Trying Something Different (Orders and Guards)

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Glorfindel
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Trying Something Different (Orders and Guards)

Post by Glorfindel » Sat Nov 30, 2013 4:24 pm

Hi chaps,

Our gaming group is working up to one of our regular 'big games' next weekend and, as I am organising it, I thought I would try something a little different. The idea is to try out a couple of tweaks on top of the usual gaming rules - I thought you might be interested.

Although the game itself will be based on a fictional 6mm Great Northern War setup, this is not relevant to the tweaks - they can be tried with any game.

I should say at this point that there will be four players involved in the game, two per side (multi-player teams is quite important to the successful application of the tweaks).

First Tweak (Orders)

Bear with me - this is easier to do than explain !

In almost every wargame I have played, my role is Commander in Chief of either the whole army or my part of it. The first tweak is designed to give all players a flavour of being part of a command structure rather than always being on top of one and doing what they want.

At the start of the game, both players on the same team divide up responsibility for their army (say, Player A controls the left wing and Player B the right - both wings comprise three Divisions). Player A then writes a series of short orders (a maximum of ten words each), one order for each Division controlled by Player B. Player B does exactly the same for Player A's Divisions.

These initial orders are then handed over and both players are required to act within the scope of the Orders given until fresh orders arrive. How they achieve this is up to them.

At the start of each turn, the two players then have an opportunity to write further orders, again one per Division controlled by the other player. Any new orders are kept face down in a single pile. After all movement in that game turn has been completed, an attempt is made to issue these new orders, starting at the top of the pile ad working down.

We are using Black Powder rules - issue of all orders will involve rolling against the Commander in Chief's Command Value (9) on 2d6 or less, reducing the Command Value by -1 for each foot of distance between the CinC figure and the Divisional Commander figure.

Anyway, at some point the CinC is likely to fail to issue an order and there will be one or more left in the pile. These orders are left on the side of the table. At the start of the next turn, the players have another opportunity to issue new orders, one per Division. These new orders are simply added to the bottom of any existing pile.

As a player, your initial orders are likely to be clear and relevant to the position on the table. As the turns progress, however, any new orders may become more confusing, relating to situations that no longer hold true. In addition, there is scope for players to misinterprete their orders (I can see two woods, which one does he want me to head for ?) etc.

Tweak Two (Calling the Guards)

If the above is not enough, I will also inflict another tweak on the players.

A single elite brigade of some description will be included in the order of battle for both teams. These represent the Sovereign's favourites. He has spent an inordinate amount of money on their superb uniforms and is loathe to deploy them at the whim of his whining generals (get them dirty - the horror !).

Anyway, this Brigade of Guards does not form part of the normal command structure and is kept off table at the start. At the start of each turn, both players will have an opportunity to request release of the Guards Brigade in support of their half of the army. They will only be able to submit one request in the whole game.

To request release of the Guards, the player must roll the turn number or lower on a d10 (ie. it gets easier as the turns progress). If the roll is sucessful, the Guards Brigade is made available to the player - failure means that the player cannot give any new orders this turn (as per Tweak one).

Because I am kind, I have decided that the Guards Brigade will automatically deploy on turn 6 if they have not been released beforehand. They will then be allocated to one of the players at random. You may not be so kind.

This will introduce an element of competition between the players on the same side. The later they leave it to call for the Guards, the more chance they have of succeeding. However, the later they leave it, there is an increasing chance that the Guards will already have been snatched by another player.


I am inflicting both of these ideas on the group on Saturday and will let you know how it goes (if I haven't been hurled unceremoniously out of a window for being a nob).

Cheers,


Phil
Glorfindel
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Re: Trying Something Different (Orders and Guards)

Post by Glorfindel » Sun Dec 15, 2013 10:43 am

Hi chaps,

We recently played the 6mm GNW game using the suggested new rules for orders and for bringing on guards and they worked really well. Much to my surprise...

Call the Guards ! This introdcuced a bit of competition between players on the same side and I was happy with the rules as they stand.

Orders ! The general principle works really well (one player giving high level orders to the other player on his side). Orders arrived late, were misinterpreted and gave a definite sense that you weren't in control of everything. Both players on the same side looked at each other in confusion - you want me to do what ? Great stuff.

Rather than just focusing on my own part of the table, l had to keep an eye on what my partner was up to so that I could give him meaningful orders. Inevitably these orders took time to arrive and the situation had chnged causing raised eyebrows and dark muttering...

The system does need a slight tweak (we desparately needed to get new orders out but the CinC kept failing, leading to a 'blockage' !) I'll have a think about this and post some ideas.

However, the principle worked really well - you felt out of control of some events - sectors of the battlefield went quiet as brigades sat watching each other, waiting for new orders to arrive while opportunities flashed by.

Overall, I wanted to find a way to limit the 'god-like' view of the battlefield and introduce some of the chaos we always read about. This certainly worked !

Some photos from the game :

http://s761.photobucket.com/user/glorfi ... 8439844618

Cheers,


Phil
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yar68
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Re: Trying Something Different (Orders and Guards)

Post by yar68 » Mon Dec 16, 2013 8:22 am

I like the idea of the off table guards brigade and when to activate them. I could see my group having a nervous breakdown with the orders rule, I might just inflict that on them one day, just to watch them sweat! A great set of pics of the game too! 8)
Ray

Yay...I say yay..............Yay!

http://onelover-ray.blogspot.com/
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