How And Why: Miniatures Wargames
The number one thing I get asked about besides how to play Dungeons and Dragons is my miniatures hobby; usually assuming that I play Warhammer (down that road lay madness). It’s somewhat understandable since the popularity of cell phones has let everybody comprehend computers a bit more. I still like plenty of tabletop and miniatures wargames, and play them often.
Miniatures wargames are a time honored hobby, inspired by the movement of pieces by generals and used now to simulate pretty much everything. Gary Gygax’s original RPG, Chainmail and the first few DnD editions were more or less wargames, a lot of focus was on the combat abilities of the character improving over time and fighting on a grid or table. Steve Jacksons OGRE can be bought in a travel version that is some maps, the booklet, and a bunch of cutout tokens to move around the map; that style persists today in many space-ship combat sim games.
There are two popular styles of Miniatures Wargame. A war simulation, and a role playing wargame with the difference being how much focus is put on character development. Necromunda and Gorka-Morka are two Games Workshop specialist games where you have your own party of characters you outfit, customize, upgrade, and level up. Their most popular game line Warhammer has no such aspect, forces are made from a point buy system with customization but no persistent aspects. It’s worth noting that both types of game benefit from organized campaign play that adds enough persistence to keep people interested.
To some extent both styles require you to put together a force of models that represents your army, and the other players do the same according to an accepted point value (almost all games use one, and it just tends to work.) and then take turns adding terrain to the table until you have a battleground. Initiative is rolled, game begins.
Warhammer 40K uses both a point buy and a squad choice system. You have to have minimal types of squads before your army is table legal. The game I play, Dystopian Wars, is the same way: A table legal force contains at least one large/massive, one medium, and one small sized squad, with a commander placed on one of your large/massive squads. Because you can only bring so many of your models to the table, you have to be clever about how you build and play your force.
The Empire of Man in Warhammer Fantasy has huge groups of regimental infantry they can creep forward with, supported by cannon and arquebus fire. The Orks on the other hand outnumber everybody and fling wave after wave at the enemy until they win, being absolute rubbish at range. The Ogres string together charge attack after charge attack, smashing into lines of smaller units. Every army plays a bit differently for every game; which can be damning if you find out you don’t like the style of the army you bought.
Individual models have ratings and qualities that set it apart from others. Empire infantry aren’t tough like Orks, but are more disciplined. Federated States tanks are loaded with sharpshooters while the Republique uses many status effect inducing weapons. It can be maddening at first with some games trying to understand what does what, i’m still struggling to be better!
What game you pick also tells you what to expect out of combat. Warhammer Fantasy does not let you shoot into melee fights, Dystopian Wars has three different size classes of units for any environment, and Infinity channels the complexity of cyberpunk firefights. Those three games have different rhythms because they simulate different kinds of engagements. Infinity is all about cover, terrain is a core part of the experience; while in the game I play I have not even bothered trying to dabble with terrain yet. Let’s win a game first before I try that.
What still makes wargamers a rare breed is how much time, money, and effort that the hobby demands. I chose DW specifically because it was cheap and I still have put down a lot for it; an amount that would of hardly bought me a full Warhammer army. Then comes painting and assembly, depending on what game you chose that can take days. A decent Ork army numbers 150+ models! With 3D printers coming out swinging, these models now have even more detail than they used to, that adds time too. And then play is 3 hours minimum for a wargame, less if both people know what they are doing. You don’t do this unless you want to.
I just finished priming a massive Republique of France army, a 2000 point list using all of my favorite tricks: Floating naval cruisers, screens of fighter aircraft, heat lance tanks, and more. The next step for them is painting. The great thing about the game I chose is they are more or less all vaguely round or square shaped tanks with a low profile; perfect for beginners. The major marketing strategy behind the new Age of Sigmar line on the other hand was larger, more detailed models intended for enthusiasts. Painting Galleries aren’t complete if there isn’t a well painted Space Marine army on there somewhere.
A game typically ends when one side is hopelessly outfought. Some games like Dystopian Wars gives you a random win condition, meaning you have to fight the enemy a specific way if you want to win. You usually have to blow up all of a certain size class in addition to a percentage of the enemies points. Other times you have to capture specifics positions, it varies by game. Campaign based games usually have you retreating if you are losing, not by force but the alternative is losing all your good units; a rule in Necromunda is if a character dies you lose its gear (Some street kid runs out and grabs his stuff before the fight ends) and in Gorka-Morka don’t expect to drive a car the next match if it’s been blown up.
What I like about Miniatures Wargames is that they are a social experience mixed with arts and hobbies. There is a certain calm that comes from painting up an army, and a certain freedom you feel when priming your first army. It’s something I suggest for those that want to try it out.
