Grognard Wargamer Thread!

Indeed. In games that are more abstract, the system is the key, and playing “the game” is primary. In those cases, it’s a very different dynamic I agree.

It’s a good day. Just arrived…

Question for the hive mind…

Over the past few months, I’ve been slowly building up a collection of wargames, and I’ve been learning how to play a good number of them.

My general approach has been to start at page 1 of the rulebook, and read and reread trying to understand the details and nuance of every rule. But I’m starting to think this is an inefficient way to learn how to play a wargame. Generally I’m finding that I finish the rules and I have no idea where to start, and despite my best intentions I’ve forgotten most of what I read.

So I’m curious, how do you go about learning how to play wargames? Dig right in and set up a battle and play? Watch YouTube videos? Read the rulebook? Anyone have tips or found a system they like?

I read the rulebook thoroughly twice and then set it up and have bash at it, fully expecting it to take a long time as I dig through the rules as they come up. I reserve video watching for when I feel I have a reasonable grasp of the rules myself…

Interesting. I’ve been thinking to switching to skimming the rules to look for key mechanics, then just setting up some sort of smaller scenario just to test things out. I’m thinking I might learn faster by playing and reading the rules at the same time.

Drawback to this idea is that table space is limited. I’ve been reading the rules for games I haven’t played while the table is occupied by a game I’m currently playing.

GMT is having their p500 customer summer sale this week. For everyone p500 game you ordered and received in 2020 and 2021 you get a game in their catalog at 50% off, and there’s a +1 if you used the system at all over the past year and a half. Anyone getting anything?

I couldn’t help myself, and ordered SPQR, Combat Commander: Pacific, and Gandhi.

Now I need to quit my job so I can play all this stuff.

Don’t y’all forget: GMT is having their 50%-off sale today thru Sunday. Anyone who used their P500 system and had a game delivered between January 2020 and July 2021 can get one in-stock game at 50% off. Then, you can buy one additional game at 50% for each P500 game you had delivered in the past 19 months. So if you had three games delivered by P500, you can buy four games at 50% off.

Hidden movement.

I think I need to read the rules of a solitaire naval board game to understand how that works. Way, way back when I was a kid playing the old Avalon Hill games, such as Panzer Leader, I just tried to pretend I didn’t know what the Germans were doing.

Cool, thanks for the link.

Dagnabbit, I just bought the B-24 reskinning* for Skies Above the Reich and shortly before that, I bought the Pacific Theater version of The Hunters. And now they decide to have a sale? What GMT games do I still need? Am I going to end up getting the stupid Mediterranean submarine game just because it’s on sale?

-Tom

* mostly kidding. mostly.

I just got around to reading this. This feels like a fresh take on hidden movement and ISR in a board game. Usually when I see Hidden Movement stuff in a game, I think “Garg, clunky tedium!” but I could see the Fixed-Unfixed-Concealed system lending itself to all sorts of interesting decisions about where and when to take action. You’ll never quite know what’s going on and you’ll being making important decisions with degrees of ambiguity, yet have some control over that ambiguity. Looks like a nice idea with some elegant execution.

I’ve been checking your game as it makes its way through the system, and I hope it does well! I get the sense that it’s most definitely a 2-player minimum type of game, right? I ask because I don’t have local wargamer friends yet, so new purchases/orders have that as a factor. Still working on that.

Well, did you order any p500 games last year? Because you ain’t eligible for no sales unless you did.

Thanks for the kind words. Funny enough for the first time since I set the website up, I had a fatal error with an obsolete plug in I had to delete, which I was informed of by wordpress this am.

Yeah, I’m trying to do something a little different-ISR and each side’s struggle to gain and maintain a Common Operating Picture as a battle in itself, joined at the hip to the combat operations themselves. It’s very Vietnam-appropriate, but I’d argue, with rare exceptions, its pretty much the status of the battlefield from Mediggo to the present day.

I plan to release the Vassal module upon publication so that should alleviate the issue of not being able to find a local opponent. Having said that I think there is some payoff in playing two-handed due precisely to those ISR functions and statuses. However, I think you lose far, far more by not playing an opponent. Two different people making decisions with imperfect information regarding enemy disposition, let alone what the enemy’s operational goals are, exactly, is baked into everything; the way combat is resolved, determining victory, even how long the operation may last.

I ordered games that were p500’ed, so I feel like I should qualify. If not, fine! I didn’t want to buy any more stupid GMT games anyhow!

-Tom

You prolly qualify. I recommend Holland ‘44! Oh crap, it’s not in stock! Well, how about No Retreat: The Russian Front! Er … ok. Hmm, The Dark Valley? Bleh.

That’s the problem with the GMT sale: pretty much all the good games are out of stock. You’re stuck with stuff like Flying Colors and Cataphract.

They certainly do have a lot of stuff “out of stock.”

But a lot of the COIN games are in stock, if that’s your thing. Gandhi. Labyrinth. Andian Abyss. All Bridges Burning. And Dark Summer was in stock this morning. It’s not a Valley, but it’s close. I’ve been having great fun with the Men of Iron Tri-Pack. Navajo Wars looks pretty fresh to me as well. Fields of Fire Vol 2, maybe, if you don’t have #1. Or maybe Bayonets & Tomahawks or Stalingrad '42?

For sure, and it’s encouraging to see something come out that has a fresh take on an element of wargaming that as you mention, isn’t often modeled with much creativity.

And no worries on the solo options. I don’t mean it as a knock, purely an observation.

Flying Cataphract is great though.

On a serious note the good stuff seems to be gone for me as well…
Oh wait what about https://www.gmtgames.com/p-755-caesar-rome-vs-gaul.aspx ?
I bought it but haven’t been able to play it yet. I like what I’ve seen so far though. Seems to be a ‘Washington’s War’ level of abstraction and CDG system applied to the Conquest of Gaul. It still seems to be in stock and for 50% off that’s $30.