I don’t bring you problems without bringing you solutions and, honestly, if you haven’t seen me online much, it’s because I’ve been firing up Second Life along with some friends and really playing in there lately. Without getting too deep in the weeds here, I’ve been playing two different games with overlapping friend groups and have been having the time of my life.
When I wake up in the morning, I use an old phone to scroll through the news of the day, check out a few other things and then get on with things. It’s when I’m brushing my teeth that I get some more focused news and Warhammer 40,000’s latest controversy has been all over the news for awhile. It’s made mainstream news, even. If you’re the type that’s been under a rock, let me tell you what that controversy is. Better yet, let me show you…
This is in the Adeptus Custodes Codex book for Warhammer 40K. The problem is that, for 30 years, the Adeptus Custodes (The Emperor’s Personal Bodyguard) have been all male and there’s evidence to support this.
This is where Dungeons & Discourse on YouTube covered it fairly and objectively and I’m open to being wrong, being the Johnny-Come-Lately to the IP myself, I think she missed these particular examples.
Now, I’ll be fair here. We’re not talking about the Space Marines or their factions that have to undergo brutal body modifications to make themselves able to endure the harsh environments they’ll be in, take as much punishment as they do and fight as hard as anything ever seen. Dr. Chris Traynor has an entire series on YouTube that explains, from the perspective of a surgeon, what these men have to go through and how long that takes.
The Adeptus Custodes aka The Custodians aka The Emperor’s Bodyguard having a female character or a female custodian doesn’t rub me the wrong way. It’s what the official Warhammer account on Twitter is doing.
I asked them to provide me with one example. One that didn’t just emerge.
I got crickets.
Much like the Space Marines have The Sisters of Battle, The Custodians have The Sisters of Silence.
This is a retcon and The Warhammer Account is, make no mistake, lying through their keyboards.
Personally, I got into miniature wargaming via D&D or D&D-alikes. Using a battle mat and minis is a lot of setup but it’s also a hell of a lot of fun. You can check out my Against All Odds story Caverns of The Chaos Lord and see them for yourself.
I love minis. To me, they’re not required but damn, they’re fun and, knowing where your adventurer’s are vs. where your monsters are, takes a little off my plate to have to remember. It may not look impressive but it really worked for me. Playing a game of miniatures is something I can get my players behind. Case in point, this was a HeroQuest game with unpainted miniatures.
I know, I’m all over the place but let’s bring it back, shall we? I got curious about Warhammer 40K and decided I’d take the plunge and look into it further. The lore was something that I really didn’t know that much about so, I bought the core rulebook. I also picked up the Space Marine Board Game because, hey…minis.
Reading through the core rulebook, I was not in the least prepared for just how dark this setting was. It’s pretty wild. I loved it though. This was probably the most heavy metal thing I’ve read next to Lamentations of The Flame Princess and The Wretchedverse.
Needless to say, I was impressed. That being said, if the lore isn’t immutable once established, then it’s a mess and I play my games to have fun. In fact, in our Pirates of Didymus setting in Second Life, lore can only be changed by a consensus. Your character can have any lore or backstory you like and, if it fits with our current lore which is an amalgam of the dangerous, industrial realism of Alien with the space travel and used-future look of Star Wars with a hint of Star Trek, you’re solid gold. You get it. You’re in. We won’t do lazy retcons in order to fit your character. Likewise, we don’t expect you to fit into the setting. It’s for everyone but not just anyone. It’s immutable but flexible. Adding to it without compromising what was established before is important for consistency because an inconsistent setting is no fun and I refuse to spend my time jumping through hoops and putting on a little dance in order to play a game.
The game itself, between you and your friends is yours. The company has no say so in it. The problem is that the conventions and local gatherings are a different story.
Listen, I know that some of you say conventions can be fun but I advise you to stop attending the larger ones altogether. If companies are going to lie, then they can…but they can also reap the whirlwind of getting money from people gullible enough to believe their lies.
Stop buying from Games Workshop. If they’re going to support the lie, they can deal with the consequences of it as well.
WARNING: DO NOT BURN YOUR MINIATURES, BOOKS OR MATERIALS!!!
I can’t believe I have to say this but it bears saying. If you already have official Warhammer armies, books, etc. Don’t burn them. Repurpose Them! How?
One Page Rules has a Patreon that will run you $10 per month. They have a game called Grimdark Future which is a rules-lite version of Warhammer 40K and yes, you can repurpose your miniatures, terrain, etc to play that instead. You can mix up the miniature STL files after using your 3D Printer to print them and paint them and get your battle on on the table. At $10 per month, it’s a much better deal overall than what you’ll spend buying Games Workshop miniatures. Also, host a Grimdark Future night at your Local Gaming Store or, if you must attend conventions, host a game there and tell the people attending that their Warhammer 40K minis are welcome. Turn their attention and yours away from GW as everything can be 3D printed now and some of the better ones go for about $300 - $350. If you print your own resin miniatures, your armies will cost far less and you’ll be at the table waging war against other factions before you know it. Meanwhile the cost of two kill teams from GW will cost you the same as the 3D printer. I’ve been subscribed to OPR’s Patreon for nearly a year and I can tell you, if I had a 3D printer, I’d have armies for everyone by now and they have bonuses for the $10 per month tier. Consider that I’ve spent $140 over the course of a year and I can have someone print these minis for me for just the cost of bottles of resin. That’s crazy right? Can GW beat that deal? Not at all, considering the two products I own from them probably cost the same and I don’t have near the minis that OPR has merely offered. Some of them can even be used as D&D minis if I wanted to do so.
The solution here is to turn toward a business that appreciates you as a customer or keep going with a business that doesn’t appreciate you at all, thinks you’re stupid, gaslights you and doesn’t seem to give a damn about you or your money. Nothing you ever do will be good enough for them. Do nothing at all for them.
Finally, I ask local gaming stores to do this. Tell these major companies that when a customer rents a table, it’s their table for the night. Games Workshop or other such companies do not have any say in how that table is run or how the game is played. If they object, tell them to send a representative to march up to that table to tell the person who spent the money on the table themselves. Test their resolve and see exactly how far they’re willing to go. If they want to pull their product, immediately go with an independent company willing to let the players play and who make games for the sake of gaming. Ask your customers, they’re more than happy to give you the lowdown who who makes games because they enjoy games and they’d love for people to come into their games. When you attend conventions, sell those games instead of the mainstream games. The major companies like Games Workshop and Wizards of The Coast are looking to pull their product from your stores in time. Best to get ahead of that rotten apple cart. Also, look into 3D printing as a service to your customers, you never know how well that could work out for you by printing monster minis that are in the public domain or by printing generic heroes in fantasy or war games.
If you’re a customer of these local gaming stores, ask them about independent games you love most, see if you can influence them to get on board.
Again, I’m not really asking for boycotts here. I’m asking you to consider and run with alternatives. Funding the good companies speaks far louder than de-funding the ones that don’t appreciate you as a customer, and, make no mistake, Games Workshop doesn’t appreciate you or me in the least.
Finally, to Games Workshop, the two items in that picture above are the only ones I’ve purchased and they’re the only ones I’ll own. You once stated that Warhammer is for everyone but through your company actions, you’ve decided it wasn’t for me or the legions of actual fans that have played it longer than I have.
It is you who will not be missed.
I play COD Warzone and they just added Warhammer 40K Soaps, Weapons, and Skins.
The Warhammer spread is becoming exponential.
Great article, you deserve a far wider audience.