This reminds me of an exercise I participated in back in 1999 as part Prof. Eliot Cohen's class on Understanding Military Technology at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington DC. He used the computer game Sid Meier's Gettysburg, which was brand new at the time. Teams playing each side were set up in separate rooms with each individual sitting in their own computer booth. Each side had an overall commander and three or four subordinate commanders. Although the players each controlled their own individual units, messages between and among the commanders and their subordinates had to be hand written and delivered by a runner. In addition to the lag in executing orders built into the computer game, the hand written message system slowed down the players' actions and responses down even further.
As I recall, I was a subordinate Union player stationed near the south end of the Union line. We were in the process of improving our position and preparing to advance when the Union player at the northern end started messaging for help. He wasn't very specific, and we couldn't see what was happening. Before we knew it, the Confederates had conducted a massive sweep around our right flank and rolled up our line. We were destroyed piecemeal before we could establish a new defensive line facing their attacks. A vivid lesson on the fog of battle in the 19th century!
Geoff, do you have any plans to reprint/remake Fog of War? Possibly in a different setting than WW2?
I find it very hard to play WW2 games. They usually mean that either me or someone I'm playing with should control Nazi Germany forces, and try to help them win. This makes me feel really unconfortable. I'm fine with controlling Orcs or Necromancers or any other fantasy "bad guys", but WW2 is too real.
There was a miniatures wargame in the 1990s by Grenadier called Fantasy Warriors. It had rules to simulate limited command and control that you may find interesting. Each army had a warchief, and from 1 to 3 battle commands. One command could be led by the warchief directly, but all others had to be led by a commander, with a leadership rating of 1 to 5. You set a simple order (charge, hold, etc.) at the beginning of the battle, and if you wanted to change it either the warchief himself had to move into base contact with the commander of that battle command, or the warchief had to send a messenger to relay the orders. You then rolled 2d6 on a table to see if the commander actually understood the new orders, or just did whatever they wanted. This was influenced by the racial character of your army (dwarves were disciplined, orcs were chaotic, etc.). It could be infuriating when your stupid commander didn't do what you wanted (or the messenger was killed in transit!), but hilarious when it happened to your enemy.
Great piece i might end up using in class when we discuss simulation this summer semester! One request: could you credit the designer Paul Murray with a link to his mobygames page, for students who want to go down the rabbit hole?
These are really interesting systems. I'd love to design (or even just a play) where interstellar communication (or even interplanetary) delays were built into it somehow. Sounds like you have a solid framework for that!
This reminds me of an exercise I participated in back in 1999 as part Prof. Eliot Cohen's class on Understanding Military Technology at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington DC. He used the computer game Sid Meier's Gettysburg, which was brand new at the time. Teams playing each side were set up in separate rooms with each individual sitting in their own computer booth. Each side had an overall commander and three or four subordinate commanders. Although the players each controlled their own individual units, messages between and among the commanders and their subordinates had to be hand written and delivered by a runner. In addition to the lag in executing orders built into the computer game, the hand written message system slowed down the players' actions and responses down even further.
As I recall, I was a subordinate Union player stationed near the south end of the Union line. We were in the process of improving our position and preparing to advance when the Union player at the northern end started messaging for help. He wasn't very specific, and we couldn't see what was happening. Before we knew it, the Confederates had conducted a massive sweep around our right flank and rolled up our line. We were destroyed piecemeal before we could establish a new defensive line facing their attacks. A vivid lesson on the fog of battle in the 19th century!
Great story!
Geoff, do you have any plans to reprint/remake Fog of War? Possibly in a different setting than WW2?
I find it very hard to play WW2 games. They usually mean that either me or someone I'm playing with should control Nazi Germany forces, and try to help them win. This makes me feel really unconfortable. I'm fine with controlling Orcs or Necromancers or any other fantasy "bad guys", but WW2 is too real.
There was a miniatures wargame in the 1990s by Grenadier called Fantasy Warriors. It had rules to simulate limited command and control that you may find interesting. Each army had a warchief, and from 1 to 3 battle commands. One command could be led by the warchief directly, but all others had to be led by a commander, with a leadership rating of 1 to 5. You set a simple order (charge, hold, etc.) at the beginning of the battle, and if you wanted to change it either the warchief himself had to move into base contact with the commander of that battle command, or the warchief had to send a messenger to relay the orders. You then rolled 2d6 on a table to see if the commander actually understood the new orders, or just did whatever they wanted. This was influenced by the racial character of your army (dwarves were disciplined, orcs were chaotic, etc.). It could be infuriating when your stupid commander didn't do what you wanted (or the messenger was killed in transit!), but hilarious when it happened to your enemy.
Very cool! I will try to track this down.
You can get more information at http://theminiaturespage.com/rules/fan/fwdes.html
Great piece i might end up using in class when we discuss simulation this summer semester! One request: could you credit the designer Paul Murray with a link to his mobygames page, for students who want to go down the rabbit hole?
These are really interesting systems. I'd love to design (or even just a play) where interstellar communication (or even interplanetary) delays were built into it somehow. Sounds like you have a solid framework for that!