Men Who Would Be Kings , Alternative Activation Variant

[VonAkers]

Hi Guys
We played a MWWBK game last weekend with an alternate activation sequence , it worked really well.
So instead of a" You go I go " set up,  we used a chit for each unit , all in a bag and a random draw , like Bolt Action , except no Tiffin (turn  ender)
Obviously that means each unit may have to test as usual , but in a varied sequence  , we liked it , give it a go .
Cheers
Ps this was not my idea .. I stole it from someone else ..

[fred]

When you say chit for each unit, do you mean eg 6 red chits and 6 blue chits, player picks which unit to activate. Or chits for each named unit, so you have no choice on which unit is activated?

[VonAkers]

Hi Fred
One chit for each unit , activate any unit in any sequence .. just like BA .
Simple and effective .. got the idea from source, “Red-Faces & their Foes in the Bloodied Sands of Mars”
Cheers

[fred]

Thanks, that makes sense.

It was with the mention of a tiffin card, I wonder if you were thinking of the more TFL style approach of named unit activations.

The dice in the bag mechanism works pretty well for mixing up activations. I do like a random end-of-turn mechanism, to stop the player leaving a unit sitting back for the end of the turn, knowing it can act last without being counter attacked - then try to get the same one to act very early in the next turn.

[OSHIROmodels]

We’ve done similar for TMWWBK but used themed cards that we’ve had for our VSF units for years.

[pauld]

Another convert here.

Being a solo player nowadays I tend to use chit/dice pulls with double tiffin for almost everything - then I don't know what I'm doing.

Seems to work well for most things

[Aethelflaeda was framed]

Instead of a purely random initiative order, i have been become quite enamored with Fistful of Lead’s method of dealing one card per fig or unit into a hand.  Kings of spades go first, 2 of clubs last.  A player gets to choose which card he wants to apply to which unit, and some of the slower to act cards have special benefits to the unit activated like a plus in shooting.  Makes for a nice sort of decision tension particularly if you have an ace (wild card) and you have to decide take a quick shot, or the slow, more accurate shot where everyone elsemight get a shot at you first.

[Tas]

...and some of the slower to act cards have special benefits to the unit activated like a plus in shooting.  Makes for a nice sort of decision tension particularly if you have an ace (wild card) and you have to decide take a quick shot, or the slow, more accurate shot where everyone elsemight get a shot at you first.

This is quite interesting - can you detail more about what these benefits looks like?
Are they specific to each card or just cards at lower value (eg 5 and under)?

[The_Beast]

Sorry, don't have a set at hand, but tied to particular cards, Jack of Hearts, Deuce of Spades.

So, not just low order cards, and effects like Heal Wound or Reload.

A bit tied to rules as not all other games use ammo or wounds, of course, but adaptable.

Popular enough that, though original rule had a table for a standard deck, Jaye and Co have decks with effects printed on, both on their own cards and PDF's.

Adds stress of 'do I use this card on this unit now or another card later for the effect, risking the unit's demise.'

Doug

[Tas]

Very interesting Doug - thanks!

[traveller]

Great ideas! Thanks for sharing.

[jon_1066]

Thanks, that makes sense.

It was with the mention of a tiffin card, I wonder if you were thinking of the more TFL style approach of named unit activations.

The dice in the bag mechanism works pretty well for mixing up activations. I do like a random end-of-turn mechanism, to stop the player leaving a unit sitting back for the end of the turn, knowing it can act last without being counter attacked - then try to get the same one to act very early in the next turn.

This wouldn't work for TMWBK as units that are pinned must try to rally so each unit must be able to activate each turn.

I think there is already a lot of friction in this game because of the Leadership traits.  Having even more randomness with a variable unit activation would remove further the ability to actually plan anything.

If a different activation mechanic were used then I would say go the whole hog.  So instead of having rolls make the activations tied to the cards or chits or whatever.  Units would then need a card of a certain number to activate rather than dicing for it.  Maybe you could add cards together to get the required number. 

So it could look something like this:
Use a standard deck of cards (including jokers)
One side is red and the other black
Shuffle the deck
Turn over the card from the top of the deck.  The player whose colour it is can use it to activate a unit so long as the number of the card is higher than the leadership of the unit (or it is a free action or Rally) and it hasn't already activated.  If Rallying roll the dice as normal. Otherwise it automatically passes the leadership test.
If it is too low give the card to the owning player - they can add it to cards drawn later in the turn to achieve a high enough number to activate something.
If a card is drawn with the same number as the previous turned card the turn is immediately over, make a Rally test for any remaining pinned units that haven't activated.  Place all cards on the discard (including those held by players and the last turned card)
Once all units have acted then the turn ends as above.

When the deck runs out simply shuffle the discard and keep going.

Aces are low
Picture cards are worth J - 6, Q - 7, K - 8.
A joker can be used to activate anything or a unit that has already acted in the turn.

So a leadership of 5 has 63% of cards it can act on, a leadership of 8 has only 19% (and one of those is the joker)

On average you would expect 11-12 card draws per turn so 5-6 for each side.

[VonAkers]

jon 1066
Mate thanks for the Feedback.
We found that the Random Draw like Bolt Action works a treat.
It introduces a New Random /FOW of war feel ...
We dont play the Individual Traits for each units leader at all, we have too many units ( we try to play in the "Grand Manner ").
We found this the worst part of the game ...so we play one  trait for one  officer per army .
Cheers