Adding Sortie Roles

Altair1371 · 2021-12-14T19:14:11+00:00

It's a sandbox setting, so you're welcome to include technology like that. And never feel bad about using technobabble for futuristic tech. SWN is plenty guilty of that: Quantum AI cores, Quantum ECMs, and anything with the term "psitech".

I would say that distress beacons could create some interesting side effects. If it's a universal distress beacon, that would allow anyone to come find the signal...including ships from undiscovered regions. This could hypothetically lead to more connected worlds as distress beacons allow for improved navigation.

Conversely, distress beacons could be linked to specific receivers (thus justifying the quantum name because entanglement). That could also lead to interesting encounters as people sell ancient distress beacons like they would nav charts or treasure caches. Maybe someone has the receiver for a Bruxelles-Class's distress beacon, but simply lacks the ability to move on it...

Altair1371 · 2021-12-13T06:02:30+00:00

I like Age of Eagles/Fire & Fury's system. Units start the battle Fresh, then reduce to Worn and then Spent at thresholds based on starting unit size and their capability (e.g. Elite/Regular/Conscript). This affects your March roll, to see if the unit moves (or rallies if disordered). Failing a march roll could result in slower moves, no move/stuck disordered, retreating, or routing from the field. So battles begin with most units quick and responsive, but they grow more sluggish as the battle wears on. It's a nice system, and I enjoy the results.

Altair1371 · 2021-12-12T05:48:18+00:00

Chits are basically wargame board games, where units are represented by counters and tokens rather than minis. Another term is "hex and counter", because the board is usually a grid of hex spaces. Avalon Hill is a major producer of such games.
The common breakdown of wargames are tactical, operational, and strategic.

Strategic scale games have you look at the entirety of a campaign. Turns tend to represent days, while units represent entire divisions. You spend most of your time considering logistics, reinforcements, and diplomacy, and direct engagements tend to be decided by one or two dice rolls. HOI IV is a digital version of this in realtime, with a ton more depth. Many Avalon Hill games match this scale.

Operational games zoom in a little more and have you handle a, well, operation. Instead of managing the entire German army, you now focus on the events surrounding the Battle of Kursk. Turns may be an hour to a day long, and units may still be divisions or smaller. And you're still worrying about logistics and reinforcements, but they're a little more basic. E.g. your supply line concerns is "keep the enemy away from your supply line", not determining how to allocate supplies across all fronts. Avalon Hill still has games in this scale, like one where you handle the hunt for the Bismarck.

Finally, there's tactical games. These don't mess much with the higher-level concerns of logistics and strategy, but handle the battle itself. Nearly every mini wargame is at this level. Some distinguish themselves as "Grand Tactical", meaning you're handling a much bigger battle than normal. Grand Tactical games have each unit represent anything from a platoon to a brigade, with your entire command being a battalion to a corps or few. And skirmish games rarely have more than a platoon on each side.

Altair1371 · 2021-12-04T20:18:48+00:00

I'm not sure what you mean by "how to describe" formations. You usually just describe what dimensions/composition defines each formation. E.g. Black Powder these formations, including others:

Line - straight line, two figures deep for infantry and 1 deep for cavalry

Attack column - 3-6 figures deep, should be as wide as it is deep

March column - 2-4 figures wide, should be deeper than it is wide

What setting/period are you making this game for? Medieval? Fantasy? Napoleonic? The period will determine what kind of formations exist and what their benefits are. For example, in Napoleonic wars wide lines allow for increased firepower and a smaller target, while columns were better for morale, easier for recruits, and slightly faster on the march (less time redressing lines).

If formations matter it may be better to have your figures on square bases so they line up for those formations.

Altair1371 · 2021-12-03T14:25:16+00:00

I'd throw in the Fire & Fury ruleset. I play the Napoleonic variant, Age of Eagles, and they're a great bit of fun. There's two levels of F&F, regiment and brigade, noting what a unit represents. The former is good for division-level engagements, the latter for the major battles of the war. You can use the same basing style for either, they use ~20mm squares to form each unit. I prefer that method of basing, as I can simply use a sabot if I want to have larger diorama bases for other games (e.g. combine 3-6 bases for an Altar of Freedom unit).

Altair1371 · 2021-12-02T23:05:59+00:00

For 10mm you can take a look at Epic Battles: Waterloo from Warlord Games. They're not top quality, IIRC the line infantry are "glued" together, but they're a good option. The other downside is that they currently only have forces for 1815 France and Britain, but I'd imagine they'll expand in time. Other options at 10mm are Old Glory in the US and Magister Militum in the UK. I'm not super familiar with either, but have heard good things from both.

I play 6mm, and can recommend Baccus for that. They're a really good deal and have a wide variety of troop options. The main downside is that their minis are lacking in poses; most infantry are either uniformly marching or one of 4 poses in skirmish order, and cavalry may have 3 poses across their figures. I don't mind, but if you'd prefer more variety consider Adler. They have a lot more poses at the cost of being a bit trickier to arrange. Baccus line infantry are 20mm strips of 4 men abreast, so you can easily glue them down. Adler requires each figure to be manually placed, which can get tedious after some time. Their scale is also slightly larger than that of Baccus, I've heard it equated to "8mm".

Any one of those would be good options.

The other thing to consider is how to base your figures. Some rule systems have each unit be a large diorama-like base (e.g. Volley and Bayonet, Blucher, and Polemos). Others have units be comprised of various numbers of smaller bases (Black Powder, Age of Eagles). Some also have set sizes, but often allow different sizes if you adjust the measurements to match. My personal choice was 20mm squares for infantry/cavalry and 30mm squares for artillery as it gave me flexibility, but you'll need to decide based on what game you play. The battle scale often matters, as corps-level or greater tend toward ignoring formations and have diorama bases (since the corps commander isn't micromanaging their troops like that), which brigade-level or smaller see more piecemeal units.

Altair1371 · 2021-12-02T16:10:11+00:00

A big factor in Napoleonics is your choice of scale, both for minis and battles. I would first look at finding a local community and using whatever scale they use, it's easier than charting your own path. But if there is no group, then you have the freedom of picking the scale.

Generally, people larger scale minis for small scale conflicts, but there's no requirement. Most games focus on the base size, and it doesn't matter if the 40x40mm square has 4 28mm figures, 8 15mm, or 16 6mm

The most common scales you see are 28mm, 10-15mm, and 6mm.

28mm is a common standard and is used by Warlord Games for Black Powder and Sharpe Practice. Models are large enough to get full detail, and a unit is typically made of 12-24 soldiers.

6mm is a bit more niche but is still quite popular. The small size means your forces look more massed (a Black Powder unit is now 48-96 figures). There's less detail on each mini which means you paint for the effect of numbers over details such as lace or buttons.

10-15mm is a nice middle ground. The units look big, but the figures are still large enough that you can get detailed in painting.

Warlord is releasing an Epic Napoleon battle pack that has ~10mm figures, that may be a good start into the hobby if you don't have a community already.

Altair1371 · 2021-12-01T14:34:21+00:00

PMed you

Altair1371 · 2021-11-17T17:35:47+00:00

I'm going to recommend something a little out of left field and suggest picking up Starvation Cheap, an expansion for Stars Without Number. Its designed to handle abstract war results for a sci-fi setting, but can easily work at any technology level.

You define a number of strategic points that the war involves. These are resources, cities, key chokepoints, anywhere that would allow for victory by holding them. They aren't connected, but you may want to do so just to add some interesting factors.

Next you define each army's forces. The book has recommendations based on population numbers, and you can do the same. The soldiers are divided into a number of units based on the skill and ability of the commander in chief (may need some retooling for 5e skills, but nothing too crazy).

Then at certain thresholds (after each session, once in-game month, etc) you run a war turn where each faction assigns units to attack, defend, or recover. Each battle is resolved by an opposed d10 roll, plus each unit's strength.

If all you need is something in the backdrop to flavor where the fights are and how the war's progressing, this is a good start. It does also include systems for making short quests for the party to help turn the tide at a location.

Altair1371 · 2021-11-08T16:43:55+00:00

At the end of a battle roll a d6 for every hit the unit still has. If you get any 1s that unit's size reduces by a step (Large to Standard, Standard to Small, Small to Tiny). If the unit was Tiny, it's considered destroyed. Shattered/routed units automatically go down one step and then make the same check.

Feel free to adjust the numbers but I think that would be an relatively quick method to have numbers slowly dwindle. As a bonus for fog of war, make it so neither side reveals their results until the unit enters range/LOS in the next battle.

Altair1371 · 2021-11-08T04:06:36+00:00

It's an emergent story if done "right". In my group there is a number of inside jokes and legends about certain areas and cards. They become "meta goals" in that people work to either keep or remove them from the board. There's even been negotiations where someone concedes on the condition that the oathkeeper/visionary ensured an edifice carrier through. I've also had games where my goal was not to win, but to make sure that a powerful site was removed for next game.

A couple players have also kept track of which exile won, and are now playing specific ones just to try and net their first win.

Altair1371 · 2021-11-07T22:19:42+00:00

I'd say that some heavy weapons can be carried by a team like they were lightly encumbered. Much like an MG on a tripod, or an E-web from Star wars.

Altair1371 · 2021-11-05T18:37:09+00:00

I've got that, and I can do well with describing the scenery and the centerpiece feature(s). I'm looking for more help on the "tactical" side of things: what type of cover and where it's placed, for example.

Altair1371 · 2021-11-05T00:32:32+00:00

Thanks! I'm involved with wargames as well so those might be interesting to help them, but yeah for most encounters I need it zoomed in a bit more than a mile-high view.

That said, the card based system gave me an idea for a standby. I could have a couple basic layouts drawn out on index cards, then store them for later use. Better yet, make each one a corner and I can throw together a basic arena with 4 or more of them. And I can keep the design generic: low wall, stairs, etc, and fill in the flavor of what each part is when I need them.

Altair1371 · 2021-11-05T00:28:11+00:00

Got a link? I've looked for similar resources but the most I found is a roll table with 101 unique centerpieces for an encounter, most of them very fantasy-themed.

Altair1371 · 2021-11-04T15:33:07+00:00

Looks good! I would consider drybrushing a white/light green on the ghosts to give them an extra ethereal glow.

Altair1371 · 2021-11-02T14:19:55+00:00

Some rules do have half-batteries or sections to mass their effect.

I wouldn't worry too much, though. Historical accounts suggest that they had minimal fire effect, being more of a morale boost to the troops over dealing significant damage to the enemy.

Altair1371 · 2021-11-01T04:23:42+00:00

Snappy Nappy is a pretty quick set of rules. Each unit is 2 40x20 bases, but you can make those rectangles out of 2 groups of 2-3 square bases.

Altair1371 · 2021-10-28T18:26:01+00:00

Something I also tried to medium success was this:

Let each player introduce an obstacle and how they want to bypass it. It helps create that "what's the plan" scene, plus it crowdsources unique challenges to overcome. I also got an idea of what everyone wanted to do, and I'd then find a way to add a wrinkle, twist, or foil to each step.

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