From: Edmund Hon Subject: Grognard Test v2.0 (long) "Grognard", as understood by wargamers - at least to those of us on the Internet - means a veteran wargamer that have seen all, done all. The following is a little test to see if you fit this description. All questions are in a yes/no format. If you can answer about 60%, you are not for from grognardom, in fact, some might even call you a grognard. If you can answer more than 75%, congratulations, you are a true grognard, and should be respected by us all. Please send all comments, flames, suggestions, threats, questions to ax970@freenet.carleton.ca. Note: i) Some of these questions are "cumulative" e.g. for #19-22: Have you played a wargame within the last: 19 24 hours? 20 7 days? 21 month (30 days)? 22 6 months (182 days)? If the last game you played was 2 weeks ago, then you would answer 19 and 20 as no, and 21,22 as yes. ii) Unless otherwise specified in the question, "wargame" here include all formats and media: paper based (including pure card wargames like Dixie), miniatures, and computer based. Computer assisted rules such as Shipbase count as miniatures. iii) Sci-Fi games do NOT count here, but alt-history games (such as those published by XTR) do. iv) Use the following conversion scale to calculate how many "stands" of miniature models you have: 54mm models (regardless of type): 1 / stand 15/20/25mm foot soldiers: 4 / stand 15/20/25mm cavalry: 3 / stand 15/20/25mm "large" items such as artillery, chariots, elephants, tanks, etc. (including all crew): 1 / stand 10mm foot soldiers: 6 / stand 10mm cavalry: 4 / stand 10mm "large" items such as artillery, wagons, etc.: 2 / stand 6mm foot soldiers: 12 / stand 6mm cavalry: 8 / stand 6mm artillery: 4 / stand 6mm (1/285 - 1/300) military vehicles: 3 / stand Ship model of 1/3000 scale or larger: 1 / stand Ship model smaller than 1/3000 scale: 2 / stand Aircraft models of 1/300 scale or larger: 1 / stand Aircraft models between 1/300 and 1/1200 scale: 3 / stand Aircraft models smaller than 1/1200 scale: 12 / stand THE GROGNARD TEST (v2.0) 1 Do you know what is a wargame? 2 Have you seen a wargame? 3 Have you watched anyone playing a wargame? 4 Have you ever played a wargame? 5 Have you played a paper based wargame? 6 Have you played a miniature wargame? 7 Do you own any miniature figures/models for playing wargames? How many stands of miniature models do you own? (See beginning of the test for definition of a stand) 8 at least 50. 9 at least 200. 10 more than 500. 11 Have you painted any miniature figures/models that are to be used for playing wargames? 12 Have you received a prize at a convention because of the miniature figures/models that you painted? 13 Do you own any game terrain that are used for miniature wargames? 14 Enough to cover a 6'x4' (183cm x 122cm) area or more? 15 Enough to cover thrice the above amount of area or more? 16 Have you played a computer wargame? 17 Have you hacked a computer wargame (for whatever purpose)? 18 Have you installed at least $100 worth of hardware/software (not the game itself, of course) to your computer just because doing so will allow you to play a certain computer wargame? Have you played a wargame within the last: 19 24 hours? 20 7 days? 21 month (30 days)? 22 6 months (182 days)? You first started playing wargames: 23 at least a year ago. 24 at least 5 years ago. 25 at least 10 years ago. 26 at least 20 years ago. 27 more than 30 years ago. On the average, how regularly do you play wargames (based on the past 12 months): 28 at least once every month. 29 at least once every week. 30 at least once every day. The longest period of time you were (continuously) involved in playing of wargames (does not have to be the same game, and referees count), excluding meal/washroom breaks and any other breaks of less than 1 hour: 31 at least 3 hours. 32 at least 6 hours. 33 at least 12 hours. 34 more than 18 hours. The longest period of time you were involved in the playing of a single wargame title and the same scenario (referees count), no matter how long/numerous were the breaks in between (i.e., the time between start and finish of a single scenario), excluding PBM/PBeM games: 35 at least 48 hours. 36 at least 1 week. 37 at least 1 month. 38 at least 2 months. 39 at least 6 months. 40 more than a year. 41 Have you played a wargame using PBM/PBeM format? 42 Are you involved in a PBM/PBeM game now? 43 More than 5? Which of the following period/subject of wargaming do you play regularly? 44 Ancient/Medieval (15th Century AD and before), both land and sea. 45 Renaissance (16th Century), both land and sea. 46 Age of musket (17th Century) land. 47 Age of sail naval (from Armada 1588 to before the appearance of iron-clad warships) 48 Age of Reason (18th Century) 49 Napoleonic 50 American Civil War 51 Other non-ACW 19th Century 52 Pre-WW 1 naval (from the first appearance of icon-clads) 53 WW 1 land 54 WW 1 air 55 WW 1 / WW 2 naval 56 WW 2 land 57 WW 2 air 58 Post WW 2 land 59 Post WW 2 naval 60 Post WW 2 air Have you bought a wargame or any wargames related material (expansion modules, rule books, magazines, miniatures, etc.) within the last: (for mail orders, use the time you placed your order) 61 24 hours? 62 7 days? 63 month (30 days)? 64 6 months (182 days)? Within the past 12 months, how much you have spent (in US$) on wargames or any wargames related material: 65 at least $100. 66 at least $200. 67 at least $500. 68 at least $1000. 69 more than $2000. 70 Have you spent more than $150 on a single wargame system (i.e. a main game plus one or more expansion module that requires the main game. It can be as small as Air Force + Dauntless, or as big as Advanced Squad Leader. Do not confuse this with "series" games where each individual game can be played without the others) 71 More than one such system? How many wargames title do you currently own (count each issue of a magazine separately): 72 at least 20. 73 at least 50. 74 at least 100. 75 more than 200. What is the largest number of wargame titles that you owned at one time or another (count each issue of a magazine separately): 76 at least 20. 77 at least 50. 78 at least 100. 79 more than 200. How many wargames title do you own that you have never played, either before or after you have purchased it (exclude games from magazine subscription, and count all modules of the same game as one title): 80 at least 1. 81 at least 5. 82 at least 10. 83 more than 20. 84 Do you own wargames you're never likely to play, yet refuse to sell them because you like having the game just to own it? 85 Have you bought a wargame you've never heard of, just because you don't own it? Can you name, without thinking for more than 30 seconds for each company, at least 3 wargame titles published by any of the companies described in each of the following group? (excluding games published in a periodical): 86 3W Inc., Decision Games (excluding re-release of SPI titles), Fresno Gaming Associates (FGA) 87 Australian Design Group (ADG), Canadian Wargamers' Group 88 The Avalon Hill Game Company (AH), Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) (including SPI/TSR titles) 89 Battleline, Yaquinto, Simulations Canada (Simcan), Omega Games 90 Clash of Arms (CoA), Victory Games, Columbia Games 91 GMT, The Gamers, XTR Corp. 92 Games Designer Workshop (GDW), West End Games 93 Moments in History (MiH), Game Publications Group Inc., Rhino Game Company 94 Simulations Design Inc. (SDI), Task Force Games 95 SSG, SSI 96 Wargames Research Group (WRG), Xeno Games Have you read, no matter how briefly, any of the following periodicals from each group: 97 Berg's Review of Games (BRoG), Canadian Wargamers' Journal, Fire & Movement, Grenadier, Panzerfaust, Moves, Paper Wars, Zone of Control 98 Empires Eagles & Lions, Military History 99 Command, Counter Attack, GameFix / Competitive Edge, Jagdpanther, Strategy & Tactics (S&T), Wargamer 100 Air Power, Critical Hit, Europa, Harpoon Sit.Rep. 101 C3I, General, Operations 102 Courier, Historical Gamers, Miniature Wargames, Wargames Illustrated 103 Do you the own complete runs of a periodical dedicated to wargames and/or military history (minimum print run of 10 issues)? 104 More than one such periodical? 105 More than five such periodical? 106 Do you the own complete runs of a periodical dedicated to wargames and/or military history that has a print run of 100 issues or more? 107 More than one such periodical? 108 Do you / have you subscribed to any periodicals that are devoted to wargames and/or military history? 109 More than 5 such periodicals at the same time? 110 Have you designed "house-rules", minor add-on rules, (i.e. not complete rules in itself) for any wargame titles? 111 Have you designed a (stand alone) wargame (with or without finishing the work)? 112 more than one such design? 113 Have you FINISHED the design of a (stand alone) wargame? 114 finished more than one such design? 115 Have any of your wargames design, whether they are complete games or just minor rules-mod, been released into the general public? 116 Have you received any money for your wargames design? 117 Have any of your wargames design published by a professional publishing agency? 118 Have your name, or the name of an organization which you belongs to, been appeared in the credits section of a rulebook in a wargame, solely as a playtester? (For organizations, you must have participated in the playtest yourself.) 119 Have your name been appeared in the credits section of a rulebook in a wargame, other than being a playtester? 120 Have your name been appeared on the cover of a wargame (i.e., on the box, on the cover of a stand-alone miniature rulebook)? 121 Have any of your wargame designs been used or evaluated by a government agency (for non recreational purpose, of course)? 122 Have you been to a wargames convention? Have you been to a wargames convention regularly (at least once a year) for the past: 123 5 years? 124 10 years? 125 20 years? 126 more than 20 years? 127 Have you been to more than one wargames convention in the past 12 months? 128 Have you traveled more than 200 km (126 miles) with the primary objective of attending a wargames convention? 129 Have you traveled more than 500 km (311 miles) with the primary objective of attending a wargames convention? 130 Have you traveled to another country with the primary objective of attending a wargames convention? On the average, how much time per week do you spend reading/writing posts from USENET newsgroups and mailing lists that are at least partially devoted to wargames: 131 at least 5 hours 132 at least 10 hours 133 more than 15 hours 134 Have you sold any wargames, either as an auction or a "first-come-first-served" style sale, through the Internet? (Not counting business transactions because you run a mail order company) 135 Have you bought any wargames, either from an auction or a "first-come-first-served" style sale through the Internet? (Not counting mail orders.) 136 Have you been interviewed by a journalist solely because of your interest in wargames? 137 Do you own a table that is exclusively used for wargames only? 138 If you do own such a table, does that table have a minimum dimension of 6' x 4' (183cm x 122cm)? 139 Do you have a room in your dwelling that is exclusively used for wargames only? 140 Do you have a significant other that also played a wargame with you at least once? 141 Regularly? 142 Have you played wargames with any of your offsprings? ("Play" here means they actually follow, or try to follow, the rules, not just pushing figures/counters around and yell "Boom!") 143 Regularly? -- /// __ / ax970@freenet.carleton.ca /// /_ dmund / "Major? FYI, ABC needs TLAM-C BDA's PDQ or ASAP!" /// /_/_/ / - ABC correspondent Roland Hedley, /// / /on / during a Desert Storm press briefing