Warhammer 40,000 – Trazyn The Infinite Fixed My Burnout

Warhammer 40,000 is a fantastic hobby to get into. It is backed by the biggest wigs in the business, it has an endless supply of content to absorb across multiple mediums, and man, those minis are pretty sweet. What’s more, there is a thriving competitive scene full of nerdy folk like me ready to number crunch and min/max the night away.

Interacting with the hobby has been difficult with the rise, fall, and subsequent rise again of Covid. But thanks to places like Reddit, we’ve never been alone in our passions. This, for me at least, has led to hobby burnout. That desire to make the ultimate list – to theory craft the next big thing – only to let it fester in the back of my mind as games continue to be elusive.

The Bonds Of Burnout Began To Break

Then something happened – I fixed my burnout and the hobby was once more a gleaming beacon of light staving off the blackened warp-tunnels of my psyche. The solution was simple – so simple it took me by surprise when it worked. I turned off Battlescribe and I picked up my Codex – Necrons to be precise.

I started rereading the fluff – the lore – and within those hallowed passages was the answer to all my problems – themed lists. Screw the meta, screw min/maxing. I conjured up an idea for a fun-filled narrative list and I made it a reality. Because I was reading the Necron Codex, this naturally led me to the man; the myth; the legend – Trazyn The Infinite.

For those who don’t know who Trazyn is, he is a 60 MILLION-year-old sorta-robot who has a planet-sized museum filled to the brim with all kinds of people, monsters, artefacts, and gubbins from across time and space. He’s the British Empire condensed into one dude – It’s great.

The guy is beyond hilarious and is, surprisingly, a major player in the current 40k narrative. I had to run him, and I had to make a list based on his prolific need to swipe swag. This led to the creation of the Hyperspace Heisters of Solemance – Trazyn’s crew dedicated to pickpocketing every bauble of note.

Keep It Small. Keep It Fluffy

Keeping the list small was of utmost importance because this couldn’t be an ARMY, it had to be an elite force. I pondered Kill Team, but couldn’t be arsed to learn a new system at that point. So I picked 1000 Points Patrol. Small enough to not bog down the building and painting process, but big enough to fit in all kinds of fun and interesting toys.

Trazyn led the metal Warband and was accompanied by some pretty cool cats. I am talking about a Hexmark Destroyer to hold up the uber-futuristic space bank with his 6 pistols. Orphydian Destroyers to dig a tunnel under the loot. Lokhust Heavy Destroyers to blow a hole in the Vault. Deathmarks to pin the fuzz. Finally, I needed Warriors to carry the loot home.

The list was coming together beautifully – but then I realised I needed an escape plan. Some way of getting my guys out once the fuzz arrived. The solution lay within the Nephrekh Dynasty. These guys are masters of teleportation and getting out of tight jams, so they made perfect sense.

Only one question remained – how does Trazyn, a Dynastic Agent, escape? He doesn’t. My boy Trazyn goes down with the ship and gets murdered. Trazyn’s “life” doesn’t matter because he can just transfer himself to another body and get to work on the next heist. Needless to say – it was genius.’

Burnout Begone

With the core idea down, I felt a sense of surreal satisfaction. It took a few days of pondering, reading, tweaking, and crafting – but it was done. The list entered its final stage of development, the lore had been written, and my burnout was gone. I even managed to get a game in against my son, which was a blast.

The moral of the story? Honestly? I don’t know if it has one. If it does, it would be to take a break. Step away from the hyper-competitive scene, pick up some weird models, and have a bit of fun with your hobby. Warhammer has started to become rather serious – online and in local metas. Always playing, planning, and building the best, to fight the best, gets tiring.

Go for a different angle. Find someone, or something, to really stoke the fires of creation within your bonce. You don’t even need to play narrative, or do Crusade. Every army has units that are underrepresented but steeped in fun lore and interesting tidbits. I might even take some of these units in my tournament lists because I’ve found actual uses for the obscure.

If you are experiencing burnout too, then just sit back, relax, and make something stupid – heck, name your models. It’ll fix you right up. If you already have a dope themed list, then let me know about it. I’m always down when it comes to absorbing a sexy, sexy theme.

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