Henelmmania

If you're at all interested in Warhammer Fantasy Battles, you've probably been pointed to this before, possibly by somebody currently in the process of losing a game to you:

Dr. Luke Blaxill, wargamer, historian and (thereby) unknowing instigator of the most entertaining late essay of my first year at uni, describes Stillman as something of a 'grail knight' or cloistered monastic figure, somebody to be respected for their commitment but not necessarily somebody to be - or who can be - emulated. I'll let you watch the video rather than spoiling the conclusions - it's a solid analysis of the points, well worth it. If you'd like to know more about Stillman and his work, I can't add much to this article.1

Watching Dr. Blaxill's video got me thinking though - I certainly can respect the dedication of the analogous religious ascetics without believing the same things as them, and I can draw inspiration from that dedication in pursuing my own convictions. So I decided, in somewhat the same spirit as the 'game-mastering commandments' proposed by the Angry GM, to forge my own -mania to strive towards in pursuit of the ideal game of warhammer. In keeping with the original, it consists of 17 single-sentence commands, statements etc, moving towards a sort of 'conclusion.' I'd encourage everyone to do the same!

Henelmania

• Before beginning to plan a game, agree with your opponent what story you will be telling.
• Before writing an army list, agree with your opponent how competitively you wish to play.
• Choose an army that is thematically, organizationally, logistically and historically consistent with its place in the setting.
• Write lore for every unit in the army and make sure their appearance (if any - see below) matches it.
• Never let lack of models or terrain prevent you from playing the kind of battle you want to play - paper should always be an acceptable substitute.
• If you bring a gimmicky list, the gimmick should make your opponent laugh.
• Always judge rulings in favour of plausible simulation, within the bounds of your opponent's tolerance.
• If you find a rule in the game that you disagree with, write a fix!
• Never refuse a take-back so long as you can both confidently and precisely restore the battle to its prior state.
• Roleplay your army's actions, but never to the extent of sabotaging your foe's enjoyment if playing competitively.
• If your actions cause your opponent to concede the game before it would otherwise have ended, you have both lost - take this literally.
• Never concede a game for any reason other than time, but roar a challenge and rise to meet death or try to retreat in good order!
• After any game, write up a battle report describing what happened. 
• Connect your battle reports on one larger timeline describing everything happening in your Warhammer World.
• Change your lists in future games to reflect the changes, up to the point of removing units that were destroyed or even retiring an army entirely!
• If playing with models, model changes to your army as a result of their battles.
• You will find yourself playing as if today's battle is not the only thing that matters, and your games will be richer for it.

Do I do these? Well, not consistently. But I think they're something of a picture of what my ideal hobby experience would look like. 

1 Well who was going to tell me that Stillman wrote rules for the Wargames Research Group? Their wargames, with their wild attention to detail and enormous scope, have been a massive inspiration for me - though my one attempt to play one ended in exhausted abandonment, alas.