"So is WWI becoming the next "thing" in gaming?" Topic

There are a lot of WWI products coming out now a days. It looks like even Khurasan Jon is hopping into the fray:

TMP link

And he's, normally, a 15mm sci-fi company.

So what do you guys think? With this year being the Centennial of WWI, do you think WWI gaming will be the next gaming "thing"? At least for the next few years anyway?

Are you going to game this period too? If so what scale, what rules?

I think WW1 wargaming has bene bubbling along nicely for years, however the 100 years anniversary will hopefully raise the profile and interest.

I've been doing it for years, and being deeply sad, do it in three scales (6mm, 15mm, 20mm). My particular interest is high intensity trench warfare at Corps level, but I also do all the boringly popular 'mobile' periods 1914, 1918, Mesopotamia, Palestine etc.

My generally preferred rules are grand tactical (Great War Spearhead, Square Bashing) or operational (Megablitz, OP14) plus various homegrown things. I have played quite a lot of other commercial ones though. There is even a 1914 variant for V&B which works quite well, and I did a variant for Fire & Fury which was entertaining.

ummmmm I don`t think WW1 will be very popular outside the centennial time frame. WW1 can involve a lot of research and will provide quite a few scenarios, that means buying quite a few figures.
I have some 28mm for skirmish game, but 15mm is a better option for larger scale battles.

Like Martin says, we have been playing it for years.
OUR guru only does it in 2 scales, 15mm and 20mm.

It will depend on new rules sets, new figures and the amount of hype the companies are willing to put into. I suspect Naval and Air games will show up. I think the easiest rules would be for the early war years although I have a pair of cracking good little trench raid games by Victory Point Games that are fun and surprisingly accurate. In the end it will all depend on the industry jumping in and making it "the next big thing".

Been playing it for years.

6mm RFCM's 'Square Bashing',
28mm TFL 'Through The Mud and The Blood'
1/144th Air 'Algernon Pulls It Off'.

Biplanes have always been cool. Who don't love them some biplanes? Even the general public likes biplanes. Knights of the skies. (There is a reason Wings of Glory WWI outsells the WWII version.)

The rest of the war? Meh.

The scenery requirements for trench games are really off=putting, hence the popularity of early war and Middle East.

From my point of view not a really good range in 28mm yet (Great War Miniatures are very variable – a lot of them suffer from bobble head syndrome) but am looking forward to the new figures from Bill Thornhill, Paul Hicks and Victrix…

Don't mean to be too contrary, but WW1 is pretty popular around here. Chris and Stewart are doing a re-fight of Mons at Fisticuffs in May. I have taken the liberty of including Russian Civil War and other conflicts of the period into WW1.Tim and I did some Herero in Africa too.

martin

And he's, normally, a 15mm sci-fi company.

Actually I began as an historical miniature manufacturer and I still have more historical codes than anything else. I'm not a 15mm sci-fi company, although I do make it and like it very much.

Viz:
link

So there's really nothing unusual about my getting into another historical period. The majority of my releases over the past half year or so have been historical armies, or current infantry and vehicles.

I certainly do WWI in the air, but as for land, yes, due to the anniversary it does seem to be the flavor of the month.
That said, I have never gamed WWI, and all these new releases only tempt me towards 1914, before the trenches had been dug.But I, like the heroic defenders of the Marne, continue to resist (and if I am in the end successful, we may all be speaking of the Second Miracle of the Marne).

But you know, I think we all expected this, and I have no problem if the cash-strapped companies in our little niche market want to make a buck on 1914

Who knows, maybe Battlefront will release "The World War I Miniatures Game" this year :)

"OUR guru only does it in 2 scales, 15mm and 20mm. "

Oh OFM, I thought YOU were the Guru for these here parts.

The question I have is do trench fights get old/stale after a few games?

I don't play WWI even though 3 out of 4 ancestors did not come back from it.

The question I have is do trench fights get old/stale after a few games?

I have to say Toofatlardies' Through The Mud And The Blood a few years ago was a real revelation for me – until they came out I'd always regarded WWI at the tactical level as basically unplayable, but they absolutely nailed it.

"Who don't love them some biplanes?"

Ooh yes, I remember playing with Airfix planes stuck on poles using the old Paragaon WW1 air combat rules back in the 1970s.

"do trench fights get old/stale after a few games?"

Depends on your scenarios really, trenches are only terrain features. There isn't much difference between a WW1 and WW2 formal assault on a prepared position, it is still all about fire & movement.

No.

I think there will be a bit of a spike – and there's a lot more variety than a person might think at first. However, long term I don't think so. It doesn't have the "glamour" (and I use that word with some reluctance) of other preiods – like medievals (Agincourt !) or Colonials (Rorke's Drift !).

Unless some "fun" action movies set in WW1 also come along in the next couple of years.

I think it is a good period to game, but the rules have to emphasize anticipation, communication, and timing over improvised maneuvering.

Once people realize it is not quite as hopeless as the popular, but politically motivated post-war narratives, it could find a solid niche.

Oooooh 20th Maine, donīt get me started! Donīt think I havenīt noticed that next year will be the 600th anniversary of Agincourt. Iīve already been re-reading my Henry V! I think this could get expensive…

I've had an burgeoning interest in WWI since I watched Upstairs Downstairs a couple years ago. Not that that show features much action, but it did give send me off reading about that era and the war that defined it.
Biplanes are always fun but I think I'd want something that would let me use those clunky old tanks… so 6mm I think.

Well as Victrix is coming out with 28mm Plastics I can see my WW1 army expanding. We have been doing a WW1 trench game about once or twice a year for the last 5 years. May have to bump that up a bit.

The guys I game with play VBCW and that has actually gotten me more interested in WWI.

Actually I began as an historical miniature manufacturer and I still have more historical codes than anything else. I'm not a 15mm sci-fi company, although I do make it and like it very much.

Sorry Jon, but you are one of the go to guys when it comes to 15mm sci-fi! I thought it was telling that you're showing interest in it, but maybe I shouldn't have. If your interests match-up with your catalogue, you're all over the place too!

I doubt it – it'll all be over by Christmas…

I see what you did there Sparker! (well played)

I am super WWI interested this year.

I got 2FatLardied as well when the rules came out and did the trench run (actually my scenario was all about which section could kik their football into the German trenches first ;-) if you run mini game to game campaigns it stays very fresh and not the least boring, I must add the right rules will keep this period high on the gaming agenda. Cheers and over the top we go lads.

Time to chip in.. and yes, another one who has been playing WW1 for years, both 6mm and 20mm. I also remember playing WW1 air with Airfix bipl;anes on poles. 25 years ago we refought Jutland in 1/3000th.. I still have the High Seas Fleet.

The 'problem' with trench style games is IMO created by perception and rules sets .. Great War Spearhead means that trench level games are challenging and interesting with the scale of play (divisional/corp level).

wargaming.org.nz

Kind regards
Robin

Hey;

Why does everyone want to fit their rules to the scale. WWI is like the great game "Diplomacy",I know it seems soo "Stratego", but WW1can be played at the strategic level, you don't have to recognize the faces of all the riflemen in your platoon. It give so many possibilities, from trench raids, to – on a larger, less individual scale – battalion, or even regimental actions. In 15 mm, 25,, or even 54 mm, play the game, not the scale!

Wargames should be fun, not mechanical.

Swab Jockey

I've been gaming WW1 for years. I started out with aviation gaming (canvas eagles), naval, and now trench warfare. Actually I made my own trenches and scoured out the internet over 10 years ago for 15mm figures which were not very popular back then.

I've got a bunch of Brigade and Renegade 28mm stuff for this war, and use Iron Ivan's Price of Glory or GW's Great War depending on my mood.

"Why does everyone want to fit their rules to the scale."

I'm not sure we particularly are.

"The Trenches and Flames of War"!

I have been playing WWI since I was 13 years old and that is now 37 years ago :) I have (at one time or another) had nearly every board game you could get on the subject and even today I have 54mm down to 6mm. My preferred level of play is Div/Corps with 15mm or 6mm figs using Great War Spearhead II. But I also do some WWI action/pulp using 28mm figs and my own INEPTT rules.

WWI is an awesome gaming period and I think its fantastic to see it actually game more traction that it has had in the past. I think people have panned it because of the bad press about "Lions led by Donkeys" a sentiment I do not believe. There is so much scope in this Genre that it can be a bit mind boggling :)

Have fun – lets get OVER THE TOP as we head OVER THERE and rush through the fields of Poppies to the GREEN FIELDS BEYOND :)

Shawn

I think it could if people will get off the "WWI was only the Western front from 1916-1918 that was all trench warfare" kick. There are numerous fronts, a wide range of nations and different periods of the war that have tons of gaming flavor.

To have sustained interest war games require some sort of "romantic involvement." There is no romantic involvement in a "million men to take a mile" ON BOTH sides. Nattering on about the war in Africa or The Holy Land or the Soft Underbelly of Europe are simply colonial games. WWI IS The Western Front. Other than that you have the Austro-Italian War in which there are trenches but you do have the Alps. What was it Seventeen battles of the Isonzo? The Eastern Front is WWII without tanks and planes and Nazi's. But you do have Armored Trains…. yay…..

Didn't the Austro-Russian front also have massed cavalry combats, with divisions of horsemen milling around?

Good to see we didn't get any daft posts from the "I couldn't game that kind of senseless slaughter" brigade. Who then promptly go back to their Napoleonic slug-fests and Ancients massacres…..

I couldn't game that kind of senseless slaughter

Not like the perfectly sensible slaughters the rest of us game?

I do hope the centennial brings about more interst in WWI. The Western Front certainly presents unique challenges (as does Gallipoli – but that's just sick) I like the Eastern Front for the variety.

I'm in. Mind you, the Great War has always been my primary interest going by my library alone. Those pickelhaube airfix figures from the 70's might have had something to do with it too. As an Aussie, I was also raised on the nation building ANZAC myth, so the Great War is always going to be one of my periods.

I have 6mm Palestine, 15mm light horseman and have just ordered 28mm woodbine design for Gallipoli. As soon as there are some plastic late war figures, I will be doing western front as well.

Remember the ace of aces books? Loved those as well. Everyone loves a biplane.

Worth pointing out that WW1 minis feed into interwar use. So the 1919-38 crowd get use out of all this too, especially for Russian Civil War, A Very British Civil War etc, and especially from plastics, which are easier to convert or use parts from.

Early WW2 French are essentially in WW1 kit, too. And pop an Adrian helmet on a British model and you have Free French right there. Voila!

In many cases this is very true. The possible exceptions relate mainly to some of the weapons. This issue is highlighted by the early WW2 French as a case in point. The Chauchat was replaced with the Fusil-mitrailleur in the French army during the inter-war years. On the other hand you can see photographs of German troops re-occupying the Rhineland in 1936 who are carrying MG08 machine guns.

Robert

Ottoathome – perhaps it is of more interest if your family, who you remember, was there?

Been playing WW1/RCW for a few years now in 28mm, there were a lot of great figures even when I started though – I was quite surprised how much good stuff there was (all these figs in the link were available even a few years back when I started).

link

I like the "big skirmish" level wih rules like Mud & Blood, up to a company strength, later war so there is more variety of infantry weaponry and tactics. We tend to play non-Western front as the games are more open and there is a big variety in nations (Salonika front is great as *everyone's* army was there)

I probably should try to track down where exactly my Mom's Dad served (we still have his 'smokey bear' hat). I'm not sure about a relation to Alvin York (Grandma was a York, but I don't know that they were related).

But since I'm an American, that leaves personal attachment to the Western Front, probably 1918. And those strike me as just really ugly fights. I can sorta accept losses like that in 40k, but it's a bit different when you realize that it's people who could really have been related to you…

Does someone have a few book recommendations for actions before the war settled into the trenches?

There were some very important actions involving Americans and mobile warfare in WW1. The Great War Spearhead II rules has a really nice Belleau Wood scenario that features the Marines up against von Conta's divisions. And the latter stages of the Meuse-Argonne offensive involved rapid movement too. The St Mihiel offensive was more mobile as the Germans were withdrawing from the salient when the attack began. Cantigny works like a semi-mobile battle too, at least in the stage when the Big Red One captured the town.

Robert

Thanks, Monk.

Now to find some nice 15mm minis (or should I give up on my attempt to game ground combat in a minimal number of scales and go for 6mm or smaller)?

If you have a strong dislike of modern warfare, no "anniversary" is going to cause a spike in wargaming interest. Except the airplanes, of course….

We are dusting off all are old 15mm Minifigs WW1.
They must 30+ years old and still looking very good for there age (as per usual we will be bying sum more).
We have not played WWW1 for 20 years.

It is like starting a new project and we already have the armys!(they do need a little work)