Scrubs against the Meta is a blog that is mainly focused on improving the lives of our readers by using wargames and painting as a medium for the message. I have been playing these games for a long time and the one I have gravitated to the most was Warhammer 40,000. Over 20 years ago I started playing competitively, and I found some success because I was able to play so much of the game. Along with a group of friends we had a great time doing a podcast, and I used to blog back then too. 

Then life became too much for me, I dropped wargaming and painting, to move to the middle of nowhere Tennessee and make a life for myself. After completing trade school in industrial maintenance I started getting back into 40k about the time 8th edition was coming out. (I left about 1 year into 6th edition) The fire was well lit and I was building and painting more models than I knew what to do with. From here I was finding myself the only real person who knows how to play this game, so I was teaching a lot of warhammer back then. 

I think this burnt me out, because I couldn’t play at a level that I was used to, and the people that were playing didn’t like it when they lost so it was a very challenging adventure to get through. So I decided to start blogging again, well at least for a couple of days and then I would just stop doing it, because I was painting or playing a game of some kind. I have always just put the blog off mostly because I wasn’t winning tournaments. A big part of my belief was why would anyone read this blog if we don’t win tournaments? That’s a fair question, however it is kinda redundant since we are scrubs against the meta.

This doesn’t mean that we are bad at the game, it just means we have things that get in the way of our adventures. I have a full family and a very busy job, so I don’t get to play as often as I would like to, but I am usually around a computer and a phone so there is no reason why I can’t be a support to people who need it. So I started to gravitate towards being a TO and running tournaments, however I found that catering to the masses is just a wasteless effort, proving even more so there needs to be some form of reality checks on the internet. We can’t all sit around reddit and be the best players, because at the end of the day someone has to walk away from that table with a loss. What you do with that loss is ultimately up to you, and how you handle it is how you represent yourself to the world.

Warhammer is a very challenging game to play correctly, and there are so many opinions about what go into a good list. The list is everything, I believe this is the cry of the Meta. If you bring a list with the best units then you will win the tournament, I don’t hear people say this, but the behaviour they display when playing tells me they had other ideas about how this game would go. I have felt that feeling for so long, and it has taken me a long time to get it under control. At the end of the day you have to remember that you are playing a game and there is an actual human across the table from you, so please give them the respect they deserve by coming to play this wonderful game of Warhammer with you.

The other thing that I have been doing over the past few weeks is learning a bunch of different systems, we plan on having articles and battle reports for all the various wargames that are out there. I believe that if you are in the thick of things with warhammer the best way to turn all of that around is to go and play another game for a while. I don’t think about Warhammer as often as I used to, and I find that my list is stronger because I’m playing with something somewhat the same as the week before. I would always change a list to something completely different just from letting my adhd chew on my warhammer thoughts.

I am excited to be building a Bretonna army for Old World, Necromunda is something that we are going to put a heavy focus on. My buddy Cody has been dying to get a group to play that, so we are going to make the group finally. Star Wars legion has a new rule set coming out, so we are getting armies ready to start playing that. Malifaux has a new edition out too, so look forward to that, I might take that one up to line up with all the wonderful ideas Cody has in store.

There are a lot of things going on in the background, so make sure you stay tuned in. Also if this is something that you would like to be part of please reach out, I am looking for people who are passionate about wargaming and painting while limiting their Electronic usage. I can help with writing, but mostly we just want more players to hang out with, there is a Discord where we can talk about all these games and make plans for future events.