In Montreuil, at the Ludiverse gaming festival, some visitors already have their arms full at dawn, upon entering the building. They are miniatures game players. Warhammer 40k, Kill Team, Star Wars Legion… These strategic confrontation games bring together thousands of fans every weekend in France, but Ludiverse gives them the opportunity for a large ecumenical gathering between different games for a series of tournaments and demonstrations.
On tables reproducing battlefields – most often imaginary, even galactic – players use finely painted figurines to represent a confrontation. These competitive games, with complex rules, and whose stakes are settled with dice rolls, have experienced a resurgence in popularity since the end of confinement. What was once a niche practice, confined to the back rooms of specialized shops or the garages of enthusiasts, has become a real social phenomenon. Miniature gaming is no longer just about surviving; it conquers new territories, driven by an omnipresent pop culture and a growing desire to “do it yourself”.
Ludiverse, le temple des « passionnés »
To understand this shift, we must turn to those who are making the event. Charles Guymont, co-organizer of Ludiverse, wanted to offer this discipline a setting to suit it. For him, it was about filling a void in the French entertainment landscape:
« We wanted to make room for figurine games and role-playing games as well as board games. It’s all the same universe. In English there is the term “tabletop games” which does not really exist in French… »
This absence of a generic term says a lot about the fragmentation of the environment. However, behind the diversity of practices, a common requirement binds the players. Charles Guymont also rejects the overly broad label of “game fan” which has become commonplace with the rise of board games:
« We would never say that someone is a “music fan”, we would say rock fan or jazz fan. Likewise, fan of games, that doesn’t mean anything. There is a lot of diversity in the gaming world. And among all games, the miniature game has a special place. These are demanding, very strategic games, which require an investment in time and money… »
While most major shows are turning to the “family” game, which is quick to explain and play, Ludiverse assumes its positioning: “We are aimed at enthusiasts. The miniatures gaming community is very invested.”
Read “Hobby”, between modeling and strategy
But what makes this leisure activity, which its followers call “the hobby”, so unique? Unlike a classic board game where you open the box to play immediately, the figurine game imposes a rite of passage. Particularly with the assembly and painting of figurines, which requires patient learning time, equipment, and hours of solitary attention to detail…
Guillaume Bretegnier, curator of the exhibition “The Universe of Figurines” at Versailles, observes this particular relationship with the object. For him, the image of the childish player is a cliché that dies hard, but which does not resist analysis:
« We talk about big kids when talking about figurine fans, but in reality these are games that are not really aimed at children. It’s a consuming and time-consuming passion. People spend a lot of time on the collection – finding the rarest piece -, the game itself, and especially the modeling: the assembly, the painting… You can spend hours on a single figurine. »
This artistic dimension is the basis of the discipline. You don’t buy a finished product, you build your army. “Everyone is passionate in their own way and at their own level,” adds Guillaume Bretegnier. The figurine game benefits from the current dynamic around board games. People come to board games through board games or pop culture, then to miniature games. It’s a world that has opened up too. Fans of wargaming – the game of historical figurines – understood that they were going to die if they did not open up to new audiences. »
Thus, in the exhibition “The World of Figurines”, modeling reproductions of Napoleonic battles and scenes of life in medieval castles are followed by epic clashes of Lord of the Ringsother creatures of Dungeons & Dragonsor Star Wars lightsaber duels.
The licensing and pop culture revolution
This opening has a powerful engine: licenses. Yann Cléach, who runs the “La boîte à chimères” boutique in Sotteville-lès-Rouen (76) was the privileged witness to this change. “I opened my store more than fifteen years ago. It was a niche at the time but it is becoming more popular. There are plenty of figurine games that have been created based on very popular pop universes. Not all miniature games work, some even disappear due to lack of players. But with everyone jumping in, every year, there are a few more games every year.”
Today, the shelves are no longer occupied only by Napoleonic grenadiers or anonymous orcs. There we find the heroes of our screens. “At the store, we play a lot Bolt Actiona historical war game, but also Star Wars Legion, Marvel Crisis Protocole… », énumère Yann Cléach.
« If Star Wars Legion was released it is because it is intergenerational and the game can rely on a large pre-existing community. There are more and more games with licenses that speak to everyone. These games allow you to embody your passion with figurines, not to stay on comics or films. »
A “normalization” activity
The influence of the British giant Games Workshop (creator of Warhammer) remains central, acting as a locomotive for the entire sector. “I see the success of Games Workshop as a symptom of a general growth in miniature games,” underlines the trader. In the 1980s, there was only historical wargaming, games with 400 pages of rules without images, where you move troops on hexagonal squares… Today, all of this has been democratized. Board games, such as HeroQuestbegan to adopt certain codes from miniature games. The role-playing game also made it possible to build bridges with the miniature game, because there are universes in common. »
This hybridization made it possible to “normalize” the activity. We no longer hide to roll dice and measure shooting ranges with a tape measure. On the contrary, we find ourselves in clubs, boutiques or lounges. A week before Ludiverse, Yann Cléach organized a Star Wars convention where the Star Wars Legion tournament had a prominent place. While the tournament players were busy trying to defeat the treacherous General Grievous or taming the movements of the Imperial Speeder Bikes, the public watched the games with curiosity. Some fascinated by the beauty of the figurines, others curious about the rules of the game.
Le secret du succès¨s
This is undoubtedly where the secret of this success lies: in a society of immediacy, the miniature game offers a eulogy of patience and technical mastery. By transforming a piece of gray plastic into a legendary hero, the player doesn’t just play; he creates.
Our board games section
And seeing the crowds flocking to Montreuil or the specialized boutiques, this desire for creation and strategy does not seem to be dying out any time soon. Charles Guymont hopes that Ludiverse will establish itself as a meeting place for an expanding sector. The events pro is optimistic and cites, as proof of the openness of the hobby sector, the attendance figures by gender: “We have 34% women among those registered!” A few years ago, it was unimaginable.”
The figurine has definitively left the shelves of nostalgia to become the spearhead of a modern and demanding playful culture.
