Recently I have returned to miniature (GW) gaming. I had spent several years pursuing more competitive ideals in other games. However, once I spent time working in a hobby and games store, I was able to recognise that the only thing that matters when you are gaming is that you find people who want to play the same game, in the same way, as you. Two people might both like Monopoly, but if they have different views on Free Parking, they aren’t playing the same game!

Obviously Warhammer, like so many other games, is in the eye of the beholder. Sometimes I think commentators can be too close to see that the game is DELIBERATELY vague so as to be as broadly attractive as possible (and as commercially viable as possible, but that is another story!). It is in the spaces between the rules that the game really comes to life; if the rules where perfect, the game would be ‘figured out’ (a la Puerto Rico?) and we would grow bored of it and move on.

When gaming is all about winners and losers, it is little more than binary coding. There is something to be said about content over process, knowledge over information, humanity over machinery. Interaction and community are the things that make a game from what would otherwise merely be a puzzle.

On the subject of Dwarfs, I find myself much more at ease with their general down-to-earth nature (no pun intended!). Elves are usually lofty, idealised interpretations of ourselves, although historical elven lore, as used by authors such as Terry Pratchett, is much more interesting than most of the post-Tolkien fantasy renditions.

In regard to your latest topic, I might direct your readers to a book I read many years ago on war-gaming: H.G. Wells’ “Little Wars”. Not only is it fun to read, it provides a certain gravitas to the hobby.

In another vein, I just finished your books–”Grudge Bearer” and “Grudgelore.” You probably know this but I think you have hit the mother lode, so to speak. Dwarfs are so rich in possibility and meaning that I would really like to see you develop the topic. In a moment of unbridled enthusiasm, I dug out my books on German folktales and Norse sagas to mine everything I could on dwarfs.

One of Jung’s disciples, Maria-Louise von Franz wrote that dwarfs were a symbol of our buried or hidden selves, while Ron Schenk says they are symbols of change and transformation. Nevertheless, keep up the good work.

My next book will be Nick’s “Oathbreaker.”

Best Regards,

Keith