Man, I really, really still am searching for the EiA and Civilization issues of The General. Some very neat strategy articles.

The Revolutionary scenario and advanced naval rules are pure gold!
Nice simulation and nicely put into fun subsystems.

"Madame Guillotine!"
Linear vs. Melee tactics!

The World in Flames strategy articles and designer´s notes are also compulsary reading for anyone trying to actually accomplish anything in those games.

Good times, indeed.

I don't play many hex-and-counter games, but I still play a LOT of *historical* miniatures.  No spikes!

Mostly WW2 and Medieval.

Quote from: Old GeezerI don't play many hex-and-counter games, but I still play a LOT of *historical* miniatures.  No spikes!

Mostly WW2 and Medieval.

Cool!  I also play a lot of historical miniatures.  Oh, and I do play with some spikey miniatures every once and a while, but not very often.

What rules do you usually play?  I may be totally mistaken, but I seem to recall that you live in England.  Here in the States WW2 is currently almost monopolized by Flames of War, and Warhammer Historicals is one of the most popular Medieval rules, at least in Central Texas.  Frankly, I find both playable and fun, but they are missing something for me...can't really put my finger on it.

A friend and I are currently doing the most grognard of all activities - designing our own rules set for Napoleonics!  :emot-rock:


TGA

Quote from: The Good AssyrianWhat rules do you usually play?  I may be totally mistaken, but I seem to recall that you live in England.  Here in the States WW2 is currently almost monopolized by Flames of War, and Warhammer Historicals is one of the most popular Medieval rules, at least in Central Texas.  Frankly, I find both playable and fun, but they are missing something for me...can't really put my finger on it.

Nope, Minnesnowta, USA.

WW2 is usually Command Decision, and for medieval it's a set of homebrew rules geared for fast play.  As in, reach a decisive conclusion in 4 hours with over 1000 figures.

Quote from: Old GeezerNope, Minnesnowta, USA.

Hmmmm...I wonder where the hell I came up with England! That's exactly what I get for relying on my memory.  

Quote from: Old GeezerWW2 is usually Command Decision, and for medieval it's a set of homebrew rules geared for fast play.  As in, reach a decisive conclusion in 4 hours with over 1000 figures.

Cool!  I am a Command Decision fan from way back.  We played a lot of CD 2 and 3 over the years at the University of Texas historical wargaming club.  I remember complaining about the speed of the game, but when I joined the club in the early 90s there was a general trend locally to play monster games of CD.  In one memorable case we actually had two full Soviet divisions attacking a river line.  In that particular game after four or five hours of play (including preparatory artillery bombardments) the lead assault units had barely gotten over the river and every other Soviet player had just been sitting around waiting for something to do.  Then, magically someone suggested that we should really take Chadwick's word in the design notes that the game should be played on the battalion level.  Once we strictly enforced the one player = one battalion model the games went smooth as silk and CD remains one of my favorites.

Have you seen or played Command Decision 4?  I have read a bit about it, but don't quite know what to make of it.


TGA

I have played CD 4, with a referee.  I've never read the rules.

I don't know them well enough to comment, other than they seem to follow the general principles of WW2 combat.

We mostly do small-level engagements -- 5 to 10 vehicles per side or so.

Where can I find out how Wargames are designed?
There surely are tons of articles on that, no?

How and which sources to dig up, how to operationalize the variables etc.
Construction Kits?

Quote from: SettembriniWhere can I find out how Wargames are designed?
There surely are tons of articles on that, no?

How and which sources to dig up, how to operationalize the variables etc.
Construction Kits?

You should read consimworld.com.  It's a big wargame forum, several designers hang out there and talk quite a bit about their design processes and research.  Boardgamegeek has some threads on the same subject (warning: if you think rpg.net is saccharine and full of hoity-toity snowflake-types, you might want to stay away from this site.  I stopped posting there after a gigantic thread about pics featuring women.).

For research, there are a wealth of resources available.  Nafziger (sp?) sells OOB information.  Many books (Jane's catalogs, Ian Hogg books, WW2 Handbook of German or Japanese Forces, to name a few) have hardware info.  There are tons of websites with AFV statistics of varying quality.

Anything specific you're looking for?

1. http://www.hyw.com/Books/WargamesHandbook/Contents.htm
It´s free, online and has some neat numbers in it!

2. Thanks for the comment, Ken! I leave the WWII and Contemporary stuff to the pros, I´m interested in Pike & Musket era conflicts, with my left eye on the Hundred Years War and the right eye on the Seven Years War.

Sett, if you poke around Consimworld at all, look for posts by Ben Hull.  He's the designer of GMT's Musket & Pike series of games and seems to be a sort that likes picking apart the particulars of his designs.  Unfortunately, I know very little about that era myself (ancients and modern-era are my current obsessions, with a little AmRev thrown in).

I have a hard time navigating that site. Ben Hull, I´m coming for you!

Just thought of this.  GMT has a lot of their rules available for download.

http://www.gmtgames.com/living_rules/tacwplay.pdf

That link goes to the rules for This Accursed Civil War, which has a decent bibliography and designer's notes.  Unfortunately, the only other M&P series stuff available for download from GMT is the series rulebook and charts, which don't have design notes.

But it might give you a start.

Awesome link to that Dunnigan book!

I've been asking myself the exact same question--is there something like a theory forum for wargames? I'll check out that consim thing.

Ken, that pdf is super!

look pierce, there is hope  for us:

Quote"This Accursed Civil War" (TACW) was
originally published as a Desk Top Published
(DTP) game in September of 1999.
It started with a new found interest in the
16th and 17th Centuries. I started doing a
good bit of reading and collecting games
from that period, not that there are very
many. GMT's "Lion of the North" (Lion),
3W's "Royalists & Roundheads" (R&R),
SPI/DG's "Thirty Years War Quad" made their way into my
hands. If you have played any of those, you may recognize some
of the concepts from each. The idea of doing my own game
came from many engaging discussions on the ConsimWorld
discussion board. I noticed that the designers of Lion and R&R
both had gone the DTP route and I figured that instead of arguing
about their mechanics, I would have a go myself.

That sounds like something I´d like to and feel able to do, too. Without publishing of course, just for my own pleasure.

That´ll be fun.
But first, there´s still a WoWiAdvWriMo module to finish...

But the research and game collection part should be a fun start.

If you wade through Consim, there's lots and lots of good, practical advice on designing your own games and do-it-yourselfing components (CSW is responsible for me getting a Fiskar's rotary cutter, lots of adhesive paper and foam sheets to make my own maps and counters).

Boardgamegeek has some good discussion as well, if you avoid the Euro-snoot crowd (BGG's "Swine" equivalent).

Again, Euro-focused, but http://www.bgdf.com/tiki/tiki-custom_home.php has some very good discussion and advice if you're looking to do your own designs.