Post by bruce on Sept 10, 2018 17:45:31 GMT
I am a long ways from having played every rule set. Among the big ones I have never played are Shako, Black Powder, General d’Brigade. I have a lot of more obscure rule sets, like Napoleonic Wars and Champs d’Honneur, some not even published. And… I have watched Dave Brown run thru a game of General d’Armee on Youtube, read a lot of reviews, come into contact with games without playing them.
There are some common threads in our quest to find the “best” set of rules. These threads almost always include at least the typical categories of Scale, Movement, Combat, Morale, Command – with all the sub groups that go with each of these. Most rules have something about the nature of the armies involved and how to organize them. Objectives, a few scenarios, optional are common as well. Scope and scale range from what we call “grand tactical” to skirmish level.
I have found the following website to be a very interesting place for assessment of things like grids, cards, dice, turn sequences - all kinds of rules concepts.
wargaming-mechanics.blogspot.com/ and recommend a look if rules are your thing.
With so many rule sets available and more coming out, you would think there would be a LOT of different ways to play, but I think that in reality there are not as many truly major differences amongst most games as we might assume from the sheer number of games available. Rather I have found that each set of rules presents at least one, if not more, smaller unique traits that may set it apart.
A while ago while going through Le Feu Sacre 3, I found that successful units in a melee are given a raise in morale value as they move into their opponent’s former position. The thrill of victory! This makes perfect sense to me and I am not aware of other rules that do this, although there are many I don’t know. Usually morale factors decline due to results and modifiers. So, maybe I will borrow this particular concept and add it to some other rules.
Et Sans Resultat, a game which focuses on command and planning, introduced the concept of Reformation Areas, a sort of rear area hub for large forces to fall back on. Very interesting indeed and not, to my knowledge, a common feature elsewhere.
Both Age of Eagles and March Attack provide different movement rates and rules for broad strategic movement and close in tactical movement. This allows players to get to the heart of the matter more quickly and easily. There may be other rules that do this, but it certainly enhances playability.
In any case, I am settling finally on two sets of rules as my main vehicles for gaming. But I will not hesitate to add in any cool features I have found at various places along the way to either of these. In fact I am sort of blending these two sets of rules for solo play at this point. This has happened almost inadvertently as I learned them both this year.
There is light at the end of this tunnel! As I have said in my other post, I will be posting my list of favorite rules with some comments and hope there will be some discussion! Bruce