So it's been a while--quite a while, but I think it's good that I'm writing again. Quite a bit has gone on in the past month or so since my last post. Things have changed at work, things have changed at home, but since I'm a gamer, and I blog about gaming, I think what I'll talk about here is what's changed in game.
So I recently started really getting back into the Warhammer series. Warhammer - Age of Reckoning was always fun, and the 40K Dawn of War games were great fun, but I'm discovering a passion for the actual tabletop miniature game. I'm not sure if I'll ever actually play the game in a real setting, but there's something therapeutic and relaxing about sitting down, putting the miniatures together, painting them, and watching the army come together. Maybe it's the part of me that loves being creative, maybe it's the part of me that enjoys methodical repetition of creative pursuit, but I'm at peace when I'm working on my miniatures.
Ironic, then, that a hobby that revolves around an intellectual property that thrives on combat and war, can bring so much peace and tranquility. Is it the creative outlet of assembling and painting the miniatures that I find so relaxing, or is it some part of me that never truly made peace with the fact that I am not in a combat zone anymore. Maybe on some subconscious level, I need that sense of conflict and warfare, no matter how artificial, to truly allow myself to feel any kind of peace. Before I go off on some introspective existentialism, I'll bring this back to where it should be, as are all my posts: video games.
The true draw of Dawn of War to me, is how it's not only a mixture of two things I love; the Warhammer mythos and video games, but it's also just another thing I can share with people I share these interests with. Both avid fans of the Warhammer series, I've played Dawn of War 2 cooperatively with both James and Shawn, two of my closest friends. Something about being able to log in from our home computers, in James' case several states away, and communicate effectively and quickly enough to establish and enact strategies that push us through even the most difficult of the game's encounters. It's amazing to me, that we can command our respective squads, operating so differently and with their own unique abilities and strengths, to balance our assaults and overcome the challenges the game sets before us. It's being able to take that adaptability, experience, tactical knowledge, and calm-under-pressure that was tempered in a real-world combat zone, and channel it in a fictional, recreational environment.
Now that Retribution, the most recent expansion pack has been released, I'm excited to rekindle that camaraderie. With James engulfed in RIFT, something I'll tackle in a later journal entry, I look to Shawn to help me take on enemy hordes and stand side by side against the onslaught of attacks. One of us will have to make a sacrifice, though, you see. He prefers the undisciplined fury of the Orks, and I have a sacred obligation to my Emperor and fellow Space Marines.
Ah, who am I kidding? I'm a sucker for a good WAAAAAAGGGH!
-TehKnuck out.
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