Thursday, 29 January 2015

The bleak, existential horror of gaming clubs

It happens about once every year or two. I love my little group of regular opponents, who are all friends of mine and not dicks, but about once a year I find myself wanting a little extra variety. As it happens my local GW has restarted its Saturday afternoon gaming club and I am, tentatively, in.

I have to choose a “House”, which is a fluffy little thing the staff want to try. Each of the three full-timers is the head of a Chapter (Ultramarines, Imperial Fists and Blood Angels) and the wins, loses and whatever of those in their chapter are compared in some way. The chapter you choose doesn't have to be relevant to your army and I'm doing Orks. I'd like there to be some kind of fluffy link, though, so I think I'll sign up as an Ultramarine (Arch-Arsonist of Charadon and all that), though I still want a Flesh Tearers army so maybe Blood Angels.

I am looking forward to this but there is one question you can't politely ask when agreeing to be part of something like this: how many dicks are going to be there?

It is a concern. I get involved in these clubs and then a power gamer turns up and... you know that scene in John Carpenter's The Thing where they use a computer to show how one Thing cell will take over an entire organism and then spread out to infect he whole world? Power gamers are like that. One turns up and at first everyone rolls their eyes and tolerates them out of politeness but before you know it people are bringing broken tournament lists in just to beat that one guy and then there's no hope, the club is lost, irreversibly contaminated.

Still, it'll probably be fun while it lasts and I would like to get some games in one the weekends the rest of my group are busy. 

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