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What’s Your Favourite Wargaming Genre?
May 14, 2014 by brennon
On Sunday I was sitting in my local gaming store and talking about X-Wing and Dungeons & Dragons Attack Wing. My friend and I were discussing how out of the two D&D Attack Wing was a more appealing prospect because the world of Fantasy just came to us more naturally. An opposing viewpoint was "seriously dude, have you seen Star Wars?! You can translate that so easily to the tabletop and it's awesome!"
What this bought up for me was exactly what genre I like the most and without a shadow of a doubt it is certainly Fantasy. I love history and so seeing the translation of interesting and evocative events into make believe worlds is a massive draw to me. It helped that as a youngster I read a lot of fantasy literature and was obsessed with myths and legends so it became a pretty natural step to delve into fantasy and see it as my nugget of awesomeness.
So, I thought I'd ask you guys where you're allegiance lay within the genres of wargaming and offer my opinions on the ones we chose as our segments at the top of the website. Are you someone who finds it easier to stick to one genre like me while occasionally dabbling in others or do you open yourself up to all of them and see the genres as something a system, rather than a theme, can define?
Sci-Fi
For me Sci-Fi has to do something particularly great to draw me in. Warhammer 40,000 is a good example of this. It might be set in the far future but it does grim dark exceptionally well and essentially puts a fantasy world of Emperors, Knights and Elves on different planets instead of continents of a fantasy map. In comparison worlds like Infinity have very little draw to me. I can see the joy of playing in the stylised anime-type world but it's all a bit too flashy and exotic for my tastes. I like a plasma charged power suit as much as the next man and while I can appreciate the models and the background it's just too much in the wrong direction.
By comparison a world somewhat near to that, MERCS, has my attention but is a genre that I've just not been able to really get into for other reasons. I think I prefer the aesthetic and the similarities it has with our current world are a definitive plus.
Fantasy
Fantasy has always been my true love on the tabletop and I went into it a bit above but the sight of massed battles between Elves, Humans, Orcs and the like is something I just can't ignore when wargaming. I am drawn to the pageantry and flare of these kind of massed armies much more and I'd find myself stopping by a table of Warhammer Fantasy to watch more readily than I would one of Warhammer 40,000 for example.
This of course carries on into other games and the likes of Cutlass! with it's wondrously funky pirates from different races certainly has my attention. Godslayer, Hordes, and games like the sadly drifting Uncharted Seas from Spartan Games all grab my attention because they include interesting and evocative mythological creatures and landscapes dredged from our own histories.
Historical
Talking of history the next genre is indeed that. You have so much to draw on with this genre that it's hard not to be impressed by it. Of course there are many different camps within this genre, from those doing things just as they should (and that's perfectly fine) and others going for alternative history style affairs where for example maybe the Anglo-Saxons did win the Battle of Hastings!
Much like with Sci-Fi Historical gaming has to bit the right chord with me however and I prefer either games set back in Ancient times or indeed something relatively more modern with Medieval history. The Dark Ages is the sweet spot however, but that's tied very much into the mysticism and mythology of the period.
It took me a long time to get into more modern warfare style games like Bolt Action and I am considering dipping my toe into Napoleonics (frightening!). Historical gaming therefore comes a very close second to Fantasy simply by it's lack of magical beings!
Pulp, Punk, Horror & Weird
Now this one is a bit of an odd one, which probably goes along with it's genre. This contains things like Pulp Comic-style wargames, Steampunk, downright Horror affairs and of course anything which blends worlds together into one frightening heap. A good example of the genre would of course by Malifaux by Wyrd Miniatures or something like the relatively new In Her Majesty's Name by Osprey Publishing or Wolsung from Micro-Art.
I've watched people play these games for a long time now in my local store and I've come to a conclusion with it I think. I like the premise and the idea of the genres but I don't think it's one that I like playing around with on the tabletop. Role-play in it, board or card game in it, sure, but wargame, I don't think so. Something about it disconnects with me and I've felt this a lot when watching games of Malifaux in particular. I think with these worlds the plots and intrigue of them are so tightly engrained within the setting that I want to be part of the action of it rather than seeing it from a God's Eye View.
This doesn't detract from the potency of the worlds and the theme behind everything but it's just not for me sitting last on my genre list.
What About You?
So here's where you come in. What genre is your favourite and why? I'd love for you all to comment below and get talking about where you come on the spectrum. Of course you might completely disagree with my summary of these various worlds and games and if you do, make sure you tell me!
Sci-Fi Vs Fantasy Art by DaniLovesFood
Sci-Fi Vs Fantasy (Feature Image) by TARGETE
[poll id="15"]
Comment below and explain why a particular genre (or multiple) is your favourite!
Voted Sci-Fi, but am a great fan of Weird and Pulp style games (IHMN, EotD, Strange Aeons, etc.) and alternate history – which you fit into the Sci Fi bracket. Takes a lot to get me interested in ‘High Fantasy’, preferring the dirtier end of the genre, or something like ‘Twilight’.
(you can never have enough Toads/Frogs/Lizards)
Hope people didn’t think I meant sparkling vampires by Twilight – no, the World of Anrayal (spelling ?) setting. I play mainly that and Armies of Arcana for fantasy, though just got into Godslayer. I see almost all games I currently play as small actions (1 figure – no more than 10 men/creatures, and usually 1:1 ratio, especially in 28-32mm)
Voted historical especially Dark Ages but do like playing all genres listed here
I voted for Fantasy but I enjoy them all… Probably in this order:
1st, Fantasy
Joint 2nd, Historical & Pulp, Punk, Horror & Weird
3rd Sci-Fi,
For example, I’m loving 7TV at the moment and that is pulpy. I also love Star Wars… In fact this list could change at any point but Fantasy will always be my first love.
All of them equally. I tried to pick one but every time i went to make a choice i changed my mind.
Interesting – I did think about adding in a ‘all of them’ option but thought it would be neat for those people to explain why they felt like they did in the comments below. Do you think that you like them all equally because each of them has a particular rules set you enjoy?
Something like that. I think they all bring something unique to the table. I love warmachine because of the synergy element. I love malifaux because not only do you have to play tactically on the tabletop you have to use the cards tactically too.
Then you have bolt action with the orders dice and the grand scale of Flames of war. Very different games but both equally enjoyable.
In the sci fi genre you have the simplicity of MERCS a very fun quick to set up game, the complexity of Infinity a very detailed game and X wing, which is Star Wars, and apart from my wife and eldest daughter who doesnt love Star Wars. I also include WW Exodus in this category although its really alt History, another simple to learn game but some very unique mechanics.
To be honest, its got to a point where its so difficult for us to agree on what we want to play that we have to draw the game randomly from a hat (well my bolt action bag) and cycle though them.
Science fiction all the way.
But I prefer the Infinity style Sci Fi and similar over the pure space opera (or post apocalyptic sci fi?) 40k has evolved, sad since the original (rogue trader) vision was really good.
Tough question. I think most fantasy fiction is utter garbage and there’s little the genre has produced that can hold a candle to the best that sci-fi has to offer. That said, I find myself more drawn towards the fantasy side of things when it comes to the wargaming table. Or more to the point, I find myself having little interest sci-fi mass battle games. I do enjoy sci-fi and steampunk (for want of a better term) skirmish games, probably because when done well they create very interesting and evocative worlds and skirmish gaming can reflect that in a way that mass battle gaming does not.
I like historical gaming, perhaps not a surprise as I study the ancient world for my day job. My interest in historical gaming nose-dives after the 17th century. Though again, I find it is mass battle gaming that I have little interest in from this point.
I don’t think my lack of interest in mass sci-fi battles and mass historical battles from the 18th century onwards are unrelated, and rather than being the result of a lack of interest in a genre, they probably come from a lack of interest in a style of wargame. So in conclusion, I can’t pick one as a favourite, or even pick one as my least favourite. What I probably do like most are fantasy and steampunk settings grounded in a historical setting. This is what initially drew me to Warhammer (especially the stuff being published for WFRP back in the 80s) and made it stand out against the other main fantasy roleplaying games of the time.
Can I vote for “ALL OF THE ABOVE” please ????
Nope lol – As I mentioned I wanted to see where everyone’s favourite lay. If you do think ‘all of the above’ it would be good to know why 🙂
Well it’s like Sophie’s Choice damn it!
Not telling what I voted for (I have a reputation to uphold!) 😉
You know its historical my influence is spreading.
Actuly I had a hard time voting I really like my historical but dystopian wars and it’s sub games are really big to me, I see them as very much a what if history that has a lot to do with the company making their books packed with ‘history fluff’
Once you’ve tasted the past, there’s no going back.
My name is Warren and I have been playing historical for a year now 🙂
Historical Players Anon (HPA) will welcome one and all 🙂 but its bring your own StuG unfortunately hahaha
I’d have said Sci-fi but I much prefer Pulp, weird & Horror now. I feel it has a greater variation in both licenses, mini’s, created worlds etc. I find PW & H a bit more accessible to all than Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Both of these can be a bit over pretentious IMO. Each to their own though.
At the moment with DW 2.0 coming up the 28th – that is where my vote have to go … ask again in a few weeks and my choice might have changed
I’m a big science fiction fan in general, and there is so much that can be played around with in the “future” that could actually one day be made with the right application, that’s what makes it so much more fun for me.
(Not saying there will be titans walking around barren battleworlds of the future, just saying their weapons could be one day created in some capacity, or the “physics” they base their ideas off)
I do appreciate the Sci-Fi games a great deal. But I voted Fantasy because love idea of the massed melee bloodbaths of Fantasy battles. With mythical creatures, mighty sorcerers etc. haha Shame it isn’t played as much at my club. :s
There is a bit of crossover though…I have played some VBCW recently does that count as historical or Fantasy
I consider VBCW to be historicals rather than fantasy. Although it obviously didn’t happen, the setting is 100% grounded in history and the approach is a historical one.
Sci fi will always be a preference of mine, then history, followed closely by fantasy 🙂
I voted sci fi but historical would be my second choice. In my youth I had a small collection of Foundry Ancient Egyptians.
I play mostly Sci Fi but am trying to find a good steampunk game to play to get into
I voted Fantasy as it will always be my first love! And by Fantasy I don’t just mean Warhammer…
Having said that, Historical is a close second- probably for the reasons you stated regarding the links between it and Fantasy- I’m a relative newcomer to the genre (limiting myself to Saga until recently) but there’s something about researching your army and fielding troops that actually existed! I’ve nearly finished a Royalist army for Warlord Games’ Pike and Shotte based around the Battle of Marston Moor.
Difficult question is this. For films I would tend to lean quite heavily on Fantasy, such as LotR and the Hobbit. I like scifi films but they always have a diabolical story line and rely to heavily on cgi imho.
For games though, it is the other way around, as Fantasy games just seem to be all charge into the middle of the table and if your unit wins the fight you either turn left or right and run till you hit something again, rinse and repeat as there seems little in the way of depth in these games. MLove the fantasy models though.
I feel that scifi will always be a top with geeks like us though, as shiny spaceships and bright colours are normally quite attractive. The clearest example of this is definitely Infinity, jaw dropping all the way!
Where would Wild Wes Exodus fit into this though? Scifi? Historical? Steampunk? It was suggested during the Kickstarter that it was COWPUNK, and I think this is probably going to be the logical lable for it tbh. I love this game as it can scale from skirmish to mass battle quite well, with the skirmish splitting up further into character driven theme game to a posse of lowlifes and dirty rotters. Its also the game that I recognise with trying to branch off from the norm and do something different, which can only be a good thing imho. I would not say that WWX makes other games look worse, its just such a new setting and a different perspective on gaming that it just feels like a breath of fresh air with an upbeat community behind it. 🙂
1st Sci-fi….AT-43…..
and a homebrew cyberpunk gang wars game using Space Crusade and Bolt Action.
2nd Fantasy….Kings of War…currently building a Forces of Nature army.
(oh, and Flintlocke …again using homebrew rules)
3rd Historical….played most periods….favourites = My 1990’s Soviet motor rifle division, 1/300 scale for Modern Spearhead….15mm Huns and Spartans. WRG / Field of Glory / DBM
The rules are very important to me.
Currently working on a variant of Bolt Action rules using any sci-fi miniatures, including Tau. 🙂
I’d say either Hard sci-fi (more focus on realistic and accurate science, actually alien aliens ect)
or cosmic horror (detectives, squiggly slithery tentacled creatures, period settings ect)
I can honestly appreciate most genres even if they are not personally my cup of tea, as I think all of them add flavour to the wargaming world!
I went for Fantasy – I’m absorbed in an Orc army for KoW at the minute. But I’m a complete magpie and if you ask me next month I could answer any of the other options! I’ve lost track of the number of different armies and genres I have stuff for nowadays!
I think what really is apparent is that the vast majority like more than one if not all.
Scifi. I really think of 40k as more fantasy, what with the psykers and demons and orcs and space elves and whatnot. To me it’s less scifi with psychics and more fantasy with machine guns.
Fantasy is, as it seems always a leg up for me, which unfortunately leaves me in a bit of a quite corner here in my community where steam punk and sci fi seem to be the norm. I love sci fi as a story and background, but when it comes to games I love my swords and Sorcery a just a touch more.
History for me is something that’s fun to read and study, but I like my games fictional and over the top, not a repeat of whats already here in real life.
I tend to keep a finger in each major game genre though, fantasy just tends to suck up more of my time.
Had been a Historical miniatures gamer exclusively for almost 40 years. WW2 and Napoleonics were my loves. By the way, I’m sure you’re aware that Nappies are the black hole of historical gaming so good luck. But last year I happened to catch the Beasts “Infinity Week” coverage and got sucked in. It didn’t help that I won a contest from you guys that got me the Haqqislam Starter pack and a singles blister(thanks again btw). I don’t know why this game grabbed me, but now my wife and daughter are into it and we’ve had a blast. I’ve got a bunch of Infinity figures and the collection just keeps growing. Still Historicals really do it for me, but Sci-Fi is in there now also.
Sci Fi. That’s what I read growing up and that’s what I play now. But I’ve been wargaming over 30 years. As a teen and college student I did mostly historical gaming. The only fantasy literature I liked was Tolkien and the only fantasy gaming I’ve done was RPGs, D&D and Runequest. Of the 11 games I currently own, one is fantasy, one is steampunk/fantasy, three are historical and the remaining six are Sci Fi.
Voted for historical, which I guess is pretty obvious (userID is “Oriskany,” after all). However, I will admit that sci-fi is a close second. For me, sci-fi gaming can be fun if it has some kind of tactical aspect, and comes from an established mythos or universe. I know it’s a little strange, but I usually can’t get into a sci-fi game if the setting or universe was created for the game. It takes too long to explain to people. But if it’s for Star Wars, Star Trek, BSG, Serenity, even tried the Farscape RPG a couple of times . . . (now THAT was a TV show!) . . . somehow it’s easier for me to get into it. It’s a little like how I get into historical gaming, since the sci-fi game is “based” on something that people will recognize even if they’re not into the game.
For example, I’m always asking around my group and local store to see who’d be interested in X-Wing. I would buy all the miniatures, up to $300 by the time I had enough of all the ships I was interested in, but I’d want to make sure I had someone to play with first!
I voted Sci-fi but Like Brennon if a fantasy game hits the right cord i can really get into it. There is something about a good sword and board setup that i really like too.
I still find Warmaster fantasy a good fun game, though I dont like Wasmaster Ancients
Wow… Been debating this in the office (fair few odd looks from most on lookers). Warhammer Fantasy grabbed me first with Orcs and Goblins. Love the ranks of models they look awesome on the table but lack of people to play drew me to 40k. I like Dreadball, Deadzone Infinity and the like finding these easier to have a good quick game of something but I enjoy whiling the evening with IHMN declaring my opponent to be a cad a and bounder! The background and style of the weird/punk genre appeals….
I’m going plump for Sci Fi…. Alien, Star Wars, Star Trek, Starship troopers, BSG so much inspiration to use in Sci Fi gaming.
Yeah Sci Fi…… Definitely….. I think.
Historical for me, with sci-fi and fantasy tied for second place.
Why historical? You have everything from Babylon to F22 in every period and every theatre in all of human history.
No company can match that amount of background and detail.
Sci-fi and fantasy are the escapist genres.
For me! it is Sci-Fi all the way, when I got into wargame I was a big world war II guy, but now games like mercs and infinity I have moved away from wwII. I love the small unit combat action, and I don’t have to paint mass armies. To bad nobody plays infinity in my area of the world, It’s all warhammer and warmachine, Man! I hate those games
I find hard to read a comment that says that all fantasy literature is user garbage, when I’ve read a lot of the great Fantasy authors such as Tolkien, David Eddings, First, Robin Hobb etc etc, witch are pure imagination, as a posed to si-fi which 9 time out 10 is a continuation of our own time line which is also good in its own respect. Story lines like the 40k universe should not be called si-fi but si-fantasy….
I had to stick my vote towards the Pulp category because at the moment I’ve dipped my toe into Malifaux and the tentacles in the water dragged the rest of me in with great fervour and joy. Played two games, utterly hilarious, love it, love everything about it.
That being said, I couldn’t imagine playing Pulp/Weird on a large scale, so for large-scale games, always go with fantasy, some great memories of Ogres charging and High Elves inciting the wrath of the winds of magic.
Not voting since I have interests in all genres and refuse to pick and choose. 🙂 Also if you sit and think about it each category you gave covers a huge variety of different games and periods and sub genres so being specific is a problem.
Steampunk, horror pulp for me all the way. Just love the whole wierdness of it all and it really lets you free to do whatever you want. Want zombie steam robots you got em, want vampire gentlemans club you betcha!!!
Almost impossible to choose! I like all of them.. but probably spend the most time with Historical stuff these days, if that is any measure of how much you like something.
Infinity almost swings it in favour of Sci-fi for me, but not quite.
I think the results would have been a lot different a couple of years ago. Beasts of War is far more reflective of the gaming scene now.
Obviously I’m very fond of Victorian Science Fiction, but honestly I am very eclectic in my tastes.
For example I grew up with the W40K universe having been one of the early Rogue Trader players. I also like a good historical game, especially small unit action or skirmish rules. And I like fantasy.
I suspect many of the other people who voted in this poll are like myself, which rather makes a mockery of the categorisation the poll represents.
Cheers,
Craig
This is difficult, mainly as I play a lot of games from all genres, but also because of how you define which genre a game fit into. People have list X-Wing in Sci-Fi, However Star wars isn’t Sci-Fi It has a lot more in common with Fantasy the Sci-fi. Star wars, even more so now only the actually films are cannon, provide no scientific knowledge to pseudo explain how anything works.
There are things like 40K which many put into Sci-fi, which to me is incorrect as its more of a pulp game this is also for a similar reason as to why Star Wars is fantasy. there isn’t enough of the science explained to list is as Sci-fi. so for me 40 would be Pulp/punk weird and horror. Just because something is set in the future or it has “space ships and ray guns” doesn’t make something Sci-fi,
So for me this seems really hard, but would say Pulp, Punk, Horror & Weird is the genre that most interests me. Then its Sci-fi/Fantasy/historical all very close behinde it.