"Wargaming In 2015 - Burnout Story" Topic

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I've been promising myself I'd write about my experiences of playing Field of Glory Renaissance (FOGR) over the last two years but my day job kept getting in the way.

The recent changes to VAT for ebooks and Corvus Belli's decision to suspend production of their 15 mm historical ranges ensured that I was propelled headlong into Christmas and kept busy until today.

After much thought I've decided to take a break from regular wargaming in 2015. "Shock horror" I hear you cry! Let me briefly explain why ..

Full article.

This was published earlier today. I've already had one tweet to say this struck a chord. All the guy needed to do was replace FOGR with WHFB for it to become his personal burnout story.

What's your substitute?

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Martin Stephenson
The Waving Flag | Twitter | eBay

That was the kick I needed. Thanks.

I actually find that the internet is the greatest robber of my time. I would be much more productive if I didn't slouch in a chair and browse so much.

Lately I have liberated about an hour an evening from browsing and the result is more painting and a midweek game.

I have also just downloaded Neil Thomas' 1 Hour war-games to my Kindle, just to to break the cycle of reading complex rules.

We just played 4 games of FoG-R at Usk (French Huguenot, but early, not new-fangled) – and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Playing in the occasional competition is a good spur to get projects finished but, yes, I've easily knocked a 3rd off my games tally by playing fewer events (I barely average more than 2 games a week now) … and it has allowed more painting time.

These days, I don't play singles (doubles is more sociable) and have hung up my FoG ancients boots so that's what has made the difference.

For Medieval warfare I play Basic Impetus with an evade rule, or DBA V3.

Phil
Ancients on the Move

What's your substitute?

Packing orders?

I don't have a substitute, but then I don't tend to approach my hobby like a job. I rarely do deadlines and since I don't play tournaments I rarely need to finish an army in time. I also enjoy painting and writing game scenarios as much as playing so I don't tend to get all goal-oriented towards the latter.

It would help you to compartmentalize your goals and set smaller ones. Also, choose what you like best and focus on that (as you appear to do now). You have 100% control of the amount of energy to put into your hobby (contrary to a job) and control is THE secret for not burning out.

It sounds a lot like its an issue with the rules. If you mainly play one game and you're not really happy with the rules you are using, then that is going to lead to a loss of enthusiasm. Can't you try some different games ? Maybe try some boardgames or boardgame / miniature hybrids (like Command & Colours) that are easier to get started playing than getting into a new miniatures period.
In my group there are a few miniatures games that we play regularly (with periods where we play one game frequently, then leave it for a while) and we also play boardgames regularly. We normally play at least once per week, and the variety keeps it interesting.

Funny. I've been suffering burnout in my quest to write my own rules to suit all my specific niches without getting particularly complex.

I really like what I have and I've worked out all the mechanics over pages of scrawled notes, as well as the formatting and such for the 'final' version but I've been struggling to even look at my files and notes lately.

It can come in many forms, but you never want the hobby to become a chore :v (Which is why I'm taking a break from it to focus on skirmish gaming, just until I recharge my geek batteries)

I sometimes go through burnout but it tends to be from having too many projects I want to work on that I end up waffling from one to the other and ultimately never actually get anything DONE in significant enough numbers to actually do anything with – most historical gaming is very under-represented in my area so if I want to try anything I have to paint multiple armies so that I'll have enough by myself to host a game and that's where I run out of steam.

my substitute is Warhammer Fantasy and 40K. Both hopeless wastes of time, money and effort, for lame games nearly every time. My solution – sell it off and quit playing it.

Flames of war became the historical substitute of the same problem. Won't sell off the 15mm WWII since I will reuse it and I did some excellent painting and collecting.

My new approach is to do fast play rules that still have great feel with giving players the historical options and decisions, but keeping it simple. The Neil Thomas rules have been a big help. I'm now tinkering with them for a couple of periods.

And DBA is also a break. While it isn't simple, it's not complicated to execute, and it's fast.