OId School Wargaming

And no, it's not all about imaginary 18th century armies.
So this picture of Byter-Legge's Jaegers from my
Duchy of Elland army is entirely inappropriate :D

Partly thrown up by the Battlegames/Miniature Wargames merger, Steve the Wargamer has an excellent post on what it means to be old school (or not). A little tongue in cheek, but it did get me thinking, and I commend it (and his blog generally) to you as a good, thought-provoking read.

Me?

On reflection, yes, I probably am Old School at heart. As I said on Steve's blog, the fact that I own a stack of books on the evolution of the English Landscape purely to research into better terrain setup rules for Dux Britanniarum is is a bit of a giveaway :D

Designing scenarios part 3 - execution

Onward, and last (cor! a post series that only lasted one more post than expected, and is finished! whatever next?), let's talk about what happens 'on the day', as it were.


The Table

There are two almost conflicting things to consider here, Number one - use all the table. If you can't, make it smaller so it looks like you are! There's really no point, especially in a crowded club environment, for example placing the objective in the middle of the table for Blue to defend and restricting the Red forces to entering along one edge, as that renders half the table, pretty much, pointless. I'm guilty of that in my Op: Squad scenarios - most of them would have fitted on a 4'x3' or almost a 4'x2' rather than the 4'x4' that they were laid out on. Equally, though, don't just start Red's forces at the far end of the table simply to use all the table space. If Blue are in defensive positions they don't want to, or the scenario won't let them, vacate, and don't have long range weapons, you're going to effectively waste several turns until the sides get into range.

Designing scenarios part 2 - the rôle of the umpire

Following on from part one, this section (perhaps inevitably) merits more thought than I expected when I started laying out the plans for this series (wow, was it really a month ago!). The extended digression in question is the matter of an umpire - should you have one, and what should his powers be?

I'll come right out and admit it - I spent a lot of my time between my teenage wargaming years and my recent rediscovery of the hobby as a GM for assorted roleplaying campaigns: predominantly D&D, but other systems (and complete lack of systems!) besides. I've done everything from lead a party through a pre-planned commercial scenario to tease them with a completely un-pre-planned whodunnit where there were several occasions on which they knew more about the plot than I did. As a result I'd like to think I know what I'm talking about about roleplaying games and GMing :D

Designing scenarios part 1 - preparation

Having knocked together a few scenarios for Operation: Squad, as well as had my thoughts provoked by an excellent piece from Bob Cordery on his Wargaming Miscellany blog, I've been thinking about the practicalities of scenario design (which you'd probably guessed from the title, right?), in particular, the things one needs to do to get it right.

I'd start by pointing out that this isn't about 'tournament' scenarios, but if you like 'mini-campaign' scenarios - it's not about figuring out something to amuse X-thousand point armies, but about giving the opposing generals a hopefully reasonably balanced tactical workout that they can, at the same time, enjoy and feel involved in. I'd also point out that far better people than me have designed scenarios for wargamers, and these are just my opinions.

This post will be divided into two parts: first up, preparation. (OK, let's be honest here. On my past form? at least two parts!)

The Plot


Basically, the first question you need to answer is 'why are the opposing forces here?' The standard tournament answer ("Because they ran into each other, duh!") generally Won't Do - armies don't, normally. One side or other will have an objective, which may or may not be known to the other side, and is usually on terrain of the other's choosing. Some of the more interesting, particularly smaller-scale, battles, focus around taking small strategic objectives like river crossings (Pegasus Bridge) or villages, or covering retreats (Quatre Bras). Sure, that objective sometimes is 'bring the opposing army to battle and crush them', but even then there's a story - look at Waterloo for an example.

Briefings


Make them fun. Go to a little bit of effort - they can just be verbal briefings, but you could prepare handouts.

Briefings should actually be in two parts: the mission, and, for want of a better word, the knowledge.

If you like, you can consider the mission briefing to be the victory conditions. It could for instance be an in-character communique from the commander's superior officer telling him what his goal is. For extra verisimilitude and immersion, take advantage of modern computers and printers, and use a suitable font as well. I've done at least one mission brief (which those of you going to Hammerhead will see at our club's participation game) with authentic German stamps and Himmler's signature!

The knowledge is the stuff that the commander should know as well as the mission brief - why he's where he is, what condition his forces are in, etc. This can also be used to set up and justify some of the rationale behind the scenario - for example, in one of my Op: Squad scenarios, the German squad (attached to a Flak unit) is transport-less because the Feldwebel of the overall detachment has driven off in the Opel Blitz to visit his (presumably French) girlfriend. It can also be used to set up personal aims for the commander (or commanders, if you're expecting multiple players a side). Above all, it can and probably should be entertaining, something that draws the player in.

On top of that? Maps. Always! Maps are cool: even if they're just sketches. Better yet if you can use one of the cheap or free graphics packages to pretty them up a bit. (For the Mac, OmniGraffle's really neat and not that pricey. For the PC, it's a complete no-brainer - just buy Campaign Cartographer and the Dungeon Designer add-on! (note for Mac users, this will run under CrossOver.)

If you want to see some really masterful attempts to impart knowledge, go grab a copy of Don Featherstone's Skirmish Wargaming, and read some of the two and three page pieces that precede each scenario - they are, to all intents and purposes, short stories. While there's probably considerably more information in those than is absolutely necessary, they do make for excellent plots for scenarios.

Balance

This is always a tricky one. The briefing is the primary place where you can tune game balance: number of units available, timings of arrivals, etc. For example, a lot of my Operation: Squad scenarios are designed for equal forces, but compensate for one side being in good defensive positions by requiring half of them to roll to wake up. If you're running with an umpire, it also allows you to add unknown numbers of reinforcements to either side at a later stage in the battle, if things are getting a little one-sided.

That, in itself, opens a whole can of worms, which I'll save for another post, namely the whole question of umpired vs not, and whether the scenario as you write it down should be set in stone thereafter.


Of which, more next time. Enjoy!

Battle report - 23-Jan-2012

Down at the club, kickin' it old school! (Aside: no battle reports for the last two weeks, as the 9th was the club AGM and the 16th was a rules test for our Hammerhead display game. Of which, no doubt, more later!)

To be precise, Grahame produced a load of 15mm French/Indian wars figures, and we had a fun skirmish that wouldn't have looked out of place in a Don Featherstone book. The rules, admittedly, were a bit more modern, being a loosely adapted set of DBx, with Grahame umpiring me (the British) against Adie and AndyB (the French).

Basic premise - the British, in the person of a regiment of redcoat and some settlers and militia, are garrisoning a fort and a small village by a river on one of the short sides of the board, aided by a contingent of Roger's Rangers and canoe-borne Indians, both of whom were out on foraging/reconnaisance trips at the start of the game and would appear on my turn 1 on any board edge of my choice. The French, meanwhile, with a couple of smaller line units, a horde of Indians and some decent skirmish troops, are tasked with, unsurprisingly, taking the village.

Adie's Indians and supporting
French line emerge from the
western wood.

I decided to deploy my Indians near the fort, just in case the French decided to do the same. Andy, however, opted for the other end of the river. What the French didn't expect was the returning large contingent of Roger's Rangers appearing right behind Andy's force after their first move, though! My rolling a six for their movement pips definitely helped.

Some of Andy and Adie's skirmishers rushed the village, while half of Andy's force turned to face the Rangers and Adie sent a large Indian war band across from the western edge to help out. First blood went to the British, as the gun in the fort managed to spot the advancing Indians in the wood to the north and just catch one of them.

Roger's Rangers perform a
heroic delaying action.

It was a pretty dour struggle, as the saying goes, from there on in. The militia and settlers managed a pretty sterling defence of the village, being driven out of one building but managing to hold another almost till sunset, and keeping the Indians that landed on the river bank out of the church. My Indian war band tangled with some of Adie's forces, and kept them out of the village. The Rangers took a beating, but basically held up one and a half times their number of troops (including taking out a gun), which if they'd managed to get to the village would have meant it was pretty much all over.

The British finally decide to
come out and fight.

The British line spent, with hindsight, far too long sitting on their backsides in the fort - I should have brought them out earlier to help clear the village.

All in all, though? Fantastic fun, and I'd love another go.