“How do you get inspiration and what do you do to develop it? What kind of scenario ideas do you have now? Maybe we can make this PBEMs in the near future.” CE Apart from "Blood Island", which emerged out of a debate on the Discussion List, for me it is normally the case of having some subject that I've really wanted to game and then found that MGs are the best gaming vehicle. Rather than Chris's method of having a sudden flash of inspiration and then rushing to write it down before it's forgotten, my ideas normally mull in my head, sometimes for years, until by whim or otherwise I decide to try and make something of them. Although I have run sci-fi and political games, my general preference is for military simulations. Rather than try to put a quick game together within a day, I am likely to spend a few weeks in preliminary research (more important for an historical game than most other genres). Apart from obtaining a general feel of the period of warfare and for the possible directions that in which the scenario may unfold, one needs specific information on orders of battle and physical and political geography, and technical information such as movement speeds and weapon ranges. Without such information it is hard to give the game much more realism than a b-grade movie on the subject. I am currently working on a Maori War MG. This has been in the pipeline for some time (not surprisingly as I have had an interest in the Maori Wars since the age of 5), but I couldn't decide which of the 5 major conflicts to use as the subject matter, or what scale should be adopted. I considered weekly, fortnightly, monthly and even yearly turns at different times. In my efforts to obtain additional research material (for the MG as well as for other projects) I ordered topographical maps from New Zealand, out-of-print history books from the US, worked through the catalogue of Sydney's historical research library, combed second-hand bookshops, trawled the web, and entered into correspondence with the author of the only Maori Wars web page that is worth its salt (who, it turns out, is an MG fan, and expressed interest in playing any upcoming game). A visit to a number of battle sites and museums early last year was also helpful. There's still a manuscript in the Rare Book section of the library I would like to consult, but otherwise the research phase is pretty well complete. I have also now determined which war to focus on: the Waikato War, which was the largest of the wars. Apart from the larger number of troops and greater importance in New Zealand history, the Waikato War is probably the easiest to understand as it involved an advance of British forces along one main axis against Maori opposition. In some of the other wars, there were a series of attacks on various Maori fortifications (knows as "pa"), which attacks were either repulsed or the pa abandonned and then there would be another attack on a pa somewhere else without any obvious sense of strategic progression. As the Waikato War took place over approximately 12 months, monthly turns look like the best option for play: anything longer than 12 turns and PBEM players generally lose interest, and many games don't last even that long. I briefly considered John's suggestion arising out of "Louisbourg" to have a variable time scale so that I could deal with some important incidents (major battles, say) on a daily or lesser timescale, but rejected that approach on the grounds that it would lengthen the game to an unacceptable degree (it might well double the number of turns). Also, unlike the case with, say, the Napoleonic Wars, the Maori Wars involved few decisive battles, and those that existed did not determined the fate of entire campaigns (the British were always looking for such battles, but unsuccessfully). Even when completely surrounded and massively outnumbered, the Maoris proved able to extract a significant part of their force on several occasions (and the Maoris were usually careful enough not to be completely surrounded in the first place, and so often escaped practically unscathed); similarly, even the most humiliating and large-scale British defeat led to a loss of less than 10% of the total British force. Thus strategic factors (supply, the construction of fortified lines, the impact of a guerilla warfare on lines of communication etc) tended to be of greater importance than the tactical (the outcome of a specific battle). I am now slowly working up the scenario information, which I consider will have to be extensive due to the unfamiliarity of the history and geography of New Zealand to most potential players. I need to prepare 2 maps- 1 detailed map of the Waikato and surrounding regions, and 1 of the North Island as a whole showing the tribal divisions and political allignments of the tribes (many tribes outside the Waikato region sent contingents to fight, and so events in the island as a whole might influence the war). To make these I am finding basic maps on the Net, stripping them down to bare basics and then filling in the details I need- a fairly lengthy process for my Paint program. I am also writing a summary of the history of New Zealand to 1863 (when the battle commenced), which will need to be supplemented by notes on the forces of each side, the tactics employed, and guidelines as to movement, supply and reinforcement. An order of battle will be in there somewhere too. As to the rules, I am fairly happy with the Thrust and Parry system, but I am still debating what tweaks to use. One question is whether to have the British and Maori as simply two teams with each team having as many people on it as want to be, sharing the burden (and joy!) of planning, research and Argument drafting between them as they see fit and not taking the role of any particular historical figures; alternatively, I could have a system as in Louisbourg where all are on the same team but each player has a character and a particular sphere of activity to control (with or without individual player goals in addition to team goals). Well, that's my scenario idea and what I am doing with it. I hope to have the project complete in a month or two, and will then be looking for players. Back to Table of Contents -- Matrix Gamer #29 To Matrix Gamer List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2002 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