"Gaming sports and bloodsports in miniature" Topic

(I have no idea/recollection if this has been suggested and done as a poll in the past, so I beg your forgiveness if it's stale bread.)

A "subculture" within miniature gaming is the gaming of sports and bloodsports. What's your experience with and opinion of the following three categories of sport/bloodsport games in miniature?

1 – Games about pure combat as a spectator sport. Examples include Roman gladiatorial games, medieval jousting, modern-day boxing and wrestling, Enter the Dragon-style or Street Fighter-style martial arts tournaments, fantasy/post-apoc pit fighting and sci-fi arena battles with mechs or armed cars.
2 – Games about team sports that are not purely about combat. Examples include football (by all definitions of the word), capture-the-flag/king-of-the-hill and various light-hearted fantasy/sci-fi games like Blood Bowl and Dreadball in which violence may be allowed but the focus remains on scoring points through goals, touchdowns, capturing objectives or something such.
3 – Racing games. Examples include cars, horses, chariots, fantasy riding beasts, sedan chairs, anti-grav vehicles, mechs and spacecraft, with or without violence allowed.

I'd suggest the following options for each category:

A – I play or have played it a lot, and I love it.
B – I play or have played it a lot, but I'm tired of it.
C – I've tried it once or a few times, and I loved it.
D – I've tried it once or a few times, but didn't care for it.
E – I've never tried it, but it sounds fun.
F – I've never tried it, and I'm not interested.

C for all three.

I myself am 1C, 2A, 3E. I've tried Heavy Gear Arena, swords-and-sorcery pit fighting using the Broadsword Adventures rules, and Blood Bowl (which I played a fair deal but don't play any more).

A for all three.

F

2 C

1-D, It feels like you end up playing the mechanics instead of a game to me.

2-A, Most of my combat games do not heavily focus on attrition over objectives, so this is a natch for me. I wrote one that people seem to like to play.

3-D, Like category 1 … except Circus Maximus. I love that one racing/violence allowed game.

For category 3, I am assuming that demolition derby games don't count as race games.

I'd probably put demolition derby under category 1, if it's more of an "arena" game than a "racetrack" one. I suppose that when I say "combat" I mean it in a rather fuzzy sense that includes concepts like demolition derby, bullfighting, sumo wrestling, and so on.

I've done racing and combat games, but not team sports. None are top of my gaming to do list though.

I'd probably put demolition derby under category 1

OK, that gives me a one-off A in category 1, too.

A,

D (not at all interested in non-combat sports, even combatative ones like Dread Bowl or Blood Ball or Grav Ball,

A.

1A: I play Roman gladiatorial combat and chariot racing in 54mm. Looks spectacular, plays great. Two of my favorite gaming pursuits. The violence inherent in a Roman chariot race differentiates it sufficiently from other race games that I consider it part of this category rather than category C.
2F: Team sports in general bore me to tears, so games about them hold no interest for me, including games like Blood Bowl. Now, if someone were to do a mash-up of Baseball vs. Football, the combat might prove amusing…
3D: Straight racing games bore me to tears; Speed Circuit I regard as a colossal waste of time. Oddly, though, I do enjoy both Regatta and Win, Place and Show.