Miniature vs CCG Gaming

Black Barney wrote: Yeah no worries about asking

Just the absolute worst of geek culture you can imagine. The high squeaky voice, The really awful basic joke that makes them all do saliva filled snickers... the rules lawyering... honestly it's just everything

You seem to forget the BO....
I bounced off both miniatures and CCGs for this reason back in the nineties. When I started to do miniatures about a year ago, I had absolutely no intentions of hanging around the store or playing with people there. However, the crowd there is pretty much the opposite of what you're describing. It is very chill and civil.

I like minis better than CCG at the moment. But I think there's a lot of cool potential to CCGs in terms of storytelling, and it is a genre we'll hopefully see mature and evolve.

I quit playing Magic more than 20 years ago because I disliked the Magic players. Too quiet and intense. Didn't feel like a game anymore.

Another reason I prefer miniature gaming is that many of the people I have played against paint their minis and/or create terrain. I can appreciate the talent and skill that goes into a nice scenery piece or figure more than a well built deck.

The BO is terrible across the board. And bad social skills exist, in my experience, evenly across CCG, mini, and board games. Fucking eurogame players, amirite?

Both have a $1 million entry fee that you pay over time.

That is the humbling truth. So much unpainted plastic/metal/resin in the house.

However, I build plastic models, so having unfinished kits around the house is nothing new. Lots of inventory in the house.

Shellhead wrote: I quit playing Magic more than 20 years ago because I disliked the Magic players. Too quiet and intense. Didn't feel like a game anymore.

This is so weird, this awesome girl I'm seeing just literally told me today that she doesn't like watching me play Magic cuz I get "too quiet and intense."

Isn't that frickin' weird as balls??

I don't know what to make of it other than maybe you're someone I should also be sleeping with?

Good trashdome. They both have the aspect of "this is mine" vs. "that's yours" where you create something and bring it to the table to play somebody else. I haven't played a full blown CCG sense 2003 if you're counting Magic Online for the PC. I did play a little Netrunner, but I wasn't buying any new cards or anything for it.

I'm a terrible deck builder, but I really like learning to play a deck and learn all it's tricks. I'm just no good at designing them. My favorite thing are themed decks, but those aren't always the most competitive.

For miniatures games, it's got to be skirmish-campaign for me. I really have no interest in dropping lots of cash to field a 2000 pt army and hundreds of dollars just so I can have some massive titan on the board. My favorite thing about the skirmish game is the imagination and world-building. I can't make up a team name or character profiles in Magic or A Game of Thrones like I can in Blood Bowl or Mordheim.

Vote: Minis

I don't enjoy painting minis(witness my half finished Malifaux team or all of my primed but nothing else ships for Naval Thunder) or the meta/deck building aspects of CCG(traded for a ton of original Netrunner, but really have just played with the decks from the starter pack). So I would never be a person to invest a lot of time or money into the maintenance of this type of gaming hobby. However, I do like playing X-Wing or historical miniatures with friends, and sometimes go to historical miniature gaming conventions. So playing minis is a lot of fun.

Good trashdome.
Its a tough call since (though I no longer play) i appreciate the deck building and gameplay of MtG, but the collectibility kills it for me.

Minis are just great, because toys. But lack the quick play and ubiquity of MtG. Even if your deck is hot garbage, you can still be involved. But I can't take infinity figs and play mordheim. So specificity also hurts mini games.

I still think I'd prefer minis in my heart, since the emotional investment is greater. So final vote goes to minis even though there are a lot of bonuses to CCG gameplay.

It's apples and oranges, since one is a massive money pit that includes incremental power creep where the other is a "hobby within a hobby".

That said, FUCK CCG/MCG. Legit tabletop miniatures games are where it's always been at and continues to be at.

Black Barney wrote:

Shellhead wrote: I quit playing Magic more than 20 years ago because I disliked the Magic players. Too quiet and intense. Didn't feel like a game anymore.

This is so weird, this awesome girl I'm seeing just literally told me today that she doesn't like watching me play Magic cuz I get "too quiet and intense."

Isn't that frickin' weird as balls??

I don't know what to make of it other than maybe you're someone I should also be sleeping with?

Tape some Legendary cards to her lower back like a temporary tramp stamp and watch your mastery of your ejaculatory discipline extend for days

SuperflyTNT wrote: It's apples and oranges, since one is a massive money pit that includes incremental power creep...

That does also describe a lot of mini games.

Minis, easily.

CCGs lack the emergent storytelling and role playing that is possible with minis games through scenarios and campaigns. I've got so many great stories and memories out of minis games, from hilarious skirmish campaigns in Dux Brittaniarum to refighting Waterloo with 90 players.

And while both can be money pits, in minis games you don't pay to win.

On the surface, I would think that CCGs would be my preferred choice. Paricularly because they take so little space as Shellhead mentioned. Being as streamlined as possible is something I strive for, and no lie, only having 2-3 boxes on my shelf sounds amazing. I also see the enjoyment in running a finely tuned deck of your own design. I think I'd go maybe, Netrunner, Pokemon/Magic, and maybe Warhammer: Invasion.

However, there are three major cons to CCGs that I have a hard time getting over.

* When a CCG is no longer produced...that game is dead. I used to play Shadowrun TCG and Warlord. Once those cards stopped getting cut off sheets...I don't think anyone played. Having folks get together to play an oop ccg seems like a monumental feat. Perhaps, because there's a feeling that the game no longer has life? I dunno. Maybe my perception is wrong on this point. However, about two weeks ago I played several games of Mordheim (oop for 15+ years) and I've been playing plenty of BB (both league and tournaments) and until last fall that game had been oop for about 20. When Dreadball goes oop...doesn't mean I'll stop playing the game.

* CCGs really need to be played by the deck engineer. I've never been in a situation where playing with a deck someone else designed was a top gaming experience. Maybe it happens for some groups, but it seems CCGs are only interesting when playing a deck of your own creation. Conversely, I've played tons of minis games using other people's minis. Sure, I prefer using my own painted figs, but playing with other folk's minis on occasion doesn't seem to have the disconnect as playing someone else's designed deck.

* This third point we're experience with my son and Pokemon. Some of his cards in his two 60 card decks are falling out of play for tournaments. I guess the cards are 2+ years old? He can use these decks in friendly league play, but tournaments...no go. Some of these are common item types (healing potion or something). So he's got to go buy the same type card, but from a more recent set, just to keep his deck running the same. Last month, I played in a BB tourney with nearly 30 year old minis. In minis games, the age of the components don't matter.

As much as I consider getting into CCGs, the above issues give me pause, and I guess I can be thankful those bugs are baked into the CCG system. Otherwise, I'd probably be into one.

MINIS

Minis for me.

I'm dipping my toes into this FFG LCG system with Arkham Horror, and it does shine as story telling. I'm no deck builder of any sort, so that aspect of the game is lost on me.

Minis minis minis. I like the sense of order I feel when pushing small scale humanoids across a grid. Nothing compares really. In the past several years, I've finally merged my fine arts practice into the hobby side of my preferred hobby. Perhaps not surprisingly, I've found myself enjoying the prep and paint work of those small scale humanoids.*

*Though I still feel guilty doing so, accepting that time slinging paint on a soldier is time not spent on the easel.