 John the OFM  | 02 Dec 2025 4:21 p.m. PST |
I'm officially a Baby Boomer.
So I'll start out with: 1. I have massive armies with 100+ 28mm figures. Some with many more. Let's see how this develops before I add any more criteria. 😄 |
| myxemail | 02 Dec 2025 4:30 p.m. PST |
Of course having lots of armies could be a factor. Another huge factor for us Boomers could be having bins, boxes, or tubs of unfinished armies or projects.
I have recently commenced selling or giving away many of my unfinished projects or armies. There were even a couple that I only accumulated the figures. Never even started painting or assembling them! |
 miniMo | 02 Dec 2025 4:49 p.m. PST |
I have armies in scales that are now super-duper niche, like 1/87 WW2, and 25mm Fantasy. |
| Wackmole9 | 02 Dec 2025 4:55 p.m. PST |
define a "Boomer" wargamer? Well they would having to have lived through the stone age of Wargamings (1970') A Age with limited communication and products. We made things out of salvage, We modified figures to make new units, and layed the ground work that makes the current age possible. We survived a time of few players, Figures and rules. |
| John the OFM | 02 Dec 2025 5:06 p.m. PST |
Another huge factor for us Boomers could be having bins, boxes, or tubs of unfinished armies or projects. Have you been lurking in my basement??? |
| William Warner | 02 Dec 2025 6:35 p.m. PST |
What is the cut-off date for being a boomer? I was born in '46, so I suspect that to me, some boomers will be young whipper-snappers. I guess I qualify as an ancient whipper-snapper. |
| Frederick | 02 Dec 2025 6:45 p.m. PST |
More minis than you can shake a stick at – both painted and not – including some original GW minis while they were still called Citadel Miniatures (and THAT is a blast from the past) |
| John the OFM | 02 Dec 2025 7:07 p.m. PST |
You remember when Rogue Trader suggested converting deodorant applies into Land Speeders. Not only that, they were "approved" in GW games!
Come to think of it…. 🤔 |
| BW1959 | 02 Dec 2025 7:08 p.m. PST |
How about having more figures from companies that no longer exist (Heritage,
Mikes Models)then companies still around. |
 gamertom | 02 Dec 2025 7:10 p.m. PST |
Still having rules with lots (and lots) of modifiers for combat and especially morale.
Having tins of Humbrol enamel paint that you never opened. |
 Old Contemptible | 02 Dec 2025 11:37 p.m. PST |
John, you got a lot of time on your hands during the holidays. |
 etotheipi  | 03 Dec 2025 3:07 a.m. PST |
Wouldn't. Generational categories are as useless in this domain as every other one. |
| robert piepenbrink | 03 Dec 2025 3:49 a.m. PST |
There are at least two approaches. At Peak Boomer--young, healthy and post-Boomer kids not playing in serious numbers, if it was the "Stone Age" of wargaming, it was the Neolithic Age, dominated by large armies of large figures, big boards and complex period-specific rules. A small Napoleonic army might entail 500 30mm figures. WWII was mostly Roco tanks and Airfix figures. Napoleonics were either Airfix, 25's or 30's. Rules were written with 5'x9' tables in mind. Rules were--well, CLS II was pushing 100 pages, WRG Ancients meant learning a new edition every few years, and the "moderns" people had Tractics. Currently, the declining years of the Boomers are noted for immense hoards of castings--spelling is deliberate--simpler rules when there are games, which is not often, and huge numbers of figures we're going to paint "some day." You know, the wargaming accessory we really need is a pre-printed form from Noble Knight Games for our heirs to fill in and speed up clearing our houses. I've settled I think five wargaming estates one way or another. There's no one left to do mine. |
| The Last Conformist | 03 Dec 2025 3:56 a.m. PST |
What is the cut-off date for being a boomer? Definitions vary, but WP's people born 1946-64 is pretty typical. |
| FusilierDan | 03 Dec 2025 3:56 a.m. PST |
Have large Armies (300 figures or more) in at least one period. Have Armies for a period in multiple scales. Often lament selling off a rule set or figures. Have sold off and re-bought a set of rules several times. Are still amazed that you can order figures and not have to wait three months to get them. |
| John the OFM | 03 Dec 2025 4:11 a.m. PST |
You have at least 5 uniform books or sets of plates for your favorite historical period.
You notice that 4 of them copy exactly a certain "uniform" from the oldest one, even though the artist admits that it's speculative. (For example, a white pimp hat on a certain un-named Loyalist unit.) you have painted a complete battalion like that plate. |
| Louis XIV | 03 Dec 2025 5:01 a.m. PST |
I'm barely Gen X but HMGS conventions seem pretty Boomer 🤪 1. IGOUGO games with charts, usually all with a MSM (Move, Shoot, Melee) mechanic 2. So many figures that you need a snow shovel to remove casualties. Yes, they are all removed individually 3. Tables so large you could hold Wimbledon on them 4. Games last double digit hours which is ironic given the players are elderly and don't have much time left. |
| rustymusket | 03 Dec 2025 5:15 a.m. PST |
Large 28mm armies, large 15mm armies, lots of trees with and without foliage. Hills, rivers, lakes/ponds. Never having quite what you want in anything. Starting periods, moving on to other periods. My year is 1950 for birth, sometime in my 30's for gaming. Figs since I was 6. Beginning to give up on collecting and painting, but not quite. Books of uniforms, history, even occasional fantasy. Now too old to game a whole day, therefore I don't see my gaming friends anymore. |
| troopwo | 03 Dec 2025 5:35 a.m. PST |
Having grown up with lead paint, leaded gasoline, lead soldiers would just be a natural progression. |
| Alakamassa | 03 Dec 2025 6:02 a.m. PST |
Wouldn't be caught dead playing W40K |
| It is good to be King | 03 Dec 2025 6:33 a.m. PST |
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 FingerAndToeModels | 03 Dec 2025 8:20 a.m. PST |
1) Airfix figures, some converted. I made Mexican War American from British WWI heads and American Civil War bodies. I still have my Mexican War and Roman and ancient Brits armies 2) Avalon Hill board games like Tactics II and Gettysburg. Sadly, don't have any of those left. Ah…Panzerblitz and Squad Leader==those are stored in window seats in my library. So, in conclusion, if you have figures or board games older than a 5 1/4" floppy disk, you're in the club. |
| John the OFM | 03 Dec 2025 9:20 a.m. PST |
Are still amazed that you can order figures and not have to wait three months to get them. Calling area banks to see if they could supply a "money order in pounds sterling". ( I think that was the term.🤷) "Oh, that's Barbara. She's not in on Tuesday." That was the only bank that ever heard of them. So, I drove 8 miles the next day. Paid for it, and mailed it to some British company that advertised in one of the better colorful glossy British magazines. 40 years later, my order still hasn't arrived, but I'm still optimistic! |
| lkmjbc3 | 03 Dec 2025 9:22 a.m. PST |
Boomers are usually either defined as being born between:
1945 and 1964
or
1940 and 1960. It depends on the writing… Further, there is a defined micro-generation called…
"Generation Jones"
This is defined as being born between:
1958 and 1964. Generation Jones don't identify themselves as Boomers and in fact bristle at the thought. Joe Collins |
| Grattan54 | 03 Dec 2025 10:25 a.m. PST |
I would agree. I would be Generation Jones. I don't see myself as a boomer as anything I see about them is for years much earlier than when I was born. |
 Dal Gavan | 03 Dec 2025 10:32 a.m. PST |
Someone who owns lots of artillery models. Etotheipi +1 |
| Woollygooseuk | 03 Dec 2025 11:04 a.m. PST |
You experimented with making 6mm-ish armies out of hair rollers at least once, based on an article in a non-commercial hard-copy newsletter. Hair rollers existed when you started wargmaing. |
