Pet Peeve

It's been a while since i've posted an update on the blog, owing to a combination of slight hobby burn out, real life commitments and rioting in the UK.

I had an idea for an update for this week that would have hopefully included a Warmachine battle report and some photos of my opponents armies showing a couple of rather spectacularly painted forces. Sadly this was completely scuppered by the recent civil unrest this past week in the UK.

I live in a small town called Huyton, which is part of Liverpool. To get to my FLGS in St. Helens, i have to pass very close to another town called Warrington which was the scene of several violent incidents as rioters made their way to the larger city of Manchester. And as much as i love my games of 40k, Warhammer and Warmachine they arent really worth risking a mugging to play.

So that article is postponed until next week, when hopefully the scally scum responsible for this disorder have been dealt with.

In the meantime i would like to comment on a growing peeve of mine on the Internet: The continued persecution of Matt Ward.

It seems like it is impossible to go anywhere hobby related without seeing at least one insult directed his way and really it is completely unacceptable.

I can understand not liking his work, i can understand being irritated that your latest update isn't what you would expect. I can even understand why a heap of Astartes players are annoyed when a codex tells them they have Ultramarine envy. All are fine reasons to criticise the work.

What they are not an excuse for is making disgraceful personal comments about Ward. They arent an excuse to spam the internet with vitriolic hate towards the man. As i've said to others :Hate the product, don't hate the man.

Those of us who have been around have of course seen this all before. Before Ward, Gav Thorpe was the repeated target of absolutely horrible comments and insults, none of which he deserved. And i'm sure once Ward does leave the company, he'll be replaced by another scapegoat.

But in the meantime i do ask that anyone who does read this blog not to indulge in reckless hate against Ward. Can you imagine how you would feel, or a loved one would feel, if the same comments were made about you? If only for politeness i hope the Internet community can tone it down.

/end rant.