Mayday, Miss Marcy! Travel Troubles, Rules Woes, and Dietary Distress

Hello once again and welcome to the second Mayday, Miss Marcy of 2026. While the entire world seems to be constantly on fire in a mere 8 days into the new year, we here at Goonhammer are always working hard on the things that really matter, and nothing matters here more than me answering questions that you all email to us (there is certainly no authorial bias here). This week, I have a new batch of three questions to answer, although some of these dates into the last parts of 2025, but the expiry dates still seem fine, so let's dig in!

But before we do actually start, let's put out a reminder about how things work around here in case you would like to submit your own questions!

Have a question you want answered on just about anything you’d need advice on in this grand hobby space of ours? Board games, 40k, AOS, TTRPGs, MTG, anything and everything that we cover, we can help with!

It’s a New Year for those who follow Gregorian Calendars anyway, and so in this time of renewal, let us know if you have any questions fitting with getting started, new beginnings, or cleaning out those mental cobwebs!

For some examples, take a look at previous editions of our column at this link with a handy tag to see all previous questions and answers!

If you want to submit questions, we have a few days you can do it. Patrons can use the Discord bot command to ask questions, which will be received anonymously!

If you’re not a Patron, or just don’t want extra steps, you can comment on this article, or e-mail Marcy directly at marcy@goonhammer.com!

If you missed last week's article, you can check it out here.

And now, on to the questions!

Traveling Troubles

Hi Miss Marcy,

This question might sound a little odd at first, but hear me out: Should I avoid traveling to the United States for Warhammer in 2026? I feel like I already know the answer, but I decided to ask someone anyway. For a bit more context, I have gone to Adepticon almost every year since 2010, although COVID really put a damper on things. I also accepted work that caused me to move to the UK, so going has become a larger commitment than it used to be, but I still have been going to meet up with my friends, most of whom I've known my entire adult life.

However, I have seen people say not to travel to the US or that there are reasons not to; I understand them, but it feels hard to give up something I've done so much for that. So, what's your take?

Alone On an Island

Dear Alone,

Short answer: Do not travel to the United States.

Long answer: Do not travel to the United States, because even if you are going to miss seeing your friends, the chance that your trip gets you into some sort of situation at the border is a number higher than 0, even if you think you'll be left alone. You can live without going to Adepticon for a year or two, and your friends should (probably) understand you reluctance to do so. Instead, although it obviously breaks with tradition, see if you could go to any other big Warhammer event; since you said you live in the UK, I'd have to imagine they're pretty easy to come by, or even some in Europe itself.

However, I wanted to give you the longer answer because I commiserate a bit; I get that giving up on something you've always done and looked forward to for nebulous fears or "could bes" feels bad, but you do not need to go to Adepticon to live. You will survive without doing so, and the chance of something happening is really just not worth the headache; as a personal opinion, the US economy can do without your support for a bit too. Maybe in a year and a half or so, this question will sound insane to people. But right now, stay home and tell your friends to call you on Zoom or something.

Rules Today, Gone Tomorrow

Miss Marcy,

Hello there. I'm not sure if this question is weird or not but I have an incredibly hard time with rules for 40k. I understand the general flow of the game and how things work, but when people start using jargon, lingo, whatever you want to call it, I start to tune it out like Charlie Brown listening to his parents. I own the rulebooks and have read them, I've watched videos about things, I've seen battle reports that cover my armies and how the game is played, but generally things just do not stick with me.

I have generally not had a major issue with this yet, but I'm a little worried that I might have one eventually; usually if something comes up, I will just play it off, and since 40k has a lot of rules, my opponents don't seem to mind and will generally explain things. I don't really play overly competitively either, so I haven't had much issue, but is there anything you suggest?

Confused Conscript

Dear Confused,

I guess I would have liked to know if you have ever been tested for any sort of learning or processing disability, or if you have something like ADHD, but getting past possible medical reasons you may want to consider, I am a little curious if you have this problem processing information in any other facet of your life. You don't mention it so either you don't, or you do, but you haven't really noticed it in a way that you do with 40k.

I can offer you a few ideas, though, because there is the chance that you are new to the game and are just having sensory overload from the fact that the game does indeed have a lot of rules, terms, community slang, and various armies and abilities. A very useful tip at least for your own army and the general flow of the game is to take actual, physical notes. Sit with your rulebooks, write down notes like you did in school, and use those as ways to help you better learn what is going on. The act of actually writing the rules out in your own words and organizing your thoughts on a physical page completes a part of the reading process that helps your brain create and retain knowledge by synthesis.

I also wonder if you are actually very new and have made the slight mistake of jumping right in to full games right away without actually taking the time to be properly taught the game and ramped up your experience? You mention your opponents haven't complained or noticed, but also that you don't play very competitively, so it sounds like you're probably playing at an LGS or similar casual venue. If that's true, you might actually be trying to swim in the deep end without having actually learned to swim, and you just so happen to be lucking out that people are pulling you above water; like most things, though, that luck is probably going to run out. Consider trying the note taking not just for yourself, but also for your fellow players, who you are essentially tasking with teaching you the game every time you play it; also, really do consider if this is ONLY a 40k problem, because if not, you may want to seek a second opinion from someone with a different kind of doctorate than I have.

Food to Go

Happy New Year Miss Marcy,

Last year, I started having some issues with my dietary needs that I will keep brief, but I am finding that I both don't eat enough when I go on gaming trips/weekends, and that the types of foods I need are not always as easy to get as I'd like. In the past I just tanked it by eating anything that was available or surviving off fast food, but I've been told that isn't really an option for me anymore.

I can't expect gaming events to always have the foods I need when I need them, but I've also run into places in the past that will balk at having water bottles, let alone food or coolers. I've been trying to think of solutions that do not boil down to "stop going" to certain things, but that may be the case...

Hungry for Help

Dear Hungry,

Happy New Year to you too! And boy, does that question just feel like the "so you've reached the stage of adulthood where things just start to go in a different direction". The joke that at 30 you are randomly assigned a permanent debuff to something randomly in your body does kind of hold a bit of weight, and even without dietary restrictions, I often struggled to stay properly hydrated and fed at conventions when I traveled to them. The cost, availability, and selection were always consistent problems, and I've also had the annoyance of being told that I can't bring food or drink in with me to places out of what seems like a need to force me to spend 10 dollars on a hot dog.

I really do want to give you a better answer, but... you may have to make the actual choice of "not doing thing", which is kind of a less fun answer than you probably would like. But I think it is also the answer you were probably expecting to hear and already knew, so instead, I think you should focus on the events or gaming experiences you can do safely and without extra stress. Focusing on those might make it easier to curtail other events, but you really do not want to have a major health crisis (or a minor one!) at a place just to play Warhammer for an afternoon. If there is an event you really want to attend but is presenting the most issues, you could contact the event and discuss your health needs with them and see if they can help you accommodate them; it never hurts to ask, and if they say no, then just save yourself the headache. Otherwise, the best solutions are things like packing/preparing your own food to bring with you in whatever quantity is reliable/possible, and perhaps preparing snacks/small meals that could help you get through the event.

I will offer a tip, though: I used to run into an issue at conventions of getting very hungry and thirsty, and while bringing a water bottle (reusable) solves one of those, the other is harder, but I found that often things like "granola bars" and the like rarely ever did anything to provide me with the energy and sustenance that I actually needed. So, for me, I started to test them before going by taking a day or two and using energy bars to generally get through the bulk of the day, around 6 hours or so, to see how I felt. It wasn't perfect, but it did help me narrow down what types of quick, small, packaged food I could carry that would work, and often carried a bit more than I felt I needed because walking around, standing, playing, socializing, and similar are going to require more energy than you probably use on a daily basis.

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Tags: mayday miss marcy