Time to be less touchy-feely

[FierceKitty]

What is the most over-rated wargames period? I'm torn between Napoleonic and twentieth century, but interested in what other gamers think gets too large a slice of the cake.
  Come to think of it, twentieth century; the gamers who hog half the available tables to play games that all look the same anyway.

[Aart Brouwer]

What is the most over-rated wargames period?

I don't understand how a period can be over-rated. A ruleset or a particular model brand can be over-rated because it doesn't meet certain general requirements. Even a scale such as 28mm or 2mm can be over-rated in cartain ways depending on one's preference (impractical in the first instance, lack of detail in the second).

But a historical period? 

Cheers,
Aart

[GordonY]

I think Fierce is refering to periods that get too much Pendraken design love at the expense of other (more interesting) periods.

Gordon

[Gunfreak]

WW2, totaly overrated, a second rate war war all the way, cowardly soldiers using guns with magazins, hell they even use automatic weapons, totaly unsporty

Anybody using guns with more then 1 bullet in it, should be disqualified and left of the bench for the rest of the war.

[Sandinista]

Chariot wars, Napolionics & ACW send me to sleep

[FierceKitty]

I wasn't just commenting on Pendraken, actually. Some periods are just grotequely over-represented and overplayed, out of all proportion to their merits or historical importance.
  I am actually pleased that our hosts are doing so much SYW stuff. No other war has shaped our world as much.

[FierceKitty]

Two "actually"s in one post. I must step up my medication.

[nikharwood]

Two "actually"s in one post. I must step up my medication.

It's fine - they avoided placing themselves in the same sentence 

It's a good question...I think I'd have to go with zombies - or Early Imperial Romans vs the Barbarian hordes...

[fred.]

Ancients - its just blokes with pointy sticks...

[Luddite]

Some periods are just grotequely over-represented and overplayed, out of all proportion to their merits or historical importance.

Aha!!

Now i can comment.  I was struggling as there were no frames of reference to make an assessment.

OK, first up, i'll defend the two periods knocked off.

Napoleonics
This period is really THE wargaming period - oddly, despite decades at the table, a period i've never really played.  However, i don't think its overrated or overepresented.  It defines wargaming, providing grand tactical battles, combined arms operation (infantry/cavalry/artillery).
The merits and historical importance are difficult to argue against.

WWII
Again, this is a defining period, advancing the combined arms and tactical capacity into the modern way of war.  Very popular and again i'd suggest difficult to see it as overrated or overrepresented.
The merits and historical importance are difficult to argue against.

I think i'll ave to veer off on a tangent here and say that i think two 'periods' are good candidates;

Fantasy and Science Fiction gaming.

Both are seriously overrated having very little historic value (obviously), and often very little merit.  They are also massively overrepresented - undeniably so given that the only wargames company to maintain an international high street presence specialises in fantasy/sci fi...

[Aart Brouwer]

[...] out of all proportion to their merits or historical importance.

I think this explains why members find it hard to take your question serious. The historical importance of Napoleonic and WII periods overrated? That's like saying rockets are overrated as a means of space travel.

You complain a lot that your fav periods or genres are underrepresented in today's model ranges. I can understand that. But I think the proper way to change this is to make people enthusiastic about your favs, not to constantly question or even bash other peoples' preferences.

Cheers,
Aart

[Nosher]

REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY

Falklands - massively over-rated

Does this add any votes to that period getting done?

[lentulus]

People play games about the periods they know about.  And which periods get the good movies and TV shows?

Now, I am not sure that Napoleonics or WWII are over-represented in terms of their importance in shaping their importance in shaping the modern worlds.  If, that is, you insist on gaming wars.  If games were played in proportion to the historic importance of what they represent, games that represented social systems, politics, economics, and industrial development would be all the rage -- most wars only express the final results of those processes anyway.

[FierceKitty]

The accepted wisdom among the cognoscenti is that rockets ARE over-rated as a means of space travel. They hardy get us out of our front door. And even there the "space elevator" idea has been an obvious improvement at a conceptual level for decades.
   Rockets as a means of breaking up formations of attacking Japanese pikemen are another matter, of course.

[FierceKitty]

People play games about the periods they know about.  And which periods get the good movies and TV shows?

That's kinda the point I'm making. It's like a mediocre actor like Roger Moore playing James Bond with no talent or charisma for more movies than several far better candidates just becaue he was familiar and had been hyped a lot.