Reply To: Inaccessibility of Historical Wargaming

[oriskany 60771xp 3]

To respond to the latest posts of @piers and @commodorerob –

Would be nice if in time, a more positive view of historical gaming and its players could emerge.

I would agree.  God knows we’ve tried.  But there’s only so much I can do.  Honestly, I’m tired.

A welcoming and informative historical forum could be a boon to BoW …

I would agree.  The issue here, though I feel … isn’t so much with BoW, but the community.  Even historical players aren’t terribly supportive of each other.

A recent example: I went through the Projects and hit +1s and comments on just about every historical project I could find.

The Great War project didn’t get a single comment.  Plenty of +1s, sure.  But the project and the Centennial Wargaming thread basically died.

I’m certainly not the only one who’s had to put up with this, just an example.

Again, it’s a community support issue, not a BoW Team support issue.

Beasts of War have only scratched the surface of Historical gaming.

I would agree on that.  But they have to follow what the community responds to.  So I get it.

@oriskany does a grand job with his excellent articles.

Thanks very  much.  But like I say at the end of the Kursk Part 05 – I’m stepping back from these big article series for a while.

I hate to sound repetitive, but again … just not enough community support, at least when compared against the amount of work poured into it.

Like FDR said at Yalta: “Yes, I look tired.  You’d be tired too if you spent four years pushing Winston uphill in a wheelbarrow.”

… not so much focus on the 20th Century …

Yes, we’ve tried that.  See AWI series and Saratoga series.  Of @elessar2590’s FWI and Sharpe’s Practice series.  Again, not the greatest levels of community support.

Ancients, Medieval or Renaissance periods …

I look forward to these articles.  I can’t wait to see who writes them.   😀  I’d write them except (a) no one would read or support them and (b) I’m not spending $$$ or time building armies required for the photos.

… more video content on Historical games …

I would agree on a personal level.  But leaving aside Boot Camps, who would watch these videos?

Old Bolt Action and Chain of Command videos didn’t get the best of comment counts.

Also, there are tons of historical unboxing videos.

I don’t mean to disagree with everything you say, in principle I agree 100%.  I just feel like we’re asking the BoW team to do more and more, when the actual shortfall in effort, investment, and commitment lies with the community.

Put another way, there has to be more than one “Oriskany.”