You know, I was not sure what category this should go into on the Blog. It is going to be some of my ramblings and musings about the Wargame hobby; but it is not going to be about Wargame Design. This post is not about painting either. It for sure is not going to be about RPG Design. I could stretch and say it is about Wargaming on a Budget but it really isn't about that either. I guess Random it is!
This post was spurred by recent events in my life. I am now officially an empty-nester. My Skumgrod is off to college 300+ miles away. Therefore, we spent a lot of time packing and moving their things to their new place. Always a bittersweet moment.
However, this also seemed like a good time to organize my war game space, tidy up the area, and make sure everything was stored and had a place. I decided it was time for a few reasons as maybe I would move my hobby space indoors, downsize my house, move across country; who knows! During this process I realized, that I had a lot of miniatures!
This makes sense. I mean, I can't paint 100+ miniatures a year for the last 7 years or so without accumulating a few painted miniatures. You can't have rules for Ancient Greeks, Ancient Romans, Flying Battle Ships, the Korean War. Space Mecha, and play a variety of other games without acquiring a few of the little toy soldiers. Plus, my Wargaming and RPG Library and tool box had grown a lot. That happens when you have a wargaming site that does reviews too! The final piece was that I also had a variety of play mats, terrain, and other bits-and-bobs to play games with. All of this meant..... I had a lot of stuff.
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| These are my miniatures, some older than my Skumgrod |
The good thing was that I really do not have a large pile of potential. Pretty much everything I have is painted, except for some very recent Heroquest expansions. That would just be more stuff to pack up then.
I have rules, minis, and terrain to play 3 different scales; 6mm, 15mm, and 28mm. I have miniatures, rules, and terrain to play Sci-fi, Fantasy, Ancients of various flavors, Dark Age, Korean War, Supers, and Pulp, on Land, Sea and Air. I have rules for even more periods than I have miniatures for. Then, I have a variety of RPG books to play a variety of different genres and settings as well. There are games I have rules for that I have never played and probably will never play. I almost never get rid of a miniature or rule set.
All this leads me to the question..... is this enough?
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| These are my physical rulebooks |
The Creator's Paradox
Only one thing has justified this vast collection and library. I call it the Creator's Paradox. I frequently state that as a Designer, you have to be familiar with the tools of the trade. Those tools can only come from a vast familiarity with the sources. I don't mean Herodotus or Livy this time. What I mean is, you need to know a variety of games, their mechanics, how they play, and how those tools impact the game.
Sadly, there is only one way to do this and that is to have read and played A LOT of games!
What is worse, I often go back to my library of rulebooks and reference them for the particulars about Line-of-Sight, Terrain, Scenarios, Unit Creation, and other core mechanics. This is a living library that I reference regularly to spur my design choices. These works are my reference library just as much as the Primary Historical sources I reference to generate my POV on a setting.
Therefore, the Creator's Paradox is that you can never have enough games! This is your living toolbox. A mechanic can not be a "car guy" without his toolbox. A carpenter can not practice his trade without his hammer, saw and other goodies. Game Designers can not create without their own "tool box". That toolbox is made up of other games. Those are the building blocks that you use to create from.
I have games I never intend to play in my collection. That does not mean they are not useful to me. They are in my tool box for a different reason. They are there to fuel ideas and help me meet the design goals for games I am working on right now. I have never read a game that had nothing to offer me or that I did not learn something from.
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| This is my basic terrain collection |
Games Plus
To make matters worse, I am not making card games; I am making miniature wargames. That means, the Creator's Paradox means I need the components to play the games too. I have found that games do not always reveal their secrets until the dice have been rolled, the cards flipped, and the figures have been moved. Reading the rules gives you a flavor or sense of the game play; but for a nuanced understanding it really needs to be played.
Sometimes, I can understand the basics with simple paper counters or moving boxes around in PowerPoint. Sometimes, it takes something more. You have to see the interaction of rules in the true 3D space of the tabletop. That means miniatures and terrain.
Post-Production
The final reason I will probably keep expanding my collection is simple. Post-production. No matter if I am writing for a magazine article, game rules, or other published works; the editors like you to be able to provide images. There are two ways to go about this; first you can find someone else to provide them for you, or you can provide them yourself. Therefore, if you want to provide them yourself you will need to paint up your own miniatures and put them on terrain.
In order to do that effectively, you need the miniatures, and you need the terrain. Also, in order to market and promote games after launch it is very helpful to have 1-3 playable forces for demos, posting online, and actually playing games with folks. When introducing folks to new games it is best if you provide everything needed to reduce the barrier of entry and that means a decent looking game board that will accentuate the rules.
That means, as long as I am designing games I will need to grow my collections as I expand into different genres and periods. As part of the Creator's Paradox you will never have enough.
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| Diadochi in 6mm |
Sell It Off!
Many gamers would recommend selling parts of the collection off. Once you are done with Post-Production for an Ancient Greek game, then sell it off to finance the next game's post-production. This is a good idea. In theory this is also a way to recoup some of the costs of the game early on so you can move to profitability on any title much quicker.
There is one small issue. Games that have miniatures and terrain in your inventory jump the Queue to be finished much faster. In order to be a Game Designer, you need games that people are playing. The fastest way to get a game from concept to player's hands is if you all ready have the components for post-production handy.
A great example of this is my collection of Viking Age models. I made and released Fury of the Northman a unit vs unit historical Viking game around 2020 or so? I could have sold on my Victrix Vikings after that and called it a day. However, a few years later in 2025 I used those Victrix Vikings to fast-track post-production on Odin's Ravens: Viking Age Bad Boys. If I had sold on the models, Odin's Ravens would still be in post-production hell and not available for players. Therefore, games with miniatures and terrain get fast tracked, and a large number of available minis for various periods helps expand my offerings quicker. The Creator's Paradox.
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| Korean Air War |
Final Thoughts
Well, that all sounded like the demented justifications of some sort of plastic crack addict! If that rationale helps me sleep at night, I guess they will have to do!
As a Game Designer, the question is How Much is Enough? Sadly, the answer (for me) is the Creator's Paradox. As long as you are still creating games than it might never be enough. Sadly, I have found that I can not help myself. I can not stop making games, because it is just something I do. It doesn't matter if no one buys them and it doesn't matter if I never publish anything again. I have to make games!
Until that urge leaves me (and I will be dead or seriously ill for that to happen) than I will be subject to the twisted logic of the Creator's Paradox.
Until next time!
Or purchase all out games at the Blood and Spectacles Publishing Wargames Vault Page!
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