"The Future of Wargaming " Topic

Interesting…

"In my job (education), I'm always being told "we need to look to the future – kids today won't have the same skills/interests/jobs as we do now."

So looking into the crystal ball, what are your predictions for the future of wargaming? Here's some of mine…"
Full text here
deltavector.blogspot.com.ar

Amicalement
Armand

You're right about the shift towards video/computergames. But that happened 20 years ago.
Your other predictions are not really predictions, they are already happening, or have been happening during the past years. E.g. the shift towards warband-style play, the emphasis on shorter games.

Also, you tend to think about miniature wargaming being a force that drives change in the gaming spectrum. That has not been the case for several decades. I think ever since RPG split off from wargaming in the 70s, miniature wargaming has lost its premiere spot as the influential force in gaming. Since then, it has been RPGs (80s), card-games (90s), euroboardgames (00s).

What I think is more interesting is how new cheaper digital functionality will change *miniature* wargaming.
A lot has been said about 3D printing. I don't think that most gamers will start to design their own figures, but rather that miniature companies will start to sell files for 3D printers to print your own specialized character, rather than buy an expensive model. Same might start to happen for smaller scenery items. But such a change might still be 5 to 10 years ahead of us. Apart for early adopters and enthusiasts, 3D printers (and the materials!) are not yet cheap enough to warrant mass market penetration.

Another change might come from micro-projectors built in smart-phones. If you can project images on the tabletop, and possible combined with a camera, you can project added visual effects (flowing rivers, flames, cannon fire), or troop statistics onto the table.
Alternatively, you can use a smartphone as a magic lens. Move your smartphone over the battlefield, and you can see hidden information being shown superimposed on your screen related to what is visible to the camera.
Both these have been experimented with for several years, and prototypes are available, but we'll have to wait for cheap mass availability once again.

On the other hand, although these things sound exciting, I am not sure they will impact miniature wargaming that much. After all, the essence of miniature wargaming is that it is a tacticle and analog hobby. The idea is not to make it digital (that part of the gamer hobby split off in the 90s), but to keep it analog, as it has been for 100 years. After all, there are still people that shoot bow-and-arrow and don't use a pistol. The goal is not to hit the mark, the goal is to shoot the bow-and-arrow.
This analog aspect could become one of the attractive features of miniature wargaming in a digital world. Someone who uses a computers or other digital devices for most of the day, might want to do something else to relax during the evening. Analog hobbies as a whole might see an increase in participants.

Actually, miniature wargaming has been rather conservative with accepting change. Some consider using polyhedral dice instead of D6s a radical new idea. We are a slow moving beast compared to some other gaming niches.

I found Armand's link interesting but Phil's comments even more so.

Amongst other things, I like his idea as to why computer rules for miniature games has never really taken off: too much screen time in the Real World.

That tactile point is important. There's a satisfaction to manipulating and improving real materials that can't full be replaced electronically or digitally.

It's not always about having a painted figure but about transforming an undecorated sculpted metal figure into a beautiful gaming piece: the satisfaction that comes with the creation of it all.

There's no doubt that playing Civ is rewarding but at the end of the day you can turn it off and it is gone. Painted miniatures can constitute a tangible legacy.

The pace of change is a great deal less than most pundits predict. Many of the changes confidently predicted in the 90's have happened – but only slowly.

No one genre of wargaming has actually died out yet and many get a small resurgence every few years. Yes, these are often still driven by older males in small groups BUT they still do it and, as older folks have more time & money (and often more savvy as to how to use it effectively), they will continue to have an influence out of proportion to their numbers.

The growth in the range and scope of the historical figure market continues to amaze me. I wonder how much longer it can continue to expand but it shows few signs of ceasing.

Using mobile devices as support tools ? I have my doubts. Designing effective and workable tools of this nature is a lot harder than people believe. The effort may come from the 'geek legion' if they get interested in particular games but I can't see such developments being commercially viable.

Flashman has the best point though. There is an element of wonder that comes in kids/teenager's eyes when they see an amazing battle with figures. The intelligent ones ask "How did you do that ?", I'm personally not concerned with the ones that just say "Where did you buy that ?", they will never be what I think of as a 'Wargamer'.

One thing that I can see happening – continued move away from large tables to, say, 3' x 3' tables with, possibly, fixed terrain. What would be neat would be a 'smart' table – like a touch screen with terrain, bases of pieces have a chip, give orders and the board tells you where figures end up then work out combats etc.

I hope you are wrong GarrisonMiniatures. Because if you are right, then that means that gamers will get even less exercise than they do now. At least now they have to push lead around a table.

Kevin

I think that a percentage of gamers will always have the desire to paint miniatures, look at miniatures and use them in tabletop battles. I am very leery of getting myself involved in games that have big tables or that have a projected playing time of more than 3 hours. I have to ask myself: Where do you want to be in 3 hours? Still playing this or doing something else?

I still play HG Wells little wars with 54 mm figures at conventions and get a huge turnout, people like that stuff. I have been playing recently with a group that includes a half a dozen to 10 high school aged players. They like miniatures, and still play video games. They like historical-based games and we play hordes of the thing. I've been playing wargames for 50 years, and there is not much changed when it comes to playing the actual game on a tabletop with toy soldiers. New episodes get added, such as the very British Civil War, post-World War II weird stuff, The Carlist wars, darkest Africa, back of beyond,. Clever ideas of how to actually play the game such as DBA with its pips, or Ganesh games activation system or a card driven system, Measure-less movement, etc.

Mass production of plastic figures, remember they were available in the 80s with only limited types. Both bigger and smaller scales.

But at the "end of the day "gamers are still playing with toy soldiers on table top with homemade terrain or store-bought. Won't it be this way for another 50 years, providing the economy and standard of living for most of us continues as it is. That's the biggest change in the last 50 years.

Other than online orders and PDF rules, war gaming has basically not changed since the 70s.

As our fellow member Ochoin have said… good threads!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

The Past/Now vs. The Future

You'll never need to plug in a painted miniature to charge it up overnight.

And

You can't paint a hologram.

;-)

An old argument. Back in the 1980s, the same dooms day question was asked. I am still here after 30 plus years. Lol.

Competitive players still like to watch their opponents cry as they crush them in face to face action.

One word

Holodeck

Smaller, faster, packaged, easier, more spoon-Fed. Good in some ways, bad in others.

Smaller games, (figure wise) regardless of what they say in black powder battles are getting smaller I think,,,,,,,, I think………. And I believe this to be a good thing. And rule systems are getting easier and less unwieldy , compare Empire IV to Rank and File…….don't throw poo at me for saying that, it's just an opinion. And all bricoles are hemp colored.

We deal in lead, friend.

There's nothing "better" about smaller games (shorter with smaller playing space and fewer models/figures). It isn't a goal to make miniature gaming less unwieldy or physically easier. That isn't a thrust of the hobby. It is no doubt a factor to many nearly immobile gamers, from reasons of age and ill health, etc. But let's not conflate that with actual wargaming venues. "Bigger is better" applies to nearly all aspects of this. A massive replay of Waterloo is going to impress and arrest the attention of newbies were a "watered down" (heheh) version, with figures more like markers, and too abstract to appeal visually, may produce a fun game in itself, but is not really going to impress anyone to look at it.

"100 years"? This hobby is centuries, thousands of years old. Boys have been playing with toy soldiers for as long as there have been boys.

Creating things is part of being imaginative. Human. Satisfaction with results is the driving force. Aesthetics is what pulls a few of us into full-blown miniature wargaming. I don't see aesthetics going through some rapid, evolutionary change into something foreign to what boys have always enjoyed….