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 make solo play a bit easier.

Reasoning behand troop behavior

My first principal is "most of the time, troops will do what the commander expects of them"  and the second is "if they do not do as intended, I should be able to understand what the key factors are in their disobedience"

Lots of rules use a variation of the Warmaster engine, the obvious ones right now being Black Powder (and friends), Blitzkrieg Commander, and the Lion/Dragon rampant rules.  You know the drill: pick a unit, roll dice: success means the unit can activate, failure means you stop issuing orders.  Each system has refinements but the core experience is the same.

And it's not an awful system.  I think x-Rampant, where the target number varies by troop type and order, rewards the right behavior.  But still, every once in a while the dice wins and every plan on both sides goes to pot.  If you play every week that's OK, but if this is your only game for a month then it's just frustrating.

Right now, I am biased toward something like the system from WRG 6th Edition ancients and earlier.  A number of events can trigger a test and the results rely on more than simple randomness.  Even better, nothing stops the player cold without being able to act on other  units.

Not Removing Figures

I first ran into this in Black Powder and I heartily concur.  The fiddly removal of individual figures really doesn't model the effects of casualties any better than other methods, and issues like putting the units back together at the end of the game go away.  And without figure removal and stand/figure obsession, basing standard no longer really matters.

Not Being Too Simulationist

Just in case you just thought this was just a thing in RPGs.  So to be clear, job one is fun.  These are historical games (at least I buy a 15mm dragon and 10mm orcs) but they are still intended as an enjoyable few hours with a bunch of friends and munchies in the middle.

Focus on Single Periods

The WRG 6th Edition Ancient Rules cover a 4500 year period.  This leads to a somewhat complex system of descriptors and troop classes along with ahistorical terminology around units and formations.  By focusing on shorter periods it should be simpler to research actual interactions rather than try to predict them from weapons, armor, and quality.  For the Italian Wars I will be zooming in on roughly twenty years, from Agnadello to the Sack of Rome, a span of slightly less than twenty years.

That does restrict the potential range of the rules, but enough rules cover cross-period gaming. See Dork Tower for an example.
 

Wicked Temptations

Modular Flexibility and Future Projects

This is an occupational disease of computer programmers.  I would like to be able to some flavor of this system for all my games, and I must resist the temptation to enable that now.

I have one 10mm Seven Years War army immediately ready to go for which a transition from Black Powder to these mechanism makes sense.  I also have a 15mm Italian Wars army that I am bringing up to strength currently.

I have no need immediately to mess with my x-rampant armies, but I will at some point prep my mid fifteenth century 28mm Europeans.  And there's also my untouched 10mm Samurai (for which I would love to find Koreans for the Imjin Wars).  And my untouched 10mm Italian Wars of Independence (American Civil War weapons and no slaveowners.  Sounds good to me,)

Finally I have a project on the books to have the perfect division level WWII rules for my 10mm forces.  Most of what is out there does not inspire me. 






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