Reply To: "Golden Age of Wargaming"….perhaps not?

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@volleyfireandy – I’d suspect if you broke it down you’d probably have similar numbers of people doing just that as there’s always been.  It’s just eclipsed by the number of people doing other stuff. – That might be true.  😀

Although, I certainly don’t “mind” the marketing (I was just quoting @phaidknott there).  And I don’t mind higher production values in the components.  I spend days drawing hi-res Panzer Leader maps (with streams on Twitch) rather than play on the 1970s “old & busted” geomorphic boards who’s hexes didn’t line up, who didn’t have the hexes numbered because they couldn’t print and publish fine enough in those days, the number of the hex would overpower the hex and you’d be looking at a grid of numbers… the counters were too small, they didn’t come out of the punch sheets well, the printing sometimes slewed off the side of the counter …

I only bring all these things up because a lot of times, “old grognards” like me are dismissed as just being nostalgic.  And I keep saying no, I played “this game” or “that game” last week and to do so I had to create 100s of new virtual pieces because the original pieces were ass.  I know these older games had plenty of warts, I work with them every day so there has been no time for “rose colored tint” to build up on my glasses, especially when it comes to the physical production value of the components.

It’s when the game designers feel the need to build game RULES and SYSTEM that will cater to today’s market.  Too many games come out feeling like Settlers of Catan or Parcheesi or Ticket to Ride or Chutes & Ladders.  I get WHY they have to do it.  It’s just a shame, is all.

For the record, I still maintain there are “torches in the darkness,” more recent games that buck this trend.  I think you and enjoy some of the same games. (Battlegroup).  Also I like Force-on-Force (still the best, I feel, when it comes to true modern asymmetrical warfare), AirWar C21 was another good find from as recent as 2017 (at least the latest edition), Valor & Victory came out in 2007.

I just feel they are the minority whereas before that wasn’t necessarily the case.   Is that because there are fewer GOOD games, or just more MEDIOCRE games by comparison?  Open question, I suppose.

Yep, @torros – I am subscribed to S&T WaW and S&T Modern War (obviously). 😀