Wargaming is a difficult hobby.

[Ochoin]

You want a game of chess? Take out the board & set it up - 2 minutes.
You want a miniature wargame? A bit more complex.

One of my pals was saying the AZW figures he'd painted for a Show game 3 years ago were gathering dust. It's easy enough to have a garage game in a few weeks....or is it?

Since the Show, we've changed rules - from 'The Men Who Would Be Kings' to 'Black Powder' . This means looking at the BP Zulu War supplement, deciding which "special" rules should be applied & discussing via email.

The armies; several of us have figures. What will we use to create a balanced game? The scenario: where, when, what & victory conditions?
Army & stat lists are needed for BP. Is there any issues with figures - eg painting touch-ups? Wait! BP needs 'brigade" commanders. do we have enough suitable British/Colonial & Zulu figures for this role?

All of this requires extensive email discussion.

And let's not forget setting up & putting away. As this will be at my house, this is my responsibility. Both take time - more than the two minutes needed for chess.

There will be a lot of activity between now & late February when the game will happen.

All this is not to say wargaming isn't a *lot* of fun. But it's the reason we only game a dozen or so games a year.

donald

[blacksmith]

But I like all those difficulties you talk about. I like to do several new projects every year, change scale, period, basing, rules, etc. I got bored easily doing the same thing all the time but maybe it's just me

[Ochoin]

Perhaps 'difficult' was the wrong word.

'Complex'?

donald

[PaulRPetri]

You are not wrong in your thoughts Donald.
The Minas Tirith game my buddy and myself ran twice last year took two large SUV's to transport and about two hours to set up and two hours to take down. That project took about 20 years to complete working on it in dribs and drabs. Those two games nearly did me in. I can't see myself doing that game again on that scale. So now I have a sixteen foot wall section of Minas Tirith hanging from my garage roof and 3000 plus 40mm figures piled in my attic...

So for the Seven Years War Association Convention on the first weekend in April I am doing a 6-8 players game on a six by eight table of Zorndorf using a very modified version of Armati. For me that's easy.

But I am like Javier I have to have gaming projects!!

[steve_pickstock]

I agree whole heartedly with the sentiment of Donald's original post. Organising new projects - despite that being what it's all about - is fraught with problems. Difficulties? Clausewitz called them 'frictions'. New rules, sourcing figures, getting them prepped and ready, teaching the new rules to the players - there are often times when I ask myself 'why?' I'm doing it.

I'm not sure I have a good answer.

Our club have a few games we play - Dragon/Lion Rampant, Wings of Glory and Cruel Seas (occasionally we play Travel Battle or Tanks for a bit of variation); but they're games we're comfortable with, that take minimal set up, give us a good game, and people know the rules.

But we wouldn't be human if we didn't want to 'up' the experience, do something else, and there is always the latest shiny.

The Red Box Musketeers are a great example. I felt I had some really good ideas, for the sword fighting game, but the rules didn't really give that good experience.

With the Cthulhu 1625 idea, it's a much sounder footing. The players are much more comfortable with the rules, and the very flexible nature of the Rampant series means adapting them to the situation is much easier. The try-out game went okay, and at least one of the players is pestering me to go again.

It's in our nature as humans to keep trying something new, to always keep pushing the envelope. Overcoming the frictions is what makes it fun.