My gaming bio- I am 36 years old. I grew up with two parents who love history and a dad who got me into model-railroading. I loved reading about military history from as early as I can remember. I created a square grid based map game on a piece of plywood when I was about 9 using 1/72 plastic figures before I knew historical miniature wargaming existed. Then I found a copy of Wargames Illustrated Issue 88 at Hungate's when I was 12. The rest is history!
I wanted to write a note of thanks to the many people who have kept our hobby alive since the days of Kriegsspiel and HG Wells crawling around on the floor with his friends. (note I realize the "hobby" may not have exactly started with Kriegsspiel but this is not intended as a history of historical miniature wargaming)
Thank you to the sculptors. These men and women take nothing but an image in their head or book or magazine and turn it into a tiny, intricate, three-dimensional figure for our painting and gaming enjoyment. In most artistic fields something that takes hours and hours of work would cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. In our hobby the cost ranges from cents to $10 USD or $15 USD for the most expensive figures. The sculptors' work is a labor of love.
Thank you to the terrain builders and makers. Whether it is custom terrain, trees, grass tufts, buildings that are cast or printed, etc. it takes hours of research and construction time. Materials are expensive and hard to find for the makers but come together in a beautiful, ready to use or paint result for the hobbyist. The terrain builders' and makers' work is a labor of love.
Thank you to the figure manufacturers. As mentioned for sculptors, at mere dollars per figure the return on investment of the equipment used to make masters and produce them is a slow process. Even for the largest companies this is not a get rich quick scheme and if not for their willingness to invest thousands and tens of thousands of dollars we the gaming community would be left figure-less and I dare say the hobby would wither. The figure manufacturers' work is a labor of love.
Thank you to the professional figure painters. These folks spend hours painting tiny figures to exceptionally high standards for typically less than $15 USD per figure. Divided by the time it takes that is approximately minimum wage at best. That doesn't include the time to carefully pack our figures and ship them off safely to us. The figures painters' work is a labor of love.
Thank you to the dealers. Whether online, at trade shows, or at brick and mortar locations, dedication to our hobby is a must to sustain the long hours and low return. Thousands of dollars of inventory might return enough to support the cost of travel to a show or upkeep of a website and space to store said inventory. In a hobby where there are millions of options for scale, period, etc., etc. it is impossible to satisfy all customers so there is also a need for patience, tact, and decorum. The dealers' work is a labor of love.
Thank you to the rules writers and magazine writers and publishers. The costs to bring to print a $50 USD ruleset or $10 USD magazine are enormous. When one considers there are only thousands of potential purchasers or subscribers there is no monetary incentive to keep publishing new material. The hours of design, playtesting, research, and writing can never be compensated from sales. The rules writers' and magazine writers' and publishers' work is a labor of love.
Thank you to the convention and club organizers. It takes days of work leading up to events to coordinate the multitude of items necessary. Most of the people are volunteers. Even for the few who are paid or see some return from admissions, etc. the money made could never compensate for time spent on the event or organizing a club. The convention and club organizers' work is a labor of love.
There are many other folks who make the hobby known as historical miniature wargaming continue to survive. I would argue it not only survives but is thriving in 2019 with more new periods, scales, ranges, etc. available today and at a higher quality than ever before. My intent of this letter is to recognize the thousands of people who toil to make this happen. THANK YOU!
worries about not losing his rules stuff.
