Return fire!

Return fire! Well...may not since I'll be talking about Euro-games which are very much non-war games. I wouldn't call them anti-war games but they generally do not have pieces being destroyed. Thank you to WargamerBert for his excellent article and I will try and respond for the Euro-games. First I want to note that I love both wargames and euro-games. After all I am the current reigning champion of Samurai Swords! Yes, WargamerBert was the reigning champion of 3 times until my sneaky ninjas came and have triumphed during the remaining three past games. But I digress. Since WargamerBert has listed his responses so shall I.

Image from Flickr: Gun by aterpeirun

1. Eurogames are quick to play. A typical game can last from 30 minutes to 1 hour. This makes it easier to play more games. Set up time takes usually only a few minutes.
2. Eurogames have easy rules (now I know that this does depend on the game but it is typically euro). This is nice because it allows an easy entry into gaming. Where many people may fear the massive set up/pieces/time and 30 page manual on how to play of wargames, they will find eurogames easy to approach. This can lead them into learning different gaming systems and then the approach to wargames will not be that difficult.
3. Eurogames do promote non-violence. Typically any pieces are not destroyed but 'pushed' or there are not destruction of pieces but gathering of resources.
4. Eurogames promote social interaction. Now all games have social interaction but eurogames promote it within the structure and rules of the game. Imagine Settlers of Catan without being able to talk to the person next to you and persuade them to trade your piece of wood for two ores!
5. Eurogames are typically inexpensive. While a typical wargame costs about $30-50; a eurogame typically costs $10-30.
6. Eurogames provide different systems of strategy. While a wargame will teach you tactics and military strategy; eurogames will teach you a variety of strategies with each game. This way you will learn the basics of strategy and this helps to increase your learning and your ability to play other games.

Well...I only have six compared to WargamerBert's nine points! But hope this brings some good discussion of wargames and eurogames. What do you like? Is there anything to add to eurogames?

Noisemaker: the Podcast

I've joined the podcasting revolution, guys! Please check it out! The show is about an hour long, and I think it holds up well. I review a book on wargaming or military history, talk a little bit about the hobby, and tell you what my project for the month is... And then you get to contact me! And you can listen wherever you have a computer or an ipod. I'm not on iTunes yet, although I'm sure that if someone likes my game, iTunes will pick me up... So, check my podcast out, and let me know what you think!

The project for this past month (August) was an ancient Trireme combat game... Enjoy!

The podcast:
www.noisemaker.libsyn.com

Ancient Trireme Rules
www.triremebattle.blogspot.com

Mini Bert Bat Con August 2008

Well, the Ketelsens came over to Amherst the other day, and if you know Brian, well, we couldn't help but play a wargame. We played a game called "Sword and Shield version 2" that I made up last year. I can't believe it was last year, but it was, the date I put on the document was 2007. Regardless, it was a fun game! Here are some pictures, and some commentary.

Sword and shield is appropriately a medieval combat game. However, it is a fantasy medieval game. Each soldier represents one soldier. Version 2 is played with d6's. In this picture, you will see the main objective, a tower. Brian unfortunately got there first with his archers, which was decisive. However, it was not apparent that this was decisive until we compared our respecitve piles of casualties.

Here is a really sad picture. The officer in charge of leading the Bertonian Militia Spearmen was killed at the head of the column. He went down in a flurry of blows from Brian's clubmen and axemen.

Here's Brian looking pretty pleased with himself upon killing my officer. Basically the fight had gone poorly for him until he killed this guy. I was pretty sure that I could use the officers buff stats to pound my way through the enemy and to the door of the castle. Then I could throw the archers off the tower and put my own bowmen up there. But alas, Sam Fireson had to die on the battlefield. Apparently an axeman bashed through his armor. Tragic. But I didn't stop fighting!

Here, near the end of the battle, Brian's steadfast legion receives reenforcements (the guys with the blue shields) who had run away at the beginning of the battle. Yup, that's right, at one time I had three units to Brian's one in front of the door of the castle, and Brian held on. All of his units routed except for this one unit. And I tried to destroy it, and I lost... A very glorious day for Nevan Arms, and a very sad day for the Bertonians.

Brian's casualty pile...

Bert's sorry casualty pile.

All in all, a good time was had by all. Brian and I both liked the game, which is a blend of morale and losing figures. The combat system worked pretty well, and I was pleased because I developed it. However, we both decided that using a ten sided dice would provide more edge cases and better unit differetiation. Also, it is possible that I made it a little to hard to kill axemen and officers. So, having a 10 percent per node spread instead of a 17 percent spread would probably be better. So, look for new game rules for Sword and Shield version 3 coming out soon! The six foot by six foot table was pretty handy as these miniatures were pretty big. I've thought about buying some 25mm medieval miniatures, but my wife says I need to paint my American Revolution and Napoleonic figures first. I'll probably get around to that by Christmas? or maybe Next Summer? Who knows... :)

My Broadside...

OK, so Ryan asked the question about Euro games vs. War games. I don't want to break the "geek on geek" attack rule, and I don't want to "attack" the gamer from Denver. I will say that I will gladly play a Euro game when I don't have time to play something else, or when someone else is unwilling to learn a war game with me. However, I feel compelled to give all my reasons, my broadside as it were, for playing wargames over eurogames. Here goes.

1. Wargames allow better plot development. What could be more dramatic than war?
2. Wargames "game" historical human interaction (as opposed to non-historical interaction).
3. Wargames "game" (simulate is not always the best word) conflict.

4. Wargames make military history tangible.
5. Wargames combine the disciplines of geography, history, sociology, psychology, and sometimes economics.
6. Wargames are usually about real people in real life situations.

7. Wargames don't pretend an imaginary world where conflict doesn't take place.
8. It actually takes some time to play a wargame, and this is a good thing (see point A).
9. Wargames are just a lot more fun.

OK, so the last one is completely subjective. But I felt like I had to have nine reasons, because the USS Iowa has nine 18 inch guns. Such is life.

Point A: I think it is to a Euro game's credit that Euro games can be played rather quickly, at least usually. However, I tend to like longer games. I don't know, I guess I like the detail. When a game takes a long time to finish, I feel like I have accomplished something. When a game is over quickly, sometimes I feel cheated.

So, if you question any of my broadside points, or if you want to add a point, or if you want to give your broadside in favor of Euro games, then do it!