Variety, the Spice of Life?

On Sunday someone (okay it was my mom) wanted to hear episode 1 of AllAboutMiniatures, so I played it for her on my laptop. This gave me a chance to hear it again and something John and I mentioned in passing raised a question in my head. On the previous day we had reviewed Battlegames magazine. In the opening editorial Henry Hyde, Battlegames editor, expresses concern for the state of the hobby due to the large number of games available to the beginning gamer today. This got me to thinking. Are we (in terms of gaming now) living in "perilous" times for the hobby?

I've been gaming in one way or another now for 23 of my 33 years. When I first started out (with AD&D) no one knew what gaming was. As far as I knew when getting started there existed no more than a handful of established games. Over the last two decades this has changed dramatically. Now if you go to The Miniatures Page under the Manufacturers directory you will find so many manufacturers that I cannot imagine having enough time to visit every website. Many of these produce their own rules sets to go with the miniatures they sell, especially within the fantasy/sic Fe genre. Is this good or bad?

First let's look at the pros. Ten to fifteen years ago when you started playing a game it was usually the miniatures that "sucked you in". This really hasn't changed much for me. You would buy and paint what you needed to start playing and settle down to your first game. At this point you would finally find out if you liked the rules. Often times, particularly with historicals, people would continue to play a less than perfect, often over complicated, set of rules because alternatives simply did not exist. Coming back to the present we have as many options as we have time to play. This seems to allow a group to work through all the rules they want to until they find that which suits them best. John and I have been going through this process over the last few years with WWII rules. It seems for now we have settled on Flames of War as fitting what we want in a wargame based on the second world war. Is it perfect? No, but we enjoy it more than some of the previous sets we have played.

There is a second "pro" in the corner of variety. Having a broad range of games appeals to a broader audience. This, in my opinion, has the potential to attract more new gamers. As we are all aware, once you are "in the door" so to speak you are bound to find more that interests you.

Now for the cons. As John and I mentioned in AllAboutMiniaures Episode 1, we really like the Warlord game by Reaper. We have, however, only played this game four or five times in the last two years. Why? It's because we have so many games to play. After accumulating twenty years of games it leaves some excellent ones by the wayside. Some that come to mind for me are Man 'O War, Grand Armee, and the Warmaster line (Warmaster, Ancient Master, and Blitzkrieg Commander). These are all games we really liked. Unfortunately perhaps, new shinier objects have come along. Will we ever get back to these games? I think so. We have plans to play Man 'O War next time we game. It will then probably go back on the shelf for at least another year or so.

The second con against variety is finding opponents. In the modern age of wargaming we have to be flexible in being willing to learn and play different games. I just started playing Saganami Island Tactical Simulator. Where do I find opponents? The internet helps, but often opponents are a good lengthy drive away. Unless you are part of a regular gaming group and you can get them to go along with you (they don't always) you are left with a game you really like and no one to play it with. Some people like to stay locked into the system they have "always played" refusing to try anything new. When there existed far fewer games it was more likely to find someone who played a given system.

To close this oh too lengthy post, I have to say that I like variety. I may be a sucker, but I like to buy new sets of rules just to read them and get new ideas for games, scenarios, and backgrounds. To me it is as much a part of the hobby to collect and gather various rules sets as it is to paint the miniatures and play the game. I'd really like to hear comments on what other people think.

Until next time,

The Lieutenant