I prefer, when at all possible, to use card-governed movement systems, because of the surprise factor (fog of war?) produced by the random draws.
Unfortunately, most of the time, when dealing with a multi-player set-up, this precludes use of the cards. Why? Because of two reasons… first the “lurchiness" aspect, and second, the “gotcha!" result.
In general, when ginning up a sequence for multi-player participation, I will go to all lengths to avoid “lurchy" systems, i.e., first one side moves a unit, then the other side moves a unit, then the first side moves another unit, and so on.
The “move-one-unit-at-a-time" sequence is excellent for both solo play and for one-on-one play, but with a lot of participants at table side, the sequence should provide for all of ‘em to keep pushing their troops up the field, and this type of system produces the very opposite.
Most of my current multi-player rules use the “split move" formal sequence I described previously, one in which a side’s mobile units get their additional move sometime during the opponent’s half of the turn.
Years ago, Ned Zuparko wrote an article in which he described what I term the “still photograph" aspect of wargames. At the end of a movement phase, we take a snap shot, we stop all motion, and pause to permit opposing units to fire or resolve melee. But this “pause" isn’t really a pause in terms of what’s really going on on the table-top. The visual presentation may seem to tell us that my unit is coming in on the flank of your unit… but, in truth, your unit commander is preparing his unit to adjust and receive the flank attack.
The pause is solely for our, the players’, convenience, and we stop the action to let us reference our charts and firing tables. Unfortunately, when the action stopped, it appeared as if your commander was caught unawares… and so, the poor guy, and his unit, suffers.
That’s why I’m an advocate of the reaction system… some sort of sequence to let the little people on the table respond and react to the situation at hand.
More Thoughts on the Generation of Wargame Rules
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© Copyright 2002 Wally Simon
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