Back from my Hols

Rested and raring to go.

The next big project is 'A Hundred Years of War' - more on that soon.

Next game is my first x wing outing on Monday

Wargamer Taxonomy - Lead Warrior's take

This is taken form Lee Hadleys blog - I thought I would give it a go. 

"This is another one of those interesting Internet Memes that occasionally does the rounds within the hobby Blog community. This one comes from the Itinerant Hobbyist who has adapted something he found elsewhere on the Interweb as a way of classifying and quantifying what drives us as individual wargamers. Unlike a set of questions this is designed to gauge the complex interplay of motivations that we all share but in different quantities. There are five basic categories and all you have to do is allocate a percentage next to each according to its significance in motivating you as a wargamer. Of course there is nothing to stop you from adding a little explanation with your percentages, in fact I hope you do.

(Picture Source - 56 Geeks)

The descriptions below are taken directly from the Itinerant Hobbyists post:

• Immersion - You really get into the fluff/universe/world/history of the game you play. 
• Social - relationships are what's important. You look forward as much to the dinner/drink afterwards as you do to the gaming itself.
• Showcasing/Modelling - You really like to show your work and see the work of others. Modelling and painting are what give you the most energy.
• Strategy - You like to read forums, listen to podcasts, work on lists, etc to improve your game. You like the mechanics of how a game works.
• Competition - you like testing your play style and abilities against others to come out on top. Or, to test your strategies against the best."

Back to me now

My percentages are as follows. 

30% Immersion - I am and always have been into history and my reading and researching feeds my wargaming habit remorselessly

20% Social - I have made a lot of friends from wargaming and whilst we don't socialise that much outside gaming nights and events (perhaps we should do more?) this is important too

5% Showcasing/Modelling - I am a gamer and only paint and model as I need to.  I originally put this at 0% but rereading the definition I suppose I sort of enjoy a bit of painting and looking at others good stuff  so I upped it a bit

5%  Strategy - I'm not so interested in rules mechanics and although I have been known to try and max an army list its not that big a deal

10%   Competition - I always play to win , although a keenly fought defeat can often be more enjoyable than a walkover victory I do get upset with myself if I cock things up so there is a competitive streak in me.

The mathematically minded among you will realise that this only comes to 60%  The other 40% is the preparation, anticipation and actual playing of the game.  This is what makes it such a fantastic hobby for me.  I totally switch off from the rest of my life and go with the flow.  It always strikes me as a bit odd that many wargamers game so infrequently.  Each to their own of course.

Checking again the other thing that is missing is blogging! That probably is a bit of all of the above I suppose.

I would be very interested in others comments or blog posts on this subject