Saturday, February 14, 2015

#4

Problem # 4


You can't use your seargeant with a flag a your aim point for your own artillery bombardment. We've been firing slings into the enemy in "melee" with our own troops for at least 2500 years. Yeh it's messy and morale gets affected but sometimes for even the most humane armies it makes sense. Read up on the battle of kapyong. Not quite firing on them selves intentionally, but almost. Lack of "point on the ground" targeting is a sub-issue of this.

Issue #3

Problem # 3



Ranges are so short that it probably doesn't matter. After a decade with a pistol I can probably hit a moving target more often and at greater range with a cricket ball than a pistol round .. but give me a carbine with medium magnification and I'll take your head off up to 200 meters' 4 times in 5. In short, pistols are really inaccurate, grenades are probably slightly more accurate before they bounce and crazy after that, rifles are great- especially if you can rest them on something and things with a HUD are more accurate again. And everything except flame throwers, pistols and grenades should hit the back of any board you can fit in your house at 28mm scale.


Wargame issues #2

Problem # 2



Rounds go through people - especially heavy machines guns and their sci-fi analogues. So you don't cut away the nearest 4 guys off the front, you take a slot out of the unit.. unless you catch them side on- you know, enfilade fire... it's a thing, really http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enfilade_and_defilade . Heavy machine gun fire inscribes a parabola so can hit folks on the reverse side of a hill who are actually out of line of sight.  But ...


Things that Modern Wargames still don't do

Rather than clutter up my mates most excellent blog playingtheodds.com.au with some half formed opinion I thought I'd jot down my ideas here.

I'm also going to split them up so that comments can go under each. In no particular order...



Problem # 1
There is not such thing as progressive morale for units. I mean morale can fail absolutely but that's not certain. Reduced effectiveness is much more likely. Games that have 20 -200 dudes on the field don't have rules where the effectiveness of a unit is reduced. They either flee, go to ground or hold. And going to ground isn't seen as a flinch reaction.. apparently it's a command decision. err. No
Now that plays out fine for me- I stick one fearless or "know-no-fear" dude in the middle of 50 infantry and they..never waver one bit. No.





Thursday, February 5, 2015

Harlequins

Many years ago when Slaves to Darkness was a ruleset, and the idea of Codexs hadn't been invented, a mate of mine played Harlequins against my traitor legionnaires of Khorne.


The rules set for his dudes included blind grenades, powerful psykers and the "dance of death", which was something akin to furious charge. It was fairly frustrating, the rules clunky and lopsided. But the death clowns were very cool.


Years after he sold me the minis and his photocopy of the rules.


Some years later i attempted to attend a local with said harlequins, using the citadel journal rules. I did not know they had been house ruled out. It caused a little bit of stir, but  the protest died down as I was solidly beaten by a standard eldar army.


With such reception I went back to fielding chaos in various forms. That didn't stop me from aquiring cheap harlequins here and there when I came across them. When my friends appeared on the doorstep under the influence and said "I'm so bent, let me paint something man"- i gave them harlequins to paint... it's not like they could do it wrong...


Now, the joke is on them. Harlequins are back. I'm calling it. There will be a data slate. All evil clown armies will be a thing, In the oily flux of the future I have seen it.


So, in preparation, I take stock. Unfurl the banners. Put out the bunting. Dying time is here.


The troupe is assembled.
Oh what a mottely crew.
Without paint, colour lax,


Wait a minute, five by twelve trouper squads, nine death jesters, a wraith lord and three bikes. And there are new releases .... As a great clown once said- Somebody Stop Me!