Personally I think the 'clickie' rules are a piece of crap and the figures aren't far behind.  The fact that these have become popular just indicates a laziness to buy pre-painted figs on one hand. On the other it does provide figs for those who feel they don't have the skills needed or time to put into painting mini's. I'll concede that they do have a valid point.

I really agree with the points you're raising about playing a game and maybe a lot of folks don't much care for areas outside their favored genres.  Me...i'm a sci-fi/space wargamer.  I also don't much care for a game with so many rules I need two or three notebooks to play it. So the history behind the Nappies and such is pretty meaningless to me.  If you like this...then more power to you.  But the beauty of wargaming is that it evolves, advances, and adapts as desired...so being told that I have to justify my gaming in order for it to be valid gaming is somewhat nuts, if not mildly offensive.  Truth is 90% perception and 10% fact...and the article seems to have been written from the perception end of the spectrum rather than the 10% where most opinions overlap.

The only thing to me that is disappointing with Iron Stars and some other games I enjoy...and that may make it seem as if its nothing more than a fad, is the lack of miniatures for it.  To some I'm sure that if the game is a wargame, yet lacks mini's then it can't possibly be expected to survive.  That's just silly...it may become less mainstream, but as long as the players are there to enjoy it and encourage its growth no game should be considered merely a fad. Calling a game such is not only detrimental from an advertising position but sends entirely the wrong message to the player base.

Anyway...that's my two cents on the issue.

I'll disagree with you an a couple of points here.
While the clicky figures themselves may be average at best, I believe the clicky base has been one of the more ingenious miniatures "inventions" over the last five or six years. I also believe that the clicky games have generated a lot of interest in wargaming from players who might not otherwise have shown any wargaming interest.
As for prepainted figs... I absofrigginlutely love them. I've been playing wargames since the early seventies, and if you count the Milton Bradley American Heritage Series (which I still own all of), since the mid-sixties.
I've also been involved miniatures gaming since the late eighties. That being said, I view myself as a gamer and not a painter. I couldn't care less if I never painted another model again. Does that make me lazy?
Not in my opinion.
I'd simply rather not spend my time doing something I don't really like doing.
I'd rather play the game than spend any time painting.
So pre-painted figs, to me, are...
Mui Bueno.

Kevin
PS: Oh, and Dan, the mid to late seventies were the hey day of wargaming. NOT the mid eighties. At least, that's how *I* remember it.

Sorry about the double post....

The heyday of Wargaming started in the 70's.... and we are still in it, there are new technologies coming out (the unique flying bases from With Hostile Intent), and new rules and ideas are coming out all the time.

I don't even think we have hit the peak yet..... but it is one awesome climb.

John

and the hair too!

Actually, I'm going to try out a Napoleonic ruleset this year, I hear the historicals are the most popular games at the conventions. I know it's outside my particular genre, but I'm gonna take a chance!

See you at Origins in less than 16 hours!

Yep, I'm having exactly the same problem with fantasy. No plasma cannons...

I'd say that the major barrier to historical, or even most kinds of miniatures wargaming comes from the high entry cost required to get the leads (or plastics), paints, tools, and so on required for something that you may or may not be able to actually play more than a few times a year. Plus, there are those (like me) who just simply don't have the coordination to paint properly at all. It's pretty easy to see where some might go for the pre-paints, or even just abandon minis gaming altogether as a lost cause.

No, we didn't. I don't even know who this Irski guy is, but I guess he's got a stick lodged somewhere in his anatomy, yes?

What exactly is this guy's problem? Is it that sci-fi and fantasy gaming are getting more popular than historical gaming? Well boo hoo. Its not like they're mutually exclusive, after all (I'm both a naval and sci-fi gamer, after all) yet there is much more room for scope with regards to sci-fi/fantasy than there is with historical.

Anyway, its not like this guy has a functioning brain cell, so...

Its not a personal attack, its a fact...:D

I was just about to suggest that, as a matter of fact--I had been thinking of a few words to put down on paper (so to speak)

Want any help?

to be honest, I don't mind the pre-painted myself.  I would love to see a really good system that used axis and allies minis and FoW style rules. (I could have written a set of rules like FoW in another life!

But that's just me

oh yeah, I would have used multiple die types too

It's a silly article from the get-go.

I started gaming in 1978 with a copy of AH's "Bismarck" and followed by the original pocket copy of TFG's "Star Fleet Battles" and have never looked back.

There are more games (Historical and fantastic) on the market now than at any time in HISTORY. That means people are playing them. Back in "The Day" there was ONLY AH, SPI, TFG, Metagaming, and TSR. That was basically IT.

Mini games were limited to Chainmail and Nappies or Civil war stuff.

Now, at our last con (Millennium Con X in Austin) there were 150+ different games played, most of which were minis games! I don't think there were any clickies at all! (There may have been a Star Wars minis game).

And what about Clicky games? It brings novices into the notion of moving toy "Soldiers" around a table/map. WHAT ON EARTH IS WRONG WITH THAT? Personally, all i think it does is widen the gene pool.

And I do love Iron Stars.

Gotta Agree...

Wargaming has CHANGED, and the fossils like me that didn't adapt (as Warlock and I obviously have) have pined for a return to 'the way things were' since the advent of twenty-sided dice.....I have a bag ful of them, thank you.

The field is more open, the hobby has transitioned from a remote, "geeky old man's" past time to one that attracts younger males (and the occasional female - where the hell was I when THAT happened?) that are simply more interested in competitions, not infinitely long "I'm geekier than thou" discussions of uniform colors from the Hundred Years war...

The uber geeks that drove the old game companies were put out of business by the more streamlined companies, and their 'expertise' relegated to non-essential sideline commentary.

While there is a place for commentary, but it's not a premium product any more. I can find anything out by punching in a few search phrases in Google or Wikipedia. Amateur pedants like myself can self-publish games that approach what the old guys published as pocket games, and Smaller Publishers like MJ12 can put out stuff that outshines the old mainline stuff using print-on-demand. Big Boys like GW and ADB can put out products that shine like first tier products meant for mass consumption.

Gaming simply became mainstream, and doesn't have to apologize any more for being the past time of geeks - so geeks aren't in charge anymore. Want a historical game? go write one.....or download it off the 'net.

It's that simple...