The excellent Little Wars channel has asked the question is Historical Wargaming dying, they asked a fair few hobby leaders and many Vloggers took to YouTube to give their opinions, we merry few, we band of brothers also broached the subject on our last club Zoom call. Did we get a definitive answer or did the others, nope I don't think so. I have wargamed for over 50 years and in that time I have been a member of two clubs, Carluke and Lancaster, due to the time lapse Carluke was overwhelmingly historical and Lancaster is a mix of historical and fantasy, possibly 60/40 but definitely with historical in the lead. My own opinion is that no, historical is not dying but is it increasing, no I don't think so it is merely holding its own and with the plethora of games available these days that is surely encouraging.
I spent ten years at Carluke and hardly missed a weekend but when I left we still had the same guys who were there when I first joined and we did try our best to get new members. I have been at Lancaster for about four years, maybe five and again a very welcoming club and member Rob and others put on demonstration games at some of the larger shows but again I think we have managed to get and keep maybe two new guys. Against this I look at the growing Aladdin's cave or that warehouse in Indiana Jones and the sheer volume of stuff available for historical wargamers, yes I know the same applies to fantasy etc. but that wasn't the question, this cornucopia just gets better with each passing year.
I watched an interesting video entitled "Are you old enough for historicals" or something like that and I think that does play a part, we in the Old Guard now generally have enough spare time and money to indulge ourselves therefore we keep the industry turning over so they do not have to rely on new blood.
So after all that babbling, I do not think we are in trouble, I was in at the beginning in the Sixties and now in the words of a British prime minister "We have never had it so good", or is it "Crises, what crises?"
I am nearing completion with my reserve Waffen SS squad, now I only got these because although I have a full platoon it is always useful to have a reserve squad for games, all my forces now have reserve squads, and though they rarely see the table I of course 'need' them just in case. As I look at them awaiting their varnish I realise they only have one LMG, now that is fine for army units but this unit being Waffen SS they are most likely to also be panzergrenadiers, and they get two LMG's, yes my Germans have more LMG's than you can shake a stick at but the men do not wear Autumn camo smocks and I therefore cannot use these. I could just say that in the heat of battle these guys left their LMG behind or it broke down, but that also won't work, so I ordered up an LMG this morning. Another thing which has been bugging me for a long time is that my War and Conquest warbands are not big enough, they consist of 32 men and should be at least 36, so two days ago I ordered up for each an extra four men, Picts, Welsh, Saxons and Franks along with new, larger bases. Yet still I am not completely happy, I would like another Roman cohort to add to my Imperial Romans and I know I cannot resist this much longer, once Aventine finish redoing their molds I may have to scratch this itch as well. This leaves me with a quandry, my Galatians, I know the unit I have is 'wrong' but they fight like Trojans, Aventine have Galatians and I am torn between keeping the fighters or getting a new, more historical unit, this one may continue to play on my mind for some time yet.
The map front seems to have recovered from the Covid curse, as well as continuing with the Atlas I have recently finished a very interesting set for a book on American naval aviation during the Vietnam war, I don't have the exact details but I had to draw one of their bases in California. I am also doing a large project for a book about Charles XII of Sweden for friend and Helion editor Charles Singleton.
The weather recently has been very nice, an Indian summer here in the North, but Winter is coming. I have now persuaded myself I need city ruins, no more deliberation on that front, only a matter of when, certainly not this month nor perhaps next month as I have a couple of SYW battalions I want, I have the flags so just need the troops now. I shall therefore need to take over more of the lending library shelves in the Post Office but no need to upset the Memsahib yet.
Just like model railroading, both hobbies have been dying off since the 70s when I first dived into them.
ReplyDeleteI heartily concur.
DeleteI believe I saw the video you are refering to but didn't watch it. The same question has been asked year after year for as long as I can remember.
ReplyDeleteYou only need to go to some of the big shows to see hordes of historical figures running arround the tables to know it's not dying, but the games look the same, year after year. I don't think that there's much new and imaginative in the genre and I guess that's why people ask the question.
I no longer fight large historical battles (although you might have me convinced on Honours of War) but even so most of my games are historical but only using a few figures, I prefer the story telling or narative style of games nowadays, but it's each to his own and long may it continue.
Cheers
I have and have played smaller games but I love big battles I was lucky in Scotland as there was a group of us who played large ACW games on a regular basis. I do manage here and still enjoy them best of all.
DeleteEach year, WSS' Great Wargaming survey tries to gain insight into this very question. I am examining the 2020 data now hoping to divine the truth. For us elders in the hobby, times have never been better. That is a very handsome Monmouth map, by the way.
ReplyDeleteA wargaming Oracle Jonathan. Just spotted a typo on the Monmouth map, must sort that.
DeleteThanks for taking the time to put down your thoughts George. Yes we are spoilt for choice these days and virtually anything we want is just a mouse click away. We have a fairly healthy gaming community around where I live in Sydney with maybe the same 60/40 split. I do see younger (under 40) players getting into historical gaming but it'd mainly the warlord games where you can get started for a small investment such as bolt action, victory at sea etc. Like you I'm continually "adding" to my collections. I keep the periods I'm currently into in my wargaming room until we (the usual suspects) lose interest, at that stage I box them up and relegate them to the garage and in some cases move them on. Cheers Greg
ReplyDeleteAs mentioned this subject has been coming up for as long as I have been wargaming, I did my bit to grow the hobby albeit failing so I have to be happy now with my situation as is.
DeleteI don't reckon war gaming will ever die as a hobby. I is my belief, though, that it has ossified some over the years. Although a member of a club, I rarely attend, mainly because what I do very few others do; what most of the others do, I don't (and these days, am not even tempted).
ReplyDeleteIt is also my belief that a good deal of wargamers lie hidden 'under the radar', doing their own thing, possibly with one or two like-minded friends, if not solo, and about whom one never hears a whisper. Or maybe the whisper does get out, but nothing more.
Years ago a moderately well-known author of a trilogy on the New Zealand Land Wars passed away. It turned out he was into Napoleonic war games, and had a fair collection of mainly British and French figures. Who knew?
A good point, I am sure that my own area which includes Carnforth and the larger Morecambe must have more wargamers than myself. As you say outwith a club there are no doubt small groups happy with their own situation, nothing wrong with that. I have customers tell me all the time they know someone just like me (no they don't) but to date I have yet to meet one :) Funnily enough Railway Modellers abound in the village but again in their own small groups or solo.
Delete"It is also my belief that a good deal of wargamers lie hidden 'under the radar', doing their own thing, possibly with one or two like-minded friends, if not solo, and about whom one never hears a whisper. Or maybe the whisper does get out, but nothing more." This is spot on in my view. The plethora of new figures and games in so many scales simply cannot be explained by the visible tip of the hobby. Clubs, magazines, shows and blogs represent just a small part of our hobby.
ReplyDeleteYes, another good point, I myself continue to spend small fortunes every year and will continue to do so as long as the LMF remains healthy :)
DeleteMy (our?) generation tended to gravitate towards historical gaming early having been brought up on a diet of WW2/ACW/Western films, books, comics, figures (Airfix?), etc. There wasn't much in the way of "fantasy" inspiration? Probably quite the opposite now. My unscientific research over the years suggests that as gamers mature(?), have more spare time and more cash, they almost inevitably move towards historical because it has more scope as a rounded hobby? As for the constant calls for "new blood", I agree we're doing pretty well as we are.
ReplyDeleteVery much my own history there. I also think the red tape now involved in having 'children' visit your club also limits new growth, for small clubs it is easier to just not have anyone under 18, a nonsense but sadly reality. One of our members runs a large club at a local school and we meet in the school, but we get no one making the move from school club to 'adult' club.
DeletePlaying catch up, it's all been said really, except cracking maps🙄
ReplyDeleteThanks Phil, Boris has scuppered me again, back to solo.
DeleteI think we have to be wary of judging the hobby by looking at clubs. My club was formed by like minded gamers all into Advanced Squad Leader. We are of a similar age having got into gaming by a similar path. We play a variety of games now but the only new members are similar people of our generation. A new club formed a short distance away of like minded gamers into everything from the Star Wars miniatures game to Bolt Action. They are all of a similar age having got into gaming by a similar path. They play a variety of games including historicals but they don’t attract many purely historical gamers because the club is perceived as being full of gamers mainly interested in fantasy. I’m sure they know about us and think we’re a club of players only interested in historicals. As it turns out neither is a correct description yet despite this both clubs are thriving. If I look at my club I’d say the hobby is greying, if I look at the other club I’d say it’s full of kids.
ReplyDeleteFair point, there was the same situation in Lancaster a few years ago, sadly the second club has now gone, no doubt to kitchen tables somewhere or not these days.
DeleteWhen I discovered miniature wargaming in 1968 at the old age of 34, there was practically nothing available. I remember that if one wanted a drummer or a flag bearer, he had to modify a rifleman as none were available.
ReplyDeleteVery true, I began seriously while still in the Navy around '75 and as a medieval player it was still dire. Essex led the way for medievals a breath of fresh air.
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