Is it all getting a bit complicated?

[Chris Pringle]

Is it all getting a bit complicated? I'd say no: in important ways (as all mentioned above already) it's vastly simpler - as in easier. The ranges of figures and the choice of rulesets for every taste and every conflict are wonderful. And the wealth of information available now, not just on the web but also your traditional "BOOK" format ("Bound Optimally-Ordered Knowledge"), is just immeasurably superior to decades gone by. No more laborious photocopying in the Library of Congress for me! If I had to start over, without question I'd rather do it now than with the very limited resources we had 'back then'.

Of course the most important resource is the same now as then - a bunch of like-minded friends to share your enthusiasm with. The past few years I've been incredibly fortunate, we have a great group and I am getting plenty of high-quality gaming fun.

(And anyone who wants to come along to the Oxford Wargames Society of a Monday evening and join in is welcome to do so!)
http://www.oxfordwargamessociety.org.uk/dates.html

Chris
Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BBB_wargames/info
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk/

[Westmarcher]

Actually I think the hobby is in a really good place. ...... With the re-emergence of simpler, faster rules the fun has been put back into the hobby. As a result a hobby that first gripped me in 1967 with Don Featherstone's Wargames still keeps me entertained into retirement.

I believe that this is a 'golden era' for soldiers/gaming.

Agreed.
There. That was easy.  

[FierceKitty]

An Oxford man should really be insisting that wargaming be put on hold for twenty years until all rule-sets can be rendered into acceptable medieval Latin.

[Techno]

An Oxford man should really be insisting that wargaming be put on hold for twenty years until all rule-sets can be rendered into acceptable medieval Latin.

No, he shouldn't !

Latin is a language,
as dead as dead can be,
at first it killed the Romans,
and now it's killing me.

Cheers - Phil (In his youth.....circa 15 AD.)

[toxicpixie]

Now write that on the sculpting room wall a thousand times!

[Techno]

At least you didn't threaten to remove a part of my anatomy.....
Cheers - Phil

[toxicpixie]

You're quite capable of doing that yourself

[Norm]

It is a different scene and it us that has changed.

When I started out, the wargame magazine did not have any colour and then it suddenly got a colour centre fold (no not that mag!) and our eyes were opened to what could be done by the good painters and model makers. The Don Featherstone type books had simple schematic maps and our tables reflected that - so my game table would be a road, one hill and a house or two etc. Full colour magazines, the internet, more money in our pocket and more choice has moved us to a point in time in which we have simply more sophisticated tastes and ambitions - have we lost some fun along the way .... maybe, but `I think a number of recent publications are trying to reverse that trend, so that we have the best of all worlds.

Just out of interest, here is a link to a nostalgia article that I recently wrote for my blog .... note the tree made from dyed cotton wool and matchsticks .... at least I saved the reader from houses made from matchboxes and cushion foam hills with the layers stitched together. We were too poor for fields and roads!

LINK - http://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/remembering-old-wargame.html

[FierceKitty]

No, he shouldn't !

Latin is a language,
as dead as dead can be,
at first it killed the Romans,
and now it's killing me.

Cheers - Phil (In his youth.....circa 15 AD.)

You know that, I know that, but Oxford has certain traditions. That's why Cambridge got Newton and Darwin and Hawkins, and Oxford got Cardinal Newman, and expelled Shelley for atheism.

[Techno]

I  simply could NOT get on with Latin at school......AT ALL.....I hated it.
I dropped it at the earliest opportunity.....For art. (Which I've found a bit more useful.)

In my year, I was always first to finish in a Latin exam...By miles.....I'd have an answer for every single question, and almost without fail get a mark of around 29%.
Basically, I wasn't interested, and couldn't see what use it would be to me in later life.

Cheers - Phillius Stupidus.

[Chris Pringle]

An Oxford man should really be insisting that wargaming be put on hold for twenty years until all rule-sets can be rendered into acceptable medieval Latin.

Well, it depends which philosophical school one adheres to. Yes, there are the Platonic Idealists seeking perfection and never actually getting anything done. There are also the Stoics putting up with [insert name of ruleset you most detest] despite its obvious glaring deficiencies and painful tedium. I am more of a Pragmatist/Realist/Hedonist - hence games that get completed in an evening, bear some resemblance to a historical action, and are fun.  

Chris

[Chris Pringle]

No, he shouldn't !

Latin is a language,
as dead as dead can be,
at first it killed the Romans,
and now it's killing me.

Cheers - Phil (In his youth.....circa 15 AD.)

It's not dead at all. An Oxford wargames club night rarely passes without some pertinent Latin phrase being deployed such as "Aleae iactae sunt", "Veni-vidi-vici", or "Nil illegitimum carborundum".

Vale
Chris

[Leman]

Winky wanky wonky!

[paulr]

... "Aleae iactae sunt"...

Is that what happens if it rolls low repeatedly

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

"Nil illegitimum carborundum".

Does that come with garlic bread?

[Last Hussar]

I tend to reach for the Middle German, for as Billy Connolly put it, people know Exactly what you mean, even if they don't speak English.

Modern rules are much better. Remember the long list of modifiers to be applied to a roll for everything? I wrote a skirmish game like that- unplayable. Far more pragmatic is the "black box" approach: I don't need to know odds of hitting, penetrating, damagind, etc.  I just need to know one number that will kill the tank I'm firing at.

[Orcs]

Remember the long list of modifiers to be applied to a roll for everything?

I think WRG Rennaisance rules by George Gush took this to the limit in the melee rules.

[Orcs]

I have been gaming since about 1975.  Money and the limited kit forced you to compromise on what you gamed with.

Now its almost a case if "if you want to game it, its there".  I think this is good for the gamers and saves lots of fiddling about converting stuff.  I am not a modeller I am a wargamer. I do not want to spend hours converting a unit.  I don't mind a paintbrush  conversion or using a reasonable proxie, but thats as far as I want to go. so the current situation suits me fine.


Some of the modern sets of rule are brilliant, giving a feel of the period and teh ability to finish a game in an evening or a big game in a day.   Others have lost the feel of the period.

Yes I have too much kit and while trying to rationalise will still get more,but it is an investment against the day I may not be able to afford stuff.

So in short Its a great time to be a wargamer.

My only concern is:-  Can all these varied ranges be commercially viable when the wargames comunity only has a finite amount of cash ?

[paulr]

Well said that man

[Norm]

My only concern is:-  Can all these varied ranges be commercially viable when the wargames comunity only has a finite amount of cash ?

The continued ability for the 15mm WWII market to grow seems to suggest that saturation point is further into the future than any of us would have once thought.