someone engaged & less intimidated by the hobby. Especially when there are people around that might spam or overload a potential newbie with too much information, rules, or lore. Iv been trying to perfect the smoothest community onboarding into the our subculture by specifically trying to figurwout what the social pain points might be during a first inpression. Any thoughts or experiances you might share about that would be very helpful. 😊
Another great video. I've struggled with the desire for a tidy hobby space for years. Especially when my wife makes jabs at me about it. She isn't the creative type and prefers a living space that is very neat and organized so the "organized chaos" drives her nuts. For the last few years I've operated off of 2 principles. 1, if I'm not motivated to hobby, then I will reorganize and "clean up" the work space. This might involve putting a WIP project away because I recognize I'm not gonna get to it any time soon or dusting. 2, if I'm going to hobby and I start to get anxiety about my work space, it's time to clean. Your hobby should bring you joy. So when I'm motivated and happy with where I am in my hobby, I leave the space be and just go with the flow.
I always find that your videos on motivation or "you can do this" are the ones that I'm very eager to watch. If you throw in a tip or two on how us older painters can avoid becoming a pain pretzel during a paining session, that's always a welcome bonus. Regardless of the topic, I'm always eager for the next video. Thanks!
Honestly I'd like to see a video on importance of base size and shape and the math behind it. I don't expect it, but I just think the topic is interesting.
Great Sunday morning coffee video! I really enjoy your positivity, it keeps me coming back 👍🏻. I can so identify with the tidy hobby area issue, and mine resembles tornado season; things occasionally look good - but then epic garage-sale destruction!
I love how you return to what you see as your reason for making videos. To bring people in. I've always enjoyed your content, and your commentary. But for whatever reason, this video just hits so many spots. Thank you Adam!!!!
Agreed, direct duplication of another artists work is sucky. I don't understand why people think that's reasonable. As a long time wargamer, one of the really cool things I've been seeing more and more are 3D print-and-play games. I absolutely love these. I've recently come across Full Spectrum Dominance, and they have created some of the most fantastic 6mm rules, miniatures and terrain that I've ever seen. Artisan Guild, Turnip28, Blight Seas Fleets and Skies Aflame all come to mind for amazing models and interesting rules that you can print at home. With all these options, why anyone with a 3D printer would want to duplicate another companies work is beyond me.
You have talked about this before, more than once, "Pachow", but revisiting why a newbie is drawn to the hobby, or a specific game and how they proceed. Are you in it for playing the game, model building, the lore, etc? All are OK. What drew you into the game? I hit some version of all of these. I have a couple of games I will probably never play, that I am building armies for, Team Yankee and Sludge. What drew me into Team Yankee are the mini's and the lore. Sludge was the elegance of the rules, the ability to use mini's from WWI to War of the Roses, kit bashing, and the basing. (I really like the 40mm round bases with three or four 28mm mini's on them.) I have games that I play regularly, like Kill Team and Silver Bayonet. Kill Team because we have several 40k players in our group, and it is a less expensive way into 40k. Silver Bayonet because of the lore, Napoleonic Gothic Horror, and the ability to enhance your "character" during a campaign. I have games I have set a date to roll out to my gaming group, like Tanks for the Apocalypse, and am currently building tokens, objectives and tanks for. Tanks appeals to me because of, well tanks, the lore and the rules set, and the ease to get into the game. And I have games that I am "preaching" to some in my game group as a combined future project, like One Page Rules. This appeals to me because of the rules, mini's agnostic, and the ability to start in skirmish and build to army if desired.
Deadzone and Mantic in general are also VERY infrequently found near me (here in New England)... I LOVE Deadzone and I know people who compete regularly in Kings of War... and I've heard good things about Firefight... I did back the Epic Warpath KS (12 mm?) because 3 or 4 gaming buddies also jumped in. But it is weird what DOES show up in the shops and what doesn't...
That's really awesome to hear (about the 20-person campaign) - but the fact that you didn't know it was me and Vince just goes to show that marketing never hits all the people you might think it will. Thanks for watching!
I've gotten into the hobby recently (like Nov of 23), and want to thank you. You've been helpful in making this hobby easier to get into. So far the only game I've gotten into is OPR. As for a video, it would be interesting to see what you would recomend for a rough list of starting accessories. I feel like I'm under a pile of 'need this, and that' before I can play. Basically ideas for tokens, markers, trackers, just tips for playing your first session. I've gotten some paper makers for wounds, and other status effects, I've got glass beads for misc, dice, and working on making terrain, but feel like I'm still missing things.
Just putting this out there - I like when we get to know you as a gamer/hobbyist/person, so without getting too deep into your personal life, anything that gives us a window into why you feel the way you do about [thing] is fun content to me. I just like to listen to opinions, mostly. Why is [insert game/music/convention/color/brand here] your favorite? It's cool to see why someone feels they way they do about something and helps with my own introspection.
#1: publishing, good point. #2: rules list building, another good point, I really got tired of "competitive" tabletop gaming myself. #3 fair points #4 fair points, but I still think miniatures that are "out of print" from the original source are fair game for STL/resculpt, especially the ones that have like a zero chance of ever coming back .
@@tabletopminions i mean, that's true, but I still have my doubts about anything rogue trader era to about 3rd edition getting re-released, seeing as most of those miniatures have been replaced by newer versions, but I also understand that you'd not want to risk any legal trouble talking about such things on your channel.
My group played Tanks for the Apocalypse for the first time on Saturday and we had a great time. The rules were simple and game play was fast. Only complaint was that the ramming mod would benefit from half damage instead of the not having the -2 penalty negated. A player got wrecked for playing to a mod they were forced to take. While at the same time other players got more beneficial starting mods. Oh, we also changed how many points the food stuffs were worth. At one point it was more advantageous to just destroy the other players.
Thanks for the video. Flechs sheets and playing linked transformed BattleTech from fun, but very slow, to just fun. We save initiative and crit rolls for physical dice, but let the system take care of all the rest of the rolls.
Army Listing is for many people a hobby within the hobby. I used to try and build competitive lists even though I’m not a competition gamer and that led to having way more models than I needed. Then one day I was on a Flames of War forum and there was massive dissatisfaction with the points cost for an MG42 team with people saying that they just couldn’t justify including a 42 team etc. I thought to myself, if I’d been at the crunchy end of Normandy in 44 being asked to defend a crossroads I’d have definitely taken a 42 if it was available. After that I started worrying more about what I wanted to model in my force rather than what’s elite list wise.
Taboos or not, I only really want you to make the videos you are invested in (subject-wise) as your enthusiasm is one of the reasons I got back into tabletop in 2017 at the end of my 40s.
i dont mind a "bootleg" model if it is out of production. for example i collect snes games, and i dont buy reproduction carts unless it is a game that wasnt released in the us. but i would never purchase a stolen model, game etc if it is readily available from the manufacturer or retailer it is inteded to be sold through. becauase i honestly dont want to steal from the o.g. artisit and workers who worked to bring me that product. however, if they are no longer selling or producing the product that brought them my dollar in the 1st place i dont feel too bad. that having been said i would try the secondary market 1st. this is just my opinion. I apreciate the video. was interesting and insitefull :)
I always appreciate the positive videos and I very much appreciated the image of your workstation. Here’s a bad video idea: how to keep cats away from your table. Or how to make me stop dropping tiny pieces on the floor and have to go on my hands and knees with a flashlight trying to find them.
THe cat one is easy: don't let them in the basement. That's how I fix that one. The other one - I'd need someone better than me to make that video. Thanks for watching!
A jeweller's apron or similar may help with the dropping pieces if (like me) you have a habit of working over your lap instead of the desk. A pale rug makes for an easier job spotting escaped parts, limits their bounce and also gives the knees an easier time. How to stop cats stealing the chair and/or perching on your back while hunting those tiny pieces remains a mystery to me though.
I always appreciate your frankness and common-sense approach to the hobby. Everything you just laid out makes perfect sense. Keep up the great, practical videos and I'll see you on Twitch as well.
Here's a suggestion: Light approach to Historical Wargaming: Check out Mortal Gods. Cineastic squad based skirmisher set in the greek anitquity. Most monsters used in fantasy are based on greek myths and the have a mythic expansion. In general the game also demonstrates how historical wargaming can be interesting as well. Most people avoid it, as they tink it is very nitpicky, or that the community is very "strict". But it wil reveal the total opposite. And the best thing? This approach to historical wargaming is very affordable!
Kitbashing would interest me as well. I dont really know what it is, how much it costs, relating to that how you do it and what you need. I know its advanced stuff, but I want to learn a bit about it
Kitbashing to me, starts when you already have assembled models the normal way but end up with abundance of leftover pieces. These pieces are effectively useless for your army but are the first real stepping stone to allowing you to hodge-podge something together that lets you use them. The first and easiest step forward is a weapon, pauldron or helmet swap. You more than likely for warhammer if you go standard space marines, have some weapons and helmets leftover. So with your next model that you don't like the weapon, shoulder or head option for, just swap it out. Another example was that I had 4 kits of genestealers, I made them with rending claws and regular heads: What this left me with was effectively 32 L and 32 R scything talons a whole heap of extended carapace armour plates and a heap sof head options left over. I initiall yhad no hormagaunts but wanted some, so i bought the bodies and legs but i actually didnt have enough of their version of the scything talon to outfit them properly. So i divied up the genestealers scything talons and mix and matched. I no whave 40 hormagaunts, 24 of them are regular and standard the other 16 have a mix of paired and non paired scything talons. The biggest step to full conversions can be the most daunting as they are way more expensive than standard kits. My first big conversion piece was a daemon prince of nurgle. I bought a fomoroid crusher as the main body as it came with a 60mm base, i then had friends who had nurgle daemon and deathguard pieces hand over bits they weren't gonna use so they didn't mind to build him up. I used: Beasts of Nurgle coral sections for unique wings, the hand and rotten sword weapon from the defiler kit for his main hellforged sword weapon, the smoky plates from feotied bloat drones as armguards, 2 talon spikes from the top end of the fleshborer hive weapons from the tervigon kit to make his index and ring finger into a malefic talon and 7 nurglings to represent the blessed number. Along with some green stuff work this became my best model in my range that my mates claim could pass as an official kit. If you were to buy all these kits separately then you're gonna be extremely scared to start hacking bits away or wasting parts due to the amount of money you've put in. So start small first and try to find odd shapes in pieces you've got at your disposal and see if they can alter something you didn't like about an existing model anyway. Now, i'm nowhere near an expert, I'd call myself a decent intermediate kitbasher, greenstuff work or scultping work is the real big climb, by understanding how to use those sculpting abilities you can effectively make whatever you want. At this point in time, i'm making another deamon prince of nurgle using the ork warboss from Age of Sigmar and he's been way more complicated than my first one, I have to do far more greenstuff work to align elements and make them work on a physical anatomical sense. Bottom line: Start small and don't worry, the stuff you already had wasn't being used anyway, if you don't have friends that have spare bits leftover, go to websites that can sell individual bits seperately. But try to just be loose and carefree about the whole process. In saying that though, I would still like TTM to cover this topic, it's a fun one.
its literally in the name, kit, bashing. you just bash any kits together, any bits you like to make whatever you like. theres no rule or guide, just glue what you think would look cool. you might have to cut and trim some stuff, but thats it. cut things to fit and use greenstuff if you have gaps. its really that simple. the simplest kitbash is just a headswap, like when I created a Krieger Marshal by putting a Krieger head on the Cadian Command Squad Captain body. You could also do something like making some Primaris Captain but you think he would look cool with Custodes shoulder armor. Or maybe you like Dark Angels bits on your Captains. Where it really gets fun is with Orks, because everything can be kitbashed or converted from other things. Every vehicle GW releases IS an Ork vehicle, if you just kitbash it and "Orkify" it with Orky bits. Once you start doing it a bit (hehehe) youll quickly get the hang of it and feel more comfortable bashing things together. Good luck! Have fun!
Hobby spaces are not meant to be tidy. If the clutter blocks you from progressing, then manage it, but otherwise it’s your fun space. And I agree on Deadzone, it’s a game I wish had an active community near me because it seems like a fun game system.
I follow you and I dont even play war games. I mostly play D&D and 40K computer games. I watch you because I enjoy your topics and enjoy how you talk about them.
This channel is amazing, I enjoy all the videos - even the ones that don't apply to my particular game interests. Can't believe people have the brass neck to complain!!
Love the last item. I'm right there with you! I appreciate your approach to creating videos that resonate with people new to the hobby. It definitely helped me when I started and continues to provide much needed tips and tricks as I progress.
Incidentally, I'd love to hear your thoughts on game publishing, writing, playtesting and the 'business' side of things. Are you perhaps on someone else's podcast/channel talking about these kind of subjects?
List building actually sound like an interesting topic. Not so much from a specific game point of view but rather what type of gamer are you. Do you like to hunker down behind walls? Are you flamboyantly aggressive. Do you prefer to shoot and scoot? With that in mind what would be an army you would feel happy with? The topic is even genre neutral. There is not a lot of difference between a Mongol light horseman and a sci/fi hovercraft.
I find list building simple when I first read the rules and army list in codexes to explore the faction I choose to play as and research their models before buying any of them. When I'm sure of the miniature I want or need for the game, I'll go buy them one at a time.
If you did a “mini documentary” on publishing you should definitely watch the whole Mr. Rogers goes to the crayon factory thing and model it after that
Atom, I don’t think some of your P-Chow links are working recently. The list building one in this vid didn’t show for example, just the little cloud effect.
We need more Pachows of the working kind! For tradition and stuff if nothing else. I don’t click too many Pachows most of the time because I wanna watch the video already running, but the Pachows are always great.
I think you could reconsider some of those topics. For example, you could turn the 'how to publish my game' into a similar video on how wargames are designed - and this i think would be interesting for both newbies and veterans. What are considerations and limitations of both small time wargaming system creators like you and what those are for GW or Battletech. How do they impact the game. Why cant we get the ideal game that we dream about and should in principle be possible - how those real life considerations block us from reaching 'the ideal' - whatever that ideal might be. And also what the 'ideal' game is different for different players and how the creator of the system has to juggle different audiences - or chooses to focus on one. Getting into the details could be very enlightening and informative. Could save newbies from lots of 'gotchas'.
I went down the mantic route when I first started playing war games which was just after lockdown in uk it got a bit of traction over here in uk but it wasn’t popular enough to continue playing I ended up selling all my mantic stuff at a big loss just to get rid, i tried historical games but I couldn’t get enough interest in it, I’ve looked at 40k and recently bought combat patrol box of world eaters and a few more boxes, I wish when I started out just gone for 40k from the start it seems the most popular, plus I’m playing necromunda and age of sigma , I’ve started playing at a local games store where the owner is supporting the community and have found a group that I can get regular games with the only good thing from playing and painting the mantic models is I learnt a lot on not what to do painting wise and I’m much better now so I’m getting more done I do battle ready paint job and it’s working for me. Love the content on channel regular watcher now
The best way to keep your hobby space tidy, I have a two prong approach, 1. Redefine the word tidy 2. Recognize that the word tidy is relative.
This 100%. My computer desk doubles as my hobby space. I consider it 'tidy' if I can keep enough open space in front of the keyboard and mouse to use them.
@@stevenlong9612 lol so true!
@@stevenlong9612 Same, hah!
Taking advise from this very video, I see my gaming space as "counts as tidy"! lol
My wife will "check and balance" my definitions.
"Do Astartes have juuuuuuunk?" "Is GW making the world flat?" "Which paint tastes the best?"
To answer the last one:
Devlan Mud. Agrax Earthshade just isn't the same
@@Rohnon But is that really an issue of flavour or is it texture that really makes Devlan Mud the one for you?
Paint taste is important. We need this video.
LMAO
For the record most of the Vallejo Xpress Paints smell like they taste good... 😋
I'm always disheartened by people posting pictures of their immaculate hobby spaces. Yours filled me with gladness. Mine is so untidy that I don't use it and have formed a smaller satellite hobby space next to my TV watching chair :D
Just clean it up
@@joriankell1983 if the original poster is anything like me, you CAN clean it up, and it lasts until you decide to start working on something, then all the clutter comes back.
@@andreacook7431Agreed! I consider myself a very neat person, but even my hobby space is pretty messy. It's just impossible to neatly store everything you're working on.
That said, my setup is greatly helped by using a computer desk, the narrow kind with a slide-out keyboard shelf. I do my building on the slide-out shelf and my painting on the top of the desk. This saves me having to worry about dust on my painting area, allows me to be simultaneously building and painting without having to put anything away, and also keeps the place looking neater when the shelf is slid away :)
Like with most social media posts people tend to only put forward the best parts of themselves. For every amazing photo they post they probably have tons that aren't flattering that never see the light of day. I think people do that with their hobby spaces too. They will post a pic just after the tidy it up but then a week later it looks like a disaster area again. Are they going to post the photos of their disaster area? Probably not.
@@joriankell1983 nurgle took that personally
Uncle Atom, I'm a historical wargamer, so many of the games you discuss in your videos, I'm not familiar with. I'm a big fan of yours none the less! This is a terrific channel. You always have great hobby advice, down to earth, and always advocating good common sense. Thanks for bringing this channel to all of us out here in the hobby, you are truly greatly appreciated! 🍻
I am an old gamer, I started in the early 80's. Lately I struggle with motivation and enjoyment of this hobby. Watching your videos refreshes my enthusiasm for gaming, thank you.
Regarding Deadzone - It's in our club one of the games we introduce to parents of kids who come to our club. We suffered in the last years a natural growth of our club since many parents had issues with the pricing of certain Wargames.
Kill Team and AoS are games with a high entry point (regarding rules and money). We considered the games as not optimal for club youth work. Especially since they are bto complex for children or parents. Deadzone can be explained in about 30min.
Also it's a good start for people without a high household income who want to try painting and wargaming.
Other games in our youngsters program:
Gaslands
Kings of War Ambush
I personally really enjoy when you make videos about you kitbashing, such as your inquisitor a while back. I'd love if you made more like that.
Paint encroachment is real. I have really nice tidy shelves for the paint pots, but despite my efforts to herd them back into the shelves they always end up at the periphery of the bit of the desk I'm working on. Slowly getting closer. Closer.
*me covered in paint next to a desk covered in paint bottles and pots that haven't been put away*
"We're all trying to find the guy who did this."
Paints lurk. It’s weird. Thanks for watching!
Literally my desk right now. Whats wierder is im currently converting and constructing an army, not painting.
Holy cow this is true! In all seriousness I had a pot of Black Legion just appear on my 2nd desk lol
Man Deadzone is great!! I wish more people would give it a shot. If you ever make it back to Valhalla I would love to do a game with you for my channel and I can do a game for yours if you want as well!
it's the closest game to perfect that I've come across (within its niche)
If I knew about the Deadzone starter set when I got into the hobby, I probably would have gone for that rather than 10 space marines. The Veer-myn and the terrain look great, and the rules seem really fun and intuitive. Plus the Mantic factions are compatible with One Page Rules along with Mantic's own Firefight ruleset.
It's always nice to get some of the thought process behind why you do things the way you do. 🤘
Wait one second. You’re telling me that some people in this crazy world have a clean hobby space? I don’t believe it.
Another vote for a kitbashing video
Deadzone - my observation is the same as yours (I’m in Minnesota, practically the hobby capital of Minnesota even). It isn’t in any local stores. At all. You can buy it from the big box online retailers though. I’ve got a few friends who play it locally, and as a game system I think it’s one of the best I’ve ever tried, but I realize it’s limited audience makes it harder to be a topic.
I only clicked on this video _because_ of the Deadzone images in the thumbnail.
That makes two of us 😂
Right? Plague are awesome
@@LeviathansGrotto Love them all, but my stunty little Forge Fathers and craft little Veer-Myn are my favourites.
I did as well.😊
man, Plague are my jam. i love deadzone and was so sad that i had no money when the warpath kickstarter happened so i missed it
I'm pretty sure "Power Armor" was first mentioned in the Lensman series by E.E. "Doc" Smith in the 40's & 50's. But that was just a minor side-note.
It really became a major focus of the story in Starship Troopers by R. A. Heinlein in the 60's.
Yeah, Lensman definitely had power armor.
@@maxxon99 The "pretty sure" part was whether or not it was the first, not if they had it.
Unfortunately, people knowing anything about the history of fantasy/sci-fi is dwindling. There are very few people under the age of fifty who have ever heard of the early classics like Doc Smith or Van Vogt. Hell, even greats like Clarke, Asimov, Bradbury, Heinlein, Niven, Burroughs, etc are completely lost on Millennials and later. I have relatives in the GenZ/Alpha range who have never heard of Homer, HG Wells or Jules Verne! WTF do we even teach in school anymore!?!
"Most games make it pretty easy to work out how to build a list"
Infinity: "Hold my beer!"
But Deadzone is life!
It’s also a very good intro game to Wargaming.
I should try to find a good battle report of the current edition. Thanks for watching!
Got a big chuckle about the workspace tidy thingy. Yeah, no. My area looks like a miniature missile test area.
I mostly watch (or listen) your videos when I paint and I'm happy to go through all the videos available, no matter the topic.
I like making terrain, but I know it can be hard to approach. I'd love to hear your thoughts on approaching terrain for a new game, from the bare-bones "I just bought a starter set of a game but have no terrain to play on at home, what do?", what kind of premade things are out there, household items that make good stand-ins, knowing what you actually need minimum to have a good time (maybe a basics checklist for skirmish-scale things?). It's really easy to find tutorials on making stuff out there, but a lot of it is "how" you make specific things and not "why" those specific things might be important, and even more of it has some crossed wires with RPG terrain rather than wargaming specific stuff.
I have plans to make some terrain videos this summer, actually. They take longer than most videos, however - and I’m kinda swamped from now until early June with AdeptiCon, layout and marketing for our next game, and then TMX. But I’ll do some. Thanks for watching!
Intresting. Funny thing I backed the OG Deadzone KS YEARS ago. Painted 1 faction played 1 game.
My 2024 resolution was as usual hit the pile of 'opportunity'
I Probably will Never play it again but as of LAST night I have painted 4 complete warbands and terrain.
I felt quite proud of that 😂
Without watching even a second I bet "Robot Squirrels" will be on there.
Dang robits!
We need robot squirrels in deadzone
Nic Romondo and the Robot Squirrels... Band name.
Not surprised, you're walking through the park all of a sudden pots and pans robot squirrels attack, you've seen the news 😂
What I find most fantastic about your videos are the reflections on the world of miniatures and wargames more than the topics themselves. And so I continue to enjoy it every week. Thank you very much for that.
Yea longtime viewer/subscriber here and I gotta say the quality of you videos remains top shelf even after all this time. Thanks for doing what you do brother!
those dead zone mini's you showed rocked!
Loved the 'tidy workspace' illustration 👍
Thanks for your honesty. I love Battletech and Bloodbowl so your comments are super real and welcome. As someone approaching his 50's I can reflect on seasons of gaming. Sometimes games become great because of the friends you make. Other times we step away from those games to what the group wants.
Honestly the section about keeping my work space tidy probably made me laugh more than anything else I've seen or heard this week. I am with you on that one 😂😂.
Good video. Love your philosophy. Keep it up 👍🏻
I know nothing about gaming. I was fed your channel based on (I think) using non crafting items in the shop. Now I want to watch you with my Friday morning coffee, even if you are speaking Greek. Great presentation style, tone and pacing. You were made for this!
Uncle Atom: I won't talk about these topics
Also Uncle Atom: Makes a video about these topics
I like the idea of the "mini-doc" about the publishing...it's very on brand for you. Either way 🤘🤠 another banger!
I agree on the topics you don;t talk about. I like the approach of "it's not something i can talk about with a level of competency, so i wont discuss it" I try to do that approach myself, but being more of a general hobbyist sometimes leaves me struggling when certain things come up as "hot" topics. You can chase the views, sure, but what you make may not be the most sincere and honest take. And I think in the hobby space on youtube, passion and honesty ranks higher than being book smart of a particular game etc..
Deadzone is a weird one. We really have a love and forget relationship with it.
When we pull it out and play it. We enjoy it, it gets solid reviews and interest, we say we are going to get in more games. Then it just gets memory holed and vanishes for a few weeks or months until someone pulls out the terrain and put a it on the table. Theb everyone suddenly remembers deadzone exists.
We play another couple of game, everyone thinks it's great and then immediately forgets about it the next week.
How do we get the whoops random mantic terrain? Well one of the group members uses it on their infinity board. But their main game is MCP.
I am glad you talked about the topics you don’t talk about, I had a vague idea about how the vision statement was introducing the hobby to new people, and I think the comments regarding not being a game journalist is very informative as I think people may assume that, thanks for sharing or not talking about the topic you’re not talking about.
Hey Wisconsin Deadzone fans, stop bothering Uncle Atom and come to the Twin Cities; the Mantic scene is very sizeable here. We're actually having a Deadzone tournament tomorrow. Lots of Kings of War and Firefight to go around, too. Feel free to reach out if you want to be added to our groupchat.
I've been mini painting on and off for years so wouldn't class myself as a Newbie but I still enjoy your content and still learn stuff, so keep doing what you do is all I can say.
I've only recently discovered this channel, and I'm already getting much from it.
I understand the not touching certain topics, especially to keep them as evergreen as possible.
This is not a topic recommendation, but a game recommendation for someone who like skirmish games. Corvus Belli's Infinity has been my favorite wargame for a long time. They have a really unique rules system (free) and one of the best army builders on the market (also free) and the army builder even has each special rule linked to a wiki for quick look-up (again... free). I'm not looking for you to talk about it on your channel or anything, but as one skirmish gamer to another, I would sincerely recommend it.
I love your videos, you are a great inspiration for the hobby. Check out the Corvus Belli adepticon booth this year if you go.
I don't agree with every take you have, but I love how forthcoming you are about your thought process. Cheers, and keep it up.
Idk, models that are out of production seem like fair game to me. Its like if theres some obscure video game from the 90s that isnt sold in any official capacity, do I have to find a used copy for $300? Or can I just emulate it?
I definitely agree that "models are too expensive" is not a good excuse, and either buying used or supporting a small 3d sculpting/printing business is the way to go there.
"Im going to steal this model because it is too expensive" is a bad take because if GW was really taking a hit for their models being too expensive, they could make it cheaper by
1. Paying their workers/contractors less or outsourcing more to shady companies
2. Using lesser quality materials
3. Snubbing the markup for your FLGS or local GW franchisee
If GW has to cut corners to make things cheaper, it is going to be at the expense of the people at the bottom or middle of the production process, the execs/shareholders are never going to be the ones taking the hit.
Same goes for video games or anything else. You should always ask "who should get paid less to make my toys cheaper" and saying "the people in charge" is not a real answer.
Enjoyed it! Mysteriously missing: robot squirrels and cats. Like, seriously?! The internet was INVENTED to share pictures (and later videos) of cats, and robot squirrels are just... ROBOT SQUIRRELS, MAN!
Next game should definitely be "Robot Squirrels Vs. Cats", a skirmish about the epic struggle between evil mechanical squirrels about to take over the world, and heroic cats thwarting their nefarious plans. Feel free to steal! DO EET!
In regard to Deadzone, reviewers have suggested that the new Halo game is lift and shift of the Deadzone rules. Could get more traction due to the Halo IP.
I really enjoyed the video and the topic this week. You may not be a journalist but you are a hell of a communicator. Thanks for keeping your videos friendly, open and instructive, and keep up such an amazing job. Kind regards from sunny Spain ☀️😊
The views thing is quite understandable, traffic simply drives a fair portion of the production once you get the opportunity to do something like this as more than 'just' a hobby. The downside is that that does tend to lead to a ton of folks handling the same topics and brands, GW is particularly. Which for this channel really isn't a thing luckily, tons of other goodies on here.
I do find the mention of Deadzone amusing. Enjoy the vids in general, but this one literally caught my eye because of the Deadzone minis in the thumbnail. ;-) Certainly not a game for everybody either, though it is a fascinating case of gaming design.
I’ve had those minis painted for nearly a decade - I figured they should show up in a photo at some point. However, I generally paint better now. Thanks for watching!
Your hobby space is like a Zen garden compared to my chaotic mess. I'm constantly forced to invade the living room to get any work done🤣
I got into printing some Battletech minis that were originally models from the recent video games. Video games generally use OBJ files which can be converted to STL, but since they weren't created to be in the real world, some Blendr work is generally needed.
I've since painted up some of them, and a few of the official Catalyst minis. The official ones are really fun to paint, but I have a soft spot for the models that got me back into Battletech. Plus, more mechs = more fun, I'm pretty sure. 😊
Always good to communicate some boundaries. I admit that I'm still hopeful that one day we'll see a "Why I like It" for Stargrunt II, partly because I think the game needs a bigger audience than it has (even if it's getting a bit long in the tooth), but mostly because that would mean that you *liked* it. :D But I don't mean to suggest you've any sort of *obligation* to like a game just because I do - and I really appreciate you saying plain and clear that you're not here to *review* games, so there won't be a video unless you get a chance to try something out and also like it.
Hey Uncle Atom, I am a wargaming community founder from Bahrain here.
Started introducing the hobby to the Island back in 2017. And always wondered what topics I should avoid bringing up with a normie asking about the hobby?
A hobby advocates version of
"10 Things you dont say on a first date" if you will. Iv been practicing my mainstream events / community outstreach pitches to onlookers for a few years now, and am always looking for tips & feedback on how to best keep someone engaged & less intimidated by the hobby.
Especially when there are people around that might spam or overload a potential newbie with too much information, rules, or lore.
Iv been trying to perfect the smoothest community onboarding into the our subculture by specifically trying to figurwout what the social pain points might be during a first inpression.
Any thoughts or experiances you might share about that would be very helpful. 😊
Another great video. I've struggled with the desire for a tidy hobby space for years. Especially when my wife makes jabs at me about it. She isn't the creative type and prefers a living space that is very neat and organized so the "organized chaos" drives her nuts. For the last few years I've operated off of 2 principles.
1, if I'm not motivated to hobby, then I will reorganize and "clean up" the work space. This might involve putting a WIP project away because I recognize I'm not gonna get to it any time soon or dusting.
2, if I'm going to hobby and I start to get anxiety about my work space, it's time to clean. Your hobby should bring you joy.
So when I'm motivated and happy with where I am in my hobby, I leave the space be and just go with the flow.
I always find that your videos on motivation or "you can do this" are the ones that I'm very eager to watch. If you throw in a tip or two on how us older painters can avoid becoming a pain pretzel during a paining session, that's always a welcome bonus. Regardless of the topic, I'm always eager for the next video. Thanks!
I’m going to buy shelves right now. As for holding parts together while glue dries, I use poster tack.
Honestly I'd like to see a video on importance of base size and shape and the math behind it. I don't expect it, but I just think the topic is interesting.
Great video, well explained. I'll tell mantic to push more product to WI 😂
Great Sunday morning coffee video! I really enjoy your positivity, it keeps me coming back 👍🏻. I can so identify with the tidy hobby area issue, and mine resembles tornado season; things occasionally look good - but then epic garage-sale destruction!
I love how you return to what you see as your reason for making videos. To bring people in.
I've always enjoyed your content, and your commentary. But for whatever reason, this video just hits so many spots. Thank you Adam!!!!
I had no idea you were part of Snarling Badger! I just learned about Deth Wizards and am considering pulling the trigger on it.
Agreed, direct duplication of another artists work is sucky. I don't understand why people think that's reasonable. As a long time wargamer, one of the really cool things I've been seeing more and more are 3D print-and-play games. I absolutely love these. I've recently come across Full Spectrum Dominance, and they have created some of the most fantastic 6mm rules, miniatures and terrain that I've ever seen. Artisan Guild, Turnip28, Blight Seas Fleets and Skies Aflame all come to mind for amazing models and interesting rules that you can print at home. With all these options, why anyone with a 3D printer would want to duplicate another companies work is beyond me.
You have talked about this before, more than once, "Pachow", but revisiting why a newbie is drawn to the hobby, or a specific game and how they proceed. Are you in it for playing the game, model building, the lore, etc? All are OK. What drew you into the game? I hit some version of all of these. I have a couple of games I will probably never play, that I am building armies for, Team Yankee and Sludge. What drew me into Team Yankee are the mini's and the lore. Sludge was the elegance of the rules, the ability to use mini's from WWI to War of the Roses, kit bashing, and the basing. (I really like the 40mm round bases with three or four 28mm mini's on them.) I have games that I play regularly, like Kill Team and Silver Bayonet. Kill Team because we have several 40k players in our group, and it is a less expensive way into 40k. Silver Bayonet because of the lore, Napoleonic Gothic Horror, and the ability to enhance your "character" during a campaign. I have games I have set a date to roll out to my gaming group, like Tanks for the Apocalypse, and am currently building tokens, objectives and tanks for. Tanks appeals to me because of, well tanks, the lore and the rules set, and the ease to get into the game. And I have games that I am "preaching" to some in my game group as a combined future project, like One Page Rules. This appeals to me because of the rules, mini's agnostic, and the ability to start in skirmish and build to army if desired.
Deadzone and Mantic in general are also VERY infrequently found near me (here in New England)... I LOVE Deadzone and I know people who compete regularly in Kings of War... and I've heard good things about Firefight... I did back the Epic Warpath KS (12 mm?) because 3 or 4 gaming buddies also jumped in. But it is weird what DOES show up in the shops and what doesn't...
I didn't know you did Snarling Badter. I literally own all your games and even running a Reign in Hell campaign with 20 players. Love it so much.
That's really awesome to hear (about the 20-person campaign) - but the fact that you didn't know it was me and Vince just goes to show that marketing never hits all the people you might think it will. Thanks for watching!
I've gotten into the hobby recently (like Nov of 23), and want to thank you. You've been helpful in making this hobby easier to get into. So far the only game I've gotten into is OPR. As for a video, it would be interesting to see what you would recomend for a rough list of starting accessories. I feel like I'm under a pile of 'need this, and that' before I can play. Basically ideas for tokens, markers, trackers, just tips for playing your first session. I've gotten some paper makers for wounds, and other status effects, I've got glass beads for misc, dice, and working on making terrain, but feel like I'm still missing things.
Just putting this out there - I like when we get to know you as a gamer/hobbyist/person, so without getting too deep into your personal life, anything that gives us a window into why you feel the way you do about [thing] is fun content to me. I just like to listen to opinions, mostly. Why is [insert game/music/convention/color/brand here] your favorite? It's cool to see why someone feels they way they do about something and helps with my own introspection.
Thanks for another great video and rhe peek behind rhe curtain about how you decide topics
#1: publishing, good point. #2: rules list building, another good point, I really got tired of "competitive" tabletop gaming myself. #3 fair points #4 fair points, but I still think miniatures that are "out of print" from the original source are fair game for STL/resculpt, especially the ones that have like a zero chance of ever coming back .
As the release of THe Old World recently, there's always a chance of coming back. Thanks for watching!
@@tabletopminions i mean, that's true, but I still have my doubts about anything rogue trader era to about 3rd edition getting re-released, seeing as most of those miniatures have been replaced by newer versions, but I also understand that you'd not want to risk any legal trouble talking about such things on your channel.
It was nice and cozy as always. Thanks Uncle Atom.
I love all Tabletop Minions videos. Nice explanation to keep people on topic when making suggestions on the Every Other Sunday Show.
👍👍👍👍😎😎😎😎
My group played Tanks for the Apocalypse for the first time on Saturday and we had a great time. The rules were simple and game play was fast. Only complaint was that the ramming mod would benefit from half damage instead of the not having the -2 penalty negated. A player got wrecked for playing to a mod they were forced to take. While at the same time other players got more beneficial starting mods. Oh, we also changed how many points the food stuffs were worth. At one point it was more advantageous to just destroy the other players.
Seeing your shirt reminds me I have to get back to playing Space Station Zero.
All valid points and appreciate you breaking it down. Keep doing what you’re doing!
Thanks for the video. Flechs sheets and playing linked transformed BattleTech from fun, but very slow, to just fun. We save initiative and crit rolls for physical dice, but let the system take care of all the rest of the rolls.
Army Listing is for many people a hobby within the hobby. I used to try and build competitive lists even though I’m not a competition gamer and that led to having way more models than I needed. Then one day I was on a Flames of War forum and there was massive dissatisfaction with the points cost for an MG42 team with people saying that they just couldn’t justify including a 42 team etc. I thought to myself, if I’d been at the crunchy end of Normandy in 44 being asked to defend a crossroads I’d have definitely taken a 42 if it was available. After that I started worrying more about what I wanted to model in my force rather than what’s elite list wise.
Taboos or not, I only really want you to make the videos you are invested in (subject-wise) as your enthusiasm is one of the reasons I got back into tabletop in 2017 at the end of my 40s.
Glad to hear it - welcome back. Thanks for watching!
i dont mind a "bootleg" model if it is out of production. for example i collect snes games, and i dont buy reproduction carts unless it is a game that wasnt released in the us. but i would never purchase a stolen model, game etc if it is readily available from the manufacturer or retailer it is inteded to be sold through. becauase i honestly dont want to steal from the o.g. artisit and workers who worked to bring me that product. however, if they are no longer selling or producing the product that brought them my dollar in the 1st place i dont feel too bad. that having been said i would try the secondary market 1st. this is just my opinion. I apreciate the video. was interesting and insitefull :)
I always appreciate the positive videos and I very much appreciated the image of your workstation.
Here’s a bad video idea: how to keep cats away from your table. Or how to make me stop dropping tiny pieces on the floor and have to go on my hands and knees with a flashlight trying to find them.
THe cat one is easy: don't let them in the basement. That's how I fix that one. The other one - I'd need someone better than me to make that video. Thanks for watching!
A jeweller's apron or similar may help with the dropping pieces if (like me) you have a habit of working over your lap instead of the desk. A pale rug makes for an easier job spotting escaped parts, limits their bounce and also gives the knees an easier time. How to stop cats stealing the chair and/or perching on your back while hunting those tiny pieces remains a mystery to me though.
One of the reasons that I started watching this channel was the "Pachows". It was just fun. This episode did not disappoint in that regard.
I always appreciate your frankness and common-sense approach to the hobby. Everything you just laid out makes perfect sense. Keep up the great, practical videos and I'll see you on Twitch as well.
Love all TABLETOPMINIONS stufff👏👍
Here's a suggestion: Light approach to Historical Wargaming: Check out Mortal Gods. Cineastic squad based skirmisher set in the greek anitquity. Most monsters used in fantasy are based on greek myths and the have a mythic expansion. In general the game also demonstrates how historical wargaming can be interesting as well. Most people avoid it, as they tink it is very nitpicky, or that the community is very "strict". But it wil reveal the total opposite. And the best thing? This approach to historical wargaming is very affordable!
Kitbashing would interest me as well. I dont really know what it is, how much it costs, relating to that how you do it and what you need.
I know its advanced stuff, but I want to learn a bit about it
Kitbashing to me, starts when you already have assembled models the normal way but end up with abundance of leftover pieces.
These pieces are effectively useless for your army but are the first real stepping stone to allowing you to hodge-podge something together that lets you use them.
The first and easiest step forward is a weapon, pauldron or helmet swap. You more than likely for warhammer if you go standard space marines, have some weapons and helmets leftover. So with your next model that you don't like the weapon, shoulder or head option for, just swap it out.
Another example was that I had 4 kits of genestealers, I made them with rending claws and regular heads: What this left me with was effectively 32 L and 32 R scything talons a whole heap of extended carapace armour plates and a heap sof head options left over. I initiall yhad no hormagaunts but wanted some, so i bought the bodies and legs but i actually didnt have enough of their version of the scything talon to outfit them properly. So i divied up the genestealers scything talons and mix and matched. I no whave 40 hormagaunts, 24 of them are regular and standard the other 16 have a mix of paired and non paired scything talons.
The biggest step to full conversions can be the most daunting as they are way more expensive than standard kits. My first big conversion piece was a daemon prince of nurgle. I bought a fomoroid crusher as the main body as it came with a 60mm base, i then had friends who had nurgle daemon and deathguard pieces hand over bits they weren't gonna use so they didn't mind to build him up. I used: Beasts of Nurgle coral sections for unique wings, the hand and rotten sword weapon from the defiler kit for his main hellforged sword weapon, the smoky plates from feotied bloat drones as armguards, 2 talon spikes from the top end of the fleshborer hive weapons from the tervigon kit to make his index and ring finger into a malefic talon and 7 nurglings to represent the blessed number. Along with some green stuff work this became my best model in my range that my mates claim could pass as an official kit.
If you were to buy all these kits separately then you're gonna be extremely scared to start hacking bits away or wasting parts due to the amount of money you've put in. So start small first and try to find odd shapes in pieces you've got at your disposal and see if they can alter something you didn't like about an existing model anyway.
Now, i'm nowhere near an expert, I'd call myself a decent intermediate kitbasher, greenstuff work or scultping work is the real big climb, by understanding how to use those sculpting abilities you can effectively make whatever you want. At this point in time, i'm making another deamon prince of nurgle using the ork warboss from Age of Sigmar and he's been way more complicated than my first one, I have to do far more greenstuff work to align elements and make them work on a physical anatomical sense.
Bottom line: Start small and don't worry, the stuff you already had wasn't being used anyway, if you don't have friends that have spare bits leftover, go to websites that can sell individual bits seperately. But try to just be loose and carefree about the whole process.
In saying that though, I would still like TTM to cover this topic, it's a fun one.
its literally in the name, kit, bashing. you just bash any kits together, any bits you like to make whatever you like. theres no rule or guide, just glue what you think would look cool. you might have to cut and trim some stuff, but thats it. cut things to fit and use greenstuff if you have gaps. its really that simple. the simplest kitbash is just a headswap, like when I created a Krieger Marshal by putting a Krieger head on the Cadian Command Squad Captain body. You could also do something like making some Primaris Captain but you think he would look cool with Custodes shoulder armor. Or maybe you like Dark Angels bits on your Captains. Where it really gets fun is with Orks, because everything can be kitbashed or converted from other things. Every vehicle GW releases IS an Ork vehicle, if you just kitbash it and "Orkify" it with Orky bits. Once you start doing it a bit (hehehe) youll quickly get the hang of it and feel more comfortable bashing things together. Good luck! Have fun!
Actually really enjoyed this video. Was very insightful into your view on why you do RUclips
I appreciate you mentioning some of the things you hear often as suggestions. I really enjoy the why I like it series in particular
Hobby spaces are not meant to be tidy. If the clutter blocks you from progressing, then manage it, but otherwise it’s your fun space. And I agree on Deadzone, it’s a game I wish had an active community near me because it seems like a fun game system.
The picture of your hobby space makes me feel a bit better about mine
I follow you and I dont even play war games. I mostly play D&D and 40K computer games. I watch you because I enjoy your topics and enjoy how you talk about them.
This channel is amazing, I enjoy all the videos - even the ones that don't apply to my particular game interests. Can't believe people have the brass neck to complain!!
Love the last item. I'm right there with you!
I appreciate your approach to creating videos that resonate with people new to the hobby. It definitely helped me when I started and continues to provide much needed tips and tricks as I progress.
Incidentally, I'd love to hear your thoughts on game publishing, writing, playtesting and the 'business' side of things. Are you perhaps on someone else's podcast/channel talking about these kind of subjects?
Thank you for not hedging on IP theft. I’m shocked at how many people try to justify it.
List building actually sound like an interesting topic.
Not so much from a specific game point of view but rather what type of gamer are you.
Do you like to hunker down behind walls? Are you flamboyantly aggressive. Do you prefer to shoot and scoot?
With that in mind what would be an army you would feel happy with? The topic is even genre neutral. There is not a lot of difference between a Mongol light horseman and a sci/fi hovercraft.
every now and again "weird" is cool, plus its you channel so do whatever floats your boat.
I find list building simple when I first read the rules and army list in codexes to explore the faction I choose to play as and research their models before buying any of them.
When I'm sure of the miniature I want or need for the game, I'll go buy them one at a time.
If you did a “mini documentary” on publishing you should definitely watch the whole Mr. Rogers goes to the crayon factory thing and model it after that
Atom, I don’t think some of your P-Chow links are working recently. The list building one in this vid didn’t show for example, just the little cloud effect.
We need more Pachows of the working kind! For tradition and stuff if nothing else. I don’t click too many Pachows most of the time because I wanna watch the video already running, but the Pachows are always great.
I think you could reconsider some of those topics. For example, you could turn the 'how to publish my game' into a similar video on how wargames are designed - and this i think would be interesting for both newbies and veterans. What are considerations and limitations of both small time wargaming system creators like you and what those are for GW or Battletech. How do they impact the game. Why cant we get the ideal game that we dream about and should in principle be possible - how those real life considerations block us from reaching 'the ideal' - whatever that ideal might be. And also what the 'ideal' game is different for different players and how the creator of the system has to juggle different audiences - or chooses to focus on one.
Getting into the details could be very enlightening and informative. Could save newbies from lots of 'gotchas'.
I like all your content Adam , so keep on doing exactly what your doing.....talking more about the Fanatic line is always welcome.....
Saw the WF's cup on your worktable!!! Great channel there!!! Be great to see a cameo of Heckle Fish on one of your videos!!!
Looking forward to bumping into you at Adepticon next week!
I went down the mantic route when I first started playing war games which was just after lockdown in uk it got a bit of traction over here in uk but it wasn’t popular enough to continue playing I ended up selling all my mantic stuff at a big loss just to get rid, i tried historical games but I couldn’t get enough interest in it, I’ve looked at 40k and recently bought combat patrol box of world eaters and a few more boxes, I wish when I started out just gone for 40k from the start it seems the most popular, plus I’m playing necromunda and age of sigma , I’ve started playing at a local games store where the owner is supporting the community and have found a group that I can get regular games with the only good thing from playing and painting the mantic models is I learnt a lot on not what to do painting wise and I’m much better now so I’m getting more done I do battle ready paint job and it’s working for me. Love the content on channel regular watcher now
Smart choice to put this out so people can reduce asking things you won't do. Keep up the good work.