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Wargame Rules – Detail or Fun? Which Would You Choose?

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If I had a penny, or a cent, for every time I’ve heard wargamers complaining about a specific set of rules because it didn’t have enough detail, or was not fun enough then I would not be writing this blog post. Instead, I would be sunning myself on a tropical beach, listening to soft music as someone brings me a cold drink.

But I’m not. I’m sat at my desk pounding my keyboard. Somewhere in the Universe, there should be a place where that “If I had a penny…” line actually gives you a penny. But I digress. Back to wargaming.

The Devil Is In the Details

No he is not. Well he might be. Next time I bump into him, I’ll ask him where he really does live. My money is on “Idle Hands” .

Other wargamers  would disagree with me. For example, the other day I was gaming with an old friend who loves to tinker with rules. I don’t think he has ever found a rules set that can be used out of the box. Now his tinkering tends to be in the direction of detail. As far as he is concerned, the more detail contained in  a set of  wargame rules, the better. We were playing a Napoleonic battle, and I was hoping to get some younger friends into the hobby and to lure them away from the standard games they played.

I did that not because I thought one game was better than the other. I just wanted  them to broaden their wargaming horizons, learn something new and develop a deeper understanding of the hobby. I’m nice that way.

Now the system we were playing was quite simple, designed for fast play. My friend had already harrumphed at the lack of detail, but had acquiesced to a game just so he could get his French Imperial Guard out on to the table.

We played a game, had fun, laughed and joked. He smoked his pipe, I coughed and spluttered, and my Russians fell before his elite Frenchmen. So far so good.

The following week he returned clutching a sheaf of papers that looked like he had pulled the cover off of a volume of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

“I have some house rules,” he said. Just like an ice cream on a hot day, the younger enthusiasts melted away. “These add some realism to the game,” he said.

I picked up a beer, feeling I was going to need it, and sat down with him to review them.

They were complex. Not Avalon Hill kind of complex. These made Advanced Squad Leader look like a fairy tale. There were rules for marching, camps, communications, entrenchments, fortifications, supply and morale – all the way down to what the general had for dinner and how it could affect the outcome of a battle fought the next day.

I did my best UN Ambassador impression and tried to explain in a diplomatic way that it was a little too much. My friends reaction? He picked up his papers and went home. And Napoleonic wargaming never really got off the ground after that.

Fun Is Not A Dirty Word

Well it shouldn’t be. But some people can make it sound dirty. I guess everyone has to have a skill of some sort. Anyhoo, back to fun and wargaming.

Wargaming should primarily be fun. After all, why would you play a wargame if you were not enjoying it? Unless you like punishing yourself – but that’s a whole different article.

Now fun is going to mean different things to different people. For some it might be pushing cool models around on a table. For some it might be painstakingly recreating a specific battle. For others still it might be playing a hugely detailed game that accounts for a general’s digestive tract and its effect on the upcoming battle.

And all of them are right.

Why? Because you should play whatever floats your boat. The wargame police are not going to come and arrest you. Really, they’re not. So play away, play hard, play fair, play to win, play to laugh – but PLAY.

Just Play The game

Really and truly, the key is to play the game and not get caught up in whether it differentiates on the different suspensions present in a tank. If you enjoy playing it, then play it. Find someone who enjoys it too and wargame off in to the sunset. If you can’t, create solo rules for the system and play it anyway.

Because that is how  wargaming is going to grow. By people playing games and being enthusiastic about the way their system works and the fun they have playing it. Because that fun is contagious and spreads to others who then join the hobby.

So the next time you hear two wargamers arguing over a set of rules and the intricacies of a general’s bowel movements, don’t despair. Congratulate them on their passion and tell them to spend their energy looking for like minded players, not to force each other to play a game neither may enjoy.

You won’t get a penny, or a cent, for every time you stop such arguments. But you will make our  hobby richer.


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