So I managed to base coat the pilot, the gunner, the rokkits, and the arms of my gorkanaut yesterday before it got too hot and humid today. And after chores and laundry and such, I actually sat down to paint the pilot and the gunner.

"So, green for skin," paint paint. "A brown for leather," paint paint. "Aaaand, I'm done." sadface I just had no desire to paint.

I haven't done hobby stuff since I finished Da Krimson Squiggoth. I have an opportunity to actually do it and I am so "meh" it hurts.

I am afraid it is because my interest in the hobby and the game is waning. Which would suck given my investment.

I hope it is just because of the way the campaign ended and my now having enough time and experience in the local gaming group that I see what the future will be: every league event dominated by tournament-focused people. The Cityfight campaign I was just in was won by the Blood Angels/Grey Knights player. They used the list they plan on using at the NOVA Open. They did this last year, with some slight variations as they experimented: the big winter campaign was just a crucible for their tournament list. The winter campaign last year was also won by a huge (US-nationally ranked) player, and in my opinion spoiled by random other big-time tournament players (also US-nationally ranked) who got in for a turn or two and then left.

My malaise is not due to the breakneck pace of codex and model releases. I haven't invested enough into the universe/rules/armies to have that bother me. I am frustrated at playing people who are just looking to make sure their list is as big a beat stick as they can make it. I have never been interested in tournaments, I hate losing, I hate being tabled, I hate being crushed and not even slowing my opponent down. Every time (almost) that i have played against a tournament player, that's how it has gone for me.

Orks, Raven Guard, it doesn't matter. I will never pay money for the privilege of putting models down and then spending two hours taking them off the table where none of my actions made a whit of difference. There is a place for tournaments and tournament players. Some tournament players are nice enough, a lot of them appear to be WAAC assholes who aren't interested in the actual social convention that a "game" represents.

I play to have fun. I hobby to show off my ability to build models and slap paint on them in a half-way decent fashion. But when my models spend maybe two or three (out of five to seven) turns on the table and then get removed, well, what's the point? I might as well push unpainted figures around for a bit before they die.

My other fear is that this frustration can quickly lead to me losing my interest in the hobby and the game. Sigh.

Oh, happy Mnemora-ial Day.