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Alternatives to Simultaneous Movement

 So we want things to be fast... We want play to be smooth and easy; simultaneous movement lets everyone act at once, but at the price of having to write and comply with orders.  There are other ways to achieve speed.   One thing about speed.  Play will always speed up with practice, but these days finding a group of people who can play one complex ruleset regularly enough to develop speed can't be relied on. Pure IgoUgo In this mode, one side does all firing and movement, then the other.  I will discard this outright; yes, GW army rules use this method but GW games are infamous for whoever moves first obliterating whoever moves second. IgoUgo Movement With Simultaneous Combat In this case the sequence of play is split into distinct combat and movement element.  We probably allow separate phases for fire and melee combat.  We also need to sort out who moves first and an approach to resolving charges and responses. After a tussle with Black Power y...
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Written Orders

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A Very Partial Taxonomy These are four of the order writing systems I have used with simultaneous movement over the years. Full Written Orders In this system, each unit receives an explicit order that lasts until changed.  The order is in English, and includes mission and stance information.  Rules for changing orders include messengers and signals. Encoded Written Orders Clearly this was considered a burden in the WRG community, since in sixth edition this was changed to a four character code.  Charge also uses a shorthand for orders, but also requires exact orders every turn. Markers With The Unit In Command Decision, markers are placed with each unit indicating stance direction of movement, etc.  These are placed with every unit every turn, and at a low level, but they do record useful information. The fantasy battle game For Reign or Ruin uses a marker system, but orders persist until changed. Orders from For Reign or Ruin As a possible marker, perhaps single fig...
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Why? And some working principles

Why? I've become tired of playing games with rules that leave me saying "that was great EXCEPT"; this blog documents my thinking about a set of rules with will cover several of my favorite periods. My plan right now is to look at the mechanisms I have enjoyed using, tailor them to the period, and combine them into one set of "Frankenrules." Uncreative, but quite common in gaming when systems become popular. Look at the Warmaster activation system for example. What I Like Simultaneous movement I have a big table, and I like to get friends over for big games.  I don't like people waiting around while other people make their moves.  It slows the game and if there are too many players leads to boredom. Of course this implies some form of pre-prepared orders and a willingness of all players to work together to achieve an enjoyable game; all the more so since I really don't want to be "umpire for life." On the other hand, written orders should ma...
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