Will Rank and Files games have renewed interest when the world reopens?

[jamescutts 6924xp 0]

Rank and file games seem to be having a bit of a gradual slow comeback, thanks to the like of Conquest and A Song of Ice and Fire making them more accessiable alonside the longer standing systems and all that small scale goodness.

Having recently got into black powder and just seeing ranks of unpainted plastic minis, its left me longing for the days of giant warhammer fantasty games, masive napoleonic battles and huge displays at shows and conventions, and thats before I’ve played a game and painted all the minis.

I think part of this is while most skirmish games are easier to have at a smaller scale and in shorter periods of time (in most cases) they dont give you that grand scale that catches your eye and draws you in. With most of us in lockdowns of some description or socialy distanced and have smaller gaming spaces (except warzan and our lucky american friends) I’ve found at least I gravitate towards skirmish games for particality in terms of space and time.

But thats kind of left me wanting some huge games that take most of the day to run with all the social interaction. While I dont feel like i want to rush out and meet big groups of people in the imediate short term I do want to start having those epic days of gaming again at some point, oh and I need an excuse for all those ranks of plastic crack ive collected.

This raises the question “Are we set to see a renewed interest in Rank and File?”, is this just me? Or will people in our hobby want to start dipping into some larger and more epic games when we can start doing so again?

[jamescutts 6924xp 0]

* Skirmish games – For example SAGA

[limburger 21706xp 0]

everything happens in cycles … at least most of the popular stuff in any hobby tends to follow cyclical trends somehow.

I’m sure ‘rank&file’ will return once people figure out how to make it cheaper and easier for beginners.
Maybe all that is really needed is a good movie / tv series that makes it interesting to want to replay the battles ?

Because for me both are why I don’t have any interest in that style of game at the moment.

Can I say that 28mm rank&file is just silly ?

15mm rank&file could be interesting … and it might solve the cost/speed of painting bit of the equation.

[torros 23816xp 0]

Can I say that 28mm rank&file is just silly ?

For large games it doesn’t really suit which is down to time, space and expense

There is so much 10mm fantasy stuff now appearing on Facebook in the guise of STL’s and more 10mm KOW and mini hammer  groups appearing

[necrothrall 8541xp 0]

I certainly hope rank and file games make a comeback.  I built and painted a 2000 point undead army for kings of war in the first half of last year. I really want to actually use it.  Playing some games of it might inspire me to finish off my other kings of war armies.

[ced1106Participant 6224xp 0]

Army-based wargames are *expensive* and, without a core group of players, it’s not worth spending $100 or $200 just to find no one interested in the game, even if they have an interest in a rank-and-file game. I think that’s why, in the last few years, low-commitment miniature skirmish games (eg. Frostgrave) have become popular. And, as always, miniature boardgames (eg. Zombicide) are popular because only one person needs to buy into the game.

That said, we had a similar discussion on Dakka, and the only way to get your favorite army game played is to work at creating local interest in it. It may be with a FLGS, it may be with or by starting a wargaming club. It doesn’t matter if everyone else is playing it if you’re not, but also vice-versa.

[Author]

Posts