What makes a wargame successful Part 2 – Powergamers and Cost – OnTableTop

What makes a wargame successful Part 2 – Powergamers and Cost

November 5, 2010 by warzan

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This is Part 2 (actually Part 3 but part 2 had some issue)

We finish our talk about what are the 'requirements' of a successful wargame.

It was an interesting topic and we're very keen to know what you guys think.

Iv’e invaded the RTD group here: //www.beastsofwar.com/groups/rtd/forum/topic/what-makes-a-table-top-game-successful

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elromanozo

15 years ago

The golden age of wargaming ? Dear Warren, I couldn’t agree more !

genahab

15 years ago

I do believe this is a golden age of wargaming….. lets just hope it doesn’t end in the creation of a dark god.

manpug

15 years ago

To be honest, the number one factor in the hobby that is holding it back is this. Ladies. Yes you can call me sexist or what not, but think about it. If the games did studies on who buys and plays the games, I think it will come as no surprise to us that females are by far a minority if not nonexistent. Don’t get me wrong I wish more ladies where into the table top game hobby. Where gaming is now its not really lady friendly. Also it hinders teens and men from getting into it. Why is that? Think about it, try telling your date or wife you like to play with toy tanks and such. I can only speak from experience as how hard it was to tell my girlfriend this is what my hobby is. She gave me the weirdest look at first and said OK I support you… as long as its not expensive.

The way I see this hobby at the moment it has to become more apart of the trend setter crowd. Have really high profile names make it OK or even better, cool to be a gamer. Think of how fast GW and the others will grow if the Will Smith’s and Lady Gaga’s of the world played table top games. People follow like sheep when the rich and famous do something new.

kane

15 years ago

What’s holding the hobby back is hobbyists that seem embarrassed to say they are hobbyists – I’m 52 and I play with toy soldiers, get used to it ….. I don’t binge drink, smoke, fight in the streets, beat my wife or kids or torture animals – what I spend is earned not stolen and if people don’t like it then tough. Trying to make gaming cool or trendy is a mistake because the people who follow trends are the same people that that flit from trend to trend trying to be cool or trendy, it wouldn’t last – just make good games and good miniatures and let the hobby stand or fall on merit – oh and for our younger players get washed before going to your FLGS – I went to mine last week and it was so smelly I left and bought my paints in the GW store!

ramb

15 years ago

For me Warren is completly right with his prediction about the internet being a major factor.
I fell out with the hobby about two years ago because of various factors. i didnt negelct my club or lose contact with my fellow local gamers i just didnt game, paint or actively practise the hobby i had loved for 8 years. Since the rise of Beasts of War , BOLS , mini wargaming ( you tube actually saved the hobby for me by giving me access to all the content ). i now feel so much happier about the hobby and have in the last year got back into fantasy, 40k epic and warmachine and picked up new games like FOW and infinity and hordes. So id like to thank thank mainly the whole beasts of war team for making this community stronger. keep up the great work. Oh and warren your welsh stalker helped me a great deal too 😛 , those bear hugs are win!

brotherofbrass

15 years ago

This has to be some kind of Golden Age; so many new games and mini makers around, a breadth of choice I’ve not witnessed in the 16 years I’ve been wargaming. The internet has very subtly infiltrated my hobby-inspiring battle reports by real players, informative painting/modelling logs by real painters-it’s all so much more approachable than the Golden Deamon ‘Standard’.
I really like the idea of Privateer’s Press-Gangers, but I’ve no idea where they could ply their trade in the UK, not many FLGSs round my way…

snagrok

15 years ago

I love the BOW site. It has made me much more involved in the hobby. That and youtube with the battle reports. I think if you give the information to the people, it will make the hobby grow. I go to the BOW site at least three times a week. And I tell others to do the same. Spread the wealth of knowlage. That and im looking into more games, other than 40k. Warmachine, and hords for instance. Without BOW I wouldnt even know about them. Big thanks.

lowjacker

15 years ago

the best thing about power-gaming d-bags are their faces when you beat them, i have several friends who are obsessive about winning every time, whereas i take a more relaxed approach to gaming. but when they think they are going to win, and then my 110point emperors champion smites their 100point autarch, casts off every psychic attack on him, and then slays an avatar or khaine unharmed. you’d think they’d seen a ghost. this is why they are essential to hobbies, its just so fun to beat them

neldoreth

15 years ago

I was thinking about this video and I realized that the facilitator didn’t really define the meaning of successful. By success, did they mean growing a large publicly-traded company that can become a financial powerhouse in the industry with a big bottom line? Or did they mean creating a game that gained a wide following in the community with long-term support from players? They aren’t the same thing.

Games Workshop could be argued to be both financially powerful and have a rules set that has longevity and community support, however I’m not so sure the Warhammer rule sets would last much longer if GW stopped producing nice figs that are very easy to find and buy. There are other games that don’t have any support from a company or the authors that still have a large international community of supporters years and years after they were written. DBA is a great example of that.

So, the question is did they mean: what makes a company that is getting into miniature gaming financially successful? Or did they mean: what makes a game system and rule set into something that will be widely adopted and maintain its popularity?

I think some of the answers would have been a lot more obviously similar if the question was better defined… Also, I wanted to chime in about rules lawyer types. Or power gamers. Personally, I really appreciate guys who know the rules really well; they are always around to help out and make gaming much more enjoyable. I don’t like jerks though. So, if you can be a power gamer and not a jerk, then that’s great! But if you’re a jerk, power gamer or otherwise, I’d prefer not to have to play with you 🙂

taisac

15 years ago

Nice to watch/hear round table conversations about wargaming, now its looking more like videogaming, but I think this will grow (if it does, which I belive it will) much faster. The world of today is far more globalized.

I agree that wargaming is in some point : power-wargaming vs pure-hobbist but you didnt even touch the third part of what wargaming for me is. The fluff, stories, background, characters, I don´t think is the same to play with some random Romans than to be playing a Named Space Marine. (Please, no offense to historical players). However Warren has made his point before so I know he understands. Here come the books and codex to enlarge that universe. There´s where imagination starts to fly, painted and modeled miniatures which are unique and have a story to tell.