The end of my miniature gaming era

Finally, last Friday, I sold the very last item of miniature gaming I had in my possession. It was a Sabol Army Transport bag. In less than a month I sold every miniature, paint, tool, flocking supply, glue and terrain I owned and made over $1500 dollars on EBAY.

To say I do not miss miniature gaming is an understatement. I have been away now for almost 3 months and I couldn't be happier. I never was able to find a single rules system I liked for the most part going all the way back to 1994. I abandoned board wargaming back in 1992 and that was a dumb mistake. I have already met a lot more mature, fun and for the most part non power gaming opponents in my board wargaming travels than I did in the decades I spent wasting money and time on miniature gaming.

I can count on one hand the number of true friends I met while miniature gaming to be honest and I think that has to do with the age difference and attitudes between board wargamers and miniature gamers.

I don't see myself ever going back into that genre. The waste of time, effort and money and the arguments that ensue over the various rules systems are just not worth my time. I have always been a board wargamer at heart, and while harder to find opponents for that quest is made a lot easier thanks to VASSAL and Board Game Geek.

So here is to all the lucky soles that got my items for a real bargain bin price. I hope you meet finer people and have more enjoyment with my miniatures than I did. Best advice I can give to anyone is of course to stay clear away from Games Workshop and the environment it fosters. There are some people that are in love with the IDEA of miniature gaming and I think that was my problem. It looks great but it never plays the way it looks. Looking is enough for me. I think I know a lot of people that have that issue. Heck I know a guy that went back to GW for just 3 weeks at the start of July and is already selling everything AGAIN even his Bloodbowl team that he swore he loved so much. There comes a point when poorly written rules and a bad community just start to slap you in the face over and over and you realize that it is the way the games play that matters. I don't care if you use Legos to represent units. If the rules are bad the rules are bad. However a great rules system can make a game so much better. Power gaming lists, flavor of the month crap and all that garbage go by the wayside when you leave miniature wargaming. I for one wont be sad to never hear those words uttered in my new circles again.

If there is ever a return for me to this genre it will be in the form of very small skirmish games such as Malifaux, Dystopian Wars or something like Infinity. And it will not be whatever is popular just for the sake of having other gamers nearby.