Settling Down

After all these years of casual gaming, and 30 months of intense gaming for the channel, it feels like it’s time to jump off the shiny new treadmill. A long time ago this wargamer made the conscious decision to turn his back on the FLGS carousel, that relentless pursuit of the novel, the trendy, and the well-marketed.

One of the best decisions of my life.

It hasn’t just saved me a lot of money, it has saved me a lot of time, and a lot of space. The constant churning of the wargaming of waters has been great for producers, we now have a hobby that supports numerous medium to large size companies to say nothing of the countless smaller companies. It helped the local game shops stay afloat, although persistence of a comic book history despite its best efforts itself immolation, and the board game boom, certainly help with that as well.

Perhaps it has even been good for the hobby as a whole. I wouldn’t know; having turned my back on that aspect of the hobby I can only speak to the health of my own table. That owes far more to the efforts of the cottage industries than to the factory floors.

Yet, out of a desire to help those cottage industrialists succeed, a significant portion of my channel has been dedicated towards spreading the word of these smaller, indie producers.

There’s something to be said for treating the hobby as a box of chocolates, never knowing what you’re going to get. The exploration of varying titles and different mechanics presents a very satisfying series of intellectual challenges. The appeal is obvious.

But even the pursuit of a broad sampling of the incredibly diverse offerings of the war game hobby can itself wear a thin after a while. And that’s where I find myself today.

There are about a half a dozen titles left on my current list of things to try, or list of things to show my audience. A little something different will always have a place on the menu. But you know what also deserves a place?

Depth.

At some point a gamer gets tired of chasing after the perfect rule set. He finds that the titles in his collection do what he wants well enough to allow him to slow down.

That’s where I find myself today. No longer browsing the store shelves but rereading the books on my own shelves. Wondering what I can do with those old games that I haven’t done before. Wondering if there’s some subtle aspect of the games that waits, undiscovered. Curious to find hidden treasures among the rules, or new experiences in Old familiar places.

My thoughts run less to new rule sets, and more to new challenges to be found within the old ones. Looking more for scenario packs that can be bent to my purposes. And looking for more history books to add context to my historical fights.

You don’t need any new rules sets. The ones I have are great.

And that’s a pretty good feeling itself.