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To contact us: |
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Wednesday Night Gamers of Alexandria Del Stover (President for Life) DelStover@WNGA.org |
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WEDNESDAY NIGHT GAMERS OF ALEXANDRIA |
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More on our Historicon Games |
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Here’s a little background of some of the games we’ll be hosting in July. |
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Silence on Rigel VI T-160, Thurs 7 p.m.
Players: 4, Hours: 3, Scale: 25mm, Period: Sci-fi, Rules: Tabletop Battle System, GM: Del Stover, Sponsor: Wednesday Night Gamers of Alexandria
Uh, oh. Your Imperial Guard squad must have ticked off a senior officer. A scientific outpost of the Adeptus Mechanicus has gone silent. That spells trouble. Almost as bad, a tech priest of Mars is joining the mission, and your orders are to provide “all assistance possible.” Life is grim in the 40th Millennium. Play will take place on a dedicated, diorama-quality game table seen in the February 2010 issue of Wargames Illustrated and accompanied by video briefings, movie clips, and other special effects. Learn more about our game—and table—at www.wnga.org.
Less Dice—And More Tactics
Our sci-fi game at FALL IN! 2009 worked well. Part movie adventure, part role-playing game, and part wargame, the three-hour event needs little fixing. The games went right to the last turn, with some groups surviving and others completely wiped out.
The best part was that tactical decisions played a huge role in how the games ended.
Still, there’s always room for improve- ment. At FALL IN!, we used a simple combat system: assuming no modifiers, a human soldier required a 4+ on a d6 to hit his target—and a 4+ to wound it.
After hours of play it struck us that, after a bit of sophisticated third-grade math, that the likelihood of causing a wound was 1 in 4 (25%).
That got us thinking. Could we simply our combat system even more? Could we halve the die r olling of players (and move our games along more quickly) by modifying the combat rules to combine both rolls into a single d8 roll?
The answer was Yes. If we require a soldier to roll a 7+ on a d8, then that also is a 1 in 4 chance of wounding.
A public education is a wonderful thing.
When we started playing with our modifiers, the probabilities didn’t convert quite as perfectly. Under the old system, players received a +2 to the d6 roll to hit if the target was at close range. That mean you needed only a 2+ to hit and a 4+ to wound, which if my math is correct (5/6 x 1/2 = 5 out of 12) works out to a 42.5% chance of wounding.
Using a d8 system, and a +1 modifier, then rolling a 6, 7, or 8 is a 3 in 8 chance (37.5%) to wound.
Okay, that’s not equivalent. But the two reults are within 5%. And, as there’s no historical data to prove me wrong, I now say the accuracy of a 41st Century lasgun is 37.5%. Sue me.
Also, the point of any rules set is to encourage tactical thinking by players. So, if you’ve a 25% chance of killing a nasty 15-foot-tall bug at long range—and a 37.5% chance at close range, which do you choose?
Personally, I’d fire at long range—if I’ll also get to shoot again at short range. The more the merrier, I say.
But what if I only have five rounds left—and the bug is in cover? I might decide I need to conserve ammo and wait for the best shot I can.
A similar decision-making dilemma surrounds our modifier for firing while moving. If two figures move, they suffer a -1 to wound on a d8. That means each needs an 8 on a d8. Together, they have only a 1 in 4 (25%) chance of wounding a bug (1-in-8 chance x 2 = 2 in 8 = 1 in 4).
But if they leapfrog through one another—with one moving while one stands back, the odds increase to 37.5% (1-in-8 and 2-in-8 = 3-in-8).
So the new system does its job. It eliminates half the die rolls that players will make. And the modifiers reward players for certain tactics; it forces them to make decisions.
And that, ultimately, is what wargaming is all about.
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