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  • in reply to: Thats QI ! #194344
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    I misread the post title and this is what I immediately thought of.

    https://twitter.com/DT2ComicsChat/status/1164022265069088768

     

    in reply to: Small games -> Rocky Top (Tennessee NOT) #190763
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    Do what’s better for you

    in reply to: why is modeling and painting part of the hobby #187439
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    It IS optional.

    I feel the same way as the original poster about modeling and painting. So much so that I (mostly) abandoned miniatures in favor of homemade counters.

    Here are some examples:

    in reply to: Websites for homemade rules #187189
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    Never heard of Spruz. I think you could also put homemade rules on the Freewargamesrules wiki.

    in reply to: (FREE) 10mm fantasy and sci fi #185396
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    Minis have been claimed

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    The 3mm figures have been claimed.

    The galleys are still available

    in reply to: A Christmas Day read #181522
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    Thank you!

    Merry Christmas

    in reply to: LOTR – Rings of Power #179545
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    I watched the first episode.

    I kept mentally comparing it to the LotR movies, and RoP kept coming up way short. I decided not to bother with any more episodes. I re-watched the movies instead.

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    I have visions of a Northfield Raid type of scenario. The orcs think the village is easy pickings but then they find out that the villagers are armed, angry, and led by some veterans.

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    Love them!

    in reply to: Does it matter if we don’t finish the game? #168533
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    All that matters is having fun.

    Personally, I would prefer a finish. If I were using a set of rules and consistently did not finish, I’d find a different set of rules.

    Reminds me of an ironclad naval game I played years before. After 3 hours, I only managed to fire one shot and the game was far from over. I never accepted an invitation to play again.

    in reply to: Small games -> Rocky Top (Tennessee NOT) #168382
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    I don’t think of hits as wounds or casualties. It’s more like morale status.

    That’s where rallying can come into play. In my homebrew rules, units are eliminated after 2 “hits”. However, a unit can use an action to attempt a rally, which will remove a “hit”.

    Having a “hit”, however, will reduce combat effectiveness (a -1 modifier on a D6)

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    Never noticed the language. I assume there is no difference, but I only played the rules once.

    in reply to: 3mm Byzantine Project #166697
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    Gorgeous!

    in reply to: 3mm Byzantine Project #166682
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    Jim and David, thanks for the feedback!

    Some thoughts:

    • I’ll start with the brown battle mat. Maybe I’ll add some areas of green growth.
    • Love the comparison picture. Makes me think the Roman buildings may be a little undersized, but I think they could still work as abstract terrain. I’ll order some and find out.

    I posted about this project on my blog. I’ll add more updates as the project progresses.

    in reply to: Those Rules You Use #166681
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    I use my own homebrew rules. I like them because they are simple enough that I can play without referring to them.

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    I can’t leave dice lying around. This is what happens.

    Onyx and dice

    in reply to: Small games -> Rocky Top (Tennessee NOT) #164544
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    When I use OHW scenarios, I often include additional, randomly determined terrain. That may help.

    Some other ideas:

    1. Increase the size of the battlefield
    2. Provide a rally rule, which removes hits. Don’t make it too easy, though, or else you are constantly recycling.
    in reply to: Shoot out in Paradise – Devon Wargames Group #164040
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    She had a ruler

    in reply to: On the virtues of IGO-UGO #163340
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    Some good observations in the blog posts.

    I also like an IGO-UGO structure for solo or 2-player games. Sometimes, the “cure” for IGO-UGO is worse than the disease. I’ve experimented with random card systems, from the venerable Sword and the Flame to Piquet and there always seems to be cases where one side twiddles its thumbs while the other mercilessly slaughters its opponent.

    My preference is modifying IGO-UGO with some command limitations to prevent complete control. Currently, my solo rules feature an action points system, where each unit rolls a D6 to determine how far it can move. A roll of 1 indicates that the unit does nothing this turn. Thus, there is some fog of war, but most units still do something. I use a small number of units per army, so rolling for each unit is not onerous.

    in reply to: Campaign map movement: free vs PtP #163339
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    I played a solo campaign using the rules for Diplomacy mixed with miniatures, using a map of my own devising. I decided on the orders for one of the factions then randomly determined the moves for the enemies. In any encounter, the main army would provide for 12 units and any supporting armies would provide an additional 6 each.

    The system generated a nice mix of different scenarios. Two armies moving into an empty territory would result in a meeting engagement. If an army moved into another army’s territory, then the static army would have a chance to prepare defenses. There would also be cases where one army was outnumbered.

    What made the system manageable was that I did not play out every encounter. Each turn, I would select the most interesting battle and play it out. I used the Diplomacy rules to adjudicate the other encounters.

    The rules of Diplomacy are quite simple so campaign management did not overwhelm my primary goal of generating interesting scenarios for miniature battles.

    in reply to: Playing The Game #162886
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    A couple of times a month

    On my coffee table

    All by myself

    in reply to: Down with DRMs! A Modest Proposal #162495
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    My homebrew rules for solo wargaming somewhat follow the original poster’s suggestion.

    1. I assess the situation to determine whether the tester has an advantage or disadvantage.
    2. This determines the target number:
      1. Extreme advantage = 2
      2. Advantage = 3
      3. Neutral = 4
      4. Disadvantage = 5
      5. Extreme disadvantage = 6

    I have modifiers I can apply to move the target number up or down. Because I play solo, however, I usually dispense with the modifiers and make a snap decision on the level. Attacking an enemy behind a wall? Disadvantaged. Etc.

    I also use saving throws, even though I play solo and I’m still the one rolling dice. It just seems to create an illusion of agency on the part of the lead defenders, which just feels right to me, even if the math works out the same.

    in reply to: Designing Scenarios #161516
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    I’m a big fan of the OHW scenarios. Although I keep the army sizes the same, I do add additional terrain.

    Interestingly, there is a scenario inspired by Shiloh. It is # 27 – Disordered Defence.

    in reply to: Solo WW2 air rules #161080
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    You may be able to adapt ideas from the Spandau and Lewis rules to WW2. They are available for free at the Stronghold Rebuilt.

    They do not use secret maneuver selection, so I have found them eminently useful for solo gaming.

     

    in reply to: Small games -> Rocky Top (Tennessee NOT) #158764
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    My blog has some of my 3mm in action

    Hills are made of cork, with a cardstock river and fields.

    Here is another battle showing some pot scrubber woods.

    in reply to: Small games -> Rocky Top (Tennessee NOT) #158747
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    This approach seems right up my alley. I’ve done wargames using 20 x 10mm blocks on an erasable, gridded battle mat. It had a very kriegsspiel feel to it.

    I have since switched to 3mm minis on 20 x 15 mm bases fighting on a felt battlemat with terrain made of pot scrubbers, cork, felt, and a few scratch-built buildings. It did not take too much effort to put it all together, and my battles are super quick and easy.

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    Some interesting ideas. I can’t commit to play testing but I will be following your progress

    in reply to: How would you rate WWII fighters? #153713
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    You may want to check out the Down in Flames card game. Aircraft are rated by just a few numbers – performance, speed, horsepower, and damage.

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    Metroid

    in reply to: One-Hour Skirmsh Wargames electronic version? #147406
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    I have an e-version on the nook

    in reply to: Square Grid Question #143618
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    Here is an online ECW variant of the Portable Wargame – https://hordesofthethings.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-ecw-portable-wargame.html

    You may find some aspects that you can modify for your purposes. It is flexible in terms of table size, grid size, or unit size, and is fairly abstract.

    in reply to: Square Grid Question #143410
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    Bob Cordery of  Portable Wargame fame is working on a 17th century version. I don’t know when it will be out.

    in reply to: Im trying to make attack rolls more interesting #143036
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    Gamegonegood, because you are playing solo, the real question is do you find it more interesting?

    That said, as a solo gamer I don’t necessarily find more dice rolling to me more interesting. What really makes a game more interesting to me is having enough decision points.

    For example, I like how Memoir ’44 provides plenty of decision points in a player’s turn – What command card do I play? Which units do I activate? Do I advance my infantry two spaces and forego an attack or only one with an attack? If I attack, which enemy do I attack? If multiple units attack, in which order do they attack (it matters)?

    Dice rolling is minimal – typically one roll of 1 to 4 dice per attack. The game derives its interest from all those decision points rather than the dice.

    in reply to: Introductory book on 7 Year War #142838
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    For fiction, I’d start with Last of the Mohicans

    in reply to: A Wargames fenonamumm… #137535
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    I do buy and paint because what I really want is not otherwise available (at least at a cost I consider acceptable).

    However, if I could, I would just buy everything ready-made so I can focus on gaming.

    in reply to: £100 budget #137255
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    If I were starting from scratch today with 100 pounds, here is what I would do – https://warwellwg.blogspot.com/2020/05/starting-with-100-pounds.html

    Admittedly idiosyncratic

    in reply to: £100 budget #137243
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    This chainmail warskirt, for my LARPing hobby.

    But if you are talking miniatures only, then I would order some more tanks from Germy’s 2mm line and some more tokens from Litko. Other than that, I don’t have any real mini needs at the moment. I just received a large (for me) order of 10mm ancient/medieval/fantasy figures from Irregular, for use with Age of Heroes, a free set of skirmish rules posted on Lead Adventure Forum.

    Now Rhoderic has posed an interesting question – “if I was starting from scratch and had to make a viable project out of what I can buy for £100?” I have some definite ideas; sounds like a topic for a blog post!

     

    in reply to: Old Rules #137241
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    My first thought was DBA – the first set of rules I actually played regularly (as opposed to fitful experiments). I discuss my experience with DBA on my blog.

    On second thought, does D&D count, or are we only talking miniature games? I am currently playing in a Basic D&D campaign.

    in reply to: 10mm Dungeon Crawl #135380
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    Thanks!

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 127 total)