What part of wargaming is your favourite?

[Paul]

The wargame hobby has a lot of different facets, but for me, the most enjoyable aspect is the crafting side – painting, making terrain, things like that. Just curious as to what the main attraction is for other hobbyists: the social side? Tournament/competitive play? Research? Something else?

Those are brave men knocking at our door. Let's go kill them!

[irishserb]

I think that I enjoy scratch-building terrain buildings and vehicles the most.

[Rhoderic]

Crafting for me, especially making terrain, and especially with a view to world-building and “being a demiurge”, if that makes any sense. Making worlds come alive in miniature is what keeps drawing me back to this hobby. That said, I also consider it important for everything I make and paint to be practical for gaming – I’m not very interested in being a “fine scale modeller” or a “diorama builder” or whatever the enthusiasts of that separate hobby like to call themselves. To me, worlds come alive when stories unfold in them. The point of the gaming aspect (aside from the socialising, obviously) is making those stories happen. Still, the crafting aspect is the fundament of my hobby. The gaming aspect follows from that.

I’m often daunted by the research aspect, at least in regard to military history. There’s a lack of beginner-friendliness there, I think. Too many “experts” bickering over historical details and ambiguities, generally expressing (what comes across to me as) a disdainful attitude toward anyone less knowledgeable than they. Not a very inviting community. Conversely, one type of research I enjoy is that which relates to terrain-building. I love studying what the world looks like and how to emulate it in miniature in a way that’s both visually pleasing and practical for gaming. I have a strong and growing layman’s interest in the Earth sciences, as evinced by this recent rambling post I made at “that other place”.

When looking at pictures of other people’s games I tend to fixate on the terrain. I can never have enough terrain-building inspiration. The same goes for photos in rulebooks. Other gamers will fixate on rules mechanics when they read a new rulebook. Me, I mostly just stare at the trees, shrubs and hills in the photos, figuring out the techniques they used, appreciating the style and theme they went for, and evaluating them against my own terrain-building efforts.

[Angel Barracks]

The look.
I like how the table looks, I like the little details.
I like how I get a good feeling when I set the table up and mid game stop and just soak up the world I have made.

I like the making, the painting not so much, but the looking and letting that world come alive does it for me.
I like it to make sense to me, everything there has a reason and a purpose.

Maybe I just like creating my own little worlds.

[Ivan Sorensen]

Hard to say. Joking when you get a bad roll. Reading something and trying to recreate it on the tabletop.
Writing. Looking at the cool stuff people make.

I agree with AB as well: When you get that moment where you realize you can perfectly envision what just happened or it seemed to mimic a crazy story you read.
Or those realizations where you realize you’ve just spent half an hour fighting over one particularly well placed rock 🙂

[Guy Farrish]

Good question.

Not sure I have a good answer.

I think the company, when it works – its like a dinner party, I may not think the starter was the best and I’m not that keen on the way the vegetables have been prepared and I’d much rather cheese than that horrible sticky sweet fol de rol but the wine was great and the conversation witty and engaging. I even learned a thing or two.

On the other hand the figures can be exquisite, the painting superb, the terrain so lifelike you could be there but if the rules and/or the company is wrong…

I guess I like daydreaming about wargaming as well. When I’m painting or messing about with scenarios or rules I’m writing or cannibalising I like to let my imagination run. Storytelling perhaps. The history (I’m pretty much historical only – my main shift from this being historically based ‘what ifs’.) is also a plus.

But I guess it comes down to people, talking, having fun with people, using the excuse of a shared interest, however tenuous and broad the connection.

So I guess – you lot amongst others.

What a creep! (But true!)

[kyoteblue]

I like it all,

[Rod Robertson]

For me it is the research and study that goes along with the purchasing and painting of the miniatures. The craft end of things is fun too but I tend to be too much of a perfectionist and am not skilled enough to produce satisfactory terrain that is functional too. I often run out of steam and get frustrated when a project falls short of what are very likely unrealistic expectations for the product.

While actually playing the game it is definitely the enjoyable conversations and good fellowship which surrounds the gaming table. I do not like solo gaming as I am not schizophrenic enough to play two sides in a conflict. I do play solo but only to prepare the game for team play at the club, but to me the solo gaming is a chore.

Finally I enjoy researching scenarios and campaigns. Wargaming for me is a springboard to focus my study of military history.

Cheers and good gaming.

Rod Robertson.

[Ivan Sorensen]

The community on sites like this helps a lot. Where else can you get Scandinavians, Americans, Texans, Australians and people-from-the-british-isles all in one place?

[kyoteblue]

Hey now much as I love Texas, I’m an Okie !!!!!

[Ivan Sorensen]

Then you’re an American 😉

[kyoteblue]

Well ,yes that too.

[irishserb]

“I’m an Okie !!!!!”

Its okay man, we still love you.

[Cerdic]

Being a history geek, it’s the research part that is one of my favourites. Made much easier these days by the Internet!

I also like the visual pleasure of collecting large armies. Or maybe it is latent megalomania?

http://28mmreview.blogspot.co.uk

[Rod Robertson]

Ivan asked, “Where else can you get Scandinavians, Americans, Texans, Australians and people-from-the-british-isles all in one place?”

A German Prison Camp!

Cheers and good gaming!

Rod Robertson.

[Norm S]

I think an interesting facet is that most of us would genuinely say that we hate war itself and the misery and suffering that comes from it, yet we are quite fascinated / passionate about our history and games. We can clearly separate the two – I wonder how many outside the hobby looking in, can’t ?

I also wonder how many ‘ordinary’ people who get out their X-box and play Call of Duty or whatever don’t actually think of themselves wargaming.

I once heard it said that wargaming is a dying hobby and the retort was that there are actually more wargamers than ever, they are just doing it in different ways.

To answer the question, I love the tactical nuance that crops up in every game – the intrigue of the moment as the die is rolled and the consequence that can then spread into the rest of the game and the narrative that comes out of that.

I don’t need to win.

I have recently been looking at bigger scales and in my brief liaison with 20mm and 28mm, my interest in modelling and things looking nice has be re-ignited. There is every prospect that the wheel is going full circle and I am a teenager again, opening my first box of plastics and examining the contents of the sprue! Perhaps I have reached a point in life in which nostalgia actually does play its part.

 

 

 

[McLaddie]

It is a hard question. I like all the aspects of the hobby mentioned so far for different reasons.  My favorite??  If I had a favorite part of wargaming, I can see myself focusing on that and letting the rest go for the most part.   I don’t see myself doing that.   Of course,  what I spend most of my time at is another question altogether….

[Rhoderic]

Norm S wrote:

I think an interesting facet is that most of us would genuinely say that we hate war itself and the misery and suffering that comes from it

Very true (or so I hope in regard to all other wargamers). I like to think that wargaming is a peacetime activity. I want to keep on wargaming.

Although, I am a bit ambivalent toward that specific word, “wargaming”. Much of the gaming I do is not so much miniatures wargaming as it is miniatures adventure gaming. Admittedly it’s still about armed conflicts. Here in Sweden I sometimes hear the word “konfliktspel” (“conflict games”) used in place of “krigsspel” (“wargames”). It may be splitting hairs, and it may play to the comical stereotype of my nationality as fainting-couch persnickets (fine by me – haters gonna hate and all that), but I slightly prefer “conflict games”. It’s broader and more open. Frankly, “adventure games” is what suits me best. Even when gaming wars, I think of those wars more as adventures than large-scale killing sprees (in the way that, for instance, the Aubrey-Maturin, Hornblower and Sharpe books are more “adventure stories” than “war stories”, at least to my mind).

[Steve Johnson]

For me I like:

• The history and research for a new period/battle/army.
• The company of like minded fellow gamers that play in the same spirit as myself, with winning being the icing on the cake.
• Coming up with mini-campaigns.
• Scratch building terrain and scenery.
• Painting (when the muse is upon me) and then playing with the figures.
• Buying new shiny lead figures.
• The online community such as this and the Pendraken forum. Certainly not the likes of TMP.

In short pretty much the whole hobby, but things grab me at different times, so like a typical wargames butterfly the above list varies in priority at various times.

[Ivan Sorensen]

Rhoderic wrote:

norm smith wrote:

<p data-wr_replaced=”true”>I think an interesting facet is that most of us would genuinely say that we hate war itself and the misery and suffering that comes from it

<p data-wr_replaced=”true”>Very true (or so I hope in regard to all other wargamers). I like to think that wargaming is a peacetime activity. I want to keep on wargaming.
<p data-wr_replaced=”true”>Although, I am a bit ambivalent toward that specific word, “wargaming”. Much of the gaming I do is not so much miniatures <em data-wr_replaced=”true”>wargaming as it is miniatures <em data-wr_replaced=”true”>adventure gaming. Admittedly it’s still about armed conflicts. Here in Sweden I sometimes hear the word “konfliktspel” (“conflict games”) used in place of “krigsspel” (“wargames”). It may be splitting hairs, and it may play to the comical stereotype of my nationality as fainting-couch persnickets (fine by me – haters gonna hate and all that), but I slightly prefer “conflict games”. It’s broader and more open. Frankly, “adventure games” is what suits me best. Even when gaming wars, I think of those wars more as adventures than large-scale killing sprees (in the way that, for instance, the Aubrey-Maturin, Hornblower and Sharpe books are more “adventure stories” than “war stories”, at least to my mind).

I do use “wargaming” but I agree that the term actually misses out on a lot of games that are miniature conflict games but not actually about war at all.
I mean, even well celebrated games like Necromunda can hardly be said to be a “war game”. “Battle games” maybe but that sounds like an 80’s Atari game.

[grizzlymc]

I’m sure we had one of these about a year ago.

Although its great when the groupies are chanting your name,young girls throwing their underwear at you with their contact details written on them, for me it’s the “Chess with a thousand pieces” thing. Looking at tactical problems, comparing elegant combined arms solutions with a solution atany price now, the trade offs and the balance between the big picture and focus.

Also, there is some tactile satisfaction in pushing toy soldiers around.

[Ivan Sorensen]

Show a gamer a random tank model and there’s a 75% chance the first question is “does the turret move?”

[Tony]

Interesting question. I’ve thought about asking a similar question “How much of your hobby time is spent on the different aspects of Wargaming?”

However, for this question, I’d have to say it is the rules. I like reading rules, modifying rules, playtesting rules and writing my own rules for wargames.

[Shandy]

Rhoderic wrote:

To me, worlds come alive when stories unfold in them. The point of the gaming aspect (aside from the socialising, obviously) is making those stories happen.

I like this, I want it printed on a mug!

Seriously, I think this is what ties it all together for me: The crafting, the gaming, but also the research – my wargaming research is very different from other research I do because it is firmly focused on creating a story in the long run – so I might read a book about caribbean architecture and the social background of the conflict and whatever is useful to make the world come alive.

My blog: http://wargamingraft.wordpress.com

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