The Golden Age ?

[General Bt Sherman]

At present, we may be in the golden age, but I do believe that the best is yet to come.

Bryan

[Aart Brouwer]

Wargaming used to be the preserve of 'gentlemen of quality' as the late Peter Cushing (yes, he was one of us) once put it in an interview. That aspect with everything it entails seems to have gone and may never be regained.

There is a certain nostalgia surrounding old school wargaming that will probably never fade.

Cheers,
Aart

[sebigboss79]

Indeed Aart, and to add a notch such wargaming must, imho, be distinguished from more widely spread wargaming games.

A further note on rulesets you guys have a fair point but then again rulesets evolve and sometimes the hobby scne might evolve a little different from where the rules are heading to. It would be a bit too easy to nail it down on personal taste but I guess SOME individuality is in every ruleset.

I am sure most of you will agree that a "good" ruleset

-is balanced
-well written
-EASY TO UNDERSTAND AND PLAY
-yet very detailed (covers everything)
-and affordable.

We also agree such ruleset is unlikely to exist. Someone will find some criticism to almost everything. The only problem I have with so many rulesets being available is as you said the fractioning of the gamers due to the expenditure in both money (to buy) and time (to understand).

[Steve J]

Random thoughts as follows:

- In a way I miss the sheer simplicity of the games we played as teenagers in the long summer holidays. Simple Airfix WWII rules and a few boxes of figures and tanks. Our imaginations made up for our lack of knowledge etc. It was fun! My Dads old Airfix magazines were read avidly over and over again for ideas etc.

- It was great to have just one rulebook. No supplements ad infinitum. I find this one of the most annoying things about the hobby these days (see below).

- I think the whole wargaming scene is over commercialised, but then I'm probably being very naive here. Every rulebook seems to come out as a coffee table tome with future supplements promised. Thank God for the likes of BKC and Dux Bellorum.

- There are so many rulesets out there now that it is bewildering. Do new rulesets mean they are any better than what came before? Sometimes less-is-more?

- It is great to be able to get information on any period, no matter how obscure, at the click of a mouse button. But this distraction can come at a price. Where as before we played only a few periods at most, now we are like a kid in a sweet shop with too much choice.

- The sheer range of figures is overwhelming but the quality has come on leaps and bounds. The move to many more hard plastic figures is to be applauded.

- Again the quality of scenic products such as buildings and trees has come on leaps and bounds. Lovely looking wargames tables are now within everyones reach.

So are we now in a Golden Age? I think so with the exception of the recent proliferation in the type of rulesets as mentioned above.

[Nosher]

My Dads old Airfix magazines were read avidly over and over again

My dad had a stash of magazines too which were looked at over and over and over and over and over again

[nikharwood]

My dad had a stash of magazines too which were looked at over and over and over and over and over again

Hahaha - Happy Friday Night, Nosher mate 

[Nosher]

Hahaha - Happy Friday Night, Nosher mate 

No worries mate

The rather weird thing (which is probably too much info) is that I was helping him have a clear out recently when he moved to his new flat and the stash was still in situ. We had a few giggles about 'secret stashes' and agreed that a bit like smokers who think their partner doesn't know they are still smoking, the wife invariably knows and turns a blind eye or issues you with divorce papers!

What did make us LOL though was the amount of 'hair' ladies had in those days compared with today.

Not that I'd know a I dont have a stash...

[nikharwood]

This comes to mind, once again  

[Techno]

Are we getting into the realm of too much information at the moment ?
Cheers - Phil.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

No, that classes as a public service announcement! 

[sebigboss79]

 

[FierceKitty]

These complaints about too much choice are uncomfortably like the arguments used by religious fundamentalists everywhere.

[mollinary]

At the risk of getting too analytical, I think we may be mixing internal and external factors in a lot of this analysis.  I remember with great fondness when I came across wargames in the mid-late sixties. I was young, enthusiastic, full of excitement for something new. It was a great time, and with not much money the lack of choice did not seem to matter to me. There was always more out there than I could afford, and so there was always something new to discover. Looking back it seems a golden age, but that was the time of life when almost everything was exciting.  Today, I am older (much), but still enthusiastic.  There is now a vastly greater amount out there, and I have the disposable income to access it. The Internet has revolutionised the hobby, and created a critical mass for the hobby which the isolated groups of wargamers  of my youth never could..  The net has allowed me to make contacts and friends who share my enthusiasm all over the world, and to research into almost anything, no matter how esoteric it seems!  Manufacturers listen to customers (some more than others) and the quality of products is nothing short of magnificent.  The wargames world is, in my opinion, clearly in a Golden Age today, and we have nothing of any significance to complain about. It is brilliant!  But I will retain that nostalgia fuelled affection for the late sixties and early seventies.

Mollinary

[FierceKitty]

At the risk of getting too analytical, I think we may be mixing internal and external factors in a lot of this analysis.  I remember with great fondness when I came across wargames in the mid-late sixties. I was young, enthusiastic, full of excitement for something new. It was a great time, and with not much money the lack of choice did not seem to matter to me. There was always more out there than I could afford, and so there was always something new to discover. Looking back it seems a golden age, but that was the time of life when almost everything was exciting.  Today, I am older (much), but still enthusiastic.  There is now a vastly greater amount out there, and I have the disposable income to access it. The Internet has revolutionised the hobby, and created a critical mass for the hobby which the isolated groups of wargamers  of my youth never could..  The net has allowed me to make contacts and friends who share my enthusiasm all over the world, and to research into almost anything, no matter how esoteric it seems!  Manufacturers listen to customers (some more than others) and the quality of products is nothing short of magnificent.  The wargames world is, in my opinion, clearly in a Golden Age today, and we have nothing of any significance to complain about. It is brilliant!  But I will retain that nostalgia fuelled affection for the late sixties and early seventies.

Mollinary

Except the lack of 10mm Mexicaans.

[mollinary]

But that is what I said, FK, "we have nothing of any significance to complain about"!   

Mollinary