More Than Wargaming: Exploring the Miniaturing Pastime

Abstract

Background. Miniaturing, or painting, collecting, and gaming with miniature wargaming figurines, is a popular, yet vastly underresearched subject. Previous research suggests a multitude of practices and ways of engaging with miniatures. Aim. This qualitative study explores the various elements of miniaturing to both map the phenomenon and build a foundation for further research. Method. Miniaturing is explored through a thematic analysis of 127 open-ended survey responses by adult Finnish miniature enthusiasts. Results. Responses suggest a dual core to miniaturing, consisting of crafting and gaming. In addition to these core activities, storytelling, collecting, socializing and displaying and appreciating appear commonly, with considerable individual variation. The different elements are closely intertwined, based on individual preferences and resources. Discussion. As a pastime, miniaturing occupies an interesting position with elements of crafting, toy play and gaming, and escapes easy situating. The considerable individual variation in enthusiasts’ preferences suggests a multitude of fruitful approaches in further research.

The Practice of Oldhammer: Re-Membering a Past Through Craft and Play

“…In a study of Finnish Warhammer players, Meriläinen et al describe the collection of hobbyist practices around miniatures as “miniaturing,” a recognition of the fact that all miniatures gamers are engaged in several interlinking activities rather than a single hobby, a fact which sets them apart from superficially similar hobbies such as car collecting, digital gaming, and the like (Meriläinen, Stenros, & Heljakka, 2020, p. 2). However, Oldhammerers are not precisely Warhammerers or, even more broadly, miniatures hobbyists.…”

“…Over the last few years there have been several meaningful contributions to the study of war gaming and Warhammer in particular. Mikko Meriläinen, Jaakko Stenros, and Katriina Heljakka's recent More Than Wargaming: Exploring the Miniaturing Pastime represents an important attempt to understand these complex overlapping pastimes (Meriläinen et al, 2020) on their own terms while also crucially centering the miniature and what the authors call miniaturing. We use their term miniaturing here to understand the more specific case of Oldhammer while also making miniaturing the focus of our paper as we agree that it is the crux of doing Oldhammer, and Warhammer in general.…”

“We Offer Nuffle a Sausage Sacrifice on Game Day”. Blood Bowl Players’ World-building Rituals through the Lens of Theory of Sociocultual Viability

“…However, if one was to describe the typical Blood Bowl player one would probably paint an image of a white, middle-aged, male individual with the disposable income to afford to own (likely several) sets of figures (£26+ for a team in 2020) and travel to tournaments. It is unclear how similar the Blood Bowl tournament community is to other gaming groups, but male-predominance in gaming has been noted elsewhere (McKinnon-Crowley 2019, Meriläinen, Stenros, and Heljakka 2020).…”

“…Blood Bowl, like most GW games is a "collectable strategy game" , combining buying and painting figures to use in the game (see Figure 2), which takes 2-3 hours. This paper focuses primarily on the gaming aspect of Blood Bowl, although other aspects of "miniaturing" overlap (Meriläinen, Stenros, and Heljakka 2020). In terms of game mechanics, the game's originator describes it thus: A key feature of Blood Bowl is the principle that if a dice roll fails, one's go ends.…”