"Would you buy a new microgame today?" Topic

Will at Monday Knight Productions was asking about a rare microgame the other night and it got me to looking into there history and what exactly a microgame consisted of.

I have owned the car wars pocket boxes and one other sci-fi one from another company that I forget the name of now. I never did get into the original OGRE which I have always regretted, but there was only so much money to go around.

If someone could manage a playable rules light inexpensive micro game would you be interested?

Yes, depending upon the subject matter.

Grav Armor looks/looked pretty good.

Never really played it, but have thought about doing so.

The original Starfire, and follow-ons were pretty well received too.

sure

Yes

Yes I would.

No.

I bought lots of them back in the day – Ogre, Chitin, Starfire, Wizard, Melee, Car Wars, and more.

At this point in my life, my gaming time is limited. If I've got a rare chance to play something, it is going to be something with good components and good graphics, that is probably a Spiel de Jahre finalist. It is the same reason that when I buy miniatures these days, I buy non-upgradable ones like Perry, Thoroughbred, or AB.

In 2016, if I want a light micro game experience, it is going to be "Camel Up" or "Mars Attacks!".

I might buy in that format. I'd be happier to pay $5 USD or $10 USD more and get die-cut card counters.

Yes I enjoyed quite a few of the microgames and would one again

BTW the original ogre has been reprinted by Steve Jackson games for only 1.99 – hard to beat even if played once

link

I've still got my copy of Ogre/GEV/Shockwave. Wonderful games! My room mate in college introduced my to Ogre over 30 years ago! Great fun!

I'd be happy to get play microgames even today.

Sure, I'd love to give it a shot. Even with simple one or two-color maps and counters, if the gameplay is solid, and the (even limited) art assets are well done.

I've got OGRE and all of it's descendants, save for the recent massive box.

Used to have all of Car Wars, sold it off.

WarpWar is still on my 'play and write about' shelf.

Awful Green Things From Outer Space.
Raid on Iran.
Several others, whose names currently escape me.

I'd like to see a 'realistic' game about Cold War space combat, assuming nuclear thermal rockets, where you have to worry about fuel use, heat, and other concerns. I know it sounds like a lot to ask of a microgame, but I've got a feeling there's an elegant solution just out of reach of my design abilities.

Sure.

Yes.

looking into there history and what exactly a microgame consisted of.

A "game in a packet", usually a zip-lock bag containing rules and cardboard markers instead of troops. Sometimes there would be cardboard terrain features as well, and possibly cardboard measuring sticks. No dice though IIRC. Their history is somewhat quirky, featuring unusual themes rather than mainstream wargaming periods (with one or two exceptions).

Yes. Some of them were/are reasonably good.

Maybe at a convention. Micrograms were impulse buy items and that does not translate well to internet shopping.

I remember a few of those as darn good games. Car Wars, OGRE, and there was a pocket Battle of the Bulge game too.

Frankly, there are loads of these around. Wargames Vault has a bunch of cheap "print and play" games that frankly have much nicer component than the MicroGames ever did. They came out before PCs and color printers.

So I guess I'd say sure, but you have a real marketing problem right out of the gate…

Yes, small footprint games are good, but I would like to see a slightly larger hex and counter these days.

I bought several of them from Half Price Books a couple of weeks ago: Stalin's Tanks, Rommel's Panzers, and Trireme, each for $4.95 USD. Simple and fun!

Yes.

Got a bunch of old ones, still play them occasionally. A couple years ago at Historicon saw a game of Metagaming's "Olympica" translated to miniatures! Custom terrain and everything.

A hearty Well Done!

It's going to be tough to recreate the lightning in a bottle that those games had when they first came out. The $2.95 USD-$3.95 price tag that many of them had strong appeal and basically there weren't a lot of games coming out back then, so you were grateful for almost anything new, especially in sci-fi and fantasy. Many of them were not very good, but again, they were cheap and you had the time/patience back then to work through any issues in the game.

There is a beautiful re-working of Chitin: 1 on BGG, but printing it yourself or having one of the print 'n play publishers do it for you isn't cheap (min. $45 USD), which shows you what a good micrograme would cost nowadays (the reworked version of Dragon Rage goes for around $70 USD). I printed and created the reworked version of Melee and that set me back around $60. USD As mentioned above there are some really good games that could stand a new version such as Revolt on Antares, Holy War, Cerberus, Olympica, etc.

I think that it would really depend, if I could lay my hands on Melee/Wizard or something similar at a decent price sure. I also had a Jousting game that I no longer remember the name of (all these were counter games but we just used minis with them). So if I could get something similar, and if the price was okay, the definitely.

Yes, also depending on the subject matter.

With boardgame designers making forays into that market, and modern boardgame "technology" making it possible to have a fun game with simple, clever mechanisms, I think it's a good time. Many popular Eurogames are microgames in all but physical scale (and cost).

I have a small collection of microgames, both from "back then", and ones I picked up since. Lots I only saw in magazines, and thought, "boy, that looks neat".

Just avoid the teeny chits! I hated them 30+ years ago & I hate them now. With games I played, I snuck into the school copy room, blew up the maps and chits, mounted them on cardstock, and hand-recolored them.

"Their history is somewhat quirky, featuring unusual themes rather than mainstream wargaming periods (with one or two exceptions)."

Context is important here. The heyday of the microgame was also the high point for Avalon Hill and SPI, as well as GDW's big boardgames, and the most prolific microgame producer also produced a couple classic big games. Most of the big game producers were *also* delving into oddball subjects to keep the release schedule full, and had been from fairly early. Exhibit A: War of the Ring, released in 1977.

Yes.

Sorry to be so late getting back to this question. Seems today everyone wanted something.

I have a couple simple game ideas. I just need to look at possible components and what things I would need to farm out to get them completed.

Not sure I am quite ready to do a historical heavy game yet. But I do have a friend who is more experienced at that kind of thing I can call upon.

and I think I still have Steve J's guide to wargame design floating around here somewhere.

Just looking to try and make something simple and fun to start with. Everything needs to start somewhere.

Adjusted for inflation, the original $2.99 USD-$3.99 microgames would run between $11 USD-$15 in today's currency.

At that price point, I'd guess that there would be a lot of market competition from IOS or Android apps. For example, "Carrier Battles For Guadalcanal" is $4.99 USD. "Twilight Struggle" is $7.99 USD

Absolutely!

I have a huge collection of Microgames. I loved them then, and love them now. Keep in mind that there are games we'd consider microgames coming out nowadays that run $20 USD or more with top notch graphics, not to mention the print n play games.

I am a big fan of small footprint, quick play games. So I would buy new "microgames".

Several wargames magazines still include games. There are also as has been noted many print and play smaller games on Wargames Vault, etc.

And a number of boardgames that are close to microgames in form.

Sure thing! Even with limited gaming time, a good MicroGame is just as fun as a $100 USD full blown board game.

Matter of fact, I just got my hands on the latest 27 pound edition of OGRE. I've got it all assembled and ready to go.

Anyone got time for a game?