I recently watched a documentary called Grimdark (https://youtu.be/QTj8WXC_KgM?is=dNlEF1aXZhyQJDLx) about a world I know very little about. It is the world of tabletop games in which people gather around large tables, move miniature warriors and monsters across carefully constructed landscapes, roll dice, discuss strategies and occasionally spend a very long time deciding what a tiny plastic soldier should do next.
And to be honest, I find it fascinating. Not because I play these games myself. I don’t. And after watching the documentary, I didn’t suddenly feel an irresistible urge to start building an army of miniature warriors either. But I do understand the attraction a little better. Because there is much more going on here than simply playing a game.
People build their own armies. They paint tiny figures, sometimes in extraordinary detail. They construct buildings, ruins, forests and entire landscapes. They develop strategies, learn complicated sets of rules and then bring everything together on a table to play against — or sometimes alongside — other people. It is gaming, certainly. But it is also model building, painting, collecting, storytelling and socialising all rolled into one slightly unusual hobby.
And there is another reason why the documentary caught my attention. There is a place like this in my own hometown. Every now and then, I go there with my youngest daughter. Like I said, we don’t play these games ourselves and, so far at least, neither of us feels any particular need to start. We mostly look around. People arrive carrying boxes containing armies they have assembled and often painted themselves. Then they spend hours playing out battles that, to an outsider like me, can look impressively complicated.
But what I notice most is how much fun everyone is having. People talk about their figures. They admire what someone else has built or painted. They discuss the game. They laugh. They concentrate intensely on what is happening on the table. And they spend time with other people who understand exactly why all of this is so interesting.
I like that. We tend to talk a lot about communities on the internet. Social networks, forums and all the other digital places where people with similar interests find each other. Those communities can be valuable. But there is something rather nice about an actual physical place where people can do the same thing. A place you can walk into carrying a box full of tiny warriors and find other people who immediately understand why you have spent many evenings carefully painting them. You don’t have to explain yourself. You can just start playing.
Perhaps that is what I liked most about the documentary. And perhaps it is also why I enjoy occasionally visiting the place in my hometown with my daughter. Neither of us belongs to this particular world. We are visitors. Curious outsiders looking at something other people are deeply enthusiastic about. Sometimes that is enough. You don’t have to share someone else’s hobby to appreciate it. I’m glad places like this exist.