This is by way of a THANK YOU to everyone who read and commented on my recent blog post about the 'cult of prettiness'.
The range and depth of comments I received was astounding and many of the commenters made points that I had not considered when I wrote my blog post. I came away from this discussion feeling much more positive than I did when I first began to outline my ideas.
In the end, I came to the conclusion that the 'cult of prettiness' represents the attitude of a minority but possibly disproportionally influential sector within the hobby ... and that the majority of wargamers enjoy painting their figures as well as they can and using them on a tabletop as often as the opportunity arises. They want things to look nice, but they also want to have fun. If this is true – and I think that it is – then the hobby will continue to prosper and grow.
I did have a couple of emails asking why I didn't put my money where my mouth is and set up my own wargame magazine. The answer is simple ... I've sort of been doing that since 1980 in the form of THE NUGGET. If I've not been the editor – and I've performed that role twice in the last forty-six years – I've acted as its publisher and distributer.
I appreciate your post on the perceived issue and you had a lot of solid thoughts on playing being very important.
ReplyDeleteThe whole cover issue is less relevant in that you are not competing in a retail location. If you were I would agree you need enough pizazz to have a customer physically pick up your book instead of another.
Personally, I feel your books are full of content which so many glitz books lack. You are the author and publisher, so put out the books you want.
Hi Bob
ReplyDeleteYou should now write a post about the role and place of the wargame magazine in 2026. I have not bought a magazine since the late early 1980s. For me the arrival of fantasy wargaming was the final straw. Each month the price seemed to rise and the historical content seemed to decrease. Right from the start I was only ever interested in the articles on Napoleonic wargaming, though I accepted that the magazine had to cover a wide range of periods to appeal to a wider buying public.
In the 1980/90s I would occasionally glance at the cover of a magazine on the shelf of my local WH Smiths. But was never tempted to buy the magazine, and by the late 90s did not even bother to look at the cover.
For me the internet and blogging has completely replaced the wargame magaine. The wider use of YouTube to illustrate wargame conventions/shows and even record wargames was an added bonus. I would be interested to know how many magazines are bought each month, and who buys them. There must still be a market or the publishers would have stopped producing them.