"Your favorite wargaming subject to gripe about? " Topic

Rules that dictate tactics, or that outright model tactics by the letter of the rule.

(Example: "This unit deploys on the table under these conditions and is automatically removed after attacking whether successful or not.")

Put the weapon systems and my troops on the table and get the hell out of my way, because if the only way I can play is YOUR way, there's no point in my playing at all.

Games Workshop and their latest evil plans.

Retail figures websites that don't have pictures of their product.

TMP Polls

1. Bad terrain, like using masking tap roads and rivers. Felt on the battlefield etc.

2. Non-Historical miniature wargaming.

3. Using 6mm or smaller figures.

4. Gimmicky wargame rules. An author trying to stand out in the crowd.

5. Players who believe the one who is the loudest wins the argument.

6. Know it all's. They usually don't.

7. People who get upset at the slightest thing and walkout in the middle of a game. Although sometimes that is a good thing.

8. People who complain about your game but never put on one themselves. Let someone else do the heavy lifting and then complain about it.

9. Players who ask the GM a dozen question about what they can or cant do. It is the equivalent of throwing a bunch of stuff against the wall and see what sticks. My standard answer is "what do the rules say". In an ACW game, can I use a helicopter to transport my artillery?

10. And for the millionth time. The British would not send troops to fight on the Confederate side in the ACW! No problem with playing a fantasy game like that. Just don't pretend you are doing history. It is pure fantasy. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I think, sort of.

11. Re-basing

12. How I cannot find a set of Nappy rules I like and have to settle for rules which I am not enthusiastic about.

What fun.

I loathe gaming/hobby shops these days. "Back in the good old days", gaming emporiums always had a fun selection of "not sold yet" historical stuff. Pawing through a bin almost always yielded something I wanted to paint. Sometimes I'd get lucky and find enough to paint up a unit. Now, gaming shops sell nothing but cloned fantasy and scifi garbage. Historicals, if there are any, also partake of the few "latest rave" game system and attendant miniatures. And they are never in "my period".

That's what I will always rant about when discussing the subject of the "state of the hobby".

What I can't resist chiming in with on the subject of gaming itself is: "abstraction versus simulation". I am into simulating each and every combat system possible, individually and fully. This penchant for abstraction, even including not removing miniatures/elements that have been "destroyed", really annoys me. Is it so hard to throw a round of pila and remove the "dead" before combat? That's how it worked, so play it that way. Don't go adding in some combat "value" bonus for a round of pila, just throw the dammed things. That's just a facile example to show what I mean. The more abstract the game system, the less I like it. The more simulation of specific tactical systems, the more I like it, provided (caveat) the simulation is smooth, elegant and simple. Games bogged down in the details are just as bad as abstractions, only in a different way….

Forgot to add buying armies using points. I guess that goes hand n hand with tournaments. I never have liked tournaments. I do this to learn history not how to "game" the rules.

Other wargamers….

People on TMP…

Massive massive miniature battles in the horse and musket period that have 9 gazillions of figures, 12 bored players and crawling along at one turn per two hours. You know you have seen this, A lot.

The un matchable different sizes between manufacturers (figures and vehicles)within the 'same scale', hence why I do mostly Fantasy and Sci Fi.

People who look down on points and insist they only do accurate scenarios.

People insist on points and won't consider unbalanced historical.

Painting

People who insist that things have to be totally accurate.

People who don't care about trying to get a reasonable amount of accuracy.

Phrases in rules along the line "each base should be a beautiful diorama".

My luck.

Painting.

People who insist on measuring to the eye.

The fact we use size not scale.

Points that are obviously wrong.

Painting.

People who moan about Tango.

People who take it too seriously.

People who don't take it seriously enough.

Weird base sizes (7/8 x 1"1/8? Really?)

People who ask "can I use with 'x' scale." Yes. Yes you can.

People on TMP who see the title "This is about 'x', and post a reply saying 'I don't know anything about 'x'

I have two big gripes.

The first is unfriendly wargames clubs, particularly ones which advertise themselves as friendly on their websites. "We'll play any game" when in fact they only play about 6 favourites. Why not just put on the website "we're a tight knit bunch of pedants who only play games we think are worthy and which are long out of print. Only like minded gamers need apply" and save newcomers the trouble?

The second are those gamers who trot out the same hoary old bunch of clichés about certain games or eras, especially if those clichés are inaccurate or don't do things justice. It can be the old "wall to wall tanks" criticism of Flames of War…and have you noticed that those who complain the most about that are those who've NEVER PLAYED THE GAME? It can also be the really tired jokes about Italian soldiers being cowards.

Served with French troops in Afghanistan, TOTALLY sick and tired of the French army getting called surrender monkeys, or some such thing. They were good soldiers and I felt honored to serve with them in a combat zone. Rant over……………..

Battles in the horse and musket period that re-fight titanic battles in 2 hours, with 100 figures, with dumbed down, fast play, moronic rules, where any sort sort of thought, strategy, subtlety or immersion is sacrificed at the altar of "fun"

Firstly: Clays Russians is correct.

Secondly: As to the OP, gamers' opinions on TV shows and movies.

As an extension, people who try to use wargaming as some sort of nationalist .

Battles in the horse and musket period that re-fight titanic battles in 2 hours, with 100 figures, with dumbed down, fast play, moronic rules, where any sort sort of thought, strategy, subtlety or immersion is sacrificed at the altar of "fun"

Missing Folkton christot?

eerrr…no.

(I was just giving the other side of the coin to Clay's post)

Game designers who advertise that their rules realistically portray battles but who crack a wobbly if asked for a few examples.

"My game is realistic because it matches what happens in my head" :-)

I dislike poor terrain. Some people are happy playing with woods as green felt,roads as string and hills as brown felt. It's all about the game and not the look of the game. Might as well play a board game.

The lack of "X" miniatures in "Y and Z" scales, for a reasonable price, or any price at all, and made in metal.

My favorite topic to complain about in wargaming? Lack of professionalism. What do I mean? Let me give a few examples:

1) On more than one occasion I've placed an order with my FLGS, only to wait for MONTHS to wait for the product to arrive. The last time i did this, the REASON I got for the product being so late was 'The distributor was sick.' In an age where I can place an order with a mini maker on the UK from my hometown in southern Wisconsin and have it arrive ELEVEN DAYS later this sort of bullkaka is completely unacceptable.

2) Not all that long ago I found a set of miniature rules for Pirates which was eight pages long. It was made by typing it out, in all caps, on a single letter-sized piece of paper. It was then photocopied (on a copier that needed toner) and then cut along the horizontal fold of the paper and then stapled together. The game's title was then literally rubber-stamped onto the front page. The asking price? $15. USD Seriously?

And last but not least:

3) One of the many defunct game stores here in Madison was perfect. It was clean, well lit, well organized…and it was obvious that the staff couldn't have cared less. There were points that I could have walked out with half the store because the person in charge of the place was playing something on the PC in the office. At one point I literally had to call the store and tell him that his front door was locked…at noon, two full hours after he was supposed to have opened.