Coming Up With a Good Scenario

[armchairgeneral]

I don’t game so often partly due to opponents moving away. So when we meet up we usually take it in turns to come up with a a game scenario.

I like to refight actual battles as far a possible although these are no guarantee of an exciting game. When I am struggling for inspiration I find myself reaching for my Charles Grant Programmed Wargames Scenarios.

I just wondered therefore how everyone else comes up with gaming scenarios or perhaps you could share a favourite scenario? Trying to keep things as generic as possible for broader appeal rather than being too period specific.

[vodkafan]

I usually play at my pal has.been's place for our one-to one games, he always comes up with an interesting scenario, he seems to just think them up at fairly short notice. But he has been wargaming for over 50 years, so I suspect he has a lot stored in his head, and knows what will make an interesting game from experience.
As far as I know, he doesn't write any of these down in a notebook or anything, but I could be wrong.
Last year he bought himself a really nice big river so all of our games since have had a river on the table 

[SteveBurt]

As well as 'Programmed Wargames Scenarios' I also use 'Scenarios for Wargames' by the same author, and 'Scenarios for all Ages' (C S Grant and S Asquith), plus the Tabletop Teasers scenario book published by Battlegames.

[Lord Raglan]

Historical battles are my favourite source of scenarios.

Also linking your available scenery into the scenarios can contribute to a more interesting game.

[robh]

For historical scenarios you can always look at taking battles from other eras and disguising them for the era you are playing. 

[Hobgoblin]

The scenario that I've always got the most fun out of is the last stand. We've generally used it in fantasy skirmishes, but I think it would work well in any genre or period.

It works like this. Player A gets X points of elite troops. These should be game-breakingly good. So even if you're normally allowed only a certain percentage of elites/heroes/specials, this force can consist entirely of them.

Player B gets 3X of normal forces (including regular proportions of elites/heroes). In multiplayer games, we've had players B, C and D, each with X points.

Player A sets up in an advantageous defensive position in the centre of the board (in cover, on a hilltop, whatever). Then player B (C,D) attacks.

The scenario rests on its victory conditions. Player A's forces win if they can 'sell their lives dearly'. So, they win if they can kill or rout 2X of enemy forces. If they're wiped out without achieving this, they lose.

[has.been]

Vodkafan, I can bring forth lots of witnesses to confirm there is very little in my head.
I do however find it easier to make a nice looking table & then work out a scenario
that fits in with it. Kind of along the lines of 'if I was there how would I defend the bridge
AND the ford'.

[FramFramson]

Being rather constrained in my scenery collection, I too tend to think of what sort of table I can put together and then work from there.

As for mechanics, Pulp Alley is our main game, so we're blessed by the fact that it probably already has something on the order of 100-200 excellent and highly malleable scenarios ready to be adapted for any place or time.

[zemjw]

There are various products out there that may help, eg https://www.wargamevault.com/product/213866/Scifi-Scenario-Generator-for-almost-any-system.

A worked example of how to use it is at http://fivemennormandy.blogspot.com/2017/06/scifi-scenario-example.html

Even though it says science fiction, I imagine it's easy enough to translate to other periods.

[armchairgeneral]

Thanks for all the comments.

One of my gaming mates uses tabletop teasers and we have had some exciting games using them. Another friend just seems to think them up with a bit of inspiration from something he has read. As he is also a really good artist produces with amazing maps with grids for all the terrain and where deployments are.

The last two games I have organised were a bit flat and seemed to be a slog, hence this thread. They were AWI battles based on Guildford Courthouse and Eutaw Springs. Great battles to read about but maybe no so good as scenarios. Though this is probably the way I organised things.

This is a favourite scenario of mine.

Player A has a small and a large force. Player B has a medium to large force.

On say a 6 x 4 foot table, Player A deploys the small force at one end of the table which has to defend a fixed position. Player B advances on to the table in the middle of the long side across a bridge over an impassable river which can either just be off the table or on it (if you have enough river).

Player B’s objective is to defeat the smaller force and get back over the bridge. At a predetermined time Player A’s large force starts to advance on from the other end of the table. Player B is therefore under time pressure to defeat the smaller force and also has to decide whether to detach some of his forces to delay the large force coming up behind him.

Obviously timing is the issue in planning the game to give Player B a fighting chance to achieve his objective of defeating the smaller force and getting back over bridge which can be further varied with terrain options.