[Anthony in cooperation with Bob Cordery (one of the earliest Matrix Game supporters) have made a modified version of Chris Engle’s PBOM miniatures Matrix Game. They use cards in their game. Not my cup of tea mind you, but a popular rules mechanism with many people.] Bob and I have taken your idea and introduced some other factors as you will have seen from my last e-mail. I attach the card matrix and the playsheet that we have come up with so far. Yesterday my friend Geoff and I gave PBOM their first outing to Bob Cordey's and my version of PBOM. It was an interesting ACW game which retained the flavour of the period and raised several points. In no particular order: 1. Officers have no movement listed. How about 1D6 +2", or +2" to whatever troop type they are classed as? 2. I think that we should add the "Strength of Argument" table to the playsheet. There is room, and it would assist players rate their opponent's argument. 3. Artillery - 1/2 move or full move to limber/unlimber and deploy? 4. The use of three cards had the effect that almost every argument succeeded unless a 1 was thrown - and Geoff did throw a few 1's. We thought that it would be better if only one card could be played to support an argument. Alternatively raise the numbers required for an argument to succeed. 5. The 2 extra" arguments each turn to introduce and unexpected event. We thought that one argument per side - not per person would be better - as reflected by Tom's suggestion that you reduce the amount of card influence in Squares. 6. We felt that the points values on the cards is well balanced. 7. Should we introduce something about break point levels for units? or should we allow one stand to carry on fighting as if to the last man? 8. In our game - which was a 2 player face to face game I used the Joker - which worked well as an end of game mechanism. 9. The game had the right feel. If there were poor dice - and as stated Geoff had lots (but he still won, albeit my end game argument was better than his) we said that it reflected the friction or lack of command and control. So players would naturally blame the die roll, but it worked better than the DBX pip "system". 10. Having explained the Squares system to Geoff, we both felt that this system is less limiting. 11. In this style of game we felt that the arguments would work better in a multi-player environment. 12. In proportion to the number of troops effected by the argument should be more convincing - i.e. The entire army runs out of ammo at the same time may be improbable, whereas a single unit argument would be more plausible. 13. Deployment from Column to line is awkward and tedious to calculate - how about 1 turn to change formation? Geoff stated that he liked the measuring idea but was unable to come up with a better/faster way of resolving that situation. 14. We felt that the player firing should designate which stand he is throwing to hit as this has the effect of causing breaks in the line. Do you think that this is not relevant as given the timescale the unit would redress its ranks? Lots for you to think of there then..... I look forward to your feedback as we are planning to stage the sessions at the "Designing Military Conflict Simulations" using British and Sudanese troops. We chose this as it is a less popular period and hopefully will take participants away from their Napoleonic prejudices etc, and Bob and I have the figures for Bob's rules Squares. Matrix Rules Matrix Argument Cards At the beginning of the game each player rolls a D6. The player with the highest dice score shuffles the pack of Matrix Argument Cards and deals each player three of the Matrix Argument Cards. The undealt Matrix Argument Cards are put to one side for use later in the game. Players may look at their Matrix Argument Cards when they are dealt them or when they pick up new Matrix Argument Cards during the game, but must keep them face down until they wish to use them when presenting an Argument. Each Matrix Argument Card has a points value, and these points values can be used to strengthen an Argument (i.e. the total points value of the Matrix Argument Cards used when presenting an Argument are added to the dice score). No player may hold more than three Matrix Argument Cards at any one time. Players may discard one or more of their Matrix Argument Cards at the beginning of a Game Move, and may then pick up replacement Matrix Argument Cards. The game ends when all the Matrix Argument Cards have been picked up. Arguments Players may present one Argument per Game Move. It may be presented at any time during the Game Move (see below Saving stands that have been destroyed and Unexpected Events), but once a player has presented an Argument that player may not present a further Argument for the rest of that Game Move. An Argument should be structured in such a way as to meet the following criteria; namely it should contain an ACTION, a RESULT, and three REASONS. Up to three Matrix Argument Cards can be used to strengthen an Argument, and they may be used as the ACTION, the RESULT, or one or more of the REASONS. Any Matrix Argument Card used in this way is discarded after use, even if the Argument is unsuccessful. Replacement Matrix Argument Cards may be picked up at the beginning of the next Game Move. Unused Arguments (but not Matrix Argument Cards) are ‘lost’ at the end of the Game Move. A Successful Argument To ensure that an Argument is successful, players must roll a D6 and achieve a score (including the total points value of any Matrix Argument Cards used) of 5 or 6. Saving stands that have been destroyed Arguments may be presented by players to ‘save’ stands that have been destroyed by combat. Unexpected Events Arguments may be presented by players to affect the strategic and tactical situation on the battlefield. BASIC RULES - MOVES. MOVEMENT, and COMBAT Order of play - First Game Move At the beginning of the game each player rolls a D6 (see above). The player with the highest dice score moves and conducts combats with their stands first during the first Game Move. Order of play - Subsequent Game Moves The player who is deemed to have gained the initiative during the first Game Move (i.e. they have presented and won an Argument) may choose to move and conduct combats first during the second Game Move. This procedure (i.e. where the player who is deemed to have gained the initiative during a Game Move may choose to move and conduct combats first during the next Game Move) is then repeated during subsequent Game Moves. Order of play - Game Moves where no single player is deemed to have gained the initiative If no single player is deemed to have gained the initiative during a Game Move (i.e. no one has won an Argument or several players have won Arguments during a Game Move) each player rolls a D6. The player with the highest dice score moves and conducts combats with their stands first during the next Game Move. Game Sequence During a Game Move players may move their stands before conducting combat but may not move them after conducting combat. Length of a Game Move Each player has the opportunity during a Game Move to move and conduct combats with all their stands. When every player has had this opportunity, the Game Move is over and the next one begins Movement During a Game Move players roll one or more D6s to see how far their stands may move. Players may roll for each stand individually or may roll once for each troop type or for each formation. A formation may not move further than the maximum Movement Rate of its slowest stand or troop type. Stands do not have to move every Game Move. Combat During a Game Move players may conduct combats with all of their stands that are within range and that can see the target stand or stands. A D6 is rolled for each of the player’s stands taking part in the combat, and a score of 6 destroys a target stand. Effects of Movement and Combat The effects of movement and combat are immediate. Any stand that is destroyed must be removed at once unless a successful argument is made to save it from destruction. Who Won? At the end of the game all the players have the opportunity to present an Argument to justify their claim to be the victor. UNIT REPRESENTATION 1 stand An Infantry Company or A Cavalry Squadron or An Artillery Battery 4 to 6 stands An Infantry Battalion or A Cavalry Regiment 10 to 20 stands A Brigade 20 to 40 stands A Division MOVEMENT RATES Infantry 1D6” Cavalry 1D6 + 1” Artillery 1D6 - 1” Vehicles 2D6” Aircraft 4D6” Civilians 1D6 - 1” WEAPON RANGES Hand-to-hand 1” Spears 3” Bows 6” Muskets 6” Rifles 12” Smooth Bore Artillery 24” Machine Guns 24” Rifled Artillery 48” MATRIX ARGUMENT CARDS Points Number of each Value in the pack Coward/Hero 2 2 Equipment 1 4 Fatigue 1 2 Fear 2 2 Firepower 1 4 Halt 1 2 Hate/Love 2 2 Hunger 1 1 March 1 2 Melee 1 2 Morale 1 4 Move 1 2 Organisation 1 2 Rally 2 2 Reinforce 1 2 Retreat/Rout 2 2 Staff Officer 1 1 Supplies 1 4 Tactical Advantage 1 6 Terrain 1 6 Training 1 4 Weather 1 2 Wild Card 1 10 Total number of cards in the pack = 70 If 1 Optional “Joker” included = 71 Back to Table of Contents -- Matrix Gamer #27 To Matrix Gamer List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 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