I enjoy setting up the table as much as any other part of miniatures

[MustPlayThat]

I enjoy setting up the table as much as any other part of miniatures, it has a big influence on the scenarios I play

 

[Mike]

Same here, I do on occasion just set up and pack away again without having played.

[MustPlayThat]

It amazes me other people like this as well as me, I just watched the terrain guy filming adepticon on youtube there is millions of us 🙂

[Mike]

I like world building more than the gaming, so for me looking at a nice set up is a treat, especially when you discover lots of little details here and there.

[MustPlayThat]

yes like putting a wall down and thinking thats a good ambush site,

[McKinstry]

I enjoy the whole pre-game process from planning the scenario, picking/painting the units, setting the terrain and creating the game aids every bit as much as the games themselves.

The tree of Life is self pruning.

[Geof Downton]

I’m much more likely to set up a table to take pictures than to play. Sometimes I then might move some little metal people around a bit, “playing” in the way children do, rather than the way gamers are supposed to. I’m with Mike, it’s about world building, and I can neither draw nor write stories.

One who puts on his armour should not boast like one who takes it off.
Ahab, King of Israel; 1 Kings 20:11

[jeffers]

I really enjoy terrain modelling. If I could, I would have modular terrain pieces but have nowhere to store them.

More nonsense on my blog: http://battle77.blogspot.com/

[Patrice]

Yes me too. 🙂

Mike wrote:

I do on occasion just set up and pack away again without having played.

Yes, I set up the table and landscape and I talk with people and visitors etc. and I play one game or two or three (or sometimes none at all) and it still is a nice wargaming day. 🙂

Geof Downton wrote:

I’m much more likely to set up a table to take pictures than to play. Sometimes I then might move some little metal people around a bit, “playing” in the way children do, rather than the way gamers are supposed to.

Yes! What are gamers supposed to do? Consider them as mere toys and pawns? That would be sad… 🙁 These little metal people on the table are living a real life, moving them is living an adventure with them.

http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/

[Thuseld]

I like setting up little scenes with my figures. Like little snippets of stories.

Experiments here: http://inexperiencedmodelmaker.blogspot.co.uk/

Tranquil Stars updates: https://tranquilstars.wordpress.com

[Geof Downton]

Patrice wrote:

What are gamers supposed to do?

I’m told by a local wargamer that I belittle his “historical military simulation using miniatures” by calling said miniatures “toy soldiers”; I may have let him into my head for a moment…

One who puts on his armour should not boast like one who takes it off.
Ahab, King of Israel; 1 Kings 20:11

[irishserb]

As I set up the terrain, I often consider the background stories of the terrain.  The past conflicts that certain buildings have witnessed and survived, what might have stood there before, what the town was like before war came, etc.  I also start to imagine backgrounds for the troops, where they are from, what their experiences are.  As I do this, it all comes to life.

[Geof Downton]

irishserb wrote:

As I set up the terrain, I often consider the background stories of the terrain.

I’ve often done this with people, but never the land. Now you have made me think about it I shall make an effort to do so.

One who puts on his armour should not boast like one who takes it off.
Ahab, King of Israel; 1 Kings 20:11

[MartinR]

Me too! It is something which was always rather rushed when the club was open, but with lockdown I can spend as long setting up the table as I like.

When I was a kid, I used to set the table up and use a periscope to get a worms eye view of the ‘action’. I was mightly pleased when I spent two hours setting up for a recent remote game and my wife came in the room and said ‘oooh, isn’t that pretty’. Made my day.

 

 

"Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" - Helmuth von Moltke

[Patrice]

Geof Downton wrote:

I’m told by a local wargamer that I belittle his “historical military simulation using miniatures” by calling said miniatures “toy soldiers”; I may have let him into my head for a moment…

Ah, this is a different style too. From my own point of view, when a game is started it no longer is a military simulation, and not toy soldiers either, it’s real characters alive running on the gaming table and living real adventure in their real life. But that’s me. 😉

irishserb wrote:

As I set up the terrain, I often consider the background stories of the terrain. The past conflicts that certain buildings have witnessed and survived, what might have stood there before, what the town was like before war came, etc.

Ah that’s interesting… I may have thoughts about what happened in the terrain, and include it in the overall scenario, but perhaps I haven’t thought enough about it. Thanks for the idea. 🙂

http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/

[Geof Downton]

Patrice wrote:

…it’s real characters alive running on the gaming table and living real adventure in their real life.

Fundamentally I agree, although I may describe it using different words. My son has a similar view of the characters and landscape inside his computer games. I appreciate his worlds, but don’t share them, and he thinks I am quite mad!

One who puts on his armour should not boast like one who takes it off.
Ahab, King of Israel; 1 Kings 20:11

[Shaun Travers]

For 20mm WW2 setting up the terrain is as enjoyable as the game.  Many of the people I used to play with in the 90s were the same – we would often spend 1-2 hours setting up the terrain to be “just right”.  For other games (ancients mainly) not so much – terrain setup takes minutes 🙂 and my terrain for 6mm WW2 and pulp is not great and the gaming takes precedence over the terrain.  As my terrain for these other periods  grows I can see it will just like the 20mm WW2 games and terrain setup will be just as fun as playing.

[Stroezie]

Hi my name is Stroezie and I’m a terrainaholic too.

I completely agree, I can’t count the times I’ve made a setup, imagined a bunch of scenarios / stories that could play out on it and then just packed it all away again.

I also have a display cabinet where I create little diorama’s which I swith out from time to time.

I’ve even been contemplating getting one of those coffee tables with a display case in them and building either a 6mm city or a 15mm dungeon into it.

And then off course there’s people building these…

 

Help me…  …

Cheers,

Stroezie.

 

[Geof Downton]

Stroezie wrote:

Help me…

Sorry, can’t do that, we need photographic evidence of your “problem”.

 

Besides, I’m now worried that I may have contracted the disease simply by reading about it.

One who puts on his armour should not boast like one who takes it off.
Ahab, King of Israel; 1 Kings 20:11

[MustPlayThat]

just reset my table 🙂

 

 

 

[telzy amber]

I am the odd gamer out it seems   To me the camaraderie of my friends is the point of the game.  I do my best to paint the toys, but there are many here much better than I, to do terrain but Michael, our host, makes exquisitely beautiful pieces. Irish Serb, Stroezie, and many others on this board make beautiful things that I cannot. That’s OK. Watching you exhibit your toys is fun.

Old Ben does great looking set pieces. His Innsmouth and Blade Runner are fantastic. Thomaston’s stories are great and the miniatures have so much fun in them.

 

[MustPlayThat]

there is probably a mix of serious stuff and toys on most wargamers big tables , I would say many a dinky car van etc… has been put to use,its prob down to the least skilled modelers use most, it saves money while you build and paint etc… but still fun

[Chris Pringle]

I’m another mild dissenter. To me, the essential appeal is the decision-making in the game itself. The aesthetics are a bonus – an important one, but still secondary. I’d be happy with units and terrain improvised with cardboard and a biro, if the scenario was challenging and the ruleset was fun.

That said, I do love a nice layout, and have spent many happy hours at shows drooling over other people’s beautiful work. Thanks to such inspiration, I do make more effort with my own terrain these days, and I reckon my games look reasonably like battlefields.

gamegonegood, your table looks great!

Chris

Bloody Big BATTLES!

https://groups.io/g/bloodybigbattles

http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/

[MustPlayThat]

Thx Chris ,those rules look interesting.

[MustPlayThat]

OK Big Ben added, its a bird feeder for £10 of ebay, it said it was 53cm so I bought it for the birds but it was actualy 30cm, so I dropped it on my table to see the effect. it came painted and assembled. I need to fill in the base etc… but it looks ok i think, I was wondering if you bought 4 you could adapt it into a fortres

 

 

[Mike]

Nice Elizabeth Tower model.

😉

Not cool it was way shorter than they said though.

[MustPlayThat]

after examining the tower, it apears to be a color 3D print.

[Author]

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