This is a self-reflection on my home-brew wargaming roadmap. I’ve got a combination RPG and skirmish wargame system in the works which uses a base set of core rules for each products. It will support Sci Fi, Fantasy, and Supers, but I also want it to support historical games. But what types of historical games should I work on first?
Looking over this recent wargaming community survey gives some insights to popularity amongst current wargamers.
According to this survey, World War II is the favorite wargaming period, and skirmish wargames (with low model counts) is the favorite type of wargaming overall. Combining WWII and skirmish gaming is very popular. Perhaps not surprising results but interesting, nonetheless.
Here are the top four skirmish game eras (based on number of votes), with World War II being almost double the interest of the next three contenders combined:
- WWII — 621
- Dark Ages — 126
- Napoleonic — 118
- Ancients — 111
Based on this, and given the personal interests of my local RPG players and church friends, I’m thinking of tackling my homebrew skirmish games in this order (using Donald Featherstone division of military history into four periods: Ancients, Pike and Shot, Horse and Musket and Modern).
- WWII (WWII Setting). Modern era. Inspirations: Operation White Box RPG
- Ancients (Greek Mythology). Ancients era. Inspirations: Agon RPG, GURPS Greece
- Dark Ages (Saxons vs. Vikings). Ancients era. Inspirations: The Last Kingdom TV / Book series
Beyond that I could potentially do these historical eras:
- 1700’s (French Musketeers). Pike and Shot era. Inspirations: Flashing Blades RPG, The Three Musketeers book
- 1870-1890’s (Wild West). Modern era. Inspirations: Boot Hill RPG
- 1920’s (Crimefighters). Modern era. Inspiration: Gangbusters RPG
Recent Comments