Is it all getting a bit complicated?

[toxicpixie]

Average dice? I'm lucky if I can roll above a one on a d6 these days

[petercooman]

Immeasurably better than in the days of my youth. Only things I miss are average dice.

They exist!

https://www.thediceshoponline.com/dice/2249/Average-Dice-Yellow

[FierceKitty]

I know, but they aren't really needed any more. Good rules these days have reg/irreg distinctions written in, don't they?

[Ithoriel]

I've been gaming since the mid-60s .......... OMG!

Since then - more rules, more scales, more periods, more paints, more scenery, more techniques for painting and scenery making .... more shiny new toys in more materials.

Pig in clover, me!

[Techno]

Yes, no, maybe...
That second album is worth a packet btw

Yes it is !
As far as I know, I have the only copy of "The Homunculus In My Gazebo" which includes the Festering Boggies' seminal work..."The dog done sh*t on my Persian rug blues".
(You will never EVER hear this.....(But it does exist)....Unless I send a copy to Nobby when I'm VERY, VERY drunk !)

But.....Back to the point of the thread.

I think things are only as complicated as you want to make them.
I'm a complete sucker for 'tips'......different modeling tools.....putties, etc....But I enjoy learning all the time. Even in my dotage.
I believe that this is a 'golden era' for soldiers/gaming.

Cheers - Phil

[Chris Pringle]

Is it all getting a bit complicated? I'd say no: in important ways (as all mentioned above already) it's vastly simpler - as in easier. The ranges of figures and the choice of rulesets for every taste and every conflict are wonderful. And the wealth of information available now, not just on the web but also your traditional "BOOK" format ("Bound Optimally-Ordered Knowledge"), is just immeasurably superior to decades gone by. No more laborious photocopying in the Library of Congress for me! If I had to start over, without question I'd rather do it now than with the very limited resources we had 'back then'.

Of course the most important resource is the same now as then - a bunch of like-minded friends to share your enthusiasm with. The past few years I've been incredibly fortunate, we have a great group and I am getting plenty of high-quality gaming fun.

(And anyone who wants to come along to the Oxford Wargames Society of a Monday evening and join in is welcome to do so!)
http://www.oxfordwargamessociety.org.uk/dates.html

Chris
Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BBB_wargames/info
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk/

[Westmarcher]

Actually I think the hobby is in a really good place. ...... With the re-emergence of simpler, faster rules the fun has been put back into the hobby. As a result a hobby that first gripped me in 1967 with Don Featherstone's Wargames still keeps me entertained into retirement.

I believe that this is a 'golden era' for soldiers/gaming.

Agreed.
There. That was easy.  

[FierceKitty]

An Oxford man should really be insisting that wargaming be put on hold for twenty years until all rule-sets can be rendered into acceptable medieval Latin.

[Techno]

An Oxford man should really be insisting that wargaming be put on hold for twenty years until all rule-sets can be rendered into acceptable medieval Latin.

No, he shouldn't !

Latin is a language,
as dead as dead can be,
at first it killed the Romans,
and now it's killing me.

Cheers - Phil (In his youth.....circa 15 AD.)

[toxicpixie]

Now write that on the sculpting room wall a thousand times!

[Techno]

At least you didn't threaten to remove a part of my anatomy.....
Cheers - Phil

[toxicpixie]

You're quite capable of doing that yourself

[Norm]

It is a different scene and it us that has changed.

When I started out, the wargame magazine did not have any colour and then it suddenly got a colour centre fold (no not that mag!) and our eyes were opened to what could be done by the good painters and model makers. The Don Featherstone type books had simple schematic maps and our tables reflected that - so my game table would be a road, one hill and a house or two etc. Full colour magazines, the internet, more money in our pocket and more choice has moved us to a point in time in which we have simply more sophisticated tastes and ambitions - have we lost some fun along the way .... maybe, but `I think a number of recent publications are trying to reverse that trend, so that we have the best of all worlds.

Just out of interest, here is a link to a nostalgia article that I recently wrote for my blog .... note the tree made from dyed cotton wool and matchsticks .... at least I saved the reader from houses made from matchboxes and cushion foam hills with the layers stitched together. We were too poor for fields and roads!

LINK - http://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/remembering-old-wargame.html

[FierceKitty]

No, he shouldn't !

Latin is a language,
as dead as dead can be,
at first it killed the Romans,
and now it's killing me.

Cheers - Phil (In his youth.....circa 15 AD.)

You know that, I know that, but Oxford has certain traditions. That's why Cambridge got Newton and Darwin and Hawkins, and Oxford got Cardinal Newman, and expelled Shelley for atheism.

[Techno]

I  simply could NOT get on with Latin at school......AT ALL.....I hated it.
I dropped it at the earliest opportunity.....For art. (Which I've found a bit more useful.)

In my year, I was always first to finish in a Latin exam...By miles.....I'd have an answer for every single question, and almost without fail get a mark of around 29%.
Basically, I wasn't interested, and couldn't see what use it would be to me in later life.

Cheers - Phillius Stupidus.