I'm continuing to tinker around with
very tiny wargames using the Portable Wargme Rules. Even my wife was, "wow, that's really tiny!..." so I guess that's something to be said...
I also took a cue from the blogs out there in that I put the "Diceshaker" app on my ipad and used it to generate the die rolls. It actually works really well and is a sort of no nonsense die rolling app that works just fine for this.
I played Quatre Bras out a couple of times with the British winning the first go and the French the second...so fun all around. Such a small game is pretty cool because I just kept it set up on the kitchen counter and played a few turns over my coffee this morning before the kids woke up and I headed off to work...and without the tell-tale clatter of dice, I was able to keep the wife slumbering too!
 |
| French columns assault Gemioncourt Farm |
 |
| French columns take a drubbing from disciplined Brit volleys... |
 |
| A second game experimenting with a gradual arrival of Brit reinforcements as in the historical battle... |
 |
| The French get the better of the British left in the initial stages of game 2. |
 |
| The Black Brunswickers held strong in Gemioncourt Farm in both games despite heavy assaults from French columns. |
And finally I had a few minutes this afternoon after work to dig out some old plastic minis from a Parker Brothers Battle Cry game from the 60s...the board is long lost but I still have the minis so I pressed them into service. This is a hypothetical layout of Gettysburg at a very abstract level without ridges (that I am going to make this weekend) to see if I can stretch Bob's portable rules to their limit on a 7" square?!
12 comments:
Splendid micro exploration of the portable format.I look forward to seeing what you come up with next.
Incredible! You have taken my basic idea to new heights!
Not only does you set-up look wonderful, it allows it to be truly portable. (I love the use of the dice rolling app by the way; I have had one on my iPad since I first got it ... but never found a use for it. I have one now!)
The only question that I have in my mind is whether or not my wife would notice me sneaking my own version into our luggage when we go on our next cruise.
We shall see.
All the best,
Bob
wicked mini-games
-- Allan
Hi
I have the same Battle Cry game only mine is by Milton Bradley.
Cheers
Mark,
Actually you are right, it was a Milton Bradley game...I just got it confused with a Parker Bros. game...blame it on the evening martinis!...
The Parker Bros. game is called "Conflict" and I also have a good condition copy of it ...and I'm thinking the components will make a good modern era Portable game as well.
Littlejohn, I love your blog and the tiny games are wonderfully original and have great potential for portable fun. But - ask yourself - can you really call that little game Gettysburg? In any meaningful sense?
Sorry, I'm being mean about a great idea. But a little debate can't hurt.
Best wishes, Keith.
@Keith,
Of course you are quite right, calling such an abstract set up "Gettysburg" is really a stretch. I don't see your comment as mean at all...I was setting it up for the sport of it and to experiment a bit with the small format.
My day job requires that I encourage students to seek the limits of problems to see where they "break" so as to fully understand what they are dealing with...and my day job also is also drenched in critique so I welcome your comments for sure!
I think games like Memoir 44 do a similar thing as well...they use historical situations as an armature by which to make a good game and sacrifice a huge amount of detail to do it...but they remain fun to play.
Last evening I was reading a collection of first person accounts of Pickett's charge on the third day at Gettysburg and it was really an amazing read. Having been there an tried to imagine the experience...really hard to believe that men could have done that.
And really, our gaming fortunately is only loosely based on real experience.
"our gaming fortunately is only loosely based on real experience".
Very true. I think the idea that miniatures wargaming is in any way a 'simulation' of warfare has died a death in the last decade or so - and quite right, IMHO. I envy you your visit to the Gettysburg battlefield - I only wish I had the money and leisure to visit some SYW battlefields here in Europe.
I think you and Bob should consider patenting this whole thing - could be you have a saleable product on your hands. A true 'battlefield in a box'!
Cheers, Keith!
Great execution! What scale are the minis? I can't tell just from looking at the pics whether they are 10mm or 15mm or ?? (They seem too detailed for 6mm, but I don't have a lot of experience in that scale.)
Best regards,
Chris Johnson
Whoops--I just saw an older post that says they are 6mm--pretty impressive for figs that small!
Chris again
Thanks Chris, my fairly large 6mm collection is pretty old and I'm thinking of selling them off and upscaling to 10mm someday. I'm getting too old for 6mm though I seem to manage with 10mm as about as small as I want to go.
Love the mini-game format. The only downside I've found with such setups is that it's difficult to fit the commander in the same space as troops, but something could be improvised with a marker I suppose.
The Gettysburg setup looks intriguing; have you taken it further yet? I thought Antietam would work nicely at that scale.
Post a Comment