Monday, July 16, 2007

Playtest Revelations --

I am currently zonked on painkillers (back problems), so I will probably not make too much sense regarding my comments on Sunday's "Tricorne Wars" playtest.

I see that Murdock has written a rather extensive account of the battle on his blog. See:

http://mieczyslaw.blogspot.com/

I haven't tried to read it yet since my medicated attention span is almost non-existent. Trying to follow anything is tough right now. But I did take some notes on things during the game.

The big one is that I have to reduce the number of skirmishing foot troops. I've always maintained that they did not have much of an effect on the European battlefield during the first two thirds of the eighteenth century.

Admittedly, the competitors die rolling (to see how many skirmishing stands were involved) virtually maximized the number of available skirmish troops. Please note that I'm talking about Jager-types, not Grenzer-types. There were far too many (on both sides) and yesterday they played too significant a role (in my opinion). So I have to re-evaluate my Skirmish rules.

Next, one of Murdock's commands spent five turns failing to overcome it's "inertia roll" so that it could act upon it's orders . . . then, with the Nordic troops advancing over the hill in front of it, they finally got to act upon their orders . . . except that when their Brigadier made his interpretation roll, he understood them to be "Withdraw" and began to leave the battlefield.

As it happened, this was actually not a bad thing at all for Mieczyslaw . . . but the important thing for me was seeing how my "Command and Control" mechanisms could work the way I intend them to.

I'll publish more thoughts in a day or two when I can think cohesively (it has taken almost 35 minutes to type this out -- many too many corrections necessary).


-- Jeff

10 comments:

marinergrim said...

Get well soon Jeff.

Snickering Corpses said...

I hopeyour back will settle down soon, Jeff. Take good care of yourself.

Bluebear Jeff said...

Thank you, Gentlemen. I appreciate your good thoughts.

What my wife and I now suspect is that I've (once again) got some "kidney gravel" moving through my system.

This always seems to start by feeling like a lower back strain . . . and I never seem to recognize it at first.

But I can't recall doing anything that should have strained my back . . . and it came on fairly suddenly.

Anyway, if history is any guide, this too shall pass (pun intended).

Thank you again for your kind good wishes.


-- Jeff

Steve-the-Wargamer said...

Jeff - will second the wishes for your return to good healt, but I'd also like to congratulate you on what appears to be a very realistic set of rules.... it's difficult to make a set of rules that cause results as you would (sometimes) expect in real life... but a set that can see a unit/command stand for 5 moves, and then run away (OK "withdraw"), is very much on the right lines! Well done...!

A J said...

Best wishes for a speedy recovery Jeff!

MurdocK said...

rest now.


write later.

Fitz-Badger said...

Best wishes and get well soon!

I am thinking when I get enough units painted up (still need some "enemy" combatants) I'd like to give your rules a try solo. They sound fun.
Seems like your basing ideas are similar to mine (I'm basing my figures on metal washers and will make some movement tray/bases with magnets to hold probably 4 individual figures each).

Bluebear Jeff said...

Again, my thanks for all of your good wishes, Gentlemen. I appreciate it.

Yes, it is some small kidney stones (or "sand") moving through my system. I'm on painkillers that have me fairly "zonked" . . . but right this moment I'm feeling okay.

For Fitz-Badger or others wanting to try my rules -- please allow me some time for a much-needed revision (to version 0.2).

Not only do they need some serious re-organization, but I need to make a few changes of things as currently written . . . AND to add some things which we've been playing but which are not yet written down.

For basing, Cavalry stands should be three horses wide (2-4 per unit) and the standard-bearer on a stand by himself.

Line infantry should be on 4-6 stands of four figures (two rows of two) and the standard-bearer on a stand by himself.

Thus a full mounted unit will have 13 figures; and a full infantry unit will have 25 figures.

Brigadiers and Generals are mounted individually (preferably on round bases to differentiate them).

And I appear to just be babbling along . . . blame it on the pain-killers.


-- Jeff

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said...

Hi Jeff,

Hope you feel better soon. It's always a drag to feel crummy and out of commission.

Best Regards,

Stokes

El Grego said...

Here's to a speedy recovery...


Greg