Alright, alright. This isn’t going to be quite as impressive as some of the other games I’ve gotten into. Let’s start with the basics here: why should you care about wrestling?

Yeah, wrestling. The thing with the Hulk Hogans and Undertakers, and evil McMahons who don’t just play evil on TV.

I want to be clear: I never watched wrestling growing up. I’m not watching it now. But I respect it. Wrestling is, in effect, performance art with high stakes. It’s silly, over-the-top, and way too serious for what it’s doing.

Yet it’s strangely compelling.

Between kayfabe (the rule that keeps wrestlers in character, even outside of the ring), bad marketing decisions, and a need to stick to a strange unreality, it all comes together into something pretty fascinating. There’s many, many, many interesting stories out there if you start looking. More of a rabbit hole than I’d ever imagined when I first peered into it a few years ago.

But if it isn’t your cup of tea, that’s cool. Just don’t yuck someone else’s yum is really what I’m saying. I can respect it, even if I can’t watch it, and I’m not too serious to enjoy something ‘dumb.’

Alright, cool. That’s done. Now, what’s Rumbleslam?

Well, it’s a fantasy wrestling game that has zero pretense of being serious. You can throw TOTALLY-NOT-COLONEL-O’NEIL from Stargaters alongside Djinn Deisel to fight a bunch of halfings. It’s a game where a giant sharkman will throw a mummy into the post, then bodyslam him into submission. It’s a fun, silly game revolving around over-the-top character concepts, key positioning and maneuver, and fast matches.

I read the rules to start and found myself surprised by how robust they are. They really do cover it all and do a good job of making fighting inside the squared circle interesting.

Plus, as you’ve seen throughout this post, the minis are obviously fun. I need a change of pace from my normal military drab and these give me a good excuse to pick up a single team and have some fun painting for a bit.

And that’s it, really. My club has a scene and I’ll join in once every quarter or so. Just painting my team of Arabian Kitty-cats is enough to warrant price of entry for me. It’s just the right moment for a silly, fun, simple game to play over a beer or two.

Sometimes, that’s all you need.