During the past two years of socially responsible withdrawal I have been fortunate enough to be part of a three person household of geeks, with others forming part of of our bubble. Unsurprisingly gaming has been the backbone of our leisure activities. Although we have been able to keep up some RPG play, board games have perhaps been the most prominent part of our schedule.
Although I still I consider myself a role-player first and foremost, I probably now think of myself as a board gamer more than a wargamer. This isn't really anything new – I had largely dropped out of wargaming some time before the Old World was killed off by Games Workshop. Even so, the conscious realisation of that fact is a little strange to me. I got into 'heavier' board games like HeroQuest and Space Crusade at a young age (heavy when compared to mainstream fare like Cludo and Risk at any rate). I then 'graduated' to the wider and deeper waters of the wargaming hobby, enthralled at the superior scope and rules nuance available there. With the recent arrival of the gorgeous HeroQuest remake at my house, I naturally feel like I have come full circle in some way. So why the change?
Same game, now recommended for players 5 years older
Player Numbers
Wargames for large groups of players have a long history. As far back as the 1930's Fletcher Pratt was running a naval wargame on an 18ft by 18ft floor for up to 50 players (half of them female) who commanded a single ship each. Almost any wargame can split the control of a single force between multiple players, yet at their core most wargames are intended as a test of skill between two opponents.
This suited me fine when I was young and only needed to recruit one friend to have a proper game. It worked great when I was regularly attending a club with a whole group of possible opponents to arrange matches with. For a small friendship group, however, the two player format is much less suitable. Not only is it hard to find space for multiple games to take place simultaneously, there is only a half chance you will have an even number of players to pair off. I actually maintain a list of the player counts of every game in our collection and we usually buy any available expansion if a base game 'only' goes to 4 people.
Tactical Inertia
Although the army lists of a game like Warhammer offer a huge number of choices to every player, there isn't a lot of opportunity to 'try before you buy'. Getting a new unit for your army is a significant investment of both money and time spent assembling and (possibly) painting them. Wargaming is never cheap, but the cost difference between being able to field a decent sized army and being able to meaningfully customise your selection of troops is huge.
This unfortunately means that the odds of having a 'fair fight' with a given opponent are not actually all that great. You both bring your best army to the table and the player with the best designed force wins if they play correctly. You might learn from your mistakes and play better next time – or figure out what new regiment you need to buy in order to break their current tactics – but there is rarely much point in re-fighting the same battle with the same forces week after week.
Collectable card games like Magic: The Gathering have the same issue to an even greater extent, although most players are able to maintain multiple decks and have a large reserve of spare cards to alter their composition. Both hobbies are ultimately dependant on having a large pool of players you can switch between, fighting a different enemy each week as you try to work your way up the overall rankings through a mix of experience and expenditure.
Board games are deliberately designed to provide a balanced game between specified sides, with the best ones allowing for quite different strategic situations depending on the set up or the side you are playing. If one player proves unbeatable with a given side, you can simply ask that player not to keep playing it every time or gang up on them early. (If playing a particular side a particular way always brings victory to whoever takes it, we probably won't play that game for long). The relatively bearable cost of a complete game means that excessive repetition can be avoided by switching between different games. For a consistent group of friends, this is once again a much better situation.
Skirmish wargames do of course exist. These require few enough models that you can change up your forces more easily and offer campaign options that allow you to enjoy a persistent narrative with the same opponents. Unfortunately the resulting shoot-outs have struck me as a bit limited compared to a good board game and I haven't attempted to get into any of them lately. Most also do not offer a narrative experience to compare with the likes of Gloomhaven. I still have a huge soft spot for first edition Necromunda though, which was an absolute classic.
The Eurogame Style
'Eurogames' are a genre of boardgame defined by several key factors. They don't allow players to be eliminated before the end of the game, they have only limited direct conflict between players and they use scoring methods that are partially secret until the end of the game.
Given how lengthy some adult board games can be, not having a player knocked out hours before the conclusion is obviously a benefit. The addition of secret scoring means that no one really knows who has won until the final results are tallied, maintaining everyone's interest. With each player's focus being kept primarily on building themselves up rather than knocking down their rivals, Eurogames provide a solid basis for a relaxed social environment between the participants. Most of our favourite games are Eurogames and I think that this design philosophy has played a significant role in my current love of the board game.
I haven't completely lost interest in wargaming. When clubs are safe again and Games Workshop finally gets round to resurrecting the Old World I may well try to get my Vampire Counts back out there. For now though, I am more than happy playing the likes of Firefly, Small World and HeroQuest with my wife and friends. (If you don't know why HeroQuest is so great, you can find out here).
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