Changed my mind. Sorry all.

Ritter · Post by **Ritter** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 12:23 am

Cama, say it isn't so...are you out of wargaming?!?

Ritter · Post by **Ritter** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 1:56 am

Cama, I get to attend Salute in Van every couple of years and would love to take in the Alberta gaming cons as well. Do you plan on attending either? If so, perhaps a couple of hosted microarmor games may generate a few more opponents.

Troy

ed*b · Post by **ed*b** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 2:42 am

While admitting to some confusion about the subject, I get the general drift. I've always been fortunate to have a pretty good sized group of gamers interested in miniatures, board games, computer games so I could follow whatever interests I came up with.

It takes some work, but given the size of Red Deer, and the fairly active hobby stores I've seen there, it should be possible to recruit a handful of people interested in miniatures. Sentry Box in Calgary would be another place to advertise for people to game with. Colleges might be another source, but given the violently PC nature of most student governments, you might get a lot of flak for trying to put on "wargames". I know when we formed a wargaming club at UBC in the late '60's, we got a lot of very negative press in the student newspaper.

Of course, you may have been trying all these things for a while. I get so much enjoyment out of miniatures gaming I just hope you are able to find people to enjoy the hobby with.

Ritter · Post by **Ritter** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 2:59 am

Cama, maybe a focus on thinning down to your favs is what would help - I too thinned down last year. Gone are the Italians, Japanese, and North Africal forces. I just do not have the time to develope these armies. I now focus on Europe in WWII (east/West fronts). That has really helped me to focus my painting/gaming time.

I live in a very small town of 12,000 and let me tell you, opponents are REALLY hard to come by! I have had to resort to playing WH and FOW to get my 'fix'. BTW, my closest Micro tourney is 18 hours away!

I hope that you don't abandon the gaming world!

Troy

jb · Post by jb » Wed Dec 03, 2008 2:59 am

Selling it might just bring you regrets later(more than likey, because we know you love this stuff as much as we do!).
I actually got back into Microarmour by selling mine off. I was a true 15mm guy, so I joined ebay just to sell my MA. Well the MA I had was all from the 70's and 80's; the quality was good but not as good as the stuff from the last 10-15 years. Anyways when selling my stuff I was contacted by many different people that wanted me to paint units for them. Accepting these commisions made me order more, and of course the new stuff with better detail. Once I started painting the new stuff I wished they were mine. So this made me realize the economy PLUS detail of 1/285th ( I wish I knew what scale the infantry really are?). So now my 15s sit but will never be sold!

Ritter · Post by **Ritter** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 3:00 am

Just saw the change - welcome back buddy! What tourneys are in your area? I would love to attend the next one.

Troy

Mk 1 · Post by **Mk 1** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 3:43 am

Cama:

I think you are right to pull back and hang on.

I have gone through several multi-year "shut-downs" during my 3+ decades of "playing with little toy tanks"*. But I always held on to my armies, even when I had no opponents and no prospects of opponents. I can remember living in one house for several years, where my micro armor never even came out of storage. We had babies/toddlers at home, and I was always busy with them when I wasn't travelling on business. My armies stayed in boxes in the garage the whole time I owned that house -- never came out even once. But I held on to them.

I am mighty glad I did. I've had more fun with this hobby in the past few years than at any time (except maybe when I first started in Jr. High / High School, and it was all so new). One good thing about this stuff ... there's no "best if used by ___" on the package ... it doesn't spoil if you leave it on the shelf for a while. Even if you leave it on the shelf in your garage. Although once I did have a dog that got into my boxes and chewed up a bunch of my home-made balsawood buildings.

So hang on. Gamers show up in the darndest places. And this stuff can be fun even if you are "just a collector" (meaning you can't find anyone to game with). I mean, some people collect stamps, fer pete's sake. How you ever gonna find a grown-up who wants to play with your stamps?!?

That said, I was going to put my name in for your French stuff, and maybe even your Japanese. But better you hang on to it. Unless you change your mind again ...

-Mark 1

*That's what my mother still calls them. I'm closing in on 50 years old, she's well past 80 years old, and she'll still occasionally ask: "Oh Markie, do you still play with your little toy tanks?

dougeagle · Post by **dougeagle** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 10:29 am

but just too many GW gamers, hard-core GW gamers

Don't worry man...you're not the only one. I am having a hard time with the GW group up here in GP as it is. The store owner likes historical stuff and I have talked with him about putting a WW2 gaming demo on just show the customers it and whoever wants to play, but...its a hard sell as many of the GW players live in their GW world and will not try anything else as they believe that the store owner will get rid of the GW stuff for more historical stuff...not true. The whole idea is to find a few more players who are interested in the era so we can have a few games with more players. The newbies wouldn't even have to buy anything right off the bat as the guy that I met a couple of months ago games in WW2 and has LOTS of stuff...WOW!!! :Shocked:

So for now, as much as I like the iddy biddy tanks and men...they are all on hold right now as I'm working on my 15mm stuff for a upcoming new years game, but from time to time I still work on them, and so just like what a few others have said...hold on them for now.

Thomaso827 · Post by **Thomaso827** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 8:53 pm

I chose micro to play in a Dayton area store where nobody else was playing micro, and was happily rewarded with an immediate player, who not only would play the minis but also the rules I liked. That player is now on his way back to Louisiana, and I may not see him again. But out of the blue, I have been approached by another gamer from the same store, who watched bits of some of our games, often Vietnam or early WW2, even 6mm Napoleonics, and liked what he saw, so he has now decided to get in there and try. Hopefully, this means I will continue to play and grow my micro armor units. I also use them at the regional HMGS convention, Advance The Colors, but I could never justify continuing to build based on running a game once a year. I'm just lucky, I guess. Just as I was thinking about putting the box of troops away, this other player has popped up. You never know who may have seen your games and just have not talked to you yet. I'd love to belong to a gaming club, but then, I'd be tied to what the club wanted to do, and less to what I want to play.

I wish you luck in finding or converting players.

Tom Oxley

cbovill · Post by **cbovill** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 5:11 am

Glad to hear Cama has been talked off the ledge. I think we all encounter the occasional lack of players. I'm still kicking myself over the pool table incident. Way back I had a US and Japanese fleet. These were my first mini's and they were painted very basic which was my ability at the time. Well long story short, I had left them out in battle formation on our pool table (which made a great ocean) and went to work. While I was out my brother had a party at the house and some of the party goers were "rolling around" on the pool table and apparently didn't notice the many miniature ships they were crushing. Many hundreds of miniature sailors drowned that day. I kept the ships for a few years after that and used them to practice painting on, but eventually got rid of them. I really wish I had kept them because nowadays I would know how to repair them and repaint them. Could have saved myself a lot of money, because I am now finally rebuilding those two fleets many years later.

Chris

ShortRound70 · Post by **ShortRound70** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 12:54 am

Cama:

Glad to hear that you're sticking with us. I enjoy seeing your work. I've been going through something similar here. The two gamers that enjoy micro armor have been transferred out of town by their employers since the hurricane. Then there's the medical issue. I also have thought of selling off my minis, but my wife convinced me that I should keep them. At least she knows where I'm at and where my money is going when I try to work on something.

You are not alone.

Semper Fi!

Gary

Ritter · Post by **Ritter** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 7:52 am

Cbovill and Mk I's stories remind me of a similar event that happened to me with my minis.

One time (not at band camp), a good 20 years ago, I wanted to interest a friend in microarmor and replaced all the German crappy plastic pieces in Axis and allies with what I had (mostly panzer Is and IIs). We played about 1/2 the game and decided to play again at his house. (he had to watch his kids) So I loaded up the unfinished game minis and mapboard, into the back of my rusted-out chevette hatchback and drove VERY carefully to his place. When I got there, of course the game was shifted around but the worst thing, most of the metal pieces had slid off the board and fell out the hole in the trunk! I drove back along the route and found not a one. I often thought about some kid walking and finding one of these miniature tanks on the road...on a good note, I replaced the panzers from GHQ direct and lo - they were updated! A new mold had been done for both and they were way better than the earlier ones (NOTE - GHQ please re-do the Matilda II when you do the Matilda I ok?) .

Troy

piersyf · Post by **piersyf** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 11:09 am

To continue a theme, I'm also in the midst of a drought for opponents, lasting longer than I can remember. I had the occasional battle in other periods and scales, which were fun, but I was the only 'sane' person in the area with micro's. Sane meaning not obsessed with an army consisting entirely of Tiger II's and Jagd tigers, with poor towed Pak 41's as the second cousins. My poor shermans... anyway, I've started collecting again just to collect, with no new opponents in sight.
As a way to get others interested, my plan is to run a campaign at brigade level. The players move pieces on a map and the battles are played. Small encounters (squad or platoon) are played in 15mm or larger in 1:1 (kills off FoW), and larger encounters played with micros. You don't need a full brigade, only be able to represent what is on the table for a game. You could have a full division with 100 Panthers, but if you only have 10 models, the largest unit you can have on the table is 10 (limits unit size and reinforcements). It has been a successful method in the past for luring players down to the micro level...

P

Thomaso827 · Post by **Thomaso827** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 12:56 am

My local gaming friend left the area and I was getting worried about no other players in the area, but out of the blue, somebody looked me up for a Vietnam game using my GHQ troops and Piquet rules. When you run a game, you never know who is watching. I was amazed that my calendar filled up very quickly, and I'm already planning a game for January. Now to let them all win their first game, get them hooked, and then beat them in subsequent games.

Like my nearly perfect record, 4 wins for 20 games. But I find I lose frequently when teaching new players, not really trying to lose, but just not focusing on tactics as much as game system. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Tom Oxley