Saturday, June 30, 2007

"Tricorne Wars" Playtest Tomorrow --

Well, we'll have our first "real" playtest of "Tricorne Wars" tomorrow. Okay, not really . . . but it will be the first one with properly based troops (instead of 'invisible second ranks').

The forces are similar but not mirror images of each other . . . and we will use the "depletion" rules for the first time. That is, each commander will be rolling dice to determine what portion of each unit actually shows up.

For Infantry (maximum size, 6 four-man stands) 3d6 will be rolled for each battalion . . . high die is the number of stands that show up. Cavalry units will have 1d3 + 1 stands for each regiment and Artillery need to roll their number of crewmen or above to have made it to the battlefield.

Why is this 'depletion rule' in place? For two reasons, it insures that we don't have a bunch of 'cookie-cutter' units (which I abhor); and it increases the 'Fog of War'.

I will be watching the battle to take notes on what needs to be clarified, reworked or was overlooked, while Generals from the Duchy of the North and Duchy of Miecyzslaw fight it out.

My primary focus will be on my "Command and Control" system. Like much else in "Tricorne Wars", it is designed to both be simple and to complicate the life of the Commanding Generals as orders are delayed or misinterpreted.

We'll see how it works out.


-- Jeff

5 comments:

Snickering Corpses said...

I look forward to seeing the battle reports, and wish you well with your observing.

Fitz-Badger said...

I agree about the fog of war and the dislike of "cookie cutter" units. I'll be interested in reading your report.

A J said...

An interesting technique to recreate the fog of war. I'm going to try it for my French forces in Franco-Prussian War games.

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said...

Sounds interesting and fun Jeff. Looking forward to your post-game reflections here.

Best Regards,

Stokes

Anonymous said...

I don't think that you have to artificially handcuff a player as Aggressive, Cautious, etc as it is somewhat redundant. The individual players already have personalaties and character traits that will affect their tabletop performance.

For example, if a gamer is cautious by nature, it is going to be difficult to suddenly make him aggressive.

IMHO, such rules only serve to diminish the fun of moving little lead figures around the table top.