"Your controversial gaming statements?" Topic

With christmas comes the airing of grievances (Seinfeld ftw)

What are your statements about gaming that are controversial or not commonly accepted on TMP?

I'll kick things off:

1: You mostly paint for your own enjoyment. The only thing your opponent will notice is the helmet and the rifle and if its a post 1914 game, it's all brown anyways.

2: Nobody reads the optional rules.

3: You have probably played your favourite game more times than the author did.

4: Everyone says they hate new editions and expansions. They lie.

5: GW is pretty alright.

6: FOW is pretty alright.

7: The points system in your favourite game was probably thrown together in an hour.

8: Thats okay, because the chaos of a typical game will balance things out in any event.

9: Your GM made up half the scenario on the fly, and probably a quarter of the rules.

Your turn. Go!

Ancients are superior to all other forms of wargaming. Take that warhammer 40K.

I thought the airing of grievances was part of Festivus? And you really should have a pole. : )
I'll put up #5 and #6 and any rule set that sells for over $40 USD and dares to put glossy pictures in there.

Small-scale skirmish gaming is superior to larger battles.

Hilarious

13. we play with toy soldiers

14. I will win the next battle.

And you really should have a pole. : )

A pole??? How long should this pole be, and who do I poke with it? Should I put a point on it and make it a spear?

I hate 28mm and think if you put too much effort into your painting you should just buy some Historex kits and stop pretending.

Napoleonics = Warhammer 40K

That should give a few apoplexy, severe heartburn, or both.

Of course, some will agree with me this should be part of mainstream thought, and not controversial at all.

Hmmm, there's a two-fer for you, on the same subject.

There's nothing wrong with unpainted figures on the tabletop

3mm is the best scale

D10's are better than D6's

It's only a game…

It is OK to field an entire battalion of Tigers if there was one there historically.

The number of figures on a base in element based games doesn't matter.

Size of figures/toys has no bearing on what rules you can use them with.

Ditto manufacturer.

War games has nothing to do with real war.

Prices. RPG's and rules were 8$…ah well.

"Dream Pod 9 screwed themselves when they changed scales… 20 years ago… And I will never buy from them again!"

1: Realism matters.
2: Being realistic does not mean more complicated.
3: If your group is having fun (ignoring 1 and 2) your doing it right.

Most of the world is not flat so why are so many wargames played on flat terrain?

Painting eyes is a waste of time.

Terrain is far more important than the figures.

Saving throws are a waste of gaming time.

it is all fantasy!'

A pole??? How long should this pole be, and who do I poke with it?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festivus

You can buy them here:

link

Should I put a point on it and make it a spear?

No, the Festivus Pole is pointless.

That a war game with very simple mechanics (movement, firing, close combat, and morale), very little differentiation in technical aspects of forces (differing rifles, MGs, mortars, tanks of like types, different types of ammo, etc…), simple differentiation in troop quality/leadership, a little bit of friction, and almost no bookkeeping (a few on table markers), can actually put you into the tactical situations/dilemmas faced by small unit leaders (from the mid-20th century to present), and make you make decisions based on circumstances that small unit leaders have to make.

V/R,
Jack

• Saving Private Ryan was a terrible film. Battle of the Bulge and The Thin Red Line were both great films.
  
• All turn sequences are, by definition, unrealistic.
  
• Buckets of dice are much slower than a well designed chart.
  
• Human variables are far more important than technical/hardware variables
  
• There is no such thing as a "scale" in wargaming, only one size called "this looks right to me."

[qoute]Human variables are far more important than technical/hardware variables

Preach it brother!

Also if you do any period other then horse and musket, you are not a wargamer, you simply play with toy soldiers/dolls.

DBA sucks worse than any other game I have EVER tried!

Never play against a kid…or a first time player.

The pole is important for the feats of strength but for most of us wargamers, the main feat of strength is lifting the pizza when the delivery guy brings it :-0

1) I will never game in plastic

2) 6mm is a great scale to game in

Being good at a miniatures wargame does not translate that you would've equally good as a historical Caesar / Wellington / ww2 company commander etc

3mm is the best scale

What's this? 3mm is fine…if you have a gymnasium to play in. Those of us who haven't been blessed with such lavish gaming areas prefer 2mm.

D20s rule!

If I had more troops I would have won that battle.

We would have won the battle if Larry Brom hadn't thrown our cavalry away in a suicidal charge.

Wargaming is a very, very small, fringe hobby.

Empire 5 is the most playable Nappies ruleset out there.

More complexity leads to better accuracy in a simulation.

Never play against a kid…or a first time player.

That's not controversial, it is street gamer wisdom.

I paint every fig I buy within 24 hours.

1) 6mm figures are MUCH MUCH easier to paint than 28mm or 15mm.
2) Use the appropriate size figure for the action you are playing – the bigger the battle the smaller the figure, the smaller the action, the bigger the figure.
3) Napoleonic wargaming is overly focused on Lines, Columns and Squares.

Okay, here goes:

1) Point values do not guarantee a 'fair game.' Never have, and never will.
2) Wargamers need to be realistic about the prices they are paying for their models. Realistically, they should be paying more.
3) The UK wargaming community are a bunch of spoiled little nancies.

Why aren't there more women here?

That washing line offers light cover

Stamp collecting is a bigger hobby than wargaming-and way more fun!

No,I don't believe either statement but just thought I'd say it.

I pre-measure I don't care what the book says!

Wargaming cannot be realistic (it can be convincing however)

IGO UGO with an old school command radius and differing unit morale grades provides a better game, in all ways, than any "fake friction" system (cards, pips, variable move distances, multiple activations…)

First musket volley bonuses (a fetish of SYW gamers) are bogus--usually included as some proof of historical gravitas, they instead actually warp play into a gamey "gotcha!" dance.

Victorian Sci Fi, Nazi zombies (and othe zombies), and anything with "walkers"--on Mars or not--are not "Colonials" or WWII" or historical and should always be qualified as such (preferably in bold red letters underscored with black and yellow cross hatching).

Two stage casualty systems, unless used for naval, structures, or armored vehicles, are bad design (roll a bucket of dice to see how many hits there are; then roll again to see how many hits are casualties--phooey!).

Agree about two stage casualty systems (and "saving throws"--ugh!) except in small skirmish games,where the hilarity factor is important.Was there ever a Desperado game in which somebody didn't get it in the groin? In my first game ever(FIW variant),I, as an Indian, lost an extended melee against a man who was unconscious the entire time! Who would want to give that up?

Hafen v S: point taken on small scale skirmish

"Rivet counting is for real Wargamers"

Flames of War is a better game than its critics say. And those critics have invariably never played it.

I absolutely hate Rapid Fire and refuse to play it.

…the same goes for Napoleon's Battles.

Someone please tell me what's so great about Blucher because I'm not getting it.

I can't see the point of going to a show for just the shopping. And what's the point of demo games?

American War of Independence. I struggle to enjoy that period because the baddies won.

Variable ground scale…I'm totally cool with that.

What's with all the grumpy people in gaming clubs? Given the declining membership you'd think they'd encourage more newcomers.

Most black powder games could omit the entire skirmishing part and the result would be the same.