Current Climate of Wargaming?

Started by Leon, 26 August 2017, 09:09:20 PM

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Leman

I would think this is now where Warlord's Epic plastic figures and accessories fits. Is the future of figure gaming now the starter bundle in plastic to really get you going, in a scale that can fit on the dining room table. ...........could you imagine a Napoleonic take on this, or ECW or the Hellenistic world. If this ACW thing takes off then there could be another small revolution/evolution in historical miniatures wargaming. As someone said on the other thread - imagine that wargame in a box as a Christmas or birthday present.
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Orcs

Quote from: Leman on 23 December 2020, 02:45:52 PM
imagine that wargame in a box as a Christmas or birthday present.

Yes but they would still manage to buy you it in the wrong scale or the wrong period
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Leman

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Quote from: Orcs on 23 December 2020, 10:03:41 PM
Yes but they would still manage to buy you it in the wrong scale or the wrong period

Cynic  :D
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Orcs

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jimduncanuk

I am planning on buying the full set in conjunction with my best mate. We are both fairly good painters so we should breeze through the multitudes.

Getting a game under all the restrictions is a different story.
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flamingpig0

There seems to be more tolerance of wargaming - I work with a lot of younger people who are into Marvel and a lot of them seem to collect the actions figures. I suppose that playing  with toy soldiers doesn't seem to be that strange to them
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steve_holmes_11

Quote from: Leman on 23 December 2020, 02:45:52 PM
I would think this is now where Warlord's Epic plastic figures and accessories fits. Is the future of figure gaming now the starter bundle in plastic to really get you going, in a scale that can fit on the dining room table. ...........could you imagine a Napoleonic take on this, or ECW or the Hellenistic world. If this ACW thing takes off then there could be another small revolution/evolution in historical miniatures wargaming. As someone said on the other thread - imagine that wargame in a box as a Christmas or birthday present.

ACW is a bit "special" among wargamed conflicts.
Let's compare with Napoleonics to see the differences and how they might affect manufacturer and customer.

ACW has just two competing armies.
Uniforms can be fairly standardised (Sure there was plenty of variety, but players can get by without).
Fairly simple battlefield tactics (means less hamstrung by fancy basing).
Potential to add on fortifications and water-craft if one really goes full in.

I'd make a case that the ACW is an ideal "starter conflict" - for those interested in Horse and Musket type battles.

FierceKitty

Quote from: steve_holmes_11 on 24 May 2021, 08:24:27 AM
ACW is a bit "special" among wargames...

ACW has just two competing armies.

Uniforms can be fairly standardised (Sure there was plenty of variety, but players can get by without).

Fairly simple battlefield tactics (means less hamstrung by fancy basing).
Potential to add on fortifications and water-craft if one really goes full in.
.

Like the Peloppenesian War, the Imjin War, the ECW, the Third Crusade, the Western Desert campaign, the Zulu War....

ACW qualifies for the limitations above only because it's a pretty arbitrary period cut off from those before and after it in the same way that most others could be.
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steve_holmes_11

Quote from: FierceKitty on 24 May 2021, 09:25:08 AM
Like the Peloppenesian War, the Imjin War, the ECW, the Third Crusade, the Western Desert campaign, the Zulu War....

ACW qualifies for the limitations above only because it's a pretty arbitrary period cut off from those before and after it in the same way that most others could be.

Well of course the cut offs are arbitary.
But in a wargaming forum it's worth observing the ways that wargamers consume.


fsn

Quote from: steve_holmes_11 on 24 May 2021, 08:24:27 AM
ACW is a bit "special" among wargamed conflicts.
Let's compare with Napoleonics to see the differences and how they might affect manufacturer and customer.

ACW has just two competing armies.
Uniforms can be fairly standardised (Sure there was plenty of variety, but players can get by without).
Fairly simple battlefield tactics (means less hamstrung by fancy basing).
Potential to add on fortifications and water-craft if one really goes full in.

I'd make a case that the ACW is an ideal "starter conflict" - for those interested in Horse and Musket type battles.
I would add that there is not a proliferation of weapon systems, and a relatively undifferentiated army (Infantry is mostly infantry, not Guard, light, grenadier, chasseur-tirailleur etc).

I have long advocated ACW as a great starter conflict.

Quote from: FierceKitty on 24 May 2021, 09:25:08 AM
Like the Peloppenesian War, the Imjin War, the ECW, the Third Crusade, the Western Desert campaign, the Zulu War....

ACW qualifies for the limitations above only because it's a pretty arbitrary period cut off from those before and after it in the same way that most others could be.
Not really. For example: The ECW has a plethora of uniform colours and standards, relatively diverse units, and potentially 3 or more armies (depending upon your definitions.)  There are more types of British TANK in one year in the Western desert than there are troop types in a basic ACW battle. The Peloponnesian War fails when it comes to "uniforms being fairly standardised".
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sunjester

Quote from: Orcs on 23 December 2020, 10:03:41 PM
Yes but they would still manage to buy you it in the wrong scale or the wrong period
What you mean is they would help you start a NEW period or a NEW scale!  :d

Leman

I think Steve and FSN make two very pertinent points, and there is an element of history to it. When I started wargaming, and dinosaurs roamed the earth, there were really only three doable periods for a 13 year old - Napoleonic, ACW and WWII. Napoleonic was massive; in those days I didn't realise it was best approached in terms of campaigns, and even if I had done, at that time the figures were only in metal. WWII was still a bit recent, and as no great fan of mechanisation or masses of grey and brown that was put in the ignore box (55 years later and it's still there). However, fired up by films like The Red Badge of Courage, The Horse Soldiers, Shenandoah, Alvarez Kelly and even The General, and with the easily obtained and relatively cheap Airfix boxes (one box for less than the cost of three metal figures) the ACW it was. Despite all the developments in wargames figures and periods, this is one that is still at the top of my list which I have played in 5 different scales over the years.
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DecemDave

I recall Leon writing sometime that his best sellers were ACW, Naps and WW2 (not necessarily in that order) each by a big margin over everything else.
Peloponnese is a niche in comparison despite its importance for western civilisation at the time and intriguing seesaw campaigns.  I doubt Zulus would be so popular without THE film.  So starting new scale ranges in ACW makes commercial sense and a try for big sales in the US .  

10mm seems to have and has had quite a few manufacturers who dabble with limited ranges and then stop.  

Curious that Chinese manufacturers have not (yet?) come into the minis market afaik.  They have a  rich military history to draw on (and do in films).  Russian and east European ones are certainly strong in plastic 1/72s.

And if any film makers are watching, we still need a better one on Cromwell.  1643 middle aged captain of a troop of horse that turn up late to Edgehill.  1649 effectively the UK bossman.