Maintenance of the aim

Steve (Disgruntled Fusileer) on the excellent Sound Officers Call blog, has just posted a thoughtful question that's drawn a lot of responses.

When visiting his blog I've always gained the impression of an enthusiastic, bouncy and productive gamer able to fit games into the busy schedule of normal life. It was a surprise to see he's experienced the same sort of disheartening lethargy that comes from being unable to commit to the painting schedules planned for your time off work. It's so easy to watch that time ebb away without any physical achievement, even though you have thought about wargaming the whole time!

Here was me thinking such things only impact miserable old curmudgeons like me! Just short of a rose-tinted view of retirement.....

Steve asked a question "what do you want from your gaming?" which has struck a chord with many , myself included. Steve also mentioned his enforced introspection threw up that he was "bored" with many of the rulesets he currently plays.

This has lead me to thinking about my own projects. For me wargaming represents escapism; it's playing with toy soldiers. There's very little connection with the sordid realities of real war. As Featherstone (IIRC) said there are no little lead or plastic widows and children at the end of our battles. The little soldiers are dressed in their finest and do not suffer wounds and disease (unless you count breakages and lead rot!). Whether such games inform real war is up for debate, wiser minds than mine imply they do, but contemplating that leads down the rabbit hole of "realism in wargames".

After a lifetime of playing with toy soldiers, I've reached a point where I think I know what I want from gaming. Gone are the rules with pages of complex tables and clauses inserted to prevent exploiting a rule mechanism. Pick who you play with. I'm not that bothered about winning and losing anymore. It's a shared spectacle I'm after. If I cannot share with someone like minded, I'll play solo.

The aesthetics are a personal thing. A plain green table or cloth can look as good, if not better than those sculpted model railway terrains that often feature in one of my bugbears "demonstration games" . Yes very nice to look at, show tremendous artistry and skill, but what are they "demonstrating" ? I got a lot of flak for suggesting on a forum that all they seemed to demonstrate was the skill of the person putting them on and the aim it appeared was to receive praise and win a prize. Wasn't that just an ego trip? I got lots of comments such as "I don't travel around shows at considerable expense just for my ego!" However , no-one ever explained what it is the demonstrate or get out of putting on such games.....It's a similar thing with very well painted figures. Very nice to look at, but there's downsides such as how long it takes to paint a single figure, let alone an army.

But I digress; suffice to say I paint my figures to almost the best of my ability and now try to resist being sucked into painting really well (I'm a fair painter, but slow) just good enough for me and no-one else. I'm experimenting with quicker methods to try and produce more. Terrain is functional. I have model railway grass mat boards but am tending towards cloths, especially where I'm drawn towards rules with grids and hexes.

The rules should have clear simple mechanics, not necessarily simplistic, and be easy to remember and play. Games should aim for a few hours, maximum half a day, no more all day inconclusive table full of figures games. Play should be fitted on a "normal" table either 5' x 3' such as a dining table or extended to say 6' x 4'. The key is the base size of units which should be in proportion to the table. In most cases, there should be 12-14 "manouvre units" per side; this could be 12 large bases or 12 command elements (such as brigades or divisions) as long as these operate and fight as a single entity.

Motivation. What keeps the project going and why you start it in the first place. Recently, this has been something of a nostalgia trip. Things that I always wanted to do but never did, such as Imagi-Nations. This can fuel further projects; I was influenced by Tony Bath's Hyboria when creating the SK background. I have the urge to create Commands & Colors ancients miniatures (single base 28mm) and now I'm contemplating building them and developing a Hyboria campaign. My Arab-Israeli project stems from an article in Military Modelling about converting 1:76 and 1:87 models and an unfulfilled desire to game it (tried and failed in 1:300) in that scale, or rather 1:87 and 20mm (with 1:100 for air). That this means working with very elderly models just increases the nostalgia.

Well that's what keeps me going (occupied?) in the hobby. What about you?