Hi!
I can appreciate your point - I don't think Ill be playing any time soon, cause noone else around here (Stockholm, Sweden btw) is interested. To be honest I was always more into the painting bit anyway, but a couple of games would definitely be great, even if only as a oneoff thing.
As it happens I also tend to be way too perfectionst about it - I want all my minis well painted, and a gaming table with well made terrainpieces, etc. According to some, Ive a fascist tendency in this respect
I disagree about E:A though - IMO these rules seem to have some good ideas, and 2d ed, as I remember it, was not perfect. For instance, distinguishing anti-tank from antipersonel weapons (a feature that was present in the 1 ed rules, btw). But Ive never played EA, so remains to be seen how well it all works. I would love to play the same forces on the same board first on NE then directly afterwards on EA rules. Some of the guys on this board probably have. Would love to hear their opinions.
The real mistake was in my mind epic 40K, a game I actually had a chance to try - it had become way too abstract.
I could probably go on forever... Anyway hope you enjoy the game, and don't hesitate to show off your painted minis!