I'm working on a wargame for 16th century pike and shot battles, in the mould of Command & Colors, but somewhat more heavyweight (call it a 'middleweight wargame'...), designed to sit somewhere between C&C and a miniatures game. The game has no dice, instead having a CRT and other results tables (e.g. morale) along with various modifiers built into a deck of cards. To keep the minis adicts happy, I need to generate a visually pleasing game which really gives the impression of the massed blocks of troops common in this period.
I also need to be able to represent unit formations, unit cohesion and unit casualties, but I wish to avoid using counters since I want the information to be readily available at a glance.
I have come up with the following mechanism, but I wonder whether it is too fiddly to be attractive to the gamers who like C&C:A's simplcity.
* Each regiment is represented by between 3 and 8 blocks (blocks are like the columbia game or C&C ones). Each block has a sticker with a picture of the troop type stuck on both sides, with the sticker background colour showing which units belong to which player. The block itself (of which only sides and top are visible duw to the stickers) is either black or red.
* Casualties are represented by swapping out a black block for a red one of the same type. Therefore a regiment always has the same number of blocks regardless of casualties, and players can quickly glance at a formation and see it's casualty level from the other side of the table.
* Each unit can be in either line or column formation, which is represented be organising the unit blocks side by side (line) or one in front of the other (column), so that they are all touching each other. This will require that hexes be large enough to accomodate a line of 4 blocks in two ranks (for an 8 block formation in line).
* Unit cohesion is represented by detatching one of the blocks slightly from the main formation for each level of cohesion drop.
Examples:
What I hope to gain from this is a system which can represent enough state to enable a deeper simulation of this type of battle without going too far down the hex and counter route, while remaining fast playing (at least compared to minis or complex hex and counter games) and visually evocative.
I'd be interested in hearing from wargamers and/or those who have played the block games or Command and Colors whether this system sounds like it would work, or be too fiddly in practice. Also, if anyone has any alternatives for representing the three level cohesion model (apart from counters) I'd love to hear them (remember it needs to work for units as small as three blocks).
Sure. Basically, if a regiment has a frontage equal to or wider than its depth, then it is in line, otherwise column. So your 2x2 formation is a line. A four block column is formed from 4 rows of one block.
Firstly, to preserve the ability to represent the formation of badly damaged units. If a three block unit has one block removed as a casualty, then all the cohesion states can no longer be represented.
Secondly, the ratio of casualties againts the units starting strength is going to be important in determining morale, melee and firing outcomes. If blocks were removed some additional record keeping and/or calculations would be needed to obtain this ratio ech time.
Thirdly, it will provide a useful visual cue as to the overall level of damage that has been inflicted one players armies so far.
This is a bit of a problem. Alternative ways to represent cohesion are:
* to lay one block flat for the first level of cohesion drop, and another flat on top of the first for the second cohesion drop. Much less visually appealing though.
* to have another block per regiment, depicting say a drum or something, which is placed in the same hex as its parent regiment but not attached to the main unit. Trim cohesion is represented by having the drum the right way up, disordered by turning the drum upside down, and ragged cohesion by laying the drum block flat. The drum could also be useful as an identifier (like a standard) which relates a regiment to a status card defining that unit's combat abilities etc.
There are many other possible schemes with markers and so forth, which might be more elegant or appealing - I'm sure I havn't thought of them all yet. Basically I'm looking for something simple with visual appeal.
Any ideas?