Lead Adventure Forum
Other Stuff => General Wargames and Hobby Discussion => Topic started by: Mammoth miniatures on March 23, 2022, 12:12:58 PM
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On Monday I set myself a little challenge - Design, Write and Publish (read -post to instagram) A miniature ruleset in the time between finishing my lunch and going back to work. One hectic half an hour on MS publisher later, and here it is!
I actually quite like it - It needs the obvious mistakes and revisions fixing and maybe a bit of beautification, But once that's done I'll likely get it printed onto some bi-fold business cards and throw a copy in free with orders.
The whole thing is designed around a piece of A6 paper, so the measurements all relate to paper proportions. Units are statless beyond their size and relevant modifier. Balance is related to actions vs damage - A small unit can't hit as hard but can do more per turn, A large unit only does one thing per turn but moves more/hits harder. You can only activate half your units in a single turn so there is a slight need for tactical thinking. All dice rolling is done on a single opposed D6.
(https://i.imgur.com/RQCKuZV.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/dEsVOzY.jpg)
I might try and do one a week.
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Hi Nic,
I always find your minimalist rulesets interesting, but what sort of weapons did you envision are being used here?
I was just in the middle of testing this out with some fantasy miniatures, when I suddenly realised my barbarian with a greataxe could hit a dwarf several yards away because of the red range arrow, which seemed a little odd.
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Hi Nic,
I always find your minimalist rulesets interesting, but what sort of weapons did you envision are being used here?
I was just in the middle of testing this out with some fantasy miniatures, when I suddenly realised my barbarian with a greataxe could hit a dwarf several yards away because of the red range arrow, which seemed a little odd.
Good question - No idea!
In my head the range arrow is an abstraction of both the act of charging and attacking, So I take to be a bit of an all in one - pistols, slings, hurtful words, spears, daggers etc. you could substitute the medium/small movement arrows for various weapon types if you wanted to make things a bit more complex :)
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Nice starter idea, but what happens in a draw
(neither attacker or defender win the opposed throw) :D
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Great concept and idea. ThIn the case of a draw I would refight until a decisive blow has been struck or thwarted.
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I'm a big fan of applying the KISS Principle to wargaming. Which is the bestest...
straining yer brayn reading a fone directory of rules, or looking/playing with, yer lovingly painted toys for two hours?
:-*
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I couldn't resist...
I prettied it up and formatted it for A6 (postcard size) so you now print this out double sided and fold it in half, and you'll get a nice little wallet size booklet.
It also occurred to me that since everything is done via distance and a single dice, there's actually no reason this game can't be played with counters/beads/top down paper minis.
I've ordered a few printed copies and will be throwing them into orders for free in the near future.
(https://i.imgur.com/WD45oB1.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/tNnlrvv.png)
And a little very poorly made print out copy -
(https://i.imgur.com/TLQgEPJ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/k4xvkae.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Ru5jktd.jpg)
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A nice exercise in simplified design. Cool idea.
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This is very cool - thank you for making them available. Perfect too for playing at work.
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This is very cool - thank you for making them available. Perfect too for playing at work.
Cheers, glad you like them :)
I went and got some postcard sized prints done, nice soft touch lamination - I'll be putting a copy in every mammoth miniatures order until I use all 100, At which point I may do another.
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Had first game, was quick, easy, and fun.
See: https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=101948.3375
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Had first game, was quick, easy, and fun.
See: https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=101948.3375
Can't ask for a better review than that really :)
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What was particularly good is my eight-year-old son read the rules and ran the game he also chose the terrain and miniatures to use - so from that point of view alone very enjoyable. A perfect way to quickly unwind after a day of work and get a game in.
(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQoYtT3cCswj_IHJpJF-3QHmQHG0gSskwr7v7iBtl9BPXkWC6-xMqc14-C5pi55unssc2RIcZJ26Y7G9Skw8LVSnIKn3FuVMjn4motXIpMCLUDnN9rANGGH6jTuNRqjFE-0z2VpZ93kOztADaWv1JddZszeE68wXVHDqMQK90l4snDctWdu8j0hxxP/s4032/BMC%20Minis%20Very%20Quick%20Violence%20Game%20(13).jpg)
More pictures are available here: https://frictionbmcminiatures.blogspot.com/2022/04/golgothas-games-very-quick-violence.html
The game certainly creates an interesting dynamic between the big-ins and little-ins and given the focus on sizes a tank version of the game could work well with then light, medium and heavy vehicles/tanks...
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Golgotha, what did you do with the whole ranged combat thing I mentioned in my earlier feedback? People attacking each other with melee weapons from several meters away?
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Since none of the miniatures had ranged weapons we did not use any ranged attacks - so miniatures had to be in base contact. Did think ranges were a tad short when reading said rules.
The blood Imp was given a bonus to what in the end was his useless attack as he attempted sneaking up from the rear on the hobbit... as seen pictured above.
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My son's homework was to create a maths game so what better than a tank version of these rules...
Ein, Zwei, Drei - Tank Wargame Based on Very Quick Violence.
Army Building
Before each game, players build an army up to 10 points by buying tanks. These have the following costs:
Small tank = 2 points
Medium tank = 3 points
Heavy tank = 4 points
The Game
Actions
Tanks each have the following actions:
Small tank = 3 actions
Medium tank = 2 actions
Heavy tank = 1 action
A tank may use its actions to move, attack or defend. These are all explained below:
Initiative
Each player rolls 1d6 (roll one six-sided dice once) to decide who goes first and has the initiative.
Each player then activates a tank, taking it in turns to do so.
A player may only activate half of their tanks in a single turn (rounding up in the case of odd numbers).
Movement
Use the following for movement using a ruler:
Small tank = 6 cm
Medium tank = 9 cm
Heavy tank = 12 cm
Tanks cannot move through another tank or blocking terrain but can move around it. A flexible measuring tape, therefore, works best.
Attacks
A tank may attack another tank if it is within range.
The ranges are as follows:
Small tank = 9 cm
Medium tank = 12 cm
Heavy tank = 15 cm
Note: Heavy tanks get a +1 to their attack scores so for example, a result of a 4 of 1d6 would become 4+1=5
A tank may attack any enemy tank that is within range of it. Tanks attack by rolling 1d6. The target (defender) also rolls 1d6. If the attacker rolls higher, they have succeeded. If the target (defender) rolls higher or both are a draw, then nothing happens. Each successful attack does 1 point of damage.
Tanks have the following amounts of damage they can take or sustain:
Small tank = 1 damage
Medium tank = 2 damage
Heavy tank = 3 damage
A tank loses 1 damage point each time it is successfully attacked. A tank with no remaining damage points is destroyed and dead and is removed from the game. The first player to lose half of their tanks 5 points worth loses the game.
Defend
A tank can use an action to defend at the start of its turn. Only one action can be spent on defending. Tanks spending an action on defence get the following modifiers to their dice roll in attacks when defending as the target.
Small tank = +3 to defence
Medium tank = +2 to defence
Heavy tank = +1 to defence
Terrain
Rough ground: -2 cm to movement, no combat modifiers.
Light cover example bushes trees, small walls etc.: Minus 4 cm to movement, minus 1 to attacker’s combat roll.
Heavy cover/obstacles example building hills and heavy woodland etc.: No movement, you have to move around it. Obscures line of sight and can therefore be used to hide from enemy tanks. A river might not be able to be crossed however you would be able to fire across it so use your common sense when it comes to terrain.
Rule Summary Table
(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbVnXUvS0uX2Gihsc1P7WYxJlRbZXkF7q_9RIEeut-2wDO_Ssnck3_h2FBPhu2iT6IJN0YhqAm_V7uhy5j2e1ad_OkmHed1AvQ51V3XVhlBEj-BYaYbxFYumEhO3m6jsLmltCeEuf41JHG8gj8vYMhfEo7gV3pj_bA5snIJOF1BSUDsfLfzNR_RHM6/s912/Table%20Ein%20Zwei%20Drei%20Tank%20Wargame%20Based%20on%20Very%20Quick%20Violence.PNG)
Credits:
The above rules were a set Arthur and I (his dad) worked on and converted from a set called Very Quick Violence.
Links
For other educational History wargames, they will never forget see: https://juniorgeneral.org/
The German forces:
The Panzer III and IV would be Heavy. All other tanks would be Medium and the armoured cars would be light. From: Matt Fritz https://juniorgeneral.org/index.php/figure/view/GermanEarlyWarArmor1#
The French forces:
The Char B1 and D2 would be heavy, the S-35, H-39,35 and AMC would be medium and al others would be light. From: Matt Fritz https://juniorgeneral.org/index.php/figure/view/FrenchTanksandArmoredCars
Terrain:
Use coloured paper – For example green for trees, blue for rivers, and brown square rectangles for buildings. Make sure players know what types they are in terms of the rules for movement and attacking.
Still hoping to hear what the teacher thinks of it - hopefully they are playing it on the last day of school...
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I can see some massive balance issues here because small units are simply the best option. Getting 3 actions for 2 points is better than 1 action for 4 points even if it has more wounds. It's especially bad with the roll to see who goes first mechanic because you can break it in half with it. Small unit armies get many more activation and 3 attacks each with no downside for being little. If I go last (which I will because I have more models) and I win the roll off then I can be throwing 6 attacks at something in a row and odds are it's a dead big model costing twice the points I paid for my little.
Adding a modifier to the roll might help mitigate the issue but littles are just infinitely better here and having random first go is always a bad idea because of double turns happening allowing one player to do massive damage or double moving to hit an objective or back line with no counter play possible. I don't think any one would find it fun for a little bit of luck with the dice and 1 little moves up end of turn, kills a handful of guys and kills more on the next turns start. And there's no response to it because your dice weren't there.
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I read the initiative is only applicable to the first turn.
I would add a rule that gives heavy tanks the ability to inflict 3 wounds per hit and mediums 2.
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I’m reading it as alternating activation between players. So winning initiative is fairly minor
MSU is a problem in lots of rules. For a school project having things to improve is always good!
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How about adding armour. Small tanks shrug off hits on a 5+, mediums on a 4+, heavies on a 3+
Medium guns reduce the die roll by one and heavy guns by 2.
So any tank hit by it's equivalent saves on a 5+
Light's hit by heavy guns get no save.
Digging in/ Defending adds 1 to armour roll for any tank.
Just a thought.
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Thank you all for the great suggestions - we have play-tested the rules and found similar issues. Especially the advantages of light tanks.
We, therefore, made some adjustments see playtest and rules changes, as well as more pictures here:
https://frictionbmcminiatures.blogspot.com/2022/07/golgothas-rules-ein-zwei-drei-play-test.html
(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzecoubR2uh1yjArL3gbDLbjoJtQ-EoWw3i0N8Rv9qE6MNtuaWFiV63N3FcR0YC-HAFezLQS8PZiG8W7VLEREs2hjaR0Mplwdl7gkWnyHnQxrMxdZ7cWeo_Umb5Alt1ogPmNekaN9QmTdjkpoepvqnOUX0-46lGxjG5jWTvP7hD9XKD0nYc3iAK7mC/s4032/BMC%20Minis%20Ein%20Zwei%20Drei%20Tank%20Wargame%20Based%20on%20Very%20Quick%20Violence%20(10).jpg)
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Ha! I say. What took you so long, a whole bloody half an hour! lol
I once route a set of rules in five minutes on two 3x5 cards for a colonial game where the figures showed up but no one had any rules. Worked just fine and we had a good game - and nothing there for the 'rules lawyers' to argue about. Move distance, shoot range, to hit number, morale. Bing, bang, done. ;)
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To think, it typically takes me 2-6 years to get a game completely finished!
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To think, it typically takes me 2-6 years to get a game completely finished!
Evidently you have longer lunch breaks than me ;)
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Evidently you have longer lunch breaks than me
lol
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If he's only writing them in his lunch breaks no wonder it takes so long! ;) :D