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Maybe the punters didn't care, put their hugely expensive armies out and had a wonderful time . So it's all relative.
As for the weary, sneery old accusation of ‘elitism and snobbery’ (which is made sooner or later every time we have one of these threads), well, if liking great looking figures and terrain is elitism, I can only say I’ve never yet met a wargamer who isn’t drawn to ‘eye candy’ like a moth to a flame. Ditto lavish display games and wargames rules books stuffed with gorgeous colour photos. So I guess there are a lot of elitists in this hobby
You very much described you longed for the days when LAF was smaller, but had more of a focus on brilliantly painted miniatures and terrain. And ideally would like it to return to such a place.
Who sets the 'bar' - who decides what is and what isn't good enough? By merely suggesting that you are placing yourself in a position where you believe your opinion and judgement is of a level that is in some way better than others.
I didn't say that. What I said was: please understand that some of us remember that in its early days LAF had a strong emphasis on the visual aspects of the miniatures hobby. And that history colours our judgement of what looks good or not. I didn't say I liked it better when it was smaller, nor did I say LAF should return to such a place.
I do think it's worth pointing out that the history of LAF is rooted very firmly in the aesthetic 'adventure' end of the spectrum (hence the name), not at the competitive - sometimes including unpainted figures on vestigial scenery - end.Perhaps newer members who aren't so fussed about the look of things, could overlook the occasional outburst from more longstanding members like me, who fondly remember when LAF was largely about great looking figures, models and terrain in games which were fun and cinematic in feel.
True, that was what Alex always said - but that wasn't actually reflected in the majority of what was shared on the forum. Unless my glasses have become excessively rose-tinted (I'm sure you think they have!) I think most projects / games / figures shown on the forum back then had a degree of care and attention spent on making, painting and presenting them, which is not the case with some of what we see on here these days. Just my impression.
In saying which, you are doing precisely the same thing. By merely suggesting that you're right and I'm wrong, you're saying your opinion and judgement is better than mine. And you're entitled to express that, but somehow I'm not? It's a pointless and reductive argument. The fact is nobody decides. We all set our own bar. If you think something looks great, you're free to say it looks great. Equally, if something looks terrible to you and you can explain why, why wouldn't you be free to say so? We're all entitled to our opinions. We all set the bar at different levels.
We find it very easy to say 'that looks great', but we rightly have a strong aversion to saying 'that looks terrible' - even when it does. That's because we don't like to offend, or belittle the efforts of others, or think we have any right to 'judge'. I'm the same, 99% of the time. But every now and then, you see something which is plainly poor, in which case I don't think we should be afraid to say so.Most people who have contributed to this thread so far, agree that the level of presentation in the pic at the head of this thread is poor. Which it plainly is. It's refreshing that so many people have been willing to say so.
In saying which, you are doing precisely the same thing. By merely suggesting that you're right and I'm wrong, you're saying your opinion and judgement is better than mine.
I like trains
Train elitist.