No, this won't be a social commentary on the prevalence of guys walking round with popped collars and wearing sunglasses indoors at night. I mean I could, but that is hardly something that inspires me personally.
Today I want to look at something that seems to be becoming a bit of a epidemic recently. Nay, a plague! Well, that might be a bit of a strong word...
Yes ladies and gentlemen, the not-so-humble dice bag.
Once upon a yesteryear, dice bags were merely functional, at least for the majority of gamers I knew. I'm sure that as long as people have had to use more than a couple of dice, there were bags made for them that they customised. Lets face it, if you get more than a handful of gamers together and they all have identical black dice bags, there is going to be confusion sooner or later. Most of the ones I saw though were either a plain colour or, more often than not, the box that the dice came in originally.
Even before these blighters (great for marking which turn you are on though) whole areas of game tables seemed inaccessible to models because they were buried in clear plastic boxes, stacks of flaking cardboard and associated detritus. Yes, I am exaggerating to make a point, Shh.
Now though, Googling 'custom dice' brings up as many links for companies who will offer to put pretty much any image on a little cloth drawstring sack to keep your cubes of despair and joy in. You can have any combination of colours you can conceive, even luxurious linings and fancy drawstrings with special toggles!
I'm not necessarily saying this is a bad thing. If you have a little monster like the one above, no one is ever going to accidentally put your dice in their case when packing up. In a hobby so centred around making unique models and armies, being so personal to each player, why shouldn't that extend to the sundries associated with gaming? I myself have a hand painted tape measure;
But I didn't pay someone to do it for me. Especially not the equivalent cost to a small box of models. I guess that is what confuses me about these custom bags. For these companies to exist, there must be a reasonable demand? How many hobbyists need a new bag on a regular enough basis to support this apparently booming industry? I assume for most of the people selling these kind of things, it isn't their primary job; more a hobby they do in their evenings and weekends, earning a bit of extra cash on the side. Others though do look like a professional set up, though I suppose good website design can hide other short-comings.
Right, this is beginning to sound a little ranty, which was not my intent. I suppose I just can't get my head around why, in a supposed age of austerity, people want to splurge extra cash on the least necessary part of the hobby. So on to something more pleasant about the bags then?
They can be frickin' Cool! As I said, a quick google search brings up hundreds, from simple cloth with a printed logo, to exquisitely embroidered pieces of art to the insane and unusual, such as the chainmail ball above. Seriously, who needs to protect their dice from people trying to stab them? Personally, it's nothing I'd ever buy (maybe if I won the lottery, but that would involve me starting to play the lottery...) but it is certainly awesome to look at.
Many play on pop-culture, with stylised Tardises (Tardisi? Tardi? Anyway, multiple version of the Doctor's Tardis), My Little Ponies, Dragons, Pirates (possibly Ninjas too, but they look just like the plain bags to me) and all manner of references immortalised in thread. There are, naturally, others that ape the logos of various factions for various games, allowing you to match the bag to your chosen army if you wish. After all, in the 41st Millennium, there is only colour coordination!
I don't want to have a different bag for each of my armies though. I do have enough dice for that, but my basic black bag serves me well enough!
One final note from me; why isn't GW cashing in on this? At most of the big releases, particularly the edition changes of the main rules for each of their games, the till areas are festooned with lanyards, posters and other limited release stuff (is crap too harsh a word?) that most people won't really make much use off. Who still has the wristbands that could be bought when 6th Ed 40k came out? Why not do a few thousand official dice pouches with their copy written logos on them? Seems like the perfect kind of trinket to sell in the little store next to Bugman's at Warhammer World.
What do you think? Any readers who have customised bags? Has it improved your gaming experience at all?
Matt
Today I want to look at something that seems to be becoming a bit of a epidemic recently. Nay, a plague! Well, that might be a bit of a strong word...
Yes ladies and gentlemen, the not-so-humble dice bag.
Once upon a yesteryear, dice bags were merely functional, at least for the majority of gamers I knew. I'm sure that as long as people have had to use more than a couple of dice, there were bags made for them that they customised. Lets face it, if you get more than a handful of gamers together and they all have identical black dice bags, there is going to be confusion sooner or later. Most of the ones I saw though were either a plain colour or, more often than not, the box that the dice came in originally.
Even before these blighters (great for marking which turn you are on though) whole areas of game tables seemed inaccessible to models because they were buried in clear plastic boxes, stacks of flaking cardboard and associated detritus. Yes, I am exaggerating to make a point, Shh.
Now though, Googling 'custom dice' brings up as many links for companies who will offer to put pretty much any image on a little cloth drawstring sack to keep your cubes of despair and joy in. You can have any combination of colours you can conceive, even luxurious linings and fancy drawstrings with special toggles!
I'm not necessarily saying this is a bad thing. If you have a little monster like the one above, no one is ever going to accidentally put your dice in their case when packing up. In a hobby so centred around making unique models and armies, being so personal to each player, why shouldn't that extend to the sundries associated with gaming? I myself have a hand painted tape measure;
Right, this is beginning to sound a little ranty, which was not my intent. I suppose I just can't get my head around why, in a supposed age of austerity, people want to splurge extra cash on the least necessary part of the hobby. So on to something more pleasant about the bags then?
Many play on pop-culture, with stylised Tardises (Tardisi? Tardi? Anyway, multiple version of the Doctor's Tardis), My Little Ponies, Dragons, Pirates (possibly Ninjas too, but they look just like the plain bags to me) and all manner of references immortalised in thread. There are, naturally, others that ape the logos of various factions for various games, allowing you to match the bag to your chosen army if you wish. After all, in the 41st Millennium, there is only colour coordination!
I don't want to have a different bag for each of my armies though. I do have enough dice for that, but my basic black bag serves me well enough!
One final note from me; why isn't GW cashing in on this? At most of the big releases, particularly the edition changes of the main rules for each of their games, the till areas are festooned with lanyards, posters and other limited release stuff (is crap too harsh a word?) that most people won't really make much use off. Who still has the wristbands that could be bought when 6th Ed 40k came out? Why not do a few thousand official dice pouches with their copy written logos on them? Seems like the perfect kind of trinket to sell in the little store next to Bugman's at Warhammer World.
What do you think? Any readers who have customised bags? Has it improved your gaming experience at all?
Matt
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