"Is the world ready for a wargaming reality TV show?" Topic

You have to admit there are some pretty crazy reality TV shows on these days … but is the world ready for a wargaming reality TV show?

a. Yes, it would attract a large audience.

b. Maybe, but it would need to have some very special players and really cool figures/terrain to work.

c. No, nobody wants to watch grown men playing with toy soldiers around a table.

B.

But it also would need some other kind of "hook" to attract and keep an audience.

Did you mean hookers?

And before they play you have to watch 16 weeks of painting.

You are kidding, I assume. Seriously(!), not a chance in hell…

(I wouldn't watch such a thing… I'd watch reruns of Gilligan's Island first…)

Heck people watch poker and golf which is like watching grass grow. Maybe with r/c tanks and lasers. Talks explode.

I have watched ESPN2 exactly twice – years apart and only for a couple of minutes. Both times, Bill Murray was playing video game golf.

Would the players have to make explosion sounds like in that episode of New Tricks?

When Horrywood starts consulting wargamers on which movies to make, and how to design the tanks, maybe.

Otherwise, HELL NO!

There are a couple of episodes of Big Bang Theory that would almost qualify as a reality RPG show.

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha !!!!!

With each episode featuring a specific time period, featuring a set of rules being used, and sponsored by the miniatures producer and rules publisher? I can see Warlord Games covering all those bases. For example: Thursday night's episode is a world war 2 game using Bolt Action World War 2 rules, Warlord Games figures, and additional sponsors are Vallejo Paints, Miniature Buidling Authority, Johnson & Johnson (Pledge/Future Acrylic Floor Covering). The possibilities are endless…

I would love such a program but let's be serious: c).

Have you never seen this:
YouTube link

The reporter (& I'm pretty sure the viewers) were just laughing at the Geeks.

10 years ago, the BBC here in UK broadcast a series called "Time Commanders" which recreated battles. It used computer simulations rather than figures, but did have players controlling the action.

link

This thread made me think of Time Commanders too. If I remember correctly, the software used for it was the same engine that was used for the early Total War series of computer games.

To answer the original question, it would be "c"

I think such a thing would probably do more harm than good. Just watching that clip that ochoin posted above was cringeworthy in the extreme…..shudder…

So my answer would be C.

Something like an updated version of time commanders on the other hand might work?

Definitely C- the world is not ready for a wargaming reality show, hell they arenīt even ready for the soap opera we have here now.

Yes. Combine it with Naked Dating and have "Wargaming Naked"

I just watched the YouTube clip (above) and would agree that Farrier did not really appreciate gaming.

I feel bad, though, because if anyone goes to a big convention for gaming generally, like GenCon or such in the USA, you will be struck by the large number of female participants of all ages (and skewing younger in age than the men). I personally believe we are living in an era where nerds are the nearest to being normal as they have ever been.

YouTube link

or just watch time commanders again … wonderful !!!

Time Commanders was quite entertaining, whereas Paddy Griffiths wargames show from the 1980s quietly vanished.

TC was mainly fun for watching the team dynamics, but essentially, watching other people play wargames is like watching paint dry. Hard to pitch to your average TV exec.

Remind me how many chess TV shows there are?

I "Nude Chess" on the porn channel

Would this putative show have wargamers on it – or 20-something soap-opera "starlets" in skimpy bathing costumes like most reality shows?

Will Wheaton and friends have been able to crowd-fund a few seasons of "Tabletop", where they play and describe a different tabletop game each episode. They're never going to be a smash hit, but they seem to have a good model for working with their target audience, and mixing exposition of rules with humor.

But then there are a lot more tabletop games gong around, and they are probably on average a lot easier to explain.

Then there was Angela Rippon's Game of War on the UK channel 4. Fell after the third programme.

Ah, "Game of War", a classic……. :D

Okay, for all of you cynical naysayers … We have a reality show here in the USA called "Comic Book Men" that airs at midnight on cable TV. The 'stars' are a couple of guys who run a comic book store in New Jersey and are absolutely total nerds, none are good-looking or lead interesting lives, but they all have a sense of humor. And, of course, they are absolutely nuts about comics and comic characters. It's on its 3rd season and seems to have a following with some success.

I honestly could see something similar featuring a wargame store. I've met some pretty entertaining folks in this hobby over the years that could do this … I'm into historical games, but admit this would probably work best if they were featuring Sci Fi and/or Fantasy role-playing type games, as this would probably have cross-over appeal.

So, I'm choosing "B" on this one

Couldn't be much worse than a lot of stuff on TV, I suspect.

Seems like MSNBC could use some new programming.

FXX too, since they just keep re-running the same stuff, over, and over, and over, and over, and………

Well, you get the idea.

Not really sure why either channel really exists, so perhaps reality wargaming could be their prime-time special showpiece.

"Wargaming Naked"

Now there's a HORRIFIC visual!

"Wargaming Naked"

I assumed he meant using naked Celtic figures. Not the participants. Please God, no!

…Combine it with Naked Dating and have "Wargaming Naked"…

Suggested by someone not familiar with the typical physique of the average wargamer I'm sure. *shudders at the thought*

B When you consider programs where
- people have tattoos
- people bid on storage lockers
- people catch catfish with their bare hands

I can't see any reason for a group of wargamers not to become stars and sex symbols

A bunch of people arguing about the exact meaning of the word "nearby" on page 38 of the revised 3rd edition of Panzersturmofironcommand would make for riveting TV