Reply To: Inaccessibility of Historical Wargaming

[coxjul 13301xp 0]

My take/summary (also just posted on XLBS

I think it comes down to one word – ‘Fidelity’. It’s then how obsessed the player/group are about being hi-fi vs what most of us are happy to play – i.e. lo-fi representations like Saga, FoW, Bolt-Action. The fidelity rating applies to different aspects:
* Rules – hi-fi rules and systems attempt to recreate a lot of specialised units, weapons, leaders that capture the subtle differences found in the real world; lo-fi have much more generalised rules. In this respect one might consider some non-historical systems like 40k as hi-fi.
* Situation – is this attempting to replay history accurately, adapt history with some what-ifs, or simply be some “let’s see what we’ve got to play with” situation.
* Setting – this can applies mainly to terrain. Is is attempting to be a hi-fi re-enactment of a well recorded historic setting, or a loose ‘what-if’ setting for a bit of fun.
* Models – how wysiwyg are you being? If you’re going hi-fi on the last three aspects then the models need to be identifiable as specialised, unique units/characters. Proxying is the lo-fi option but provided everyone’s happy, which brings us to the final point…
* Human players – the most important aspect. Gamers have different obsessions, interests and therefore buttons that they like to have pressed. For some the fun lies in hi-fi recreation, so the research and execution of historically accurate hobby and gaming is what it’s about for them. For others the gaming comes first, a collection of flexible models to enable that comes second and sod the historic accuracy.

I don’t think we should assume historical is automatically inaccessible. Sure there are some obsessive hi-fi types playing in their hi-fi communities… and that’s fantastic stuff. Most of us want some lo-fi fun. Consider the glorious variety visible on the tables at somewhere like Salute.

I could however repeat all the above about some 40k, or the emerging Star Wars Legion game groups and players; some of whom are equally obsessed with being true to the fictional cannon and lore.

Enjoy your version of our hobby, respect (and sometimes secretly admire) other people’s!