Tactical MGs require that there be a referee. The referee is the person who decides how strong or weak given arguments are. He does this in the same way a referee decides what the rolls should be in a Free Kriegsspiel game. The referee observes the tactical situation. He knows the virtues and faults of the troops involved. So when a player makes an argument that X happens, he knows what the "reasons" are to support or counter it. If the argument has a close fit with what could be expected give the recent set of moves In the game, then it's likely a strong or very strong argument. Arguments that are obvious desperation moves are generally weak or very weak. It is all up to the call of the referee. The player who calls for a round of matrix arguments argues first, so that his opponent may try to counter his move. The referee get to argue as well. He acts as the force of amorphous evil who tries to make the game more interesting by making the players consider such threatening signs such as thunder in the sky. The referee may call on the players to make a round of arguments at any point. This keeps the players slightly off balance as to what to expect out of the enemy (one can not Just go on what the combat values say). A good time to do arguments are at critical moments. Closing in firing range of the enemy, having a commander wounded or killed, being surrounded, being flanked, or anything that looks Important Is a good excuse to make arguments. The main goal for the referee is to run a fun game. This often times means not letting the rules get in the way of the game. Consequently, making arguments every turn would be a mistake because In makes the game too unpredictable. It also means allowing players to alter the miniatures rules in small reasonable ways via matrix arguments. What ever is done, extremes are best avoided. TACTICAL DECISION MAKER A tactical MG is really a tactical decision maker. Mainstream games use other forms of decision makers (tables, charts, cards, etc). The difference between the MG way of resolving a situation and the mainstream way of doing It may be that the MG is more versatile and take up less space on the game table. The referee does not need to have a table or a chart for every possibility, Just one set of cards. The responsibility for making the tactical decisions also falls back on the players rather than the referee. This is a good sign to referees, since they are the ones that have to keep all those charts together in standard games. Back to Experimental Games Group # 20 Table of Contents Back to Experimental Games Group List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1992 by Chris Engle This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com