As You Like It

I'm afraid I got into a small tiff on Facebook (yeah, I know, I should have just scrolled past) recently by taking issue with a joke about  a persistent myth in our hobby, which annoys me: the supposed expense of wargaming. 

I remember when I was a lad, somewhere in the 10-14 age range, I had an awful lot of fun playing epic Middle Earth battles using craft paper. Different coloured rectangles for troops of the different races and different coloured shapes for terrain features. Sewing pins stuck through troop blocks held flags. I wish I could remember what rules I was using. I have a vague recollection that I was still recording casualties on a ledger at the time.  Now, I am playing epic Middle Earth battles with largish armies of metal figures on hand made terrain.

This is a long way to make my point that one can wargame as cheaply or as luxuriously as one wishes. But even with deluxe figures and terrain, I think that if one looks at hours of enjoyment derived per dollar invested, miniature wargaming is pretty cost effective compared with golf, or cars, or boats, or even camping. 

In solo gaming it gets even better. Want to play with unpainted, cheap plastic, or dare I say, craft paper armies? Who will argue with you? Or on the other extreme, if you want to spend several evenings setting up an elaborate table (which is part of the enjoyment,  isn't it?) and several more evenings playing out the game, you can. There are no arguments over terrain, scenario balance, or whether or not you painted the cuffs correctly, or will that villager suddenly switch from just being part of the scenery to having some in game effect on a whim?

Just because I like elaborate tables, and honestly I think sometimes I make them too elaborate, you don't have to. Just because I won't play with unpainted figures, it shouldn't stop you. That's the great thing about this hobby, you can do it however you like, spending as much time and money as you want. 

Or as little.