"Misinterests" Topic

We all have periods or genres we collect, paint, craft, study, and game. These could quite reasonably be called interests.

We also all have periods of genres we don't care about, or might even dislike, and won't play (except maybe in extremis or under duress). It would be fair to name these disinterests.

I observe that many of us also have misinterests: periods or genres or projects which are badly supported or too narrowly appealing or even just dumb, and probably shouldn't have been started. They nonetheless take up some amount of the attention, treasure, and time we obsessively lavish on our hobby.

Do you have any misinterests?

- Ix

I have a few personal misinterests I can name to get the conversation started:

The Franco-American War in Mexico. This discussion started me down the rabbit hole to investigate whether France or the US had the most powerful navy in the ironclad era. From there, my research carried me into the history of Napoleon III's failed attempt to colonize Mexico, and I became obsessed with the idea of gaming a US invasion to kick out the French. I have collected armies, navies, terrain, rules, and I even wrote a campaign framework (still untested) for this war that never happened. It's actually a pretty stupid project, and a near-complete waste of my gaming time and resources, with one caveat: when I talk about it, people want to play. That just encourages me to keep going. Bad, bad, bad!

The Bombardment of Alexandria 1882. The 1882 Urabi rebellion in Egypt saw a major battle (Tel el Kebir) and a few minor ones which make for good colonial gaming, but colonial gaming is one of my disinterests and I don't have a single miniature soldier for this war. I am instead obsessed with the least interesting action of the revolt: the one-sided destruction of the forts at Alexandria by a British fleet of ironclads. I love the ships of this funky transitional period, and one of ships present (Invincible) is among my favorite designs. Last year I rounded out my Bombardment of Alexandria collection (I'm missing only HMS Monarch), and I intend to paint and rig them some year soon. That still leaves the considerable problem of gaming with them. The issues with wargming this action are legion:

• Shore bombardments are not fun games
  
• One-sided battles are not fun games
  
• Invulnerable ships are not fun for the players shooting at them
  
• Without land forces, I can't even add interest to the naval scenario with victory conditions like "one unit in British expedition reduced for each fort with guns left", or something

The Battle of Lissa 1866. This battle is actually a perennial topic for naval gamers, so I could always find players, but in truth it's a one-note concert. None of these ships fought in any other battles, so the miniatures aren't useful for general gaming. The battle had almost no strategic consequences for either side, so it doesn't make a very good campaign either. Nonetheless I have the entire fleets of both sides, both wooden and ironclad (purchased while available from Spithead Miniatures), and will eventually get the battle onto the table multiple times.

Ogre/GEV I'm almost strictly an historical gamer. I used to enjoy a bit of sci fi gaming when I was young (mostly 4x space empires stuff), so once in a while a friend exploits my nostalgia and conscripts me into a space battle. I also have a weakness for the Ogre genre; the Ogre/GEV system is a classic design with great balance and infinite replay value, plus the whole oeuvre just reeks of "cool". I collected nearly all the Ogres when SJG was selling them in the early 2000s, and have even expanded with a few non-canon miniatures. Since I actually prefer GEV to Ogre (better game), I also built a big collection of 6mm sci fi tanks and battlesuit infantry, most of it collected in themed sets from non-canon sources (GZG, Scotia, Brigade Models, Battletech, etc.), some of it kitbashed or crafted to fill gaps in the miniatures available, and quite a bit of it is painted. Not one piece of it has ever been on the table. When would I play a sci fi game?

- Ix

I don't understand why you think your Franco-American War in Mexico is a stupid project. It sounds like all you need to do is actually run a agme.

Want to fly out to California to play?

I'll eventually get around to running more games (there's been one so far), but it's basically a personal fantasy, and the amount of time, energy, and money expended completely outweighs the amount of gaming I can get out of it.

Two misinterests:

The first has been the 1905 Russo-Japanese naval war. I have the complete Russian and Japanese fleets, two different but both good sets of rules, and have played a number of games, some actual and some made-up. But there is only so much one can do with this period. If I had to do it again, I wouldn't.

The second was WW2 skirmishing in western Europe 1944-1945. Although I had two nice forces (British and German), I just couldn't get further interested in gaming this period so I sold everything off.

Jim

I'm not sure about the classifications.

My main interest these days is in 19th century sub Saharan Africa places like British Central Africa it has many of your misintrest criteria but for me it's a main interest I'll spend a fair amount of time trying to research obscure local tribes and converting miniatures to get them to look just right.

On the other hand I'm doing a Napoleonic project 2023 but this very much side project I'll be honest I'm doing cursory research and I'm quite happy with close enough. All I want from this project is a couple of nice looking horse and musket style armies to push around a table to simple gamey rules. No one would say it fits your description of misintrest even though for me it is filling that niche role.

Honestly, no. There are loads of battles/conflicts etc. that are very interesting historically. I'll definitely read about them or watch videos. But I'm a gamer first. So if it feels like a very narrow game band, I resist. Things I'm interested in but would not game:

Crimean War 3 battles and a siege. Not enough to justify the time and expense. Love reading about it.

Texas Revolution 6 months long, one battle. Meh.

Many will suggest skirmish gaming for various periods. And honestly, you can skirmish almost anything. But at some point all that changes is the uniform, and that's not enough to tempt me.

I have always been fascinated by a Franco-US war in late 1865-1866. The French have a better blue water ironclad fleet but had the US gotten involved right after the ACW, I like the US chances regardless of what happened off Veracruz and Tampico.

As to misinterest, I use my Russo-Japanese fleets every couple of years but there are really only two battles. The same applies to Lissa although the Europeans in the Med offered plenty of chances to get in interesting squabbles.

If you don't like Russo-Japanese war because of lack of battles, pity me with my Spanish-American war fleets.

Have never seen more than a two ship action. Still love the looks of them.

I suppose in a way Wars of the Roses is my big misinterest. Plenty of information on standards and livery, and no shortage of castings, but it drove me nuts for years. We just don't seem to know enough about numbers and tactics for me to play it happily as a historical period. (I know many would disagree, but take a look at the information available on Barnet, Tewksbury, Towton or Bosworth against the information available on Marston Moore and Naseby. Even second or third-tier ECW battles are better documented than anything in the WotR.) I still read about the period, but I finally folded the castings into other projects or sold them off.

Wars of the Bourbon Restoration (Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis, Morea Expedition, invasion of Algiers) – very overlooked period that have their own interesting quirks (a successful invasion of Spain, the largest amphibious invasion in history until D-Day), but no manufacturers. After the first month of the invasion of Algiers, I would have to swap out all the flags and have completely different looking infantry after 1833 (with rather noticeable kit changes every 4 years or so). Morea Expedition had no real battles outside of maybe 1 or 2 very short sieges.

Mexican American War, Franco Prussian War – cool uniforms, but one side wins almost all the major battles ie: boring

Saitic Egyptian – Iron age ANE is interesting with the rise of Assyria, the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and Neo-Babylonians, but no models in 28mm for native Egyptians, very limited range for archaic Greeks mercenaries

I mostly agree about the Mexican-American War and the FPW, but I've actually managed to avoid investing in either.

I have come this close (pinches fingers) to pulling the trigger on painted & based MAW armies. It's a war I want to be interested in, but… I'm just not, quite.

The FPW is almost one of my misinterests, but just became a disinterest. I happen to have 15mm FPW armies, because I bought them as a set to get the French for fighting in Mexico. With the miniatures just lying around anyway, it was easy to talk me into trying a few FPW games, and then I discovered two things about the period:

• It's fascinating to read about
  
• It's no fun to game

There is a lot of serious literature about the FPW, both from late 19th C. sources and modern histories, and the international political context of the time is fascinating. The war itself has lots of colorful uniforms, great scenery, tense battles, interesting characters, and a huge potential for "what if" questions (esp. regarding French tactics and leadership), plus the miniatures of both sides can be used in other period wars. Unfortunately, FPW battles are too large and the weapons shoot too far, so it's a period that I think only works in 6mm. I would play one of Bruce Weigle's jaw-dropping gorgeous games anytime, but I'm not going to start over in a smaller scale and build that much terrain to do this war myself.

Another near-misinterest of mine is the Austro-Prussian War (1866). Almost all the same pros and cons as the FPW, but with shorter-ranged weapons that would be better for 15mm figures. If there were painted APW Austrian armies for sale, I might be in trouble. Lucky for me, that's not a big danger.

- Ix

Two people have mentioned the RJW naval genre as a misinterest. For me it's just a flat-out interest. I have a good start on the fleets as part of my 1/2400 WWI collection, and I love pre-dreadnoughts, so I fully intend to get this war painted and gamed someday.

I actually tried to get all the ships I was missing from WTJ before 3D printing shut down, but… I acted too late.

I can't say that I have any current misinterests, but I do have quite a few miniatures that I'll probably never do anything with.