Reply To: What’s it like playing a diceless wargame?

[vtsaogames]

MartinR wrote:

I’ve played and run quite a range of diceless games. They usually have some other mechanisms to represent the stochastic nature of combat. Fletcher Pratt and Little Wars use range estimation and matchstick cannon respectively….

 

One of most interesting was Kartenspiel, also by Sabin, which models Clausewitz’s style Napoleonic battles. It relies on hidden force deployment and an entertaining rock, paper, scissors method for cavalry charges. I’ve run that with groups of ten players. The game itself is in the Appendix to ‘Simulating War’ but I also wrote it up for the Wargames Developments Journal.

 

 

I played a simple game back in the 60’s that used range estimation for artillery fire and dice for small arms and close combat. Also played Little Wars back in the day when it was easier to get down on the floor and back up. I was not allowed to use the knee pads I brought along to the last game, back in the 80s or so. :^(

 

Kartenspiel is in Simulating War. Do I need a hard copy of this or will the Kindle version work? I have a deck of blank cards that can be used and middling drawing skill.

It's never too late to have a happy childhood