Wargamers 'outed' on the internet

[Ithoriel]

My one foray into LARP was enough to persuade me that Fridays night round the dining table with friends, wine, crisps, miniatures, a rulebook and a pad of character sheets* was more my style of role-play.

That said, I could kind of see the attraction.

*I took the George R R Martin approach to character survival in my campaign

[Ithoriel]

I thought this thread was about wargaming. What the f**k is LARP or LRP? Oh hold on - Live Action Role Play - Jeez, how f**king Californian!

Your definition of wargaming is clearly rather narrower than mine :-)

[skywalker]

I once had to do a presentation skills course, which the opening day you had to do a 5 minute presentation about yourself including your qualifications job role and a bit about yourself outside of work.
Not being a very confident speaker at the time I was going through my presentation and noticed people looking bored so I ended the presentation with this:
"Out of work I enjoy taking part in table top reenactments of strategic, historical, fantasy or science fiction conflicts.........but to those of you who haven't a clue what I am talking about it is simply grown men playing with toy soldiers" 
This got a laugh from the (captive) audience and the lady who was running the course said the ending was brilliant as it made people remember me.

[Orcs]

Mrs Orcs used to think the figures looked really good but thought wargaming was a bit "weird"

I said that lots of things are "wierd if you don't understand them .

Golf - walking round a field  Hitting a ball with a stick into a hole? often in the pouring rain !  ( her ex was a golfer )  I also pointed out he did  this in preference to spending time with his own children so they don't have much to do with him

It also cost him his marriage.  For which I suppose I should be eternally grateful to the game 

At which she conceded the point.

She accepts it part of me and appreciates that at least I am at home.  She also has worked out that painting helps me switch off. Often she now says " I think you need to go and paint"

[toxicpixie]

Excellent, Skywalker

Wulf, your kit suggests your fantasy larp days were of a slightly later era than mine, as the kit Is rather better

Ithorial, I try to slacken the Paranoia/Tomb of Horrors approach these days. Though we did have a Rolemaster campaign where several players just added "the second/third/fourth" to the end of their characters names

[Wulf]

Wulf, your kit suggests your fantasy larp days were of a slightly later era than mine, as the kit Is rather better

Those were about 12-15 years ago. The mailshirt & tin hat were actually reenactment, and so steel... The beastman kit is helped along by a professionally made bow & leather goods. I did make the rest, even the trousers...

[Leman]

Your definition of wargaming is clearly rather narrower than mine :-)

Cosiderably. It starts about 4000BC and ends about 1930 and involves military history and tabletop figures. That said I reckon nye on 6000 years of stuff is enough to keep me both busy and satisfied.

[toxicpixie]

i don't think I've waved a rubber sword around since pre-millennium I did pretend to be a vampire rather later but even that's pretty long ago!

Leman - I tend to blur between role play and Wargaming as much depending on mood as figure count an period, whether it be hard core simulation historical or Wierd tentacled sci fi

[FierceKitty]

Those were about 12-15 years ago. The mailshirt & tin hat were actually reenactment, and so steel... The beastman kit is helped along by a professionally made bow & leather goods. I did make the rest, even the trousers...

Tin hats are made of steel, are they? What a strange language we speak! 

[Chad]

Never had a problem. I simply tell anyone who asks that it's like chess but more colourful and without the strictly prescribed moves. My wife recognises it as a way I could relax after work and much prefers I do that than spend every night in the pub. When we first met she would sometimes paint a few figures for me.

My son plays a lot of board games once a month and his partner enjoys them too. With a 2 year old daughter it helps them both relax from the life's pressures.

[Leman]

i don't think I've waved a rubber sword around since pre-millennium I did pretend to be a vampire rather later but even that's pretty long ago!

Leman - I tend to blur between role play and Wargaming as much depending on mood as figure count an period, whether it be hard core simulation historical or Wierd tentacled sci fi

Yes, well, hands up; it's a fair cop! I've just bought Sharp Practice and Science versus Pluck, so looks like I've got a little bit of the role player in my after all. You can at least teach this old dog a couple of new tricks.

[DanJ]

My wife is generally very understanding, realising it's a much cheaper and less intrusive hobby than spending every Saturday at a footy match and every Saturday night in the pub talking about Footy and every Sunday reading the Footy bits of the papers.

However she lives in mortal fear of some of her work mates finding out and generally describes what I do 'History Stuff' which is enough to stop most people from enquiring further.  Also we do a lot of walking and climbing so anytime I get away for a weekend and someone asks she just says 'Oh he's off up a hill somewhere' which is enough to head off any further enquiries.

[FierceKitty]

She just doesn't say that you're defending that hill with fifty veterans but only twenty rounds left per man?

[Wulf]

Yes, well, hands up; it's a fair cop! I've just bought Sharp Practice and Science versus Pluck, so looks like I've got a little bit of the role player in my after all. You can at least teach this old dog a couple of new tricks.

And that's how Dungeons & Dragons was started... wargamers with a bit of personality in their leaders.

[Roy]

Wife says to her husband that she thinks things are getting a little stale in the bedroom and that she wants to try role play to spice things up.

You can all see where this is going...  



Not that I can speak. I once dressed up as a WW2 Tommy and ran around the woods pretending to shoot 'the Germans.' [it didn't work - there was more 'German' reenactors than Brit/US and they worked as a complete unit to kick our backsides. Got to say, seeing thirty chaps all dressed up and following orders in German, and going through the woods as if in actual combat, was something worth seeing ... even if I was doing the watching while pretending to be 'dead'.]