Grab a cuppa, it's time for some wargamery musings...

In the absence of any new releases or previews this week, instead you get subjected to one my occasional long-ish rambles about wargaming.  Do have a look and I’d welcome feedback either via the Baccus forum or on a Facebook platform, as I’d be interested to hear your feedback.  But first, this week’s magic number, which stands at #31232.

I was having a chat with my eldest son recently.   Chris was a frequent helper on the Baccus stand in the noughties and early 2010s and was present during the formative years of Baccus.   Sadly, he never took to Gods Own Scale and instead went down the Games Workshop route in the hobby.   During the course of the conversation, three topics came up which I think are worth exploring.

The first was an interesting one.   In those early years at wargames shows, we were really the only company selling 6mm.  During this time, we met an awful lot of scale prejudice at shows.   This ranged from ‘smart’ comments, through to direct ridicule of the products, to downright aggression.  I’ll never forget the chap who told me to my face that I was taking up the trade space that someone selling ‘decent 28mm’ figures could be occupying.   So, the first question he asked was, is this the case nowadays?

And, I would have to say that it isn’t.   There remains an awful amount of ignorance about painting and wargaming in 6mm, (‘Do you need special rules for 6mm’, or ‘How do you manage figure removal?’), but on the whole, from my perspective, it is a much more ‘accepting’ hobby.   In the ‘old days’, small scale figures were literally looked down on, and it was open season on chaps wanting to have a go on forums, newsgroups or even directly, face to face. 

However, the wargaming world is a different place.   On the whole, the hobby is comfortable with different scales, and these are mostly seen as just different options, rather than an opportunity to ridicule and belittle those who don’t follow the mainstream gaming options.  I have certainly noticed this change of culture at wargames shows, and the wargames internet is a very different place.

The next question was pretty perceptive.   Is there the same animosity towards Games Workshop in the historical gaming side of the hobby?   As I mentioned, Chris was a Warhammer player and enjoyed playing GW products.  He noticed that amongst a lot of the people I talked to at shows, GW was regarded as being the Great Evil and elicited some very strong negative reactions.   They were too expensive and they committed the Massive Sin in those days of being, ‘commercial’.   My personal view at the time was that GW was a force for good in our hobby as a whole.  They reached potential gamers that the traditional wargamers could not.  They improved standards of professionalism and service that were starting to filter down into the more traditional marketplace.  Above all, they were effectively training a new generation of games designers and sculptors who plied their acquired skills back into the historical scene.  The many, many alumni of GW include the late Duncan McFarlane, the Perry Twins, the management of Warlord Games and, of course, me.   The hobby would be a very different place without their overwhelmingly positive input.

So, once again, I would have to say that things have changed.   GW are seen by some as a separate form of the hobby, or increasingly, just as part of the tabletop gaming mix.  Their paints are applied to Napoleonic figures as well as Space Marines, and there is many a father introduced their kids to figure gaming by starting off with a GW game.  

The final question, and one dear to my heart, was, ‘Do you still get people telling you that they couldn’t paint anything so small?’    The poor lad was forced to listen to me patiently explain how to paint 6mm figures ad nauseam at pretty much every show we attended.  He can still remember the lines to this day!   I wrote countless articles for the glossies, I gave tips and instructions on line.  Surely this had an overall effect?

Predictably enough, all my efforts were to no avail.  I still have to tell people that they won’t go blind, and that it’s not difficult, and no, you don’t need to paint buttons and eyeballs on 6mm figures.  It is a seemingly never-ending task.   My youngest son, Ben, who has started helping me at shows is now fluent in, ‘This is how you paint 6mm figures’, just by listening to repeated explanations to bemused visitors to the Baccus stand.   To be honest, I don’t think we’ll ever win this particular debate!

So, there you have it.   I am sure that some you will know someone who still hates 6mm figures or regards GW as the work of Satan and all of his minions or thinks that it is impossible to paint small scale figures without their optic nerves turning to jelly and melting.   However, from my point of view, we have a more tolerant, diverse and better supplied hobby scene than at any time in the past.

Of course, there are still way too many folk out there who are scared stiff of actually painting 6mm figures, but you can’t have everything.