Armies 'for girls'

[Conquistador]

Shandy,

Good post (and I will quit the unintentional hijack too after this) and a valid view/point.  Inclusion of a female figure on a stand would certainly be a conversation/thought point with others.

Playing the historical forces I have, (IHMN/VSF, Fantasy, and even SF has more latitude,) I would be pressed to have a combat female but plenty of room for one on a command or character stand.

Gracias,

Glenn

[FramFramson]

I always remember an AD&D character my brother once had, twenty odd years ago. She was a female warrior, big, sturdy and ugly, called Brunhild. He had a hell of a time finding a suitable model for her since all the female figures you could buy were right out of a booby calendar and apparently bought their armour so it could double as naughty swimwear.

Eventually after a long search he found a model of an operatic-style Valkyrie type dressed in a normal mail shirt, but it did open our eyes to the fact that a lot of the sculptors were indulging strange fantasies at the time (or perhaps responding to the buying public's wants ... who can tell).

Of course, that opens up another question altogether. Is this a sexist thing or simply the desire to produce figures that aspire to a physical 'ideal' (and display it) in the same way that most male barbarian models are gym-bunnies wearing fur underpants. It may well be a unisex phenomenon. I mean, how many girls like Buffy because she is able to be hard as nails, 'spunky' (something we haven't quite got a word for in Britain) and also physically appealing?

I think you answered your own question: You can get "regular-looking" male figures quite easily. Women you have to search quite hard for. Though it's certainly better now than it used to be.

If there's one thing I wish would go away, it's boob armour with cleavage.  Of all the complaints about women in unrealistic kit, that's the one that bugs me.

Reason being, if you know ANYTHING about hard armour (and I expect quite a few folks on here do!), putting cleavage into an armour plate is basically the stupidest thing anyone could possibly do - that's not protection, that's a deathtrap! Modern kevlar armour, scales, chainmail, maaaaybe even boiled leather armour... those can get maybe get a pass even though it's still a bit silly (nothing wrong with being a little silly). But hard plate is insanity.

[SotF]

Amusingly enough, back when WotC had the Star Wars license, there were about the same number of women as men for the game...including one lady who turned 85 on the day of one of the tournaments.

One of the people behind the running 40K group I've been part of since college was a girl who plays Tyranids...

A good chunk of it has more to do with perception at the moment, a lot of places have people who don't really want to share with outsiders, often meaning more with the women who come in to play, while a lot of places that had other differences either were already basically shamed open or collapsed. Add in the reverse of the situation also creating problems via a lot of girls getting their opinions of shops via media, and, well, that's not got quite a good impression either with the stereotypes..

[kidterminal]

There are a lot of good answers here and very little I could add other than men and women are a lot more alike that you might think. Lets take topless amazons for example most women don't like them and they are historically incarnate now lets think about early Spartan armies they historically fought naked like Irish spear men and many other ancient units but you don't see units of troops swinging in the breeze as it where. You don't see hordes of penises because guys who play wargames don't want to see that you do see armies of boobs and girls who might like to play wargames don't want to see that so they don't play.

The statements about video gaming are apt bu lets include 2 more important issues about girls and modern culture, boardgames have become very popular with college and after college kids and 50% of board game players are women. Most board games are not cooperative. The cosplay movement, girls into comic books, TV shows anime, dressing up as these characters this movement is overwhelmingly women. Women even women who like comic books like clothes I would say the clothes a model is wearing is more important to a woman then men, the outfit reflects the character of the model and women identify better with model they feel have character (as do I really).

[nic-e]

There are a lot of good answers here and very little I could add other than men and women are a lot more alike that you might think. Lets take topless amazons for example most women don't like them and they are historically incarnate now lets think about early Spartan armies they historically fought naked like Irish spear men and many other ancient units but you don't see units of troops swinging in the breeze as it where. You don't see hordes of penises because guys who play wargames don't want to see that you do see armies of boobs and girls who might like to play wargames don't want to see that so they don't play.

The statements about video gaming are apt bu lets include 2 more important issues about girls and modern culture, boardgames have become very popular with college and after college kids and 50% of board game players are women. Most board games are not cooperative. The cosplay movement, girls into comic books, TV shows anime, dressing up as these characters this movement is overwhelmingly women. Women even women who like comic books like clothes I would say the clothes a model is wearing is more important to a woman then men, the outfit reflects the character of the model and women identify better with model they feel have character (as do I really).

I kind of want an army of butt nekked spartans now.

[Cubs]

You mean models or for real?

This brings to mind what my missus said when she found out that Marvel had decided to make Thor female. "Why the hell would they want to do that? Men don't want him to be a girl, and after seeing the film I really don't want him to be a girl!"

I thought this was some sort of hint, so I threw a claw hammer at her.

It didn't come back.

So far neither has she.

[nic-e]

You mean models or for real?

This brings to mind what my missus said when she found out that Marvel had decided to make Thor female. "Why the hell would they want to do that? en don't want him to be a girl, and after seeing the film I really don't want him to be a girl!"

I thought this was some sort of hint, so I threw a claw hammer at her.

It didn't come back.

So far neither has she.

I didn't get the thor thing..it's a ballsy move and could be pretty fun, but it is a tad odd.

Either is fine by me, although 28mm ones would be easier to manage and require much less body oil. (i can't be the only one who rolls dice oiled and covered in warpaint?....)

[kidterminal]

You mean models or for real?

This brings to mind what my missus said when she found out that Marvel had decided to make Thor female. "Why the hell would they want to do that? en don't want him to be a girl, and after seeing the film I really don't want him to be a girl!"

I thought this was some sort of hint, so I threw a claw hammer at her.

It didn't come back.

So far neither has she.

As in figure time to throw another claw hammer!
@nic-e I've long considered a naked Celts army but it would offend the guy I play against so I haven't.

[former user]

lets think about early Spartan armies they historically fought naked like Irish spear men and many other ancient units

  where did You get that one? Like artistic depictions and historiography were 1:1 documentaries...
The reason why in the romano-hellenistic tradition warriors were depicted without clothes or celts reported to attack naked in a frenzy is because of the concept of "heroic nudity", not because they did it for real. Sports was done in the nude, that is true, for the same reason. a narrative trope is not reality. al least not in warfare.

where, on the other hand, traditional tribesmen fight with little clothes on is because they run around like that anyway. The only reason we know about that is because it is still done or we have a good 19thC documentation about that.

[nic-e]

As in figure time to throw another claw hammer!
@nic-e I've long considered a naked Celts army but it would offend the guy I play against so I haven't.

does a 28mm scale set of male genitals make him feel inadequate?

[pocoloco]

@nic-e I've long considered a naked Celts army but it would offend the guy I play against so I haven't.

So miniature genitals is offending but not playing war-games? I'm curious to know how is that so.

[kidterminal]

So miniature genitals is offending but not playing war-games? I'm curious to know how is that so.

And curious you will remain. This little naked man comparison has been surprisingly apt in showing why wargaming specifically the historical chaps are very unappealing to women or possibly young people in general. Wargaming especially historical wargaming is a representational art where you are at best putting you are putting your (or a collective) own slant on the art of a long gone period & culture. Choosing to represent an early Greek army naked as their artists choose to is far more accurate than the many figures that have them in kilts.  There are several naked male ancients & fantasy figures as well as naked aboriginals of several continents but they are out number hundreds to one against the naked female ancients, naked fantasy and even naked fantasy female aboriginals. They female figures show up on this forum and other places all the time even the most rabid "historical accuracy" usually has one or two of this hidden in the cupboard.

Taken as a whole this suggests to many women that wargaming is an old boys club that should die with the old boys.

[former user]

Taken as a whole this suggests to many women that wargaming is an old boys club that should die with the old boys.

there might be a certain truth in this......
still, there are newcomers in the hobby, not only old boys

[nic-e]

there might be a certain truth in this......
still, there are newcomers in the hobby, not only old boys

Does 19 count as a newcomer?
I've actually been collecting miniatures and playing tabletop games since i was 5 but i'll say for my part that i do find a lot of the cheesecake models to be in poor taste if they are out of context.
(i'm looking at you pinup kingdom death and infinity bootleg)

 I would say that if i were to look at the hobby from the outside now and saw some of these female models i would be alot more put off because i'd feel like i couldn't share my new hobby with people without it looking like a creepy masturbatory aid.It's the same reason i never got into anime.

[kidterminal]

Does 19 count as a newcomer?
I've actually been collecting miniatures and playing tabletop games since i was 5 but i'll say for my part that i do find a lot of the cheesecake models to be in poor taste if they are out of context.
(i'm looking at you pinup kingdom death and infinity bootleg)

 I would say that if i were to look at the hobby from the outside now and saw some of these female models i would be alot more put off because i'd feel like i couldn't share my new hobby with people without it looking like a creepy masturbatory aid.It's the same reason i never got into anime.

These are excellent points I tried to make, I like most of the members here is a man in his 40's from a generation who like you started in their teens and grew up as an insular community that's now difficult for young people to get into. I play board games with my friend (same age as me) his 20 yrd son and his friends we were thinking about zombicide but I saw a new zomvior figure girl with her skirt up to her waist and her ass hanging out. This sort of thing is really getting out of hand. If miniatures stopped skewing so creepy a lot of girls your age would get into skirmish games.