What Oldhammer Means To Me

The best thing about Oldhammer is that it's a broad church. In the contemporary gaming community that I observe online daily there seems to be an odd split between the rules as written brigade and those they call fluff bunnies. This division is a product of modern mainstream commercial gaming and should be ignored at once. It's bollocks.

Free yourselves from this nonsense and come be an oldhammerer. Oldhammer isn't about age; it's about ethos. It's about playing games and having fun with friends. Structured fun that means everyone is equally invested and likely to feel their time has been well spent. Rules are vital but they are not the game itself only part of it and they're there to help you enjoy yourself.

Don't field armies to win! Put your toys on the table in the spirit of friendship. Sure, your little people might have a solid scrap but was it storied, full of character, mishaps, irony, heroism, and probably spilled tea? Those are the important things in the world of gaming and they all come from you, your friends, and someone's kettle.

In the Oldhammer ethos old models are wonderful. Yet new models can be just as fitting. It's all in the choices, the gaming, the painting and collecting. If you don't know about RPGs that involve dice: learn. Get some people involved in a few games of D&D or WFRP. See how these aspects of gaming have been siphoned away by marketing people who have non-gaming agendas. Recapture this ground! Build a castle there. Occupy gaming as it is supposed to be.

Old is good. New is good. Evade linear time. Make real choices and live through all the best that gaming has to offer.

Paint as a social activity. Bring sociality into all aspects of the hobby. Blog regularly and feel happy about your punky paint jobs. Don't emulate standardisation and cleanliness. Be a mucky pup. Make mistakes. Make more tea. Embrace pathos.

Make up rules that suit you, blend then with others you like and own your game. Celebrate when GW actually puts out a great new miniture. Don't just moan. But continue to have moaning in your portfolio.

Or if you really, really cannot stomach what I've suggested here. That's fine. You can have coffee rather than tea. Vive la différence!