"Minimalist Gaming...or, "If I had know then what..." Topic

… I know now…"

"I think that Peter Young's advice in Charge! to stick to one wargames period and make up imagi-nation armies for it is one of the most under-rated pieces of advice to a wargamer…although unhappily for me, I didn't read it when I was starting, or re-starting, in wargaming! But as advice for a busy person with a very full life outside of wargaming, it has lots to commend it. And it is perhaps still the most common way of wargaming, which I guess is to play Warhammer 40K and have done with it, for all one's hobby needs.

But for the more historically-inclined of us, my advice to myself might have been: …"

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Armand

Not sure from my perspective some of this is all good advice.
To be honest useing paper figures from almost any period is better and cheaper and allows you to have recognisable Iconic troops/and or vehicles.

Magazines, my personal opinion is avoid like the plague. There text content is now dire, they are but trade magazines. Great if really all you want is pictures.

Put the emphasis on playing the scenario not on winning at any cost, we have all played folk like that and we only play them once if we are unlucky and hopefully avoid even that.

I will agree that scenario play at least for me is the key driver that has kept us playeing the same game for 15 years.

Whilest sticking with one rules set is a great idea, always be on the lookout for a better set but be sure that any new ruleset is genuinely better. Most are rehashes of old systems so offer nothing other than a minor re-jig of the existing systems.

Thanks

Armand

I'm not sure it's possible. Growing up with Airfix and Marx there was always a new period to get. Add World Book Encyclopedia, Movies, history books and television I've been conditioned to want to explore all periods of history through Wargaming.

I have followed much of this advice – I just wish I had done it far earlier!
I have three pseudo-Napoleonic ImagiNations armies of 10mm figures, with which I can fight historical or fictitious Horse & Musket scenarios, using a variety of rules, or 'toy soldier' games like Portable Little Wars or A Gentleman's War.
I have sold nearly all my uniform reference books, and drastically reduced my book collection to three themes – Waterloo, War of 1812 and 'classic' wargame books, although I do buy the occasional new book to research a topic on which to design a game or scenario.

(smile)

Armand

I've played one era/theatre for a decade. My problem is I have it in 4 scales.

Rotating through different projects keeps my interest high.

Doing a big push for a convention game now of The Warriors, but also getting bits of DBA armies and Test of Honour done around the edges for a change of pace and sanity.

MilEFEX3030 -I only play in 2 scales (the nearest I could get to a sad face).