"Realism & the Renaissance of Ancients" Topic

Writing in the current issue of Slingshot, Justin Swanton observes a swing in entertainment toward realism (including 'hard sci-fi'):

My hope is that this interest in realism will extend to tabletop miniatures where historical wargaming was rather put in the shade since the 80's by the fantasy genre which I suspect – perhaps – is beginning to get a little tired now.

Do you foresee a renaissance for medieval and ancient wargaming?

I do see ancient then medieval leading to a renaissance.

I'm not sure historical wargaming was ever "put in the shade" by fantasy. In the 80's or not. Nor is fantasy getting tired.

Agreed. It's not really an "either or" "one up, one down" situation. For those who like the one and not the other, nothing will change if something happens to the other. For those who like both, I really don't see any change in one making them favor the other more.
At most what you may have is an expansion in one or the other at any given time, but it's very unlikely that the two would be anything but positively related, in the sense that the more broadly popular media genre (which would be fantasy) will draw people into gaming, and that entry into gaming may expose them to historical gaming and spark additional interest there (which would be my path to the hobby). I'm certainly not saying all will be affected in this way, or even most, but a few will be, just as I was.

Where has this guy been hiding since the 1980's such that he did not notice that table top historical miniatures have been very much in the sun since then. Notice the vibrancy historical miniatures conventions in UK and US. The expansion of figure manufacturers in the historical realm -- Old Glory, Foundry, MiniFigs, Warlord, Empress, Brigade, Eureka, Pulp, Dixon, Essex, to mention a few of the bigger ones. Some magazines are gone, but the two big UK ones still publish and, moreover, the continuing nova of internet gaming sites is blinding.

When I attend non-historical conventions, such as Adoption, I am struck that those sorts of games are hardly "beginning to get a little tired now." I think Mr Swanton should look around a bit before making such statements.

Well, this lot are just 28mm historical. Seems to be a reasonable market…

link

I'll be surprised if historicals overtake fantasy in market share.

Ancients was dominated for decades by one series of rules, and a distinct style of tournament play. The guys that liked that sort of thing had great games and a lot of fun.

But if that wasn't your scene, there wasn't much room for other styles of play. For whatever reason, the farther we get from the WRG-dominated era, the more generally popular ancients seem to be.

I'll be surprised if historicals overtake fantasy in market share.

I'm not sure that the yield of somebody else's farm is an indicator of the health of my crops.

I think marketing is very important. So are peer influences. So is ease of acquiring materials needed. Cost is also a factor.

I believe a lot of the current rules, even WHAB, owe many things to WRG 6th. We have forgotten how many things were first introduced by WRG, including basic things like moral checks.

We have forgotten how many things were first introduced by WRG, including basic things like moral checks.

Nope. The ancient rules in Featherstone's "Wargames" (1962) had rules for morale.