Re: Very Large Scale Wargames

From: pyppad@gdr.bath.ac.uk (P A Dale)

Date: Thu, 21 Jun 1990 10:27:35 +0000

In article <5514@vanuata.cs.glasgow.ac.uk> tommyk@cs.glasgow.ac.uk (Tommy Kelly) writes:
>After a long absence from wargaming with miniatures, I'm looking
>to start again.  However I'd like to cover not just tabletop skirmishes
>but large, and very-large scale campaigns and wars.
>
>I'm primarily interested (for the time-being) in WWII.
>
>Some starters:
[loads deleted]
i) PBeM yes I would say it was possible so long as the players
   had reasonable maps. The remote players could be used to direct
forces with the moderator and friends fighting the tabletop

ii) Game considerations
   You are setting out on a very ambitious project. I would suggest you
first of all decide a few basic things mainly to do with scale.
Time
  How long do you have to fight a battle and reach a conclusion that
will be useful ? My experience of figures rates this very highly when
writing rules or using them. This will then determine the timescale of
the game when factored with the next scale to be considered....
Ground/unit scale
   Are you interested in small or grand tactics ? Do you want to pit
corps against eachother using divisional building blocks or go lower in
scale ? The higher the scale of unit on the tabletop the more abstract
the rules will probably be. At the same time there will be more strategy
and higher command emphasis.

I think the ideal to aim for is a playable system in regards to time and
complexity which captures well the era. A lot of figures people will by
now have seen Napoleon's Battle (AH). The system captures what I have
said as it is pitched at the correct time/ground/unit scale to enable
people to fight Napoleonic battles in an evening/day. At the same time
there are aspects which can be niggly (for historicity/rules). In short,
the old chestnut of playability vs accuracy ad nauseum.

If you can get a firm idea of what you want then I'm sure you'll get
there.

I look forward to the developement of this and hope a *real* discussion
may get going :-)
Paul Dale
p.s. 1/300th is a must, painting is so much easier :-)

References

Very Large Scale Wargames
tommyk@cs.glasgow.ac.uk (Tommy Kelly)
Tue, 19 Jun 1990 16:18:22 +0000

Referenced By

Very Large Scale Wargames
tommyk@cs.glasgow.ac.uk (Tommy Kelly)
Tue, 19 Jun 1990 16:18:22 +0000