Balance of interest

[martin goddard]

Not quite a poll but a topic for discussion.  Assuming (??) we play wargames in order to enjoy making/using models combined with the game play provided by the rules.
At one extreme it is all about getting good looking figures deployed on really nice scenery. At the other extreme it is about greta mechanism in a set of rules and its ability to create a historical mirage. There are other aspects of wargaming too, such as the social one.
Here is what i propose for the purposes of discussion.
No answer is wrong (unless t does not add up to ten).

First number is importance of figures and scenery, second number is importance of game play.
Second , no one is assumed to prefer one over the other to ridiculous degree. i.e No stationary dioramas at one end and no raisins for figures at the other.
Thus 3:7 would be the player who is more interested in the game play.
9:1 would the player who wants it to look good but is not bothered about the rule mechanics.


Let me start (or finish of no one else joins in )
I am 3:7.  I am more interested in the  rules than the figures.


good luck

martin

[Colonel Kilgore]

Aha - this one could be fun.

I'm probably 5:5. I like a good spectacle with nice figures on a good layout, but there's no point in getting the toys out if the rules are not easily playable or any fun.

[Stewart 46A]

4-6, I like fairly quick rules without lots of charts to look up wpn stats etc. Playable in an evening no more than 4 hours to get a result. Nicely painted figures and scenery set the game.

[Mensn]

4:6, a good ruleset is more important, but also the eye wants to be entertained.

[Fat Wally]

5:5 The perfect balance for me between it looking good but being a hoot and playable.

[alex918]

It has to be 4/6 with decent figures and terrain that are easy on the eye, combined with easy on the brain fast play rules that are fun and clear and most definitely grid based😁

[Sean Clark]

Maybe slightly controversial  but I'm probably 6:4. Maybe even 7:3.

I get to play far less than I would  like which means I send more time agonising over painting and how the game looks on the table than worrying about rules. RFCM rules give me the kind of game I like to play without any fuss.

[Leman (Andy)]

I also am a 6:4 gamer. I really appreciate a good figure and table display. I can't play any old wargame. History is very important to me, but so is ease of play and enjoyment. Convoluted rules, heavily maths based games and poorly worded rules giving rise to either mystification or misinterpretation are a real turn off.

[mellis1644]

I've change over time. Thirty plus years ago when at university etc I likely was a 2:8 - with the system being much more important than the figures. I had more time for complex rules then. Nice toys were always good to have but I borrowed them mostly and was a bad painter (I'm still not wonderful but I am competent now). These days I'm likely more of a 5:5 gamer having moved more towards the figs and simpler rules but more elegant rules as time goes on. The figs have become more important but I still won't play clunky or unbalanced/unfun games.

I also won't play with unpainted toys - I nicely but firmly push my opponents to do likewise. Often providing painted toys for them vs. them using their own unpainted stuff if necessary. It may not be the force they exactly want but get your specific force of painted toys and we'll play with their stuff.