"Group Project: How Long Has It Been?" Topic

In a recent column for White Dwarf, Jervis Johnson extols the virtues of coming together as wargamers for a group project: "fantastic fun" and "extremely satisfying to be a part of"

How long has it been since you last participated in a group project?

Ages. Probably 1988.

Our current group coalesced around a guy who had the bright idea of actually following up on the HMGS East annual newsletter that grouped membership by ZIP code.
We were invited to join HIS club, which consisted of himself and his brother.
He "assigned" us a skirmish level ACW project, at a meeting to which I was late, and just got the jist of it. It didn't annoy me as much as it should have, since I was already doing the same for GASLIGHT. In effect, he was grafting on to my own GASLIGHT project. It did have tha catalytic effect of getting more guys involved.
Oddly enough, when the Big Game arrived, a "pure" ACW game using GASLIGHT rules, he did not participate.
We soon defenestrated ourselves from "his" club and started the world famous Pennsylvania Wargamers' Militia. We still have an occasional GASLIGHT game, with players supplying their own stuff.

Years later, a rump group of the Militia started playing Flames of War regularly, on "off" days. This was much better, since only the ones who really wanted to play joined the rump group.

Perhaps the dynamics of our group is different. The vast majority of the PaWM games are ones where one or two guys put on our biweekly game, and everyone else joins in to play with their toys. The next game, someone else supplies everything. It works well. For us. YMMV.

I think the bottom line is that the participants have to be in on it enthusiastically from the start. Assigning someone the Wurtemburgers just doesn't work.

Never – each player does his own thing, usually supplying all the minis, rules, and terrain for any particular game. Get to cover a lot of periods and rules that way.

Mine was back in 2000. We did a huge siege of Alesia game in 15mm (I think Bill featured it here). All I remember is being asked to paint more than two thousand, 15mm OG Gauls. We were using Tactica for our rules.

Man, you don't realize how few variants there really are in a figure line until you paint a few

Don

Currently engaged in two group projects.

Though in each case I will wind up owning two opposing forces I can use myself should the group project fall apart or someone move away. I've learnt my lesson there.

28mm Dark Ages for Saga – I have completed a force of Vikings. Other people are doing all sorts of of different forces including more Vikings to make a single large force. I will do Anglo Danish when Gripping Beast finally release the long promised plastic unarmoured types.

15/18mm French Indian wars for Muskets & Tomahawks. I have completed 200 points of French. Other people are doing more French & British. I will do British when I have completed 600 points of French.

but John, Wurtemburgers are awesome!

I'm currently in a 28mm Napoleonic project with 2 other guys. but I'm cheating, because i still have a Baden division from the last time i did napoleonics with a group, as well as a Russian cavalry corps and my Russian imperial guard and opolchenie.(i only sold my infantry corps) as my contribution to this project, I'm rebuilding my Russian infantry corps with warlord/perry miniatures(which was always part of the plan)

that being said I don't get into a project unless I'm really interested in the period. it doesn't really matter if my best friend or random person wants me to, if i can get interested i don't do it.

I also tend to do 2 opposing forces, as I almost always get burned when i build one force for any project and rely on someone else to build the other. I've only known on guy I've gamed with(so far) that followed through consistently once he committed, and he isn't around much anymore.

the only other time I'll consider doing only 1 force for a project while someone does the other is when the other person has me paint his army. At that point i know they are committed because I have their figures in hand, so i can verify the commitment.

Not in a long time now. We had one guy who was the catalyst for the group projects. Did a huge SYW project where everyone did one faction, then he sold all of the French, which crippled the game. Ever since people just do their own thing.

,,,but John, Wurtemburgers are awesome!

Not if you never heard of them before, and all the "good ones" are taken.

Our group did Wagram in 2009, Austerlitz in 2010 and are currently working on Borodino for Sept of this year.

Never done one.

To plan a group project well you need to ensure that the thing isn't totally wrecked if one (or more) of the participants pull out.

1992

I've been asked to participate in them many times since then. I always bow out. Before 1992 I was -- Oh I think at least a dozen group projects. Not one of them ever amounted to anything. They all started with the formula…

"HEY LET'S DO XXXXXXXXX" with everyone taking some part of the project and doing painting or model making or something. I did my stuff and showed up to find that of the eight or so people who volunteered, one guy did one unit and that was it, two of them weren't there any more and three of them couldn't do it for some reason like "Their cat had a psychological complex they had to nurse them through or something." The last guy said he saw his job as "coordinating" and "directing the efforts of the others."

Whenever I hear "Let's do a project" what comes through is HEY OTTO, I HAVE A GREAT IDEA!!! WHY DON'T YOU DO ALL THE WORK FOR US AND MAKE A GAME FOR US!

Then there's the other problem.

I was in on group where I studiously avoided this and kept a low profile. Over three months the one guy who wanted to do Warwhacker and had a big set up, and he nagged everyone to do the same thing, and get other things that could compliment his. Just when other people were ACTUALLY getting their stuff together, he decided they didn't want to do it any more and wanted to move on to something else. When everyone exploded that they had put all this money and effort into it, he got a sour face and said "Ok, we'll spend another four weeks on this and then we'll wrap it up.

He and two other friends basically dominated the club (and it wasn't even at his house).

That was about the time when I did my de-materialization act.

Depends on your definition of group

Three of us have had an ACW campaign for about ten years (into the second re-fight of the ACW now)

Two of us did a bunch of Ancients last year

Nothing else springs to mind

Last year – our group re-fought the Badab War with each player taking part in it by representing one of the chapters. Great fun and it really did bring loads of people together.

I've always thought that my varying and tidal interest level would settle down with a group. I have only really done GW's epic games that way, and not recently.

But my son got me a bunch of 15mm Quar for my birthday, and we're approach getting half of them done for a game. We'll see if we can keep on track and get the whole batch done and gamed with before he goes back to school in August.

I think it sounds like a much better way to do it, since it might settle whims (I won't run off if nobody else is going to run with me), and I might finish something I only dabble with normally because someone else is waiting for it. In theory.

andy

Probably 10 years ago. We did a couple of projects before that which I really enjoyed, but my group is so spastic (me included) that we now get nothing done as a group.

Allen

I've been involved in three during the past year. Like anything, different people are unevenly committed and sometimes exigency plans are necessary.

Semi 'Group Projects' … all the time. Most of our local games are group project but usually one person does all the kit (then the project doesn't have to be split up): but that usually means more than one group project going on.

Bread and butter in our group

Right now we are doing:

Samurai for SAGA
Napoleonics for a Lasalle Leipzig campaign

15mm WWII for FOW is always on the go too.

I've tried it a few times. Never has worked very well. Except when we did a jousting tournement. Every just had to paint one monted and one unmounted figure. Everyone did it and we had a blast playing.

Years ago. But really, it depends upon how 'project'
is defined. Some of us do 'outreach' projects every
year involving schools, museums, public facilities,
etc.

Five of us are doing the 7 Days, using different rule
sets and figure scales (5 of the battles, that is).

2 right now- Strange Aeons and beginning to work on Darkest Africa.
M

Ongoing for several years – 1809 project in 2008-2009, Borodino project since then coming to a head in 1 month!

Also a club Hail Caesar project. Great when it works – after a while you come to know who will likley be able to fulfill their commitments, and who have good intenetions but may not be reliable to deliver.

BAck in the late '90s, we did 15mm Western Desert. Several of us also did 15mm Napoleonic. It was a matter of volunteer to do what you want: I wasn't really into Napoleonics, but I did the Saxons to be a team player.

Lately, the new group has started talking about doing a project.

Grelber

Probably about 10-15 years ago.

Well, this recently: carobbeansea.blogspot.com

EMW

Never.

"How long has it been since you last participated in a group project?"

I do at least one every year for our annual show participation game, and am working on another one right now (featuring Vulcans, Migs and nuclear weapons, woohoo)

The Maine Historical Wargamers Association has done a few in the past few years. They did a HUGE Battle of Sabis (The Sambre, if you prefer) in 28mm, a Vikings/Saxons project in 28mm, and a Boxer Rebellion game in 28mm. Various gamers painted various units and the whole lot was brought together for the mega-game at Huzzah!, the annual convention.

Great stuff, and a real display piece at the convention.

In the midst of one now.
Punic War demo game.

Generally trying to get war gamers to work together for long term projects usually fails. Too many of us are subject to "OH Shiney…" Then we also herd as well as cats.

I find its better to plan on doing both sides and that way if one of your friends falls by the wayside there are no hard feelings.

I am done with group projects. Where I live the gamers never follow through.

If a 'group' can mean 2 then I'm doing one now.

At my club a small group decided on AWI. However the guy who bagged the Brits hasn't bothered to either paint anything or to turn up for a game yet resulting in several Frenchvs Patriots line ups.