"The value of a painted block of wood" Topic

Have the July issue of WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED. Though not a student or fan of Pulp gaming, I thought the magazine was a good read. (Have to defer to Ubercommando and his well received critiques/reviews which are posted on another board of this large forum.)

Was wondering what others thought about this excerpt from a well written column or op/ed piece.

"Actually seeing troops deployed on a table helps us to understand why particular armies fought the way they did and also helps us to recognize their weaknesses. Would the advantages and inherent weaknesses of Alexander's Phalanx be so obvious if they were represented by a painted block of wood?"

- quoted from page 115 of WI, Issue 321. "A Game of War" by Pete Brown – FIGHTING TALK!

"Would the advantages and inherent weaknesses of Alexander's Phalanx be so obvious if they were represented by a square of cardboard on a paper map?"

"Would the advantages and inherent weaknesses of Alexander's Phalanx be so obvious if they were represented by a eight little men rather than eight thousand?"

*Snort*

"Would the advantages and inherent weaknesses of Alexander's Phalanx be so obvious if they were represented by a painted block of wood?"

I've played wargames with unpainted blocks of wood!

I think it depends on the person – those who peruse the Lone Warrior Blog will have come across one of Chris Hahn's approaches to tabletop gaming which is, in effect, 3D terrain with unit "counters" carrying 2D images and play information. I think it looks really neat and am attracted to the concept, but can equally see it's not for everyone. I guess it depends on what one wants from a game and fior this point specifically how one visualises data/information .

Units are rectangles. Blocks of wood are (usually) rectangles. You are just replacing one footprint with another. One is clearly more aesthetically pleasing but the representation many men with relatively few figures is not going to help in the understanding of a battle.

"Would the advantages and inherent weaknesses of Alexander's Phalanx be so obvious if they were represented by overweight wargamers sitting in an air-conditioned game room?"

If it was Wargame Developments the overweight gamer would be made to wear a hoplite helmet and would be jostled by the other gamers during the phalanx combat whilst making binding gaming decisions in real time.

Thtat's not a criticism – I think that would give a partial "insight" into the issues involved. Note "partial".

If it was Wargame Developments the overweight gamer would be made to wear a hoplite helmet and would be jostled by the other gamers during the phalanx combat whilst making binding gaming decisions in real time.

Wargame Developments don't actually do that much soi-disant "cardboard simulation" these days.

Would the advantages and inherent weaknesses of Alexander's Phalanx be so obvious if they were represented by figures that don't have identical poses, move, sweat, breathe hard, get dirty, stumble about a bit, grunt, lean to one side or the other, sneeze, squint, look away at a loud noise, change position, shield their eyes from the glare of the sun, loose the odd sandal, have different height/ weight/ skin color/ hair length/ beard state … OK, I'm bored now.

I agree with the OP. A block of wood is a wooden block while nicely painted miniatures are sublime.

Have you never played with a plank before?

saucy !

nicely painted miniatures are sublime.

You really think nicely painted miniatures are of high spiritual, moral, or intellectual worth?
Just asking.

You had blocks of wood!! Lucky sod. I had to wargame with rocks and twigs!!

My figures are glued to blocks of wood, well 2mm thick plywood, with sand, rocks, paint, glue and grass.

So are they blocks of wood, figures or both?

blocks of wood, twigs and rocks pshaw we carved bas reliefs in the sandstone cliffs and rolled them around on logs

Luxury!

LOL. +1 to badwargamer. (Yes I've played quite a few 'planks' in my time so far. Cheers all and my thanks for the delightful hubris.

nicely painted miniatures are sublime.

I do understand that that's the theory…

You really think nicely painted miniatures are of high spiritual, moral, or intellectual worth?
Just asking.

Hell Yes!