Generals of miniatures: The resurgence of Singapore’s Warhammer community
On a Saturday afternoon in a windowless room, 11 men are patiently planting plastic figurines on a miniature setup of alien terrains sprawled across several tables, periodically referring to sheets of paper as they do so.
Among them, Clement Zhao controls an assortment of these mostly 28mm tall models, which include armoured soldiers, a sword-wielding warrior with a huge pair of angel wings, and a combat vehicle which resembles an M-113 personnel carrier.
Clement, who looks to be in his late 30s, points out that his tiny outfit is a hodgepodge of different alien races. On the other side of the table, Raymond, his opponent, fields a squad of hover bikes, a big space jet, and fighters decked in turquoise cloaks.
As both guys prepare for battle, a competition is about to start. Setting their armies in place, all the men in the room are going to engage in some wargaming.
The venue, where the action unfolds, is fitting; the huge room is a part of the sales floor of Dueller’s Point, a shop that mainly sells non-digital gaming products like Magic: The Gathering cards and board games.
Unlike most establishments of its kind which usually hole up in shopping centres, Dueller’s Point sets its lair in an underground bomb shelter: a dual-purpose, SCDF-approved type nestled underneath HDB blocks in the outskirt of Hougang, facing Buangkok.
In the current moment, it conveys the feel of a battle bunker with its worn out concrete floor and huge ventilation pipes at the ceiling.
And these weekend generals here?
They are part of the Warhammer community in Singapore.
Outside geek culture, Warhammer is not publicly well-known in the way Star Wars, Pokemon Go or even Magic cards would be with local millennials and Gen X-ers.
Created by English company, Games Workshop, in the 1980s, it is a tabletop miniature game that pits multitudes of figurines against each other in tailored combat scenarios.
The science fiction iteration of the game, 40K (the other is Warhammer’s ‘fantasy’ version), offers more than a dozen races and factions to choose from. Its backstory: a dystopian universe in an extremely far future where the human race is locked in an interstellar war with other civilizations.
Warhammer’s figurines are sold in sets requiring assembly and a paint job, and these products can cost around several bucks to hundreds of dollars.
Prudence is required when selecting any of these plastic forces based on their strengths and weaknesses. In one drastic case, one local man reportedly forked out $60,000 to build and customise his army.
The gameplay of Warhammer is not quite simple too. Players follow a plethora of complicated rules detailed in online FAQs and dozens of pages in official rulebooks known as “codex”.
In fact, during the sessions at the Dueller’s Point shop, players repeatedly inquire with Leon Chen, the competition’s organiser, just to ensure they are playing according to rules.
Another sticking point is the spatial aspect of conducting a Warhammer game.
A battle could occur on tables of around 1.2 meters in width and 2.4 meters in length, and even more. This is a challenge when playing in an HDB unit. Firstly, modern flat sizes — depending on the number of rooms — aren’t getting any bigger; and secondly, your better half might frown over availing real estate to a seemingly frivolous hobby.
Thus, Warhammer appears to be an anomaly in a time when popular games — whether card games, board games or computer games — bank their appeal on a streamlined and swift style of setup and play appropriate for time-starved urbanites.
To the man in the street, it looks like a hassle to set up, a chore to dictate the progress of play, and a costly hobby to get into.
Leon acknowledges the game’s complexity with its limited activity frequency although he adds that its developer has simplified it over the years.
“In the past, you would have a competition once every three months or six months. But now, we are having an event every month,” the 33-year old engineer says as he’s in the midst of overseeing the competition.
“The rules you now need to remember are way lesser. Can you imagine if you want to play a game, you have to bring along rulebooks, just to have a session with your friend over the weekend?”
So what used to consume 5–6 hours can now be settled in 2–3 hours of quick play. Players roll dices during their turn and move their figurines on tabletop terrains — not before determining the distance with retractable measuring tapes.
The intricacies of playing Warhammer are evident and probably explain its glacial rise in popularity despite the local community starting out circa the early nineties.
Having a regular player base in Singapore numbering in the hundreds, the community could easily be passed off as a rarity of geeks obsessed with an idiosyncratic hobby that few wants participation.
“I don’t think (Warhammer players) work that way, in the manner like they are here to play a game; they don’t care about others anywhere else,” Vernon Yip explains when I speak to him at the Midpoint Orchard retail building in Orchard Road.
Throughout our interview, the 27-year old defends against a negative perception of Warhammer players and geeks in general.
“It’s the same kind of people you will meet like me and you, the kind of people you will meet (in everyday life). If you have similar things you enjoy together, you get along well together,” he adds.
Vernon — who picked up Warhammer at 10, thanks to his cousins who played the game while studying in the UK and Australia — stresses that Warhammer just happens to be one of the many interests that its players enjoy, dismissing it as a total fixation taking all their attention.
He is also the retail manager of Games @ PI, a games shop which is one of the main suppliers of Warhammer products in Singapore.
Like Dueller’s Point, the shop hides in plain sight and located within the dated and quiet Midpoint Orchard.
When I visit Games @ PI on a Sunday evening and photograph its premise, a patron (who, with his plump form and moustache, looks to be in his late forties) warns that he could sue me if I shoot him. Seated with a group of people at a gaming table, he reiterates to a friend his justification to do so.
Most Warhammer players I met are otherwise quite friendly and openly shared details about their armies and game progress during the Dueller’s Point competition.
As Leon notes, the community has always been welcoming. One club based at Tanjong Pagar Community Centre even allows newcomers to try out the game without having to acquire a set of figurines.
With close to a dozen local shops and their outlets selling Warhammer products, as well as some — like Dueller’s Point and Games @ PI - offering playing spaces for the game, all one needs to do is to approach a store manager and request for an introduction.
“If you don’t, then you will think we are not friendly. What it will really take is for newcomers to come down and talk to us,” Leon advises.
For Vernon, Games @ PI is a starting point to spread awareness of Warhammer and make it an inclusive experience for all gamers alike. It also hosts other different games like the long-running Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game series.
“As the manager of the store, I try to reach out to people from different gaming communities like those playing Dungeons & Dragons or Magic cards… and let them try Warhammer out,” he says.
“Just because you play Magic does not mean you are only a Magic player. Warhammer is not a clique you are restricted within. Or, just because you like this one, you cannot play that one. There is no such thing.”
Even then, it is, as Leon describes, “very much a word-of-mouth game.”
“Let’s say you don’t know somebody from within the community… it’s hard for you to get in,” he claims.
I assume introversion is the issue, rather than a rigorous, Freemasonesque initiation, that is hindering a newbie’s entry into the community.
A Reddit post elaborates this difficulty; the poster asked about joining the Warhammer community when none of his friends were playing the game.
A more cerebral culture critic would wonder why Warhammer — with all its richness in its sci-fi lore, a high degree of customisation and endless variety of meticulously-crafted figurines — would seem unable to gain fast traction in Singapore compared to other non-digital games.
With just a deck of cards, the Magic game was able to proliferate wildly during the mid to late nineties, so much so that Bishan MRT Station was once a lively mecca for students to congregate and duel with each other.
Magic’s massive popularity was enough to prompt its ban in schools like the Catholic secondary school I used to study at.
Warhammer, on the other hand, never enjoy that form of nationwide prominence or notoriety.
Back at Dueller’s Point, the round robin competition enters its second hour. For the past several minutes, Clement — whom I’m told is a seasoned player — is flanking Raymond’s army on the left, even as his armoured vehicle model is starting to take serious hits.
The Lady Luck of dice rolls is surely smiling on Clement as he corners his opponent to a nearby ruin.
Still, almost every move is made with much deliberation. Both players take pains to validate their actions, poring over mountains of info in their rulebooks in which the rules of engagement isn’t always clear-cut.
When one thinks of it, Warhammer and its likes are the foundations from where modern strategy computer games like Command & Conquer and Starcraft evolve.
From bulky personal computers, today’s games are made portable in palm-sized mobile phones, reaching an even bigger audience including people who are previously not gamers.
In-game software engines compute and deduce rules in seconds vis-a-vis the human brainpower of deciphering that would have taken minutes.
But, there is something that Warhammer offers which computer games are unable to produce: a DIY context in which tangible aesthetics are made with manual effort.
That element hints at enriching experiences which are somewhat lacking in Vernon’s life until he started the Warhammer hobby.
“It’s a form of self-accomplishment to do well. I can’t draw, I can’t sing, I’m horrible at certain things, but painting a model is easier,” he confesses.
“The self-accomplishment is like, I did this. I finish this army. Look at what I’ve done. A bit of showing off. If you do something nice, you would like to show off. It’s a kind of ego boost.”
A bona fide sense of ownership is also a sentiment Leon shares.
“It is a very strange feeling when you build the model and paint it, you will tend to have some form of ownership to it,” he remarks.
“So, unless you are heartless, then you will sell it away.”
Nevertheless, it must be demanding to maintain the hobby — especially if you have barely the space at home for a big table to place miniatures, let alone hosting a group of friends for a weekend session.
“In Singapore, space is a big issue. A physical location will always help,” Vernon concurs. “More stores like Games @ PI are setting up because they are targeting the kind of people who would never see it otherwise.”
Notably, Games @ PI has been around since the early 2000s. Throughout its existence, it has been located in the same building — any change of address is just the floor it has moved to.
As rental costs rise and buildings at Orchard Road are demolished or revamped every few years, the shop finds itself in a fast-changing environment, where the Borders bookshop at Wheelock Place and the multi-level HMV store were long gone.
Games @ PI’s residence at Midpoint Orchard is, therefore, a testament that, as long as its patrons regularly meet at its premise (and continues to buy its products), it has a reason to stay rooted at the same, old place.
Conversely, it is also because of shops like this that ensure the tradition of Warhammer gaming is kept alive in Singapore.
Perhaps, it’s a question of becoming more mainstream and relevant. The Warhammer community is still growing, according to Vernon and Leon, and players are closely knitted in their pursuit just like any other interest groups.
But, the age group of players is ostensibly made up mostly of adults in their 20s or 30s, despite the better accessibility of the game in recent years.
I ask Leon if the lack of teenage players is due to the laborious process of setting up the game which would entail assembling and painting figurines, and understanding countless rules. After all, youths these days would prefer something instantaneously enjoyable.
“Yes,” Leon agrees, adding that the average age of Warhammer players in Singapore “is not very young.” However, he feels a stable income also matters given the pricey endeavour of building a Warhammer army.
“It’s not like, I’m in secondary school now, I would like to play. You can if you have rich parents to support you. Not everybody can do that,” he remarks.
Vernon thinks otherwise.
Showing me a Dark Imperium box set when we return to the Games @ PI store (the interview was earlier done at an eatery), he says the product offers 53 figurines, coupled with three gamebooks and other extras like dices, for around $200; a good value for money.
“I always feel that the misconception of Warhammer is that it is an expensive hobby. It’s not 100% true,” Vernon clarifies.
“The nice thing is that there are so many new products that make it so accessible for anybody who joins. For less than $50, you can start playing and building models, all the way to full sets that cost $200-plus. The latter is for two players so it’s good enough to split between you and your friend. You could pretty much have a good whole year of fun if not more.”
By Vernon’s estimation, the average age of Singapore Warhammer players is around the mid- to late-teens — those who are studying in tertiary institutions or doing their National Service.
“They have a bit more free time in exploring what they want to do. They also have a bit more financial freedom. You will have people who get a part-time job and get a couple of hundreds to spend and wonder if they should try a particular hobby,” he explains.
That, together with creator Game Workshop’s streamlining of the game’s rules and more affordable products, would have drawn in a larger pool of younger players.
Yet, one glaring bit of the local Warhammer community stands out: the near-absence of female players.
It looks to be the case as one visits a games shop, like Battle Bunker in Bugis+, where Warhammer games are hosted. Throughout my three hours spent at Dueller’s Point, not a single lady is seen entering the store.
However, the lack of gender diversity in general geek culture has been a perennial issue, not one just exclusive to Warhammer.
The community, like others in geekdom, is very much a boys club.
When asked about this, Leon agrees that there are very few female Warhammer players in Singapore, “almost none.” Instead, most women who join the community are usually “hobbyists” — those who focus on assembling and painting the figurines.
On the other hand, Vernon thinks the number of female players is increasing. At least, for Games @ PI, the store does receive “a lot of female players.”
He sees a common misconception in the belief that Warhammer is “a boy’s thing.” Apparently, there are local girls who could play the game better than boys.
“There’s quite a lot more girls than people would think,” Vernon points out.
“It’s more of a social thing; maybe girls feel that because it’s mostly guys, they are a bit more concerned about joining a game. But, seeing how things go in our store, I would not say that’s the case.”
He does not shy from the fact that male players “don’t know how to play well” with female players.
“My American friends and retailers agree with me that guys don’t know how to lose to girls. It’s not discrimination; it’s just this awkwardness,” Vernon laughs.
“It’s like how you go up to a girl and talk to her. People feel nervous especially when we are all strangers. But once you start playing and once you start getting to know each other, you will treat each other as friends.”
Ultimately, it’s the community’s onus to overcome its own societal and cultural obstacles.
“A community plays a very big role in whether they are going to be welcoming or whether they are going to be exclusive,” Vernon opines.
Warhammer’s creator has been shedding away its exclusivity following the notorious days of its arcane game mechanics and reputation.
That development would have breathed fresh air into the Singapore community, which is undergoing a resurgence in recent years.
Nevertheless, misunderstandings of a once obscure gaming community are bound to occur.
As Vernon and Leon repeatedly highlight, an enthusiast does not need to be an all-rounder if he is not into either the painting or playing aspect of the game. In a collaborative community, a hobbyist could supplement the efforts of a player, or vice versa, contributing to a complete experience.
Leon also reveals that winning a Warhammer competition can feel “shiok” — which is how Clement is likely feeling as he emerges as the champion of the competition at Dueller’s Point that Saturday.
Yet, the thrill of winning is nothing without a physical group of people whom you can talk to and have a good time together, he says.
Unless a computer game player is part of an e-sport team or regularly meets his friends for LAN gaming sessions, his leisure is but a solo pursuit of engaging online, often anonymous personalities.
In the Warhammer community, forget about hiding behind digital avatars.
Be prepared to step out of your comfort zone and mingle with people, especially talking with others to get your game right. Add to that some hard work; painting a warrior figurine could be the most mesmerising form of art and craft one can enjoy.
Indeed, in this age of reality-blending social media, we need something that plays like a computer game but does not keep us separated like one. In the process, we could even discover a hidden talent within ourselves.
“Warhammer will not be the biggest thing (in Singapore) but it will not die off,” Vernon states. “It is not just a game; it is the full community itself. It’s an experience, rather than just a product you buy.”
“It’s the feeling of interacting and playing with people,” Leon says. “After a game, we will have dinner together and talk. Game discussions are what bring people together in this community.”
It’s with little doubt Warhammer could be the slowest moving game you would ever play in your lifetime.
But, with fast-paced busyness in the city, anyone would desire the good, old (and less stressful) days of meaningful recreation with like-minded folks.
In the small but sturdy community of Warhammer, they could find such an escape.
For a vaguely related subject, please check out our coverage of a Star Wars event:
Singapore’s Largest Star Wars Fan Gathering in Character @ The Centrepoint | November 16, 2017
