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What makes you play wargames instead of strategy video games?
I am mostly a TTRPG player, but lately I have been becoming a bit curious on wargaming.
I usually play TTRPGs because it allows a lot more freedom when compared to video games. However, I can't really see that much in wargaming that you can't get in video games. Is the appeal primarily a social one?
I am not bashing wargaming or saying that it's a bad hobby. I am just curious as to what the main draw is.
Thank you for any answers :)
The hobby side of it I find enjoyable.
Painting can be quite relaxing and I find putting the models together is fun especially as it allows you to make unique things.
I mostly play MESBG (LOTR ) because I love lotr. The game itself is mostly BALANCED and there is an active compative scene where I live.
As @Jimmydabomb said there is nothing more fun than throwing a hand full of dice and watching them 6's.
I haven't wargamed in many years but there are elements that I recognize as net positives. One, as you mentioned is the social aspect, you're building a story of battles that you share with others. There's joy in creativity and evolution.
Second is the figures which become a hobby all by themselves. You can go the xwing route and build that awesome fleet that's uniquely yours or you can go the Warhammer route and paint a massive custom army that you can crash against someone else's army for the glory of the fight. Regardless it's the joy of having something that is yours that others can be excited to see.
Third, and I cannot stress this enough, dice are better than algorithms. A bunch of dice clattering on the table feels so good compared to ctrl-a. It feels more real in a way that computer games cannot replace.
I'm sure others have reasons. Like I said I haven't done it in years. (I do still have my minis though)
I see, that does make sense! I remember when I was little I would always go to the local hobby store and just look at all the wargaming miniatures.
Do you mind if I ask what wargame you played the most of? I have been reading more up on the rules for different ones recently.
Back in the day I played a lot of battletech. Then it was a game called full thrust. We had some other miniature rules that we had developed on our own using some old rules from the early 80s as well that did single figure combat and we used that and the full trust rules to run space exploration campaigns.
Tabletop games are less locked down. You can play a basic D&D session with pen paper and dice from the Monopoly game if you try hard enough. An MMO will require a subscription.
Want to play a homebrew class in WoW? Forget about it. Even Skyrim will need 6-12 weeks of mod development time to make anything custom.