Wednesday 4 December 2013

Proxying. Yes or no?

This idea crossed my mind many times and I always wanted to share it. Are you guys against the idea of proxying in your games?

I think there are 2 kinds of proxying in the wargaming world: the acceptable and the bullshit one. Let me explain.

The "acceptable" is the one that I use in most of my games (hence the name lol). You have your models, they are the right models, but the weapons that they carry are not the ones that you are using in your army list. Let's show it better with an example: You have your tactical squad, and back in your day, when you build your models, you put one with a flamer and another one with a missile launcher, but in your game against your mate you decide that they are a plasma gun and and heavy bolter, for example. According to de abusive prices that GW put in their models, I can understand that you are not gonna buy 3 boxes just so you can have all the weapon options. Our beloved Dave always gives me shit about using my sternguard(old models finecast) and he says "Oh, you're using a combi melta" which I always respond "No, it's just how the model came. Nothing I could do to change it as I don't know how to convert". I think this kind of proxying is acceptable.

Then is the Bullshit one (which I also have used, but try not to). That's basically have a model and use it as something completely different, not just talking about weapons, but also about unit, even armies. I think this is a good way to try units before buying them, to see how would they work with your army. Before you spend 110$ in a Soul Grinder, you wanna see how would it perform in the table, won't you? But then, there are players that they basically proxy everything. I think that kills the "beauty" of the game in some kind of way. It's hard to have all the weapon options in every single unit of your army, unless you're a master magnetizing, but at least, use the same models.

I don't know. What do you think guys?

7 comments:

  1. I think proxying is acceptable to a degree in friendly games but should not be used in a tournament setting where I think WYSIWYG should always be followed. I try to magnetize my models where possible but do proxy to try out different combos sometimes, as long as my opponent is cool with it. I think overall it is fine (and necessary if you are on a tight budget as you mentioned above) as long as whoever you play is happy for you to do it.

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  2. proxying is bollocks...WYSIWYG...ok sometimes proxying a weapon is ok...but playin a carnifex as a tervigon c'mon...im looking at u matt.....

    i get a piece of paper and write "emperor class titan" on it...now thats a proxy!!!!

    greetings from germany

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    Replies
    1. I have a Carnifex converted to be a Tervigon. Not surprisingly this was done prior to the release of the model, back before we realised the Tervigon was going to be SO big. I still use it today as a Tervigon and I don't think it's wrong to do so. Sure it isn't ideal but I'm not about to bin it off just because GW released something late, that's the price they pay for dropping the ball. The same will apply if they bring out a Mycetic Spore, I've two scratchbuilt already, it should be their financial loss not my hobby efforts that suffer.

      I understand your point, and for gaming purposes if anyone disputed LoS I'm more than happy to give the benefit of the doubt but this particular model I believe if you made it [actually converted it] when the Codex was realised you should be forgiven.

      http://40kaddict.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/nids-part-12-tervigon-tutorial-part-8.html

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  3. I'm ok with any proxying if it's in good faith.

    For example if someone wants to try a unit out before buying it, or because they can't afford to buy all the options, or because the actual models don't have any way for you to live up to WYSIWYG (I'm looking at you Necrons, thanks GW, you mean I get one model with no options to represent five different Crypteks each with two options?)

    Proxying in good faith also tends to be simple and straightforward. For example I lend my old metal Flayed Ones to my friend who plays GK to use as Death Cult Assassins because he's poor, and he likes using them because they both run around with blades in the air, so its easy to tell what their supposed to be.

    In regards to Anonymous, I wouldn't mind if they used a Carnifex as a Tervigon, if they didn't have any other Carnifex's in the list, because its easy to remember. It's when players have several Carnifex's, but this one is a Tervi, that I get irate.

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  4. I'm ok with proxying models to test builds and units or to prepare to deal with certain builds in tourney prep. I am also fine with space marine A counts as chapter/legion b, but I do take an issue with weapons when it comes to WYSIWYG just because I have been on the receiving end when a players combi melta that is supposed to be a plasma becomes a combi melta again ... Oddly when my tank is nearby.

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  5. I usually only play with friends at someone's house. There we have an agreement just to disclose everything and things go smoothly. I'm less inclined to go to a battle bunker and throw down with salt and pepper carnifex proxies.

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  6. Proxying is no big deal as long as the proxy is about the correct size, has the same amount of weapons in the same-ish places, and there is a clearly written list that specifies what unit the entry points to, i.e. "the squad with the blue shoulder pads." To me, the most important bit is the clearly written list... I've dealt with too many napkin lists.

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