Welcome one and all to another issue of Ex instinctu Imperator.
Those of you from the same island nation as myself (the UK) are well aware that we are in the midst of a heatwave. Now, I am fully aware that what we are going through is nothing compared to the hotter places in the world, particularly the western parts of the USA and northern Australia, where heatwaves cause forest fires and huge amounts of damage (let alone the death toll) but it certainly puts us on an edge that even a great cup of tea struggles to solve.
So what am I talking about and why did this topic come to mind? Well, last Saturday was the release of the latest edition of Apocalypse. A few friends and I got together to see in the new book with a small (by Apocalypse standards at least) game. Nothing unusual about that, but what was unusual, for us here in Blighty at least, was the glorious weather; cloudless skies, beating sunshine and an air temperature in the high 20's (Celsius) first thing in the morning, rising well into the mid-30's. We came to the conclusion that the host's house was going to be like a sauna that would quickly fill with gamer funk, the likes of which his good lady wife would be less than thrilled to have to put up with (she likes having us around and has put up with our stench numerous times, but not in that kind of heat). Why not roll dice outside?
After wrestling their dining table out through the kitchen, which involved getting it around some tight corners significantly narrower than the dimensions of said table, in to the garden we set about our first game under new Apocalypse. We stumbled through set-up, new rules, organising breaks (we'd always had breaks before, just ad-hoc and at an appropriate moment), and all that jazz, we started throwing dice in anger. My dice were hot, both in terms of rolling well above average (I am known for the opposite during my games) and the literal temperature of them being close to scalding. Our opponents were wilting before us, again physically and their army was being cleared off the table in reasonable order. That said, we were all having a great laugh with the new rule set, until a peel of thunder shook the table. We hadn't considered hat to do should rain come.
Well, being British and far to used to inclement weather, we gritted out teeth and carried on playing as the first few spits landed. It didn't take long though before those spits were becoming quite large; big enough to knock infantry models around... time to call it quits;
Hollywood spends millions of dollars each year making rain that can be seen on camera (usually by mixing milk in) but we didn't need it despite our much lower resolution phone cameras. Those drops were huge! We were also getting regular lightning strikes that couldn't have been more than a few hundred feet away. Definitely not the time to be outdoors.
We decided that as we were only half a shooting phase and an assault phase away from our first break, this would count. After half an hour or so, the sun started to shine again and we emerged from shelter to inspect the damage;
I have to admit, with all the models I had on that table, I was a little nervous as we started to lift off the sheets...
Aside from a few puddles, it looked like we had gotten away with it. I'll admit, we did crack a few jokes about the whole table being a swamp and difficult terrain.
Some how we had managed to do nothing worse than knock one or two of the tallest models over in the deluge. Most were actually almost dry, though the same certainly could not be said for the table.
As if proof were needed as to how well the sheets had done their job...
Some other bits weren't so lucky though;
Well, at least it looked pretty. Again, there was no real damage done and grabbing a towel sorted the giant 15" template right out. We also dabbed at the more exposed parts of the table and dried off models as the were moved so we could get back in to gaming as soon as possible.
Ok, so this next one is weather related, but bear with me please. I mentioned out current heatwave right at the start of this post. A lot of foreigners will probably have laughed it off or simply thought "Well get inside then," but here's the problem. Unlike countries that have this kind of heat year in, year out (if not all year round!) we don't have air-con. Well, a few people do, and newer offices and shopping complexes are starting to come with it as standard. Most shops, particularly the smaller side street shops that are so popular with GW, do not. Very few homes besides those belonging to the rich have anything to control the temperature besides central heating and windows that open. When it gets warm here, there is no escape. I have seen several thermometers indoors in the last week getting up to and even above 40 Celsius. Even having the windows open just pushes more warm air in. That is not a comfortable environment for anyone, let alone for gamers trying to concentrate. It also doesn't help that our buildings, being designed for an average year round temperature closer to 10 Celsius, are designed to keep heat in as much as possible. That's lovely in the winter, but at this point means you can watch your resin gun barrels start to bend in the heat on your desk, despite being in the shade. That and painting models isn't easy; the paint can dry up on your brush before you even get it near the model. Equally we aren't prepared for the cold temperatures and snow we get almost every winter (which, unlike this heat, is more surprising as it does happen almost every year...) At least in that case the only issue we have is finding a day when it is dry enough to go out and undercoat models.
VAT has a big effect on us as well. Fair enough, most economically developed countries have some form of sales tax, or an import tax for goods coming in to the country that inflates the price for the end consumer (sorry Aussies, I know you have it far worse than us at the moment), but it adds a significant amount to the cost of our wonderful hobby. Yes, it helps pay for our public health service, roads and other government funded institutes, but 20% of the value of the goods is significant, especially compared to the US, where sales taxes are considered high when they hit around 10% (with only 8 States having higher than that at the time of writing this article). Take in to account that we have one of the highest fuel costs per litre around the world (again 8th in the world... I wonder why that number keeps cropping up?) and you realise getting too and from hobby events can be quite expensive as well. That said, we don't have nearly as far to go between cities as most Americans, but over twice as much for petrol/gas is still pushing it.
Those of you from the same island nation as myself (the UK) are well aware that we are in the midst of a heatwave. Now, I am fully aware that what we are going through is nothing compared to the hotter places in the world, particularly the western parts of the USA and northern Australia, where heatwaves cause forest fires and huge amounts of damage (let alone the death toll) but it certainly puts us on an edge that even a great cup of tea struggles to solve.
So what am I talking about and why did this topic come to mind? Well, last Saturday was the release of the latest edition of Apocalypse. A few friends and I got together to see in the new book with a small (by Apocalypse standards at least) game. Nothing unusual about that, but what was unusual, for us here in Blighty at least, was the glorious weather; cloudless skies, beating sunshine and an air temperature in the high 20's (Celsius) first thing in the morning, rising well into the mid-30's. We came to the conclusion that the host's house was going to be like a sauna that would quickly fill with gamer funk, the likes of which his good lady wife would be less than thrilled to have to put up with (she likes having us around and has put up with our stench numerous times, but not in that kind of heat). Why not roll dice outside?
After wrestling their dining table out through the kitchen, which involved getting it around some tight corners significantly narrower than the dimensions of said table, in to the garden we set about our first game under new Apocalypse. We stumbled through set-up, new rules, organising breaks (we'd always had breaks before, just ad-hoc and at an appropriate moment), and all that jazz, we started throwing dice in anger. My dice were hot, both in terms of rolling well above average (I am known for the opposite during my games) and the literal temperature of them being close to scalding. Our opponents were wilting before us, again physically and their army was being cleared off the table in reasonable order. That said, we were all having a great laugh with the new rule set, until a peel of thunder shook the table. We hadn't considered hat to do should rain come.
Well, being British and far to used to inclement weather, we gritted out teeth and carried on playing as the first few spits landed. It didn't take long though before those spits were becoming quite large; big enough to knock infantry models around... time to call it quits;
As you can see from my hat and sandals, I hadn't been expecting a thunderstorm. We moved everything paper indoors, grabbed a couple of dirty bed sheets (we didn't ask just how dirty until later...) and covered the models. We had discussed taking some photos of the table and setting it back up after moving inside, but with the rain coming down heavier by the second, we knew there was no time. The sheets should keep the worst of the water off and the acrylic paints we use were pretty much waterproof once set (as we'd discovered plenty of times when stripping models), so we chanced it. Good job too.
We decided that as we were only half a shooting phase and an assault phase away from our first break, this would count. After half an hour or so, the sun started to shine again and we emerged from shelter to inspect the damage;
I have to admit, with all the models I had on that table, I was a little nervous as we started to lift off the sheets...
Aside from a few puddles, it looked like we had gotten away with it. I'll admit, we did crack a few jokes about the whole table being a swamp and difficult terrain.
Some how we had managed to do nothing worse than knock one or two of the tallest models over in the deluge. Most were actually almost dry, though the same certainly could not be said for the table.
Some other bits weren't so lucky though;
Well, at least it looked pretty. Again, there was no real damage done and grabbing a towel sorted the giant 15" template right out. We also dabbed at the more exposed parts of the table and dried off models as the were moved so we could get back in to gaming as soon as possible.
Some definitely needed it more than others! Still, on with the show. First roll back, needing 5's to glance;
Fair to say the luck had turned against my side at this point. We were back playing though, so couldn't complain. New Apocalypse was a lot of fun, particularly as we hadn't had to place any additional restrictions to keep it balanced like we had had to do for old Apocalypse. It was fast paced enough to stop it bogging down, it had enough fun twists to make it feel like more than just a big 40k game and resulted in the side that lost smiling having had a great, challenging game to the very last; not something that was always the case in the past.
So there, in essence, was the genesis of this article. We Brits do love to complain about the weather, but I hope you'll agree that for once we had something annoyance-worthy. But surely that isn't my only gripe with being a hobbyist in the UK? Well no.
Ok, so this next one is weather related, but bear with me please. I mentioned out current heatwave right at the start of this post. A lot of foreigners will probably have laughed it off or simply thought "Well get inside then," but here's the problem. Unlike countries that have this kind of heat year in, year out (if not all year round!) we don't have air-con. Well, a few people do, and newer offices and shopping complexes are starting to come with it as standard. Most shops, particularly the smaller side street shops that are so popular with GW, do not. Very few homes besides those belonging to the rich have anything to control the temperature besides central heating and windows that open. When it gets warm here, there is no escape. I have seen several thermometers indoors in the last week getting up to and even above 40 Celsius. Even having the windows open just pushes more warm air in. That is not a comfortable environment for anyone, let alone for gamers trying to concentrate. It also doesn't help that our buildings, being designed for an average year round temperature closer to 10 Celsius, are designed to keep heat in as much as possible. That's lovely in the winter, but at this point means you can watch your resin gun barrels start to bend in the heat on your desk, despite being in the shade. That and painting models isn't easy; the paint can dry up on your brush before you even get it near the model. Equally we aren't prepared for the cold temperatures and snow we get almost every winter (which, unlike this heat, is more surprising as it does happen almost every year...) At least in that case the only issue we have is finding a day when it is dry enough to go out and undercoat models.
What other quibbles do we Brits struggle with? Rumours are a bug-bear for me. I'm not saying I don't like to hear a few tit-bits about the next codex or a model that we will be seeing in a month-or-so's time, but every time we do, the prices come in Dollars, occasionally Euros. Fair enough, it isn't hard to google the exchange rate and make a reasonable assumption, but when the models are initially made in and priced for the UK market, it does seem a little odd. Possibly it is because GW, as a corporate entity, is based in the UK and so hunting down and dealing with people who release information ahead of GW is easier for them here. Maybe it is just that the hobby store staff, both GW's own and Independents, are better at keeping to their agreements with GW. Maybe it is because suing someone over here is more of a big thing, where as it is relatively common practice elsewhere so is more of a slap on the wrist than an actual punishment. I am only speculating.
VAT has a big effect on us as well. Fair enough, most economically developed countries have some form of sales tax, or an import tax for goods coming in to the country that inflates the price for the end consumer (sorry Aussies, I know you have it far worse than us at the moment), but it adds a significant amount to the cost of our wonderful hobby. Yes, it helps pay for our public health service, roads and other government funded institutes, but 20% of the value of the goods is significant, especially compared to the US, where sales taxes are considered high when they hit around 10% (with only 8 States having higher than that at the time of writing this article). Take in to account that we have one of the highest fuel costs per litre around the world (again 8th in the world... I wonder why that number keeps cropping up?) and you realise getting too and from hobby events can be quite expensive as well. That said, we don't have nearly as far to go between cities as most Americans, but over twice as much for petrol/gas is still pushing it.
On the bright side, I guess having Warhammer World close at hand (less than an hour's drive for me currently) and not having to wait for rulebooks to be incorrectly translated more than makes up for most of these gripes, along with most internet forums (at least the larger ones) being in your native tongue.
Thank you for listening to my venting. I do hope that the first part at least was entertaining! Feel free to agree or disagree with me and let me know either way in the comments below. Are their any other negative aspects to gaming in the UK I missed off? What about you visitors from beyond our shores; What issues effect gaming in your countries?
Matt
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