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warwellParticipant
I misread the post title and this is what I immediately thought of.
https://twitter.com/DT2ComicsChat/status/1164022265069088768
warwellParticipantDo what’s better for you
warwellParticipantwarwellParticipantNever heard of Spruz. I think you could also put homemade rules on the Freewargamesrules wiki.
warwellParticipantMinis have been claimed
12/04/2023 at 11:39 in reply to: (For Sale) FREE 3mm Ancients and Pike & Shot, 1/3600 galleys #185038warwellParticipantThe 3mm figures have been claimed.
The galleys are still available
warwellParticipantThank you!
Merry Christmas
warwellParticipantI 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.
22/09/2022 at 10:39 in reply to: Orc raid on a village with nothing but peasants as defenders? #178333warwellParticipantI 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.
warwellParticipantLove them!
warwellParticipantAll 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.
warwellParticipantI 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)
warwellParticipantNever noticed the language. I assume there is no difference, but I only played the rules once.
warwellParticipantGorgeous!
warwellParticipantJim 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.
warwellParticipantI use my own homebrew rules. I like them because they are simple enough that I can play without referring to them.
31/12/2021 at 10:49 in reply to: Battle of Sambre solo report small table with own rules on blog #166562warwellParticipantI can’t leave dice lying around. This is what happens.
warwellParticipantWhen I use OHW scenarios, I often include additional, randomly determined terrain. That may help.
Some other ideas:
- Increase the size of the battlefield
- Provide a rally rule, which removes hits. Don’t make it too easy, though, or else you are constantly recycling.
warwellParticipantShe had a ruler
warwellParticipantSome 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.
warwellParticipantI 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.
warwellParticipantA couple of times a month
On my coffee table
All by myself
warwellParticipantMy homebrew rules for solo wargaming somewhat follow the original poster’s suggestion.
- I assess the situation to determine whether the tester has an advantage or disadvantage.
- This determines the target number:
- Extreme advantage = 2
- Advantage = 3
- Neutral = 4
- Disadvantage = 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.
warwellParticipantI’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.
warwellParticipantYou 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.
warwellParticipantMy 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.
warwellParticipantThis 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.
17/05/2021 at 21:51 in reply to: 15XX Playtest 4 is Out! Narrative Skirmishes in the Renaissance #156450warwellParticipantSome interesting ideas. I can’t commit to play testing but I will be following your progress
warwellParticipantYou may want to check out the Down in Flames card game. Aircraft are rated by just a few numbers – performance, speed, horsepower, and damage.
warwellParticipantMetroid
warwellParticipantI have an e-version on the nook
warwellParticipantHere 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.
warwellParticipantBob Cordery of Portable Wargame fame is working on a 17th century version. I don’t know when it will be out.
warwellParticipantGamegonegood, 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.
warwellParticipantFor fiction, I’d start with Last of the Mohicans
warwellParticipantI 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.
warwellParticipantIf 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
warwellParticipantThis 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!
warwellParticipantMy 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.
warwellParticipantThanks!
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