So... Dudes LOVE Space Marines

[lodessa]

As some of you may or may not know, I have been collecting/playing Warhammer 40K for about four years. Some of you may even know what Warhammer 40K is. Many of you probably don't. Warhammer is a stupidly expensive tabletop miniature game that requires you to buy, paint, and build many many models before you even start playing. My now-husband

Comments

[juushika]

Yesterday I was reading a discussion about Female!Shepard on the reversible cover of Mass Effect 3 and had the same feelings that were reflected in the comments there: The inclusion of a competent female protagonist, not even on the front, not even on some of the fronts, but in the potential to be on the front if you reverse the cover, should not feel like a victory—but since it does, because it is, then by golly I will take it. Good job Bioware for being far better than average and approaching minimum standards for a decent human being, although saying that depresses me.

Because the rest of the industry is this garbage, and it's miserable.

I know little about Warhammer but the basics; is model modding a thing at all? (Beyond painting, I mean, obviously.) It shouldn't be the only way to inject worthwhile female players into the game, but I wonder if anyone had used it to do so.

[lodessa]

Yes to all of the thoughts about Bioware and them being better than the rest of the industry but still it being sort of sad how amazing they seem when you think of it out of context.

Modding is definitely a thing (although generally it is expensive and time consuming), partly because there are some characters in the rules that they literally don't make models for and partly because the "hobbyist" aspect is a big part of the culture for some people. I don't know if anyone has used it for this particular purpose, but it is also kind of my intention to dip further into the internet to see. My husband claims that we can make our own models if we want to invest several hundred dollars in molds and resin...

[juushika]

I've be interested to know what you discover re: gender in modding, and if (and how) it impacts your opinions of the game—or at least its user base. In other words, if you ever write an addendum/second post, I'll be here to read. It doesn't surprise me that modding is a thing—it seems prime for it (what little I know/care about Warhammer comes down to "man I'd find the make-your-own-dudes [man that's pretty representative unintentional word choice there] thing so addicting"), but I imagine finances can be an issue no matter how you go around it.

[lodessa]

I am secretly hoping I find a female/more social conscious enclave out there somewhere. But even if all I find is things that make me ragey, it is likely you will hear more about it. I spent like an hour today, talking to my husband about how I would transition towards not sucking in terms of gender if I were the boss of GW.

And yes, finance can be a major issue; although, some people who aren't into the modeling part at all do use the big tub of plastic army toys as filler.

I do really enjoy the painting part. I don't have the most amazing fine motor skills or steadiest hands, but that makes me get creative on how I approach it and since I am not totally in love with the culture/lore I don't try and make my models look like the ones on the box... which always means suffering by comparison. I really need a better camera for picture taking purposes.