@oriskany Glad my ramblings made sense.

I had totally overlooked Battletech which is almost as old as Star Fleet Battles, and whilst a root of hex gaming has also reinvented its game play over the years and as I recall when you ran a feature on it a few years back it was one of the most successful forum posts ever on BoW.

Whilst I agree there is a quite differing gaming philosophy between boys and there toys and Hex n play. But I’m with Warren on this, if thats your hobby its not for someone else to marginalise your passion or you in doing so, and you have quite a broadchurch in how you promote gaming which is always great to see.

Also as with anyboardgame I agree that even if not part of the original components there’s normally scope for pimping a boardgame into 3d realm.

Rulebooks we could debate all day I’m sure, but I agree there are turkeys and gold in whichever side of the gaming church you look, and some of the most professionaly produced are some of the worst, and some of the flimsy and free can hide some of the most engaging.

As  a last point is those games don’t always have to live exclusively, it was certainly not unknown for Wargame Magazines in the 80s and 90s to run a feature on how a boardgame could be a platform for a wargame campaign. Adapting Kingmaker to cover the Wars of the Roses certainly got a hit or two in that regard as a for instance.

I’m sorry to hear there’s some giving you a rough time when just trying to enjoy your hobby, but I would certainly miss your input on this site, as I think would others. Anyway Take care in these trying times as I hope also can Panzerkaput who raised some issues from his perspective initially.