"From RPGs to Miniature Wargames" Topic
16 Posts
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Must Contain Minis | 06 Mar 2018 9:58 p.m. PST |
When I was young, I had no idea what Miniatures games were, but was trying to create what would equate to a Wargame of my own using RPG rules like Dungeons and Dragons and RIFTS. Original Article: link As I played, I realized that I was more of a Roll-player that a Role-player, and eventually I discovered Miniatures games. This article discusses my past in RPGs and transition to miniatures games. What was your experience like? Did you gravitate straight to Miniatures Games or did it take you a while fo find them (like it did for me)? Source: link |
Ed Mohrmann | 07 Mar 2018 4:52 a.m. PST |
Quite the reverse, actually. I'd been doing mini's since the 1960's (actually, if you count the various plastic army sets, the mid-1950's) and when the hobby shop where we gamed back then got in two copies of fake wood-grain D&D, I bought one and our group began to play them. After a year or two, we developed miniatures-based scenarios with a heavy RP flavor and still do those today, along with more traditional miniatures games. |
Patrick R | 07 Mar 2018 5:13 a.m. PST |
For me it's a more layered approach, there is a love of models that lead to an obsession with WWII and history in general, Being absolutely fascinated with Fantasy and Science Fiction. The local model store had Avalon Hill games and a limited supply of Minifigs and ultimately had a range of RPG's and minis in the RPG boom of the 80's. I jumped on second edition Warhammer as soon as it came out, and looked at things like Battlesystem, but my heart really went out to RPG's. Life, work etc conspired to make it very hard for me to squeeze in a game and for years I had been looking for a good WWII ruleset and ultimately I shifted my focus on miniature games, it came naturally and certainly not negatively influenced by joining my current club. I've got a D&D 5e game at the club this Friday with half the players being experienced wargamers, but novices to RPG's and while it's not my first foray into RPG's it does feel like coming home. |
Frothers Did It And Ran Away | 07 Mar 2018 7:31 a.m. PST |
I played a lot of RPG's as a boy and had some miniatures to support that, early solid base Citadel, etc., but I didn't know there was such a thing as miniature wargames until my early 30's when I discovered a website about mini gaming by pure chance. |
Rich Bliss | 07 Mar 2018 10:17 a.m. PST |
My first "miniatures" games were played with home rules and Airfix figures on a sand table when I was 8 years old. 6 years later, I discovered "The Complete Book of Wargames in the library and I was hooked on Wargames. Then, in college, Greg Novak came to a Game Club meeting with a small Johnny Reb game (Lightning at Hoover's Gap). The rest is history (pun intended). |
Sgt Slag | 07 Mar 2018 11:59 a.m. PST |
I started in D&D, in 1980. Was fascinated by miniatures, used very few in our D&D games, due to cost. Fast forward to the mid-1990's: I had a decent income, I was single, and I really wanted to get into fantasy miniatures games. I joined a local historical mini's gaming group, and I played many different historical games, and different periods. Great fun! Nearly all of the members of the group were D&D'ers, but we did not play fantasy battles until I forged into it. I bought a NOS copy of 2e Battlesystem, around 1995, and we played the very occasional fantasy game. I've kept up with running 2e BS games, but I've expanded into 2e BS Skirmish, which is fantasy mini's gaming, based on 2e AD&D RPG, with a thin veneer of RPG over the top. The combat is fast, compared to the full-blown RPG! I really like it. However, the three games are very different in style, and play: 2e AD&D RPG, 2e BS Skirmish (like the RPG, only must be played with mini's and terrain, with the RPG aspect simplified), and 2e BS mass battles game. I enjoy each for its own, unique play style. I have undertaken to play out the classic G1-G2-G3 1e AD&D Giant modules, using 2.75D-3D terrain, and miniatures. Ran G1 already. Had an absolute blast doing it, with full mini's, building the entire Steading fort, in 25mm = 5 feet, scale model, using 25mm – 28mm Human figures; used 54mm Cave Men figures for Hill Giants. Working on building modular terrain for G2, to build out an entire level of the Glacial Rift, in the same scale. Using 60mm Vikings figures for the Frost Giants, properly sized per the 1977 1e Monster Manual, using a 25mm Human, to measure the Giants' heights from, to keep them in proper scale to the Humans, and the dungeon models. Hoping to finish this in time for Tundra Con, January 2019. G3 will take me into 2020, likely. Have done a proof of concept, small build, based on the G1 techniques. I have the necessary Fire Giant figures: pre-painted Paizo Fire Giant figures -- not to proper size, but they'll work, and they will eliminate my need to paint 20+ Fire Giant figures! Just need to put the terrain into production, after I finish producing the terrain for G2… Cheers! |
Oberlindes Sol LIC | 07 Mar 2018 12:04 p.m. PST |
I guess my order was RPGs, SPI and Avalon Hill wargames, and then miniatures games. I first really noticed miniatures as adjuncts to RPGs. Before, I had built and painted many model kits (mostly airplanes). My army men (especially my "ring hands" Marx figures) had gone on many adventures, but I had never painted them or done much modeling work other than making some weapons (e.g., Mom's bobby pins sometimes became science fiction rifles). My first miniatures game was an adaptation of SPI's Sniper! to 1/32 Airfix British paratroopers and German infantry. As I recall, I substituted inches for hexes. We also played Melee and other mini-games with hex maps and sometimes with miniature figures instead of the cardboard counters that came with the games. |
khanscom | 07 Mar 2018 5:30 p.m. PST |
Coming from another direction-- my first wargame was AH's "1914" purchased from the Sears, Roebuck catalog. This was probably an odd choice for a first game, but my dad had a folio edition of WWI photos (Times, possibly) and I was fascinated by the period. This was followed by "Waterloo", inspired by the painted 54mm figures in "Scale Modeler" and the Soldier Shop catalogs. The Soldier Shop was also the source for John Tunstill's "Discovering Wargames", but this first step into miniatures was not too useful-- the British colloquialisms (what's a "bound"?) and a complete unfamiliarity with the typical mechanics of miniature gaming rendered the rules unusable, though intriguing. Luckily for me Lowry's Hobbies shortly after relocated to Maine and the crew there introduced me to my first historical miniatures game. A fantasy RPG only raised its head at college when one of the boardgame club members turned up with a copy of D&D; this didn't catch on for unknown reasons (Panzerblitz, Risk, and Strategy I were the "go to" games). Only after moving to California and meeting Pete Kerestan of Wee Warriors did I get involved in several RP campaigns. I still prefer historical- oriented games, though. |
Narratio | 07 Mar 2018 7:38 p.m. PST |
Living in London in the late 60's I graduated from 'Bang, boom' with figures upon discovering Don Featherstone and Charles Grant. Joined a newly created wargame group, Paragon, out of south London. Then along came Avalon Hill and Afrika Korps and that led to me having board games everywhere. My group was doing Medieval games and one of our guys discovered D&D. Three small books in a little cardboard box. Well, there went a huge sum of money and time, but as we already had the medieval figures sum cash was saved. Of course by then puberty had set in, girls and alcohol were discovered and life struck. Ahh, gaming WWII with 20mm Airfix figures… |
Must Contain Minis | 07 Mar 2018 11:17 p.m. PST |
Thanks for the stories everyone. I really enjoyed reading them. If you are new to the post and haven't responded yet, put your story down and let us know what helped lead you to Miniatures games. |
Flashman14 | 08 Mar 2018 4:53 a.m. PST |
Airfix was my conduit, before RPGs were a thing. |
Dynaman8789 | 08 Mar 2018 6:34 a.m. PST |
I went from board wargaming (Squad Leader was the first game I owned) to RPGs to Miniatures. |
Chuckaroobob | 08 Mar 2018 7:19 a.m. PST |
Got my first wargame (AH'S France 1940) when I was about 10. Got hooked. Still own a couple hundred but rarely play them. Added RPG's during middle and high school, but stopped in college. Used to play huge battles with all our D&D figs. Freshman year in college (1985) went to Baptist Student Center near NC State and played mini games with Larry Brom, Ed Mohrmann, and others and have been hooked ever since. I think Larry's daughters still dig me! (wink wink) |
robert piepenbrink | 08 Mar 2018 7:35 p.m. PST |
I was lucky. There was no such thing as RPGs when I started--or fantasy and SF castings, come to that. I'd been playing box games for about four years when some of my older opponents found an opening into the CLS group. I took one look at actual painted metal miniatures--for grownups, yet!--and never looked back. |
Must Contain Minis | 10 Mar 2018 9:06 a.m. PST |
One of the guys at the conventions I attend actually did up a table of the Squad Leader Board Game as a Miniatures game with some adaptations. That was a lot of fun to play and test out. :) |
etotheipi | 12 Mar 2018 7:53 a.m. PST |
Began with token and chit wargames on hex maps. Then did some FRPG. Then some SFRPG. Then conducted military wargames. Then miniature wargaming. Then CMG. |
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