I've never really been a WWII gamer. Aside from playing Squad Leader and Third Reich in the 70's, a few Command Decision games in the 80's and running free kriegspeils in the late 80's and 90's, I've never gamed the period. And more importantly never bought miniatures for the period at all. I always saw myself as a horse and musket gainer. That all changed when I saw the movie "Starship Troopers". You remember the scene when the troopers go into the fort and then see the swarms of bugs come up over the hill? "Its Fort Zindanuff!" I told my wife. "I want to do that game!" So I began building a sculpted terrain board when I got home. It was ready the next weekend for a game at the local store. But what miniatures to use. The bugs were easy enough - any weird D+D monster would do. But the troopers? I had two choices - 15mm WWI British Lewis gunners (all prone) or 25mm WWI German Machine gunners. I painted up both options (it was an exciting whirl wind week) and ended up using the 25mm figs. Which left me with twenty or so 15mm Brits painted up in gray uniforms. I figured I use them for science fiction games. At the Seven Years War Association convention in 1998, 1 found a vender with lots of 15mm Peter Pig WWII miniatures at very reasonable rates. Sticking with the accidental trend of using all prone miniatures, I purchased a bunch of prone riflemen and a bunch of heavy machine guns. Most of these guys were billed as Germans but since I'd already painted the Brits in gray (and since I was going to use them for Sci fi anyway) I painted the Germans in Khaki brown. I divided up the machine guns between the two sides. That left standing figures and dead figures undone. Rather than waste them I painted them up as well. At first I had not intention of using dead markers, but thought of a way to make them look distinctive. First know that I mount my figures on one inch wooden squares and decorate them with paint and sand so that they are textured. By adding a liquidy drop of red paint next to the casualty the figure appeared to have a pool of fresh blood next to him. This effect jumps out at you from across the room. So of course I had to come up with a way to use them. The standing figures started to seem foolish when put on the battle field with prone figures. They just looked like targets. So I decided to use that difference to show something. Standing figures must be officers, medics or prisoners. That way they are easily spotted by the gamers. About this time I began building 3D sculpted terrain boards of inner city London. I wanted them to do a War of the Worlds game and of course Matrix Games. This map begged to be played with. And the idea it suggested to me was a what if scenario the Nazi invasion of London 1940. But I lacked tanks and air planes. So I was at Walmart one day, looking at the toys, when I come across Micro Machines. Most are utterly useless, but they do make some war vehicles. I bought some and found that they look "right" with my 15's. So back I went and got some more - two brown tanks (that I later learned were Shermans) two gray tanks, and some aircraft (Mustangs and B-17s I believe). I convinced my wife to buy more aircraft for Christmas, so I now have six Stukas, six Zeros, and six Corsairs. All that I lack are appropriate sized artillery and mortars (which I hope to get at the next HMGS con I attend). So by the back door, I found myself with a full complement of figures to use for WWII. All I needed was a simple set of rules. Why simple rules? Why? Because I am a noodle brain, that's why! The older I get the less patience I have with highly detailed, complicated, SLOW rules. I want the Islamic equivalent of a beer and pretzel game - which I term a Tea and Humus game. You can think as much as you like, but the rules don't require it. Since I do Matrix Games, my rules naturally use the idea of allowing players to settle matters by making arguments. In fact the method allows my rules to reward the thinking gamer, well versed in history, while not punishing the noodle brains among us too much. THE LOOK OF THE GAME My London map is 4'x3' so six figures cover a whole block. This suggested that six figures must be equal to about a battalion (each figure representing a company). If players are generals, then they need to command around twenty stands to run a strong brigade or a weak division. The tanks and air craft form sperate commands (which have fewer but better figures). The planes are suspended above the battle field by a wire attached to a heavy metal base. When set up the board looks impressive. As the game is fought and wounded stands replace good troops, the ebb and flow of the battle can be seen from above. Burning tanks (a little cotton) and the odd downed plane, make this one of the most visual games I've seen. Its cool. Coolness is important. Remember I don't really have a feel for WWII. So I don't get into the fantasies of control and power that come from running the German war machine. For me, its got to be pretty in its own right. London is, as are the other cities I've made since then (New York, Paris, Jerusalem, Shanghai, Algiers and Medieval Paris). I made some 25mm sculpted battle field boards which also look great. But visuals are not enough. Bad rules can spoil a game. BATTLE MATRIX GAME RULES These are rules meant for the new gamer who knows nothing and the experienced hand looking for a new challenge. They allow these two gamers to play together without one side having too much of an advantage. Remember - Tea and Humus. The game alternates between players moving and shooting. Each player making one move shoot completes a turn. ORDER OF PLAY 1. PLAYER A MOVES. 2. PLAYER A SHOOTS. 3. HIT STANDS TRY TO SURVIVE. 4. PLAYER B GOES NEXT. 5. AT ANY TIME, PLAYERS MAY INTERRUPT TO DO AN ARGUMENT - PLAYERS GET ONE "UNEXPECTED ARGUMENT" A TURN. MOVEMENT Players roll to see how many inches their men may move. There are NO terrain rules. Move over anything. (At your peril!) There are also no formation rules end your move set up in any formation you desire - but once you start shooting you have to live with your choices (so it you get flanked, its your own fault!) Civilians 1d6-1 Artillery 1d6-1 Infantry 1d6 Cavalry 1d6+1 Vehicles 2d6 Planes 3d6 RANGES AND ARCS OF FIRE Player can shoot all of their figures that are in the line of sight of an enemy figure. Figures can fire in a 360 degree arc. So there is no measuring and I favor being very lenient in determining line of sight. Its a war game, shooting is fun, so there should be a lot of it! SHOOTING Roll 1d6 per figure firing. 6's hit. Hits kill, unless the figure "ducks". DUCKING: A SAVING THROW ARGUMENT Most games bog down in the mire of rules that try to tell the difference between a pea shooter hit and a therm-nuc. The Matrix Games allows us to skip this mess entirely. The hit player gets to make an argument about why his man is not dead. He picks an enemy player to be referee (if there is not a full time referee) to rule on how strong the argument is (what roll is needed to save the man). He then rolls and the man is dead or alive. What I love about this approach is to see what players come up with to weasel out of dying. My favorite (and one I use often) is "My man isn't dead because when you start firing, he surrenders! " Something that never happens in wargames. And it is not foolish because I've been able to rescue prisoners on more than one occasion. UNEXPECTED ARGUMENTS These rules are almost nonexistent. So they naturally miss the boat with garners who have been at it more than a few months. War is unpredictable, so simplicity is "not realistic" right? I don't think so. Each turn the players are allowed to make one argument to cause some unexpected thing to happen. Players can use their argument to do anything that is not covered by the rules (which since they are so simple means everything but moving and shooting). The player may interrupt another players move, use it during his own move or hold it to the end of the turn. All arguments not used by the end of the turn are lost. The player says what he wants to happen. Picks an enemy player to be referee. And rolls to see if it happens. But what can players do? Here are just a few ideas... 1. Give themselves an extra move/shoot. 2. End another players turn prematurely. 3. Change the rules of the game - to get more shots or hit on a better roll. 4. Cause moving over dangerous terrain to destroy enemy units. 5. Make people surrender. Cause them to lose morale. Stop firing. 6. Cause opponents to run out of ammunition. 7. To solve a problem given to you by another player's argument. 8. To bring up reinforcements. 9. To build defenses. Etc. So the new player gets to make up events and thus feel more in control in the game (and consequently more committed to the game). While the older gamer gets to bring his knowledge to play to make historical arguments and thus recreate situations he has read about. With a single argument, all the hundreds of pages of specialty rules, that litter games, are done away with. REFEREEING MATRIX ARGUMENTS The referee decides whither an argument sounds: very strong, strong, average, weak, very weak or stupid. This tells the other player what he needs to roll on I d6 to succeed. The following table shows the target numbers to succeed. Very strong 2,3,4,5,6 Strong 3,4,5,6 Average 4,5,6 Weak 5,6 Very weak 6 The referee literally makes up what he thinks the strength is! No college degree is needed. I've had eight year olds do it! The referee can decide that an argument will cause trouble to a player (hurt hi in some way). If the referee wants to he can allow the player to make an argument to stave off the trouble before it hits. If he fails then the trouble nails him. If a player wants to he can jump in to use his argument to counter another players argument. This causes a dice rolling contest between the two sides to see which of the inconsistent arguments succeed. Players roll for their own argument an keep rolling till one player is in and the other is out. If both roll out, they keep o rolling. I do this because it makes it an important point, which means its dramatic, an dramatic events should always hap en one way or the other. THIS IS A VERY FAST GAME I generally have no more than four hours to play a game. These rules allow to run two or three encounters in that amount of time. So I can set up a game which one side attacks, then do the counter attack and end up counter attacking t counter attack - which covers about as much battle as seems to happen in a sing day anyway. Anyway, it rewards preserving your forces, since there is every likelihood that they will all you've got for the next phase of the fight. WHAT KIND OF GAMES HAVE I DONE WITH THIS? I started off doing city fights in London. I ran one of these at my first game convention in Bloomington Indiana in Fall 1998. I've also done Russian front battles on a snow trench terrain board made to do a Star Wars Ice world game. Last week I watched a documentary on the Spanish Civil War (can't say as I could support either side - but found it interesting Franco got away with using Muslim troops to besiege Madrid) so I did an attack on the Ebro (Anarchists vs Falangists). All these games have been fun and easy to set up. For me I think they were the most fun because they are not commercial games. My work in getting Matrix Games ready to be commercial has reduced my enthusiasm for such projects. These games were all quick and spontaneous. Inspiration to end game was only a matter of days. This happened because I had the props ready for use in other games and suddenly saw how I could turn them to do an historical game. Along the way I've used essentially the same rules to run horse and musket games and sci-fi actions. Which is not surprising since they are really non-rules. The players shape the game to fit their own fantasies by the arguments they make. A FINAL PRAISE FOR PETER PIG I can make terrain, I can make rules, but I can't make my own figures. I need other people to do that. Over the years I've bought lots of lead but never have I had so much fun so quickly from any lead purchase I've made. These little guys are great. I highly recommend them. As I do Micro machines. Check them out. BATTLE MATRIX GAME RULES AT A GLANCE TURNS: A turn consists of all the players moving and shooting their men at least once. ORDER OF PLAY: Player A moves, Player A shoots, Hit figures try to duck, Player B moves etc. Players can interrupt at any time to use their one unexpected event argument per turn. MOVEMENT: Players roll to see how many inches they can move. They can move in any direction ending in any formation over any terrain. Civilians and Artillery 1d6-1, Infantry 1d6, Cavalry 1d6 + 1, Vehicles 2d6, Planes 3d6. RANGES: Players may shoot as far as they can see. They must have line of sight to shoot. SHOOTING: Players roll ld6 per figure shooting. 6's hit. Hits kill unless the figure ducks. DUCKING: Players may make an argument why their figure survives being hit. Just make up a reason. Pick an enemy player to be your referee. He rules on the arguments strength. Then roll to see if it saves your man. UNEXPECTED EVENTS: Once a turn each player may interrupt play to make an argument about some unexpected event. This allows players to do things that are not covered by the rules. Pick an enemy player to be your referee. He rules on the argument's strength. Then roll to see if it happens. Another player may jump in and use his argument to counter your argument. This forces a dice rolling contest. Each player rolls for his own argument. Rolling continues till one side is in and the other is out. REFEREE RULES ON ARGUMENTS: Players can all be referees in the game. The referee decides if an argument is VERY STRONG 2,3,4,5,6 STRONG 3,4,5,6 AVERAGE 4,5,6 WEAK 5,6 VERY WEAK 6 or STUPID 7. The numbers are what the player needs to roll on 1d6 to have the argurnent succeed. Back to MWAN #100 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1999 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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