Many gamers spend so much time getting materials ready for their games that they seldom get to actually play. This is not a good situation. How many of us have this happen? We spend hours painting figure, printing counters, drawing maps, (making matrixes), etc. Somehow there never seems to be enough time or energy to play simple fun games. If such games are not played with fair regularity then we run great risks of losing our creativity; Not a good objective by my thinking. I attend a game club every weekend. We play all kinds of games but I've found that often times they are too complicated to fill my need for SIMPLE fun games. - Since my tastes In gaming tends to be on the fringes I seldom have a live opponent to play so I make it a point to go to the club early and solo play a little game before the others show up. Sometimes another player shows up and joins me, but whither this happens or not my need is met. All gamers have some kind of "Big Kid" in them or they would not play games. When I play my simple solo games I do so to capture the enthusiasm of my own childhood games. For me this means large plastic figures (54mm Arabs, Knights, Napoleonics, and WWII guys), with little or no paint, and simple rules (that ignore "realism" completely. To my surprise, players who show up early enough to join in to my pregame game are usually quite entertained. We have even had post game games on occasion. After being a big kid a while I find that I can go on with "Adult" tasks much more easily. Forays into "Kiddom" seem to relax the mind and make it open to new and creative thoughts. What follows are a set of simple rules that I sometimes use to play "Big Kid" skirmishes. If you have some time and a few unpainted figures to use, try them out. The game requires a deck of card, two six sided dice, a ruler, and twenty or so miniatures (of whatever scale are handy). Before beginning play, make up a simple scenario. For example, raid camp, storm the wall, close combat, etc. once this is decided, place the figures on the board and get ready to play. Turns alternate from one side to the other. Each turn the acting side pulls a card from the deck. This shows what action the side may take for at least one figure, and the chance that action has of working. The actions are as follows: Hearts Shoot Diamonds Melee Clubs Move Spades No Action Desert Camp Example So say there are ten Arabs raiding a desert camp. An eight of clubs is drawn, so at least one Arab figure may move. If a heart was drawn then at least one figure would be able to fire his gun. Once that one figure has done its action it is possible fox other figures to do the same action. It Is also possible for a side to do another type of action than that of the card If they so chose. If a movement card is drawn, and the player wants to do that, then the first figure is moved inches equal to a roll on two six sided dice. Naturally the Arabs will all want to move. Additional Arabs may move If the side can roll equal to or bellow the number on the card. Roll once for each figure. If it passes the check then roll to move it. If It does not pass then the figure stands still. Melee and fire cards work Just like movement cards in regards to additional figures acting. when a figure shoots or melees, roll the dice. If the roll is less than of equal to the number on the card then the enemy is killed. No Action Spade cards mean that no figure gets an automatic action. But the side may chose one action to do and roll to see how many figures get to do it. A side can also do this with other cards if they do not want to do the action that has come up (ie the Arabs want to move not shoot when a heart is drawn). That is basically all their is to it. The rules are very simple and create a chaotic battle field with inconsistent advances and bloody combat. Since a deck of cards has a lot of cards (and their face card equivalents) as well as Aces, the sides tend to have a lot of flexibility in action. But since the dice decide everything luck is what eventually wins battles. Last Sunday I played a scenario in which the Arabs had infiltrated up to within 15 inches of a sleeping Napoleonic French camp. The one guard got lucky and was able to fire in the first turn, but the French had a hard time getting everyone up. The Arabs swarmed the camp, and fought several heated close combats. In the end only one Frenchman was able to run away. The Arabs won but at a cost of 50% casualties. It was a fun 20 miniute game. Now I am ready for the weightier stuff. Back to Experimental Games Group # 10 Table of Contents Back to Experimental Games Group List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1990 by Chris Engle This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com