Thoughts of Chaos

Although I have not played a game of Warhammer for at least six months, I still enjoy the collecting side of the hobby. And as most wargamers know, collecting in this context means wondering if I will ever get round to painting the piles I already have. Many an hour has been spent over the summer months, sorting through my two boxes full of chaos bits. Most of this sorting comprises me staring at the figures and willing them to do something, with an occasional half-hearted attempt at cleaning and assembling. The biggest impediment to progress is my fear that I will never actually game with them! It seems to make more sense to concentrate on my Saga forces, as that's the game I play on a regular basis.

However, if pressed, I would probably concede that Chaos is the favourite of all my Warhammer collection. For me, they offer the most variety, the most scope for modelling, painting and thematic experiments. I still have a soft spot for my elves, and could never be rid of my dwarfs, and I keep promising myself that one day I will tackle the hordes of undead. But the one army I have consistently worked on over the past few years has been my Chaos Warriors.

When the previous book was launched, I bought into the new range on a reasonable scale - a battalion, a metal Lord on Jugger, knights and marauder horsemen. Not a huge splurge by most standards I guess, but with the book it came to around £100. That was 4 or 5 years ago. In today's prices, £100 would buy just the book and a battalion, if that. I have also picked up various other bits from ebay, forum markets and other bloggers. I have about 2000 points painted with a similar amount unpainted. So I don't need any new toys, but as we all know, that never usually stops us from buying the latest releases for our favourite army. The biggest impediment to me buying the new range is the plain and simple fact that I don't really like them. The characters are poorly executed, and finecast is still far more effort than it should be. The plastics are either dull and uninspring (the Khorne and Slaanesh riders on daemon mounts), or just completely over the top and messy (the warshrine). I did ponder over the use of the shrine boxset as bits, but decided against it in the end - that £35 would buy me a complete Viking warband for Saga.

The biggest shock among my rambling thoughts is that, for the first time, I will not be buying an army book for one of the armies I collect. The cost is an issue, but it's more than that. The last couple of books I bought have given me less pleasure than any of the previous versions. To be fair to GW, this is to be expected in older gamers, as they cannot re-invent the wheel each time and there is bound to be some duplication in updates. It was the Vampire Counts book that proved to be the (ahem) final nail in the coffin. So much of the fluff was simply copied from the previous book, while the couple of pages of new material was tame and un-convincing. The direction of the game and the newer design concepts have left me colder than a wraith in a crypt. So, unless the next wave of models offers some mind-blowing must-have model, I will be abstaining from this latest version of my favourite army.

That's not to say I am abandoning Chaos, far from it. The book update I will borrow from a friend, while reinforcements will be acquired from other sources (the Avatars of War range is highly tempting). And there are other manufacturers that are slowly seeping into my collection, more on this in future updates. GW no longer offers what I am looking for, but plenty of other companies do. There are new forces at work in my Chaos army, which when you think about it, is rather fitting.