My Very First Hatemail!

On July 6th, I posted an article entitled 'Warhammer is for everyone, or; Stating the bleeding obvious' in which I gave my support to the 'Warhammer is for everyone' statement from Games Workshop, and recounted why it mattered to me after a particularly nasty case of racism that I encountered as a third party.
It's been positively received in the most, with several other hobbyists reaching out through social media to show their support.
Until this morning when, this lovely little message popped into my email, as a comment on that post, awaiting moderation.
Now, it's not signed, the person who left the message has decided that they don't have the courage of their convictions to actually put their name to it, so I don't know who left it. I can assume that, given my outspoken views on a certain YouTube 'personality' that they follow him, given that their modus operandi is to lash out anonymously.

The little riposte went as follows:

'you won't be missed either when you will succeed with that suicide attempt. how's that depression of your's going ? ...'

I've never been ashamed to point out that I have problems with mental health, and that I've had periods of depression. What that has to do with the subject at hand is beyond me however. But this is classic bullying technique - try to pick a weak spot and exploit it. 
But they didn't pick a weak spot. They picked my super power.
I refer to it as such as, if I can survive crippling depression and suicidal thoughts throughout my life, and still be here, a well rounded, successful man in my 40's with a loving wife, good job, a great home and amazing friends, I can survive anything this world decides to throw at me, and I continue to do that.  No number of nasty little comments by nasty little people looking for a dopamine hit to fill the void that is their empty soul will change that.
It's why I'm vocal against the hatred that Arch[redacted] espouses on a daily basis, why no matter how many of his followers come at me, I won't stop exposing his dogwhistles, his bigotry and his pathetic attempts to bully and exclude.
I've been in this hobby since the early 1980's - and, along with my sense of what is right and wrong, who is welcome and who is not, I'm going nowhere.
And if you don't like that?

You wont be missed.

Wargaming for everyone, or; Stating the bleeding obvious.

When I joined this wonderful hobby 37 years ago, it was through a book, well, more a pamphlet, and some dice, quickly followed by some friends who were a little older than me and knew what they were doing in terms of playing the game.

We spent hours and hours, exploring worlds, defeating enemies and hoarding treasure together. Then we discovered that not only was this a game out of a book, but there were also versions that you could play using miniatures to act out battles.

That changed everything.

We got together, started a school club and welcomed anyone and everyone to come play. One of the lads there, who is still to this day my best friend, let me use his armies as I couldn't really afford enough to play myself as my family was a one parent household with little money for luxuries, but, with ingenuity (using cut out 'figures' from White Dwarf photos), sharing and imagination, we fought such battles as to be the things memories are made of!

That hobby grew into a passion, which has never left me.

I'm lucky enough to live near Nottingham, the home of Games Workshop, and, in my time I had the honour of chairing a club that would meet in Warhammer World once a week. The only stipulation we had was that you needed to sign in so we were covered by the insurance on the hall.

On a quiet night we had 50 players, on the business, 150+ playing all manner of different GW games - if it was GW it got played.

Not once did I look at any attendee and think 'you don't belong' - not once did we make anyone feel unwelcome.

Until one guy...

He had attended for a while, keeping his head down, playing his games, just like everyone else. He was a nice chap, his ability to paint was outstanding, even if he did lose more games than he won.
Then one week, he didn't turn up - nothing odd there, it was very much a casual thing to come and go.

A month passed and we hadn't seen him, which after 3 years of attendance was a little worrying - he'd become a friend as such, so I called him to see if he was ok.

He told me that he wouldn't be down the club again, but thanked me for checking in on him, and that he'd keep in contact.

I asked if he'd lost interest in the hobby, or was it that he was just busy?  What he told me poleaxed me.

'I'd been playing one of the guys' he told me 'and for once I was winning! I'd had some really lucky dice rolls, and my opponent forgot some of his special rules'. He said that as the game went on, his opponent got more and more agitated, whilst he tried to point out his rules to help him.

Then the guy snapped. 'you're a cheating N****R, all you've done is cheat! Why dont you fuck off back to selling dope you fucking C**N?'

I was speechless when he told me this. His opponent had been a member a few months less than he, but had a habit of being a hothead, shouting his mouth off but nothing like this.  Apparently the abuse carried on until our Guy packed his stuff up and left.

I couldn't speak. I didn't know what to say.  I'm a white guy, I dont encounter that type of abuse - EVER. I asked him what I could do to make this right?  All our Guy wanted was an apology, and for the chap to stay out of his way in future.  I promised to talk to him and get the apology. I apologised on behalf of the club and hung up.

I spoke to the chap in question at the next night he was there. He didn't deny it. All he said was 'well, it's true, he is a cheating N****R. Why should I apologise for the truth?'.  It turned out this chap was a regular not only at our club, but also at the local BNP meetings.

I spoke to the other club committee members and we banned him on the spot. He threatened to go to GW, to have us shut down, that he'd be down with his mates for us etc... but nothing ever happened - I never heard from GW about it (and we didn't bring it to their attention either - we were fiercely independent) and we were never approached by anyone.

I let our Guy know - but the damage was done. I dont know if he found another club or gave up entirely. We lost a friend and a great hobbyist to mindless racism.

So when in this last few weeks, GW came out in support of everyone being welcome to play the game regardless of colour, religion, class, sexual identity or gender, my spirits raised. This is a company I have given huge sums of money to over the years in return for entertainment, that has been the conduit to so many friendships, strong friendships that would never have been but for meeting these people at gaming events, that has provided me with worlds to explore and a route to keep sane when the darkness fell on me, to see that they WANT a diverse community filled my heart with hope.

There are those however that see this as some sort of attack - that to welcome others not like them, for what ever reason, is somehow a betrayal of their loyalty. I really struggle with this point of view - how can welcoming others be a bad thing?

They point to 'changing the lore' - as if the background stories were immutable things, cut in stone, never to be touched or amended, when in fact, as a few of the writers have pointed out, the background stories are essentially 'witness accounts', with all the flaws in perception, subjectivtiy and prejudice that brings.  So if the writers then decide to change it slightly, to remove areas that they're not comfortable with, to make it so that a widening audience can find links to their own thoughts, beliefs, natures - this isn't a bad thing in my opinion - it grows the background, giving it even more depth and colour, removing it from a 2 dimensional setting to hook games onto, making it a fully rounded universe, full of differences and all that brings with it.

The only ones who dont see this as a good thing are those who can't cope with change - those who believe it when they say 'they're invested' rather than the fact they're consumers, that decide they are the arbiters of who can and who can't play the games, who can and who can't be represented?

BUT! They cry, you're being intolerant of our views! Of our culture! You want to see it destroyed and replaced!  No, I'm not, and no, I don't. The difference is, I can see that a culture that doesn't welcome others, that isn't prepared to change, to evolve and bring into it others different to themselves is one that is a closed loop - one that slowly constricts until it chokes.  For communities to survive, to prosper and grow, they need to be open to those who normally wouldn't consider looking at them, as well as the natural inhabitants.  By being that, by showing others that this can be a nice, welcoming place to be, we all benefit.

I also think that this frame of mind ignores a pretty major point - that those who they cry about wanting to change things - generally referred to as 'SJWs' somehow 'invading' their space, have been here since the beginning - certainly within 40k, the punk, anti- right wing ethos has been there since the days of Rogue Trader, the entire background is run through with dark satire of the very things the right hold to be true and dear to them. This mis-reading, miscomprehension of the setting is a great problem when discussing the setting - there are those of us who see the satire, see the warnings against culture it displays, and those who would prefer to see it as a society to be held in high esteem.

Are we there? I dont think we are, but we're well on the way. Will there be bumps along the road? most definitely, but by learning from them, by growing and understanding why we hit the bump, we can avoid it in the future.

Warhammer is for all - and if you don't like the sound of that? If you feel that excludes you? Then you won't be missed.

ArchFall - The downward spiral of a demagogue.

WARNING: This blog is not the usual gaming blog. It contains discussion of a nature that may offend.


For those who are followers of YouTube, and in particular, the various 40k channels, the name 'Arch Warhammer' (or, as of this last week, merely 'Arch') will be synonymous with 40k lore videos and licensed game playthroughs.

Now, apart from the fact that some of these are poorly researched (his take on Krieg Engineers is... humorous and quite funny in its own way), he's amassed quite a following amongst certain sections of the fandom. I'm not going to denigrate the making of lore videos - for those who have reading difficulties, or where English isn't their first language, they can be a great way to get to grips with the somewhat convoluted story arcs.

However, where Arch has deviated from the standard, is his involvement in political stances that are at odds with many, and certainly at odds with how Games Workshop wish to run their business.

This can be seen in Arch's reaction to the news on June 4th. Games Workshop’s Warhammer Community Team published a statement on Twitter titled “Warhammer Is For Everyone”:

Within this they clearly state that Warhammer is for all people and they will create miniatures and lore to support this. This is the most liked and shared tweet in the history of wargaming (13K likes, 3.8K RTs, 965 comments as of 5.7.20). Our hobby grew out of groups of friends wanting to share a common passion with others. At no point was there an exclusion criteria for anyone put in place, based on skin colour, sexual orientation, religious belief, gender or disability. To now promote views that would be offensive to any one of those groups to give an advantage to others is abhorrent, this statement reaffirmed that belief and as such, I fail to see why anyone would take exception to it.

However, on June 5th Arch published a YouTube video response to the “Warhammer Is For Everyone” statement. He disagrees with the statement and expresses that it is targeting himself and fans of his content. Receiving 131K views, he is ratioed in the ratings with 52% disapproval or 9.3K dislikes vs. 8.6K likes (as of 5.7.20), which would suggest that his view is not the prevailing view he thinks it is. Of course, this stance is not new to those of us who have followed Arch with some concern for a few years - his videos expressing dismay on the covers of the Warhammer Adventures books (books aimed at a younger audience) showed his intolerance to others - claiming that they were 'virtue' signalling by having a character in a hijab (she was wearing a cloak) being a prime example:

It was at this point, that select contents of Arch’s Discord server are published on Twitter causing widespread shock and concern at the frequent use of racist language and celebration of extreme historical nationalism. One of the moderators had engaged in discussions that should have been the cause for the immediate involvement of local authorities on child protection issues. No evidence of any such action has been provided or that the moderator had been banned. 

Following the leak of the texts, and the subsequent outrage and complaints to Discord, Arch was forced to delete the entire contents of his Discord server as per his admission in the YouTube interview with Asmogan published on 7th June*. This is because he broke their terms of service on at least hate speech. Due to his complete lack of leadership oversight and the huge volume of violations this was his only way to avoid getting perma-banned. In the world of employment this is what's known as a final written warning. This was then followed by a blow to Arch's income generation. on June 21st Arch’s Teespring merchandising account is terminated for violating the terms of service on a partner website. Claiming this is for 'political reasons' Arch once again takes to YouTube to complain about his treatment at the hands of the rest of the world who don't share his views. Teespring however, claim in their response to Arch (as read out by him) that this is to do with suspected copyright infringements.

From what can be gleaned from the public information on his page, In the month following the his Discord server leaks, Arch lost around $200 per month in Patreon pledges from around $1880 to $1680. His monthly revenue on SubscribeStar is not publicly visible, so we can't comment on that.

This brings us to the last week or so in the increasingly unhinged life of Arch. on July 2nd Arch’s YouTube channel receives a community strike from Games Workshop Plc for causing damage to the reputation of their trademark "Warhammer". The notification demands that Arch removes “Warhammer” from his channel title and all associated products and services. Arch submits to this demand and becomes just “Arch”. Arch's entirely expected response to this is to claim he is a martyr, that he is 'taking one for the team' to avoid other YouTube channels from being affected in the same manner, when in fact, with the notable exception of one or two channels that share his worldview, the majority of channels remain silent and even distance themselves from Arch. In the reaction video he put out, it's apparent that Arch is rattled by this - his eyes are darting from point to point, his face flushed and blotchy, it's obvious his consternation is growing. This is only made worse when, on July 3rd Arch is forced by Wargaming (the creators of World of Warships) to take down a sponsored video he made promoting a World of Warships Warhammer 40,000 licensed product. This happened after concerned members of the public notified the Warhammer Community Team and Wargaming about the nature of Arch’s YouTube and other content. Following this, Wargaming posts a statement on Twitter disavowing their sponsorship with Arch and apologising for their lapse in judgement engaging with him. They state they are against any form of discrimination and this is why they terminated their relationship with Arch. 

The statement is positively received on Twitter.

Of course, the person who doesn't take this as well is Arch - claiming that GW were now 'harassing' him through their business dealings. In his video, the deterioration in Arch's cognitive state is now visibly concerning. Of course, English is not his first language, so the unnatural breaks in sentences could be down to that, but the small, forced laughs, the blotchy face and darting eyes once again become a cause for concern.

Since the take down by Wargaming, Arch had claimed to be going on vacation (I assume a staycation given the current COVID-19 situation) and that he wouldn't be posting as regularly. However, since making this comment, he has published 2 videos, continuing his rants against the world and his supposed harsh treatment.

Arch likes to see himself as a leader, and when that view is threatened he appears to react badly. I'd suspect that this situation started way before the events outlined in this blog - that his non-inclusion in the Warhammer Heroes programme dented his ego, and since then, he's been on a downward spiral, finding reasons to strike out.

It would be nice, in a perfect world, to see if Arch would take this situation as a salutary lesson, explore the aims and benefits of a diverse world, and in particular a diverse audience within the hobby I'm sure he loves, but I fear he's too far down a dark path to even recognise that as a path back.

UPDATE:

Since the writing of this article, Arch[redacted] as he is now referred to has launched an absolute tirade of abuse and bullying against those who disagree with him, and has also instituted an email writing campaign against Games Workshop, calling for the redaction of the 'Warhammer is for everybody' message, claiming that it is discriminatory against him and his followers as it doesn't allow for their intolerance and bigotry. He has also claimed that due to this, the Customer Services page for GW was broken through so many of his supporters trying to access it.

The truth is a little more sensible. Sources have told me that rather than being down to Arch's campaign, it was a knock on effect of the incredible success of the release of Warhammer 40k: Indomitus, with a huge number of customers trying to access the Customer Services team to enquire on the availability of the box set.

However, Arch's campaign has taken a sinister turn. Out of all his vocal critics - myself included - Arch has decided to focus on one person - HobbyistGirl - in which can only be taken as a sexist attack. His highlighting of her twitter comments is both cowardly and wrong, her comments being at the more tame end of the spectrum than others. His only reason to pick on her is her gender - and nothing more. By doing this, all he has done is prove the point that he is nothing more than a bigoted bully who hides behind his YouTube channel where he can espouse his hatred for anything not like him with little recourse or right to reply.



*Asmogan: ”My Interview with Arch Warhammer about the Controversy”. https://youtu.be/4V12wdNb-l0