The Games Workshop in Dundee city centre on a hot Thursday afternoon. The sun beats down outside but in the cool interior of the shop all eyes are on the room’s two big boards.
On one gamers are in the middle of an intense battle. Die are cast. Breath is held. Victories and defeats are celebrated and lamented. Kenny Loggins’ hit song Danger Zone from Top Gun plays in the background.
At the next table a much quieter group sits, shoulders hunched, painting their models with slow and painstaking attention to detail.
One of them is Lewis Whyte from Broughty Ferry. The 20-year old works at Marks & Spencer in Dundee and is soon to start his second year studying biological chemistry at Dundee University.
When he’s not working his life revolves around Warhammer 40,000, a strategy battle game set many centuries in the future. Since he started playing a year ago it’s become the main focus of his free time.
“I would say I spend at least two or three hours a day on it, playing games or painting my models,” he says. “That doesn’t count battle reports I read in bed or games I watch online.”
There are three main games in the Games Workshop stable. Warhammer 40,000 is set in the distant future and involves weaponry straight from the sci fi genre. Warhammer: Age of Sigmar is a fantasy game involving orcs, elves, dwarves, dragons and magic. The Hobbit offers a similar gaming experience but with characters and units drawn from Tolkien’s literary masterpiece.
Lewis is a member of Dundee Wargames Club, which meets every Thursday night at No. 1 Bar. “We play games, have a few drinks and talk,” he says. “I’m not battling tonight but a friend of mine is playing for the first time so I’ll help him with rules and tactics.”
Each piece in the game has a particular points value. A basic orc might be between four and seven points, while a powerful character like an Imperial Knight costs 400 points.
Games are played to a particular points value. “A small game would be 500 points and take 30-45 minutes to play,” Lewis explains. “Most games are around 1500-2000 points and take a couple of hours.
“Sometimes there are apocalypse games, which are 10,000 points and played on a board that’s around 18 feet long. They can go on all day.”
Players pick their own armies and can choose to have a small amount of very powerful units or a much larger number of weaker units that aim to overwhelm the enemy. Most armies opt for a balance – with squads of troops bolstered by a few powerful pieces that are used tactically to cause maximum damage.
Games Workshop – the company is currently rebranding its stores as Warhammer – sells troops, heroes, monsters, vehicles and other models.
Lewis’ Warhammer 40,000 collection stretches to around 170 models and has a value of £1,100. “About £400 of that was from presents,” he explains. “You can set up a gift list of models you want – a bit like a wedding list – and I do that at Christmas and on my birthday.
“I got so many models at Christmas it took me four months to assemble and paint them all.”
Models are made of plastic or resin and come unassembled and plain. Painting them is something players take very seriously – indeed the Games Workshop’s magazine White Dwarf has sections devoted to the best painted models.
“Painting is my favourite part of it,” Lewis says. “I would say around 80% of my time is spent painting and 20% playing. I have a rule that if it’s not painted I won’t play with it so that keeps me motivated.”
Warhammer has swept almost all other hobbies from Lewis’s life. “I used to be a video gamer but I hardly play at all now. Videogames and Netflix have to fit in around war gaming.”
He explains why he likes the latter more: “I watched a great video about why war gaming is better than video gamers. There’s a social contract between the players. If I play video games online with headphones on the people you’re playing are all swearing at you and insulting you.
“With war gaming there’s a mutual respect. In fact some competitions award points for sportsmanship and being nice to your fellow players.
“And if you do well at a videogame you might unlock an achievement but that’s not something physical. With this hobby I have an entire display cabinet full of models.”
