"Miniaturisation and military geographies..." Topic

Miniaturisation and the representation of military geographies in recreational wargaming

"The empirical focus is a study of scale models deployed in the hobby of miniature or figure wargaming in which players ‘fight various tactical battles on the table top using model terrain and miniature figures'. The activity is carried out largely for recreation and is played, usually by adults, as a game in which rules, tape measures and dice are used to determine how model armies manoeuvre, fight and react to orders in battle (Figure 1). I draw upon interviews with wargamers, observations of their games and readings of hobby literature in an effort to understand its ‘inwardly orientated politics' (Woodyer 2012: 322) and the ways in which miniaturisation contributes to the representation of military geographies…"

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Thank you. Very interesting, though much more could have been written on miniature warfare and geography. The author kept wandering off to other aspects of the hobby.

I for one had no idea that my 2mm ECW forces were a projection of state and elite power, or that my 6mm SYW armies had coopted me into the military. Would that the author had made better use of the space wasted reciting academic cliches.

But if he really imagines we're socio-political elites, I'd like to introduce him to a few people in really cheap apartments.

And if he truly believes miniature warfare is disconnected from the actual military, someone should whisper the words "Dunn-Kempf" in his ear. One of the worst miniatures games I ever played was in uniform and during duty hours. At a convention, I would have walked off.

I was happy to find that 1:1200 Superior HMS Warspite at "Fall In," but I only just realized I was getting "absolute closure."

That's gonna be a real help in explaining the credit card bill to my wife.

I think it's interesting that he describes how miniaturisation can be used to produce a limited view while writing an academic paper, which does exactly the same thing.