"What has wargaming taught you about yourself ..." Topic

…and other hobbyists?

Wargaming has taught me that I like wargaming.

+1 Phil

I always thought that I had no artistic talent until I started painting miniatures.

Did painting confirm or refute your thought?

Mom raised me right. I take showers and use soap daily…

I like people better than machines

That patience and hard work (a lot of patience) can raise mediocre skills to average

One thing at least:

That I wasn't as clever or talented as I thought I was.

Well, certainly my painting skills aren't what they used to be, so suppose it's teaching me that I'm getting older.

That I like playing with toys. I'm not very good at tactics or strategy. I'm interested in history, but not at the detail level of uniforms and specific weapons. I paint OK when I have the time. But I really like moving guys from here to there, and finding out what happens when they shoot at those guys over there. And, hey, doesn't that vehicle look really cool coming over that ridge?

I suppose I've also learned that if I take my time and am willing to go back and make corrections, I can get terrain or figures looking as good as I want them to. It is OK to not getting something just right, because most things can be fixed, and I can do that.

andy

I've learned that I have Gamer Attention Deficit Disorder. Bad.

It taught me that I like toy soldiers and that I'm not as old as I think I am!

+1 to Robert P

Also nothing in life is a sure thing, it's all a dice roll. Sometimes no matter how hard you try you still roll a 1.

To crush my enemies, see thenm driven before me and to hear the lamentations of their women.

That and I like the modelling side as much as the playing

also that it is far, far to easy to take onesself too seriously over a hobby :)

I enjoy wargaming, I like the mental exercise in games of how to keep one step ahead of the foe. I like researching historical units, the painting of figures while sometime monotonous it is quite pleasurable seeing your units painted on the field. I enjoy the banter and social aspects as well. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable hobby.

+1 Moonbeast. Just like my eyes are bigger than my stomach, my hobby buying is much more than my talent, patience and time allows me to actually do something with them.

I cannot say it better then DougMSC and Bashytubits. Agree with both!

I'I'm not not so good at foresight … :(

That I'm completely unable to control my spending impulses.

I agree with Bushy as well except I enjoy painting. I've also gotten to be a better painter.

That I can scratch build .

That if the world relied on my tactical skills to defeat an alien invasion, we're doomed :)

I never finish anything.

I learned patience. I learned how to play with my children. I learned I am a decent painter. I learned I would rather laugh than win.

Learning to lose with grace and having fun doing it.

I would not have been a great military commander.

The dice gods hate me ! :/ I enjoy painting and every so often one of my convoluted wargame plans actually works

That I am still a sucker for nice toys but they raise an interest in me for historical research and understanding over the many many different periods and types of warfare.

It's taught me never go to Las Vegas as my dice luck is beyond bad. Also taught me even though my battle plans make sense I will still lose as bad dice will crush me each and every time. So with that reality I've learned to enjoy the social aspects of gaming and not worry about the outcome of the battle.

I've taken on lots of offbeat historical topics, which has given me the opportunity to explore some fairly fringy conflicts and almost conflicts. It's provided an outlet for some my major obsessions in history. It's also given me a creative outlet I'm sure I wouldn't have otherwise. I never cover up the fact that I'm a historical miniature gamer. It's contributed to who I am.

I'm too old to be playing with toy soldiers !!!! LOL !

To not act like a wargamer in public

Toy soldiers are serious business. So serious, in fact, that I can't accept or trust anyone else to do it for me properly. I must do everything myself if I want that "serious business" to achieve maximum meaning and satisfaction. I'm not talking about playing. The game design, the research, the mechanics, are what I am talking about.

The toys, in fact, are a bennie, not an essential. The ideas and conclusions behind the rules are everything. If not for that, I would be just as content to set unpainted plastic troops up on opposite sides of a room and roll marbles and shoot rubber bands at them……………

Patience, you need it to paint little guys.

That despite 10+ years ago liking the visuals of 40k, I was never any good in general at any versions of the ruleset. I think I won two games over about 80. It was a good thing I do not have to win to have fun.

And despite not caring that much for the WHFB rulesets, I possessed a winners instinct for it (12-0)

That if I was a private my CO would shoot me for cowardnes, and if I was an officer. My men would shoot me for being a butcher.

That satisfaction comes from many different elements and I do need that variety to keep me interested.

Otto, your near-constant denigration of wargamers got old some time ago. How about you give it a rest for a bit?

I'm pretty sure he's not serious. Just joking around …

Dear Legio 4

Of course. But I will note that the gamers it most bothers are those whom seem to most need it.

One gamer once asked if I was "the very model of a Modern Major General" because of my predilection for the comic opera style I game in. I told him not at all. I am King Gamma.

King Gama, the misanthrope? I see.

Not quite Ben

You have to see the play.

Whilst I do enjoy the occasional opera, including G&S, I'd have thought you'd have enjoyed holding forth. Ah well, it appears to be an interesting choice.