A Wargamer’s Valentine – How To Keep Your Other Half Happy!
February 13, 2015 by brennon
Since it's nearly Valentines Day we thought we'd share with you our sure fire ways of keeping your partner happy. While you're out having a nice meal this weekend keep these words of wisdom, these ten commandments some would say, safely locked away in your head and you'll have a perfectly happy wargaming life!*
Don't Let Them See How Much You're Spending!
We all have those moments where we wince at the amount we're spending on plastic soldiers, but that's nothing to how your partner will feel! After all, if they find you spent the groceries allowance on new minis, they may just be tempted to feed THOSE to you. That's why it is essential to keep the money spent on minis a secret, possibly by setting up an account in Sweden under a false name. Maybe your partner won't notice that growing stack of un-glued sprues?
Praise the Miracle of Superglue!
One of the big benefits of having a wargamer as a partner is that you always have some handy hobby stuff within arm's reach! If something breaks, your magic superglue that holds together metal dragons will surely do the trick! Soon you'll find that your superglue not only holds your stuff together, but will help keep you and your partner close too. Though usually hot water or paint thinner can help with that.
The Furniture is NOT For Painting!
When painting and gluing minis it is tempting to relax in the nice comfy armchair, right? WRONG! Stay in the kitchen or the garage, or else you may face your partner's wrath. I'm sure a sword arm stuck to the sofa or a big paint splodge on the coffee table weren't in the plans for the overall decor of the house, and when this happens you may find you'll be spending the night on that armchair after all.
Never Leave Your Minis All Over The House!
We all know that the mark of a true gamer is miniatures covering every surface in the house.Your partner may have a different view. Get yourself some proper storage, less you come home one day to find a suspiciously full black bin liner!
Clean the Damn Mug!
You may think it is a romantic gesture to make your significant other a cuppa, but not when the mug is still full of paint! For one thing, some paints are poisonous, but you can bet they will take you with them when they realize what's up with the Earl Grey. So best to wash up a bit. Better still, get your own dedicated painting mug, but make sure to not place it too near to your own brew!
You're Doing This for the Kids!
When your partner starts complaining that you're spending too much time on your miniatures, just remind them you're not doing this for you, it's for the kids. Miniature gaming will be something to bring you all closer together and one day you will be able to hand down your well painted armies to the next generation. Of course they're not allowed to play with it now!
Don't Try And Get Them Into Gaming!
Excuse me miss, have you let Warhammer into your heart? You may think that gaming will be the perfect way for you and your partner to spend time together, but you are WRONG! Best case scenario, they will stand there in sullen silence as you blather on about how good this model is. Worse case, they will brain you with the rule book.
Talk About The Transferable Skills For DIY!
While it might not entirely be true, the fact that you spend hours pouring over diagrams of how to put together models should make you a dab hand with the Ikea furniture, or indeed any odd jobs around the house. On top of that, your creativity has reached peak potential through wargaming so you might even be able to plan some of your own ideas. Like turning your shared bedroom into a shrine for your collection!
"I Could Be Rotting My Mind On A Video Game..."
No more hogging the TV that's for sure. While you might have to make them sit through another marathon or two of Lord of the Rings, the TV will usually be open to watch while you get on with your hobby! If you've got a games console lying around you won't be hogging that either so they can go and shout at people online while you work away on your armies.
"I'm Learning All About History, and War, and err...Fightin'"
All those battlefield tactics that you're learning about on the tabletop had a place in history. While it might be all battles the amount of tangential learning you'll pick up, learning about history and so forth, will be of great use to both you, them and your children. They are sure to find military tactics and weapons' specs as fascinating as you do.
So there you have it. Ten sure fire ways to keep your partner happy over the course of their relationship with a wargamer. I'm sure you'll all agree these are possibly THE best ways to ensure a happy relationship and if they haven't worked for you then clearly you're not doing them right! Not our fault!
How do you keep your other half happy when gaming? What rules do you follow (like you need to come up with more...these are awesome)?
*Disclaimer - Beasts of War is/is not responsible for any happy relationships/terrible fall outs that happen as a result of you following these rules.
I haven’t even managed to get a card yet!!!!!
S#!t – thanks for the reminder. I guess I’d better volunteer to go and get the fish & chips this evening…
Ive always told my girlfriends that cards are full of death and destruction the same as giving flowers, as it rips plants from the soil and kills them for our benefit. No is that something you really want to celebrate? Is it?
/waggles finger
Instead, buy her a plant or packet of seed so you can grow and bloom togeter.
Ahhh #$@* it, im single. I must be doing something wrong….. nah surely not /glug /glug
She spent the day with her bat shit crazy sister and her mother talking about life insurance etc. So off to dinner we went, crying most of the time. I don’t think a card is going to cover it.
What you think of a German backtrack? Enough or maybe a mortar team add on?
Meh, the missus and me are together 15 years on the 18th. We never do anything on valentines.
Plus I’m happily blessed with a wife that’s very supportive of my hobbies.
Though certain limits have to be observed, offcourse.
Likewise and for almost as long. Not a fan of Valentines Day at all and the wife lets me just get on with it when it comes to the gaming.
Hypnotism helped me 😀
Guys I appreciate the sentiment, but maybe I am just really lucky but my wife is very supportive of my hobby. I was going to do a 10 point list of how I dont need this as my wife is cool but heres the TLDR version.
wife is awesome, happy valentines, and we have a wonderful day planned of watching a dark souls 2 twitch stream in aid of charity.
We decided we would have our Valentine’s Day meal early. I let her believe it was because it meant we weren’t in an over crowded restaurant with dodgy Valentine’s Day deals. It was actually so I could watch the weekender without getting into trouble 😀
hehe
That and the free fruit friday at McDonalds? 😀 hehe
lol I did the same thing. Nothing ruins a perfect day of painting while watching the cricket World Cup like a romantic dinner…. My wife doesn’t read this…. I should be safe saying that.
I’m so unlucky in love even my right hand thinks i’m a loser. 🙁
Thanks, great article! I’ll put these commandments to use at once.
I’ve never understood this point of view. My Wife is pleased when I’m gone from the house with my little mans one evening a week, and even more so when I take one of the boys with me on a weekend for a couple of hours. She looks forward to the days I take both of the kids to a convention weekend and she gets a few glorious days all to herself.
Hopefully you see the jovial aspect of this heh – but I’m glad that it all works out!
Gifts can be bought. The time you give someone is theirs forever, beyond price.
Ahhh – you are fond of your painted models aren;t you 😉
Are you referring to women who wear too much makeup or my precious minis?
I prefer women who are not lathered in chemicals and pigments….
Like I said, gift someone your time and they will always have it. All the wealth in the world cannot buy you one second of extra time.
It would buy one Hell of a collection of games 🙂
I don’t tell my other half how much I spend on toy soldiers and she doesn’t tell me how much she spends on shoes. That way we’re both happy 🙂
Those whos significant other also play are lucky as they share hobby.
Vaguely amusing – I am lucky my other half tolerates my hobby, just wishes I’d paint more of the models (Bit of a lead mountain going on) and I tolerate the pop figures and disney.
Did remind me of this podcast though.
http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=2585
There are actually some really good points. Aside from the console thing – that’s more casual gaming in our house, my better half is a dedicated counter strike player
I’ve always said to my o/h “If I want to buy you a present I damn well will” never bought anything SPECIFICALLY for valentines. That said she’s a painter/gamer like me so there is that.
i know this article was only posted in jest, but it’s great to see so many comments from people saying that they are in relationships where partners are supportive of their hobbies. Hopefully this is a sign that the hobby is becoming more inclusive. And for those with partners who have absolutely no interest, it’s still hopefully at least a sign that the hobby is mainstream and ‘respectable’ enough (and that as adults people are mature enough) to accept that we all have varied interests and that this is a good thing!
Well I just split from the GF, so I splashed out on the Colon the destroyer KS. So Valentines day will be beer, Rammstein and models on full volume. 😀
my other half like it when I’m messing about with models or the PC she gets peace to do what ever she wants plus I an within nagging range if required.
I DESPISE Valentine’s Day. Last year myself and my girlfriend went out for a meal. The restaurant was all decked out in Valentine’s Day stuff, which I spent a lot of the evening glaring at. Ten minutes later, the restaurant burnt down (I am not joking). To this day, we hold to the belief that my hatred of the decorations caused them to spontaneously combust.
Makes me a bit worried about a boot camp weekend.
Please try to only use this power for good!
Holy “Firestarter,” @dracs ! Is your girlfriend Drew Barrymore? 😀
One year I made my wife a card with a nice picture of a Valentine tank mk VIII. Most of us would be pleased to see this picture, admire the pant scheme, discuss the improvements over the Valentine VII. Apparently this romantic gesture was completely missed by my Wife and I still have the bruises as proof.
My wife is a gamer so… she’s more than a bit of an enabler (she’s also a much better painter than I am). When we were house hunting, we both decided on the same one from our list because it had the best room to use as a gaming room (with a wet bar and an adjacent room that would be perfect as a “hobby” room for painting and etc). Actually for VDay I got her a Walking Dead Daryl on motorcycle toy and a couple nerf guns with a big jug of 2 colored plastic army men to shoot… Read more »
doingwhenwhen my other half is Unhappy about150 hobby or its a special day I’ll paint her up some high elves as they look pretty it keeps her happy
when my other half is Unhappy about my hobby or its a special day I’ll paint her up some high elves as they look pretty it keeps her happy
Very funny write up. I also really like the first image of t he poster. I think I’m going to put that up on my facebook so my non gaming friends might understand me a little better.
Well, as the longtime girlfriend of a wargamer and artist, I must say I love it when he is working on his hobby, no matter the time of year. It means I know he will be in a happy mood when I suggest we order out for dinner so I don’t have to cook :). Also, since his paints, mini’s, and terrain are all over the house, no one notices the occasional pair of shoes left lying around or the lack of dusting. When we get mad at each other, we have a go at a game in which we… Read more »
HAHAHA Gladesrunner. My greatest asset, and greatest struggle, is my damn memory!