By unconventional gaming, I'm not simply referring to wargaming of unconventional/irregular warfare such as the recent conflicts in Afghanistan, Libya, Mexico, and other countries. I'm talking about an attempt to fundamentally change- shatter, even- design paradigms inherent in most commercial wargames currently in print. One of the best mediums to do so is space wargaming. We're all familiar with the traditional Star Wars-style space battles, where fighters maneuver as if in-atmosphere, visible lasers are everywhere, nobody bothers with missiles or point-defense, that sort of thing. It's incredibly interesting to completely reexamine this and design a wargaming system to give a more accurate model of what we could reasonably expect to see in a hypothetical interstellar war.
However, space isn't the only medium with substantial room for exploration and experimentation. I've been fiddling with a cross-era system called Paradox that strives to model combat at the platoon and company level from the sixteenth century to the late twenty-first. It is designed with a strong focus on narrative elements, and as an examination of progress (or lack thereof) in warfare.
A bit about me; I've been into miniature wargaming since fifth grade, when I heard about Warhammer 40k through an article on terrain building in a DIY magazine. I've since moved far, far away from WH40k thanks to Games Workshop's terrible customer relations and ethics, and prefer third-party games or, above all, writing my own rules. I almost exclusively sculpt my own miniatures, with the exception of some 1:72 vehicles and figures from various hobby shops I occasionally fiddle around with. I live in the southern United States, and enjoy writing, wargaming (of course!) and robotics. With some fishing and country music thrown in. I'm also one of the most conservative people you're likely to meet.
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