The Houston Quilt Festival just passed. It is an enormous festival dedicated to quilts and quilt making. It fills an monstrous convention center in the heart of downtown Houston. I visited in 2009 and the crowds were overwhelming. I have never been to a gathering of hobbyists as large.

Miniatures wargaming will never achieve that level of support and acceptance. HMGS conventions may seem big but they do not come close to the quilt festival. My own sense is that quilting affords a level of respectability and relevancy that miniature soldiers lack. A finely made quilt is a work of art or at the least a display of quality craftsmanship. It affords its users a facility for expression whether it be through abstractions or sad eyed cats. Quilting is a form of communication.

Miniatures wargaming is a rather bizarre form of conflict clinging to the most violent forms of physical interaction while summarily distancing itself as much as possible. Supposedly, there was a club that once tried to simulate war by smashing any figure that became a casualty. The experiment ended quickly. Violence, real violence has no place in wargaming. Miniatures wargaming is about play. One can admire the brightly painted armies, the historical accuracy, the flights of pure fantasy or simply the madness of being in a room with thousands of toys. But violence is viewed from a very safe distance and the casualties swept up from the table are lovingly packed back in their boxes to await the next conflict.

There is one odd thing about the quilt festival. Almost all the people visiting were women. By contrast, if one strips away the RPGs, wargame conventions are mostly visited by men. Perhaps this is a holdover of sexual stereotypes imposed by a culture that places too much stock in them. Hard to say. I cannot recall a time when I was not attracted to toy soldiers but even now could not sit through a football game. I do not feel myself bound by any cultural constraints on my behavior. It is also unlikely that I will start a quilt anytime soon.