"What Do We Want From Our Wargames?" Topic

"Welcome wargamers once more to my little corner of Creative Twilight, where I ponder the intricacies of the universe. And play with toy soldiers. Gods help me I am tired of batch painting Marauders!

The recent debates ongoing regarding the current lack of points based army building structure in the Age of Sigmar game, and the various solutions people are either asking for or are trying to compose themselves have brought me back to a line of thinking that I have pondered on intermittently for some time:

What do we want from our wargames?

It might be a good idea for me to expand on my thinking a little, because what seems clear in my own head space often needs some clarification before it is released into the wild. What I have been wondering about for some time is the comparison between what we think we want from a wargame, and what people are actually asking for. In my mind, what I want from a wargame is something that is enjoyable to take part in, is sociable and engaging, and offers a challenge that allows us to take the part of a military commander in a simulation of war…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Fun. Pretty simple, really.

Define "we".

It's like asking the question "What do we want to see on tv?"

Wargaming isn't the unified hobby it perhaps once was.
So many different people engaging in wargaming for different reasons.

Game finishes in under two hours
There is an army building system for pick up games
There is an active tournament scene
Rules are simple and there are not a lot of special exceptions

To crush your opponent, see their miniatures scattered before yours and hear the lamentation of poor die rolls.

To see your character prevail amidst terror, traps and a orgy of Peckinpah-Tarantino-esque violence perpetrated by a merciless GM.

To see your perfectly timed operational assault steamroller a three-lined, over-run proof defense line with epic combined arms formation, scattering division-remnants to be over-runned by second-phase moto-cav-mechanised units, cutting rail, supply lines with airfields left burning.

To set up a magnifently detailed miniatures game table full of scenery and buildings, sitting back and realising I DID THIS!

Then going shopping.

Mechanically simple and brief rules.

Complete rules in one book.

Lots of detail and variation between troop and equipment types.

Scenario driven with campaign rules.

Designed for four hour or longer games.

Lots of dice, and either d10 or d100.

"Mechanically simple and brief rules.

Complete rules in one book.

Lots of detail and variation between troop and equipment types.

Scenario driven with campaign rules."

Fast play, games under 2 hours. 1 hour possible.
Casual and fun.

And rules that are WELL WRITTEN.

A chance to have fun with toy soldiers

Opponents.

Playable in 2 hours or so.
50 dollars worth of figures makes a playable, reasonably army.

With time limited, I want a game that plays to completion in 2 hours or less. I also like the game to be a decent historical simulation, but not at the expense of providing a playable GAME. Good army lists, scenarios and points lists are a plus. Well-written rules with programmed scenarios that introduce more and more chrome in later scenarios (ala the original Squad Leader) is also a very big plus.

In the past, DBA was my go to game to meet all these requirements. With the demise of DBA 2.2, I am looking for something else. I found Star Wars X-wing to be fun, but prefer historical games. Our group has been rediscovering Combined Arms (Cold War period version of Command Decision) and that can fit the bill if the scenarios are kept small. Additionally, board games converted to miniatures often seem to work well. We have played Panzer Leader, Arab-Israeli Wars, the Lock n Load World at War series game, War at Sea and Avalanche Press' Second World War at Sea games with miniatures and they have all worked quite well. I really need to look at using Squad Leader for miniatures (only the original series) and perhaps conversions of some area movement WW2 games as well (e.g. Storm over Arnhem).

I second the opinion of Frederick.

Yup, what Frederick said.

I agree with what Frederick wrote & what ochoin wrote earlier.

Games that last longer than 4 hours.
Rules that don't sacrifice complexity, subtlety or challenge at the altar of "fun"
Still need some fun, though
Lots of figures
Massive table

I like saga, three smash ups-"we'll sort you sots out" in a day, bottle or two of wine, sammichez, cheesecake. And really really edgy punk Celt music, flogging Molly, drop kick Murphy, Yeah , that's a good, that's what I want……

I want solo games that I can WIN.

I'm with Punkrabbit returns in needing some opponents.

To watch players forget there are rules, stats, and discrete odds and say things immersed in the moment like, "I can capture those three Yakuza thugs easily before they escape, but that only leaves me one or two keisatsukan to protect the informant."

When surrounded by indians, the lone ranger asked tonto – what are we going to do now, tonto? Tonto replied – what's this 'we', white man?

As the guru said – think about it.

Fun and friends. It fills a void.

This is why we are such a diverse lot. I look at Mr Elmo's post and my thoughts emmeidately say to me…… What he listed is all that I Don't want. I am not the least interested in tournies is pick up games….