Post by cowboy40 on Oct 26, 2021 10:54:42 GMT -7
It isn't a secret here that I do a lot of wargaming. I play a lot of different styles of games. I mostly play naval based warfare.
The simple level of gaming is simply card based games. I don't have any of these pure card games in my library of games, but i have played them, I cut my teeth on them, and they gave me a basic idea of the understanding pf different platforms and so on. This is the first level...understanding your ships, land units and so on. Well I do, actually believe this level of play is very necessary. A good example of this level of gaming would be a game of Modern Naval Battles: Global Warfare. I have given my copies of these types of games to the gaming group i belong to. We use these as ways to introduce wargames to newbies.
Next we come to games that use cards, counters, maps, and dice. Where as the simple card games is laying cards on tables and so on, the map becomes your table. The cards are still your reference and result base. The dice becomes your chance of success in attack and defense and so on. This gives your "student" a basic elementry understanding of tactics, importance of some logistics in terms of what to bring to the attack, and so on. games here are like RISK. Axis and Allies and so on. these are your board game type games.
Now I have suggest something here, but not necessary in the "students" advancement in understanding, would be for him/her start to play a lot of checkers, chines checkers, and games in that area. This teaches them to learn to look at their opponent and learn how he thinks. this gives you that extra edge i think. This is one of the reasons I learned chess. Believe it, or not, Battleship and Stratego are also good games for learning these skills
Now we come to the counter, hex map, charts and dice type of games. These are the most common types of rules systems played by most game players. They help you to start learning advanced tactics. logistics in some rule sets, fog of war by using charts to set game conditions, movements on the maps by using the counters that also give you a better understanding of capabilities and so on. In these types of games the results aren't determined by highest number on the device winning against the smaller number on the dice. The dice are thrown against the charts that determine hit and misses, hit results and everything. The dice are the chance element. Some games that fall into this is area are games like Battletech, Dreadnought, 7th Fleet and games of the Fleet series. Wooden Hulls and Iron Men, Frigate, and even some land based wargames. These types of games are even found on the computer now. My favorites in this area, on the computer, are War in the Pacific and War Plane Orange. Our Star Trek game that we love fall into this area.
Now we come to the most realistic of the type of gaming, Games that use miniatures, open floors that become the map, charts and dice. Reference sheets (or cards) are used to remind the player of his own ship;s. Here a lot of paper work has to be kept. Logs are kept of "written orders" and movement. Orders are given to fire what weapons or units used in the attack. Logistics are very detail in these games (when using advanced rules or in long theater campaigns.) again dice are used to set environment and fog of war. Dice are also thrown against the chart to determine results. The biggest difference on these games is the playing area becomes free movement based on a time scale and scale of map. Games like this are my personal favorite...Harpoon by Larry Bond. These games become very detail in actual play down to weapons systems and even individual units. The irony is that this is the most common of game still used at the Army War College and Navy War College in the United States. They have found that the interaction and the ability to separate the different teams in rooms makes it a more realistic game in the real world. That said, they still do use some computer gaming.
Just some thoughts...What are your thoughts on the subject here.
BTW we use Battlefront's Flames of War series and Team Yankee series to do tactical level games for land warfare.We still haven't found a good Theater level game for land based theater action, so we keep trying different ones...
The simple level of gaming is simply card based games. I don't have any of these pure card games in my library of games, but i have played them, I cut my teeth on them, and they gave me a basic idea of the understanding pf different platforms and so on. This is the first level...understanding your ships, land units and so on. Well I do, actually believe this level of play is very necessary. A good example of this level of gaming would be a game of Modern Naval Battles: Global Warfare. I have given my copies of these types of games to the gaming group i belong to. We use these as ways to introduce wargames to newbies.
Next we come to games that use cards, counters, maps, and dice. Where as the simple card games is laying cards on tables and so on, the map becomes your table. The cards are still your reference and result base. The dice becomes your chance of success in attack and defense and so on. This gives your "student" a basic elementry understanding of tactics, importance of some logistics in terms of what to bring to the attack, and so on. games here are like RISK. Axis and Allies and so on. these are your board game type games.
Now I have suggest something here, but not necessary in the "students" advancement in understanding, would be for him/her start to play a lot of checkers, chines checkers, and games in that area. This teaches them to learn to look at their opponent and learn how he thinks. this gives you that extra edge i think. This is one of the reasons I learned chess. Believe it, or not, Battleship and Stratego are also good games for learning these skills
Now we come to the counter, hex map, charts and dice type of games. These are the most common types of rules systems played by most game players. They help you to start learning advanced tactics. logistics in some rule sets, fog of war by using charts to set game conditions, movements on the maps by using the counters that also give you a better understanding of capabilities and so on. In these types of games the results aren't determined by highest number on the device winning against the smaller number on the dice. The dice are thrown against the charts that determine hit and misses, hit results and everything. The dice are the chance element. Some games that fall into this is area are games like Battletech, Dreadnought, 7th Fleet and games of the Fleet series. Wooden Hulls and Iron Men, Frigate, and even some land based wargames. These types of games are even found on the computer now. My favorites in this area, on the computer, are War in the Pacific and War Plane Orange. Our Star Trek game that we love fall into this area.
Now we come to the most realistic of the type of gaming, Games that use miniatures, open floors that become the map, charts and dice. Reference sheets (or cards) are used to remind the player of his own ship;s. Here a lot of paper work has to be kept. Logs are kept of "written orders" and movement. Orders are given to fire what weapons or units used in the attack. Logistics are very detail in these games (when using advanced rules or in long theater campaigns.) again dice are used to set environment and fog of war. Dice are also thrown against the chart to determine results. The biggest difference on these games is the playing area becomes free movement based on a time scale and scale of map. Games like this are my personal favorite...Harpoon by Larry Bond. These games become very detail in actual play down to weapons systems and even individual units. The irony is that this is the most common of game still used at the Army War College and Navy War College in the United States. They have found that the interaction and the ability to separate the different teams in rooms makes it a more realistic game in the real world. That said, they still do use some computer gaming.
Just some thoughts...What are your thoughts on the subject here.
BTW we use Battlefront's Flames of War series and Team Yankee series to do tactical level games for land warfare.We still haven't found a good Theater level game for land based theater action, so we keep trying different ones...