After Action Report with Pics

[runelord]

Very nice unfolding story. Looking forward to part three.

You mentioned that in the second game, you played one maneuver card. By that, do you mean you did not plan one card ahead?

That is correct. It worked fine, personally I feel that experienced Captains would for the most part be able to intuitively know when to call a manoeuvre with so many variables wind, veer, friends and foes not to mention obstacles and damage. Planning two cards ahead is asking for trouble. I would like to think that I can enjoy playing the wargame rather than a resource management game.

I get it in wings of war as we are talking there about split second decision making at high speed where an opponent may be outwith your visibility arc. Though these are just my own views and will now no doubt start a whole new thread.

This is a good forum with lots of interesting posts for what is a good game. Thanks

[tmon]

Experienced Captains wouldn't have the instantaneous knowledge of what the opposing ship was doing like we have in the game. It takes time to send orders to make changes to the sails. It's very noisy in the middle of a fight. Your's and his smoke from the cannons make it harder to see. They would have to guess not know. Truthfully dropping the second card because it's somewhat difficult is taking the easy way out.

That is correct. It worked fine, personally I feel that experienced Captains would for the most part be able to intuitively know when to call a manoeuvre with so many variables wind, veer, friends and foes not to mention obstacles and damage. Planning two cards ahead is asking for trouble. I would like to think that I can enjoy playing the wargame rather than a resource management game.

I get it in wings of war as we are talking there about split second decision making at high speed where an opponent may be outwith your visibility arc. Though these are just my own views and will now no doubt start a whole new thread.

This is a good forum with lots of interesting posts for what is a good game. Thanks

[runelord]

Tom it may well be the easy way out and of course for competition games the rules should be played as written. However wargamers being wargamers are never happy with a rules set and are apt to tinker in our never ending quest to find that rules nirvana. Just look at any forum variants section or indeed the plethora of available rule sets out there. I just felt that our first game felt like a game of dodgems rather than a naval fight. After more plays and AARs I may indeed revert back.

Remember you paid for the system, so as long as your gaming group are agreed on rule changes I say go for it. Better that all are enjoying their gaming than becoming disgruntled with some aspect of the rules and heh ho 3 months down the line when the next shiny new rule set comes along they all jump ship.(Pun intended). Lets face we've all been there.

I think the only set of rules I've not felt the need to change are Fire and Fury, Blitzkrieg Commander and C&C Napoleonics. Which given my 40+ years of wargaming is precious few.
Guess I'm just a tinkerer.

[tmon]

The trouble is you're changing a "sailing game into the equivalent of a power boat game".

Tom it may well be the easy way out and of course for competition games the rules should be played as written. However wargamers being wargamers are never happy with a rules set and are apt to tinker in our never ending quest to find that rules nirvana. Just look at any forum variants section or indeed the plethora of available rule sets out there. I just felt that our first game felt like a game of dodgems rather than a naval fight. After more plays and AARs I may indeed revert back.

Remember you paid for the system, so as long as your gaming group are agreed on rule changes I say go for it. Better that all are enjoying their gaming than becoming disgruntled with some aspect of the rules and heh ho 3 months down the line when the next shiny new rule set comes along they all jump ship.(Pun intended). Lets face we've all been there.

I think the only set of rules I've not felt the need to change are Fire and Fury, Blitzkrieg Commander and C&C Napoleonics. Which given my 40+ years of wargaming is precious few.
Guess I'm just a tinkerer.

[Andy Blozinski]

His comment about it becoming a game of dodge-em, is not without merit. I prefer the two card system, but there are indeed lots of problems with collisions. I think this is a combination of the short range representation of the cannons and the scale of movement representation.

[David Manley]

....... a combination of the short range representation of the cannons and the scale of movement representation.....

I'm thinking of an extended range (2x or 3x) variant for my next area of tinkering.....

[TexaS]

I'm thinking of an extended range (2x or 3x) variant for my next area of tinkering.....

Have there been any development in this?

I'm thinking half fire power rounded down, but always at least 1 and no special damage except sail.

[7eat51]

The trouble is you're changing a "sailing game into the equivalent of a power boat game".

It's only trouble if the players don't like it. A high percentage of the WoG games I have played did not use altitude, which effectively changed a three dimensional game into a two dimensional game, and in the process, they were a lot of fun.

I agree with Rick on the approach to rules as written; they are the starting point for a game; they don't have to dictate how a game is played. In the end, if the players know the rules-in-play upfront, and they enjoy themselves, who cares what the game is.

[David Manley]

Experienced Captains wouldn't have the instantaneous knowledge of what the opposing ship was doing like we have in the game.

But you don't have such knowledge. You know what he's done but you don't know what he's going to do. You have to make a decision based on what you think the enemy is going to do in the next few minutes. We aren't talking a matter of seconds represented by the turn of a card here.

[KeithS]

Originally Posted by tmon

Experienced Captains wouldn't have the instantaneous knowledge of what the opposing ship was doing like we have in the game.

But you don't have such knowledge. You know what he's done but you don't know what he's going to do. You have to make a decision based on what you think the enemy is going to do in the next few minutes. We aren't talking a matter of seconds represented by the turn of a card here.

I agree with David's comments on the timings associated with the cards. Additionally, surely one of the captain's functions on a real sailing ship is be well aware of the other visible ships in the vicinity and to estimate their trajectories as well as his own, so as to avoid collisions. Furthermore, if the ships are sufficiently close for collision to be a possibility I would suppose that he would be well able to see them, notwithstanding any action going on around. If so, it then becomes a question of whether the ships can take appropriate action to avoid collision.

Should the ships be on a trajectory that avoidance of a collision would require major changes to the sail settings then the collision potential would have become apparent well in advance and action could be taken in time. If it was a question of the ships being on a more or less glancing collision course then isn't it likely that the helmsman could alter the course to avoid collisions without changing sails etc. Therefore I would suggest that collisions should not be a frequent occurrence even in the heat of battle, unless they occur on purpose, for example to allow grappling.