1. When THE SWORD AND FLAME first appeared, rules sets abounded with the TSATF sequence: draw a red card and the Brits move, draw a black card and the nonBrits move. Then, when DBA appeared, new rules sets got on the DBA pip bandwagon... toss a 6- sided die to see how many groups you move.
Time heals all wounds... we're past the TSATF and pip sequences. Now, we're in the PIQUET season. Following in the path of PIQUET, rules sets are now going to the multi-dice method... different dice for different types of units.
This is illustrated in a recent issue of WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED, No 127 (April 1998), wherein the author presents a set of 30 Years War rules, using 1d4 and 1d6 and 1d8 and 1d10 and so on. but he goes PIQUET one better... he uses a "1d3."
It's hard to envision a 1d3... seems to me it would be quite difficult to manufacture. A "1d2" I can see... in effect, it's a coin... but a "1d3" leaves me cold.
2. In response to last month's article on PIQUET, Brent Oman, a PIQUET fan, dropped me a polite letter, pointing out, in polite fashion, all the flaws in the article, and showing me, in a very polite manner, where it was I had gone wrong. A very polite fellow
Brent indicated that one of my major misinterpretations was that I failed to distinguish between a phase within the turn, and the turn itself. Each side has its action card deck of some 30 cards. The players toss a 20-sided die, and the high roll wins the initiative, and is given the difference between the tosses in points for his actions or impulses. When he uses up his impulses, dice are tossed again, and again high roller goes, getting the difference in the tosses.
The limiting factor here is that the total number of impulses per phase is 20. In other words, if the first initiative player received 12 impulses, then, on the second comparative die toss, the maximum number of impulses the second initiative player would receive would be 8. This is repeated until 20 impulses are reached, at which time, a new phase of 20 impulses starts again. The players still draw from their decks without reshuffling.
Phases continue until one player has completely gone through his 30-card sequence deck... that's when a new turn begins. Both sides then reshuffle their decks. There's another way for a new tum to start... that happens if the initiative rolls of both sides equal each other.
In all, it appears I'm due for additional exposure to PIQUET to ensure I understand what I'm talking about. This, of course, has never stopped me before.
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© Copyright 1998 Wally Simon
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