Wargames have never appealed to me. Standing around a table full of figures, fiddling with a ruler or measuring tape, browsing tables, rolling dice. What’s the fun in that? Not to mention the preparations: gluing units and figures, painting, then assembling the playing field (landmarks, buildings). Then, once you have all these, you have to learn complicated rules and end up spending hours playing the game.
Who has time and money for that?
After a few nights of playing Arkham Horror and Madness of Mansion, I already have an idea of whether it’s fun to play the same game for hours. And my growing collection of board games shows that you can invest in a hobby little by little.
I haven’t played wargames since then, but I’m much more interested in it now. While some themes still don’t excite me (Warhammer, Star Wars or even World War II), others spark my imagination (pirate, fantasy, Napoleonic times). Among them, I am most interested in Age of Sails games – as can be deduced from the rather clichéd title of the blog.
I find it interesting that there are age of sails wargames, mostly only in the form of rules or models, but there are few complete/core sets (which has figures/models and others in addition to the rulebook). I would be interested in a game in which the rules are simple enough so you don’t have to spend hours learning them, but at the same time they are realistic (there are no fantasy elements, but the non-negligible factors such as the weather or even the morale of the crew are taken into account). It should also contain enough ships that two people can play with, and all the elements necessary for the game (e.g. dices, tokens). It is an advantage if the set includes terrain (playmat, lands). But what is perhaps most important is that
the starter kit does not cost a fortune.
The question is, of course, what does “high price” mean. I consider HUF 20-30K (EUR 50-75) realistic for a game that can be played by two, and it is not just a book or a few ships, but all of them together.
There’s only one thing I haven’t mentioned: can I find such a game?
(Also there is my big plan, my rules system shaped to my own taste, but it wouldn’t hurt to know a few games prior.)