Miniature Games - Roleplaying Lite?
A few days back, while taking part in a conversation on another website, we were discussing the advantages and disadvantages of using a gridded (i.e. Hex based) vs open table in miniature games. The people advocating the gridded system were telling how they don’t play miniature games because of arguments they’ve heard about 1/2″ or 3/8″ and some of the general “sloppiness” that an open table cultivates. What really got me thinking though were the people who were advocating an open table. They started talking about realism and how a gridded system reduces the illusion of realism that the open table provides. The conversation was dying down at that point, but I couldn’t help but ask myself “Why?”
Why is the illusion of realism important in miniature games? To try to answer that question I started to think about what other qualities of miniature games raise realism to a high level. Everything tied to the aesthetics of the game relate to realism…When a conversion or paint job is praised, the subconscious criteria that the piece is judged on is, “How well does the piece capture a scaled and 3d representation of how it would look if in real life?” Scenery is scaled and given dimensional depth to create more realism (that is why you rarely see felt rivers or forests).
Sit around a miniature game table and the arguments you’d hear will often times start with the defense of “if this was really happening X would happen…” or “That is not realistic”. Hell, I’ve had arguments like that myself more time than I care to remember. I remember this one argument specifically from about 9 or 10 years back. My buddy and I were playing a Space Marine (him) vs Tyranid (me) 40k game. I had my Lictor parked behind a rock with a portion of his claws poking above the piece of scenery. He wanted to take a shot at it and my defense, which I’m not really proud of, was “Well if this was really happening, at this position (one of hiding and cover) he would have his claws tucked closer to his body and not waving above the stone wildly, therefore you should not get a shot at it”.
When that brief story popped into my head my answer to my question of “Why?” started to come into focus. Miniature games are light role-playing games for people who don’t like to role-play. Well perhaps that isn’t entirely true, I know many miniature gamers who have played or tried role-playing games, some who really get into them, but there is a lot of cross over between genres. So perhaps the better answer to my question is: Miniature gaming is a form of light role-playing.
As I sit here and type I think to all the times I’ve started the argument with “In real life…” or think about every time I’ve stooped over to get a model’s eye view to take in what the model would be seeing “in real life”. I’ve thought about a game like Warmaster where, when playing it, I feel like I’m general trying to issue orders and maneuver my troops to form a battle line and suffering the same communication problems ancient generals may have encountered. Often I find myself empathizing with the model thinking “If I was in this situation, what would I do?”
And when you think about it the question of “What would I do?” is the heart to every role-playing game. When confronted in a crowded room of an Old English Inn with the feeling of hundreds of eyes burrowing through your body, what would you do? When walking through the woods and get ambushed by a band of rogues, what would you do?
Which leads me back to miniature games; Realism for models is highly praised to help create the illusion of a real setting, so while playing you’re able to see what the model sees and how they would see it. No amount of words from a dungeon master can capture the location of enemies or cover with the details that miniatures do. Miniature games do lack the emotional and atmospheric side of pen and paper role-playing though. With miniature games you don’t get emotionally tied to your models because you’ll have new recruits next time. You also don’t get the eerie feelings from being in a crowded room or the surprise of being ambushed that only a game-master can provide. The emphasis on visual realism is the way that miniature games create a role-playing like atmosphere minus the emotional and atmospheric ties that are typically tied to pen and paper role-playing provides.
Well those be my ramblings for now.
‘Til Next Time – Happy Gaming!
LvT
