I hadn’t given this topic much attention with my busy doings last month — but over the last week I have come to a couple conclusions about where my hobby is – and how this relates to the new pending 9th ed situation.  I have yet to watch or read through any of the flood of videos or floods online posts regarding 9th.  I have played 40k since the RT era – so new rules and game changes is normal for anyone in the 40k hobby.  I will wait to see how things turn out when the rules actually drop and folks start playing with them on a regular basis.

My initial thought and feelings were… MEH – I really dislike rules changes and the constant adjustments to things as I get older lol.  I barely play 40k – so it feels like every time I do I have to relearn or just plain learn new rules or FAQ rulings on whatever I play.  So this will just be another one of those things I have to learn if I plan to play a game of 40k.  

What this means for my 40k hobby?  Well I have already made the decision that I will probably play 9th ed.  But, I will stop collecting and building any new armies for 40k.  I have already sold two major portions of the Adeptus Mechanicus army I had been slowly collecting over the last couple years.  And I currently have the rest of the stuff up for sale locally.  The eldar will remain in my collection – and I have several armies of Eldar for 40k. So when I play 9th – it will be with the Eldar I already have.

This was one of those things I have had on my yearly reviews over the last few years.  The need to de-clutter my hobby – and to try and focus my time better for more playing time.  40k has been something I always go back to – and I really enjoy it when I do.  But, I can’t keep up with the changes to the game or the armies.  When I try to build a new army like the Adeptus Mechanicus I end up feeling more behind by the time I am close to finishing collecting before I start actually building things and painting.  This army is still in their boxes and on their sprues … so I can sell them at a slight loss – without feeling too bad about it.  

I get that GW needs to keep changing and promoting sales for their games.  But I think that 40k has probably gone beyond my willingness to “keep-up” with the game.  With the stuff I have already sold I can order another 3D printer – this time an FDM printer for more general items that are less detail critical that I use my resin printer for.  This feels like a better use of my time and money for my hobby as I keep leaning more to painting and terrain building than actual play.

I am sorta pleasantly surprised that I feel this way about a game I have played for 30 some years.  I feel like I have grown to know better what I appreciate about my hobby – and what I can be happy with focusing on.  GW has given me the impetus to take a step back and evaluate my continued participation in the hobby as far as 40k is concerned.  I will probably hold out on buying the new rules until I am actually planning on playing 40k on a regular basis.

-d