Variable Victory Conditions

[Scott Kastler]

Hi Bill, since you mentioned that you were concerned with a campaign game (a multi day type) I'd like to suggest that rather than changing the break point of any individual Battle (1/3 the sides points) analyze how allowing losses to carry over might serve essentially the same purpose. If a side realizes that the troops they lose today might not be available tomorrow, an early withdrawal might occur, depending on the strategic situation. I realize this might actually exagerate the cautiousness of play as discussed by DS and DK, but I'm currently working on a fantasy solo campaign using this concept and none of the other players have complained.

[Bill Hupp]

DK: I like the way you separate out the impact on the game from the impact on historical nature of the game. I got to this suggestion thinking about how historical battles vary in terms of when one side gets to that tipping point. I was generalizing the rule just a bit beyond what you might do for a historical battle where you know the relative morale (e.g. desperate). And what might make sense for a historical simulation/recreation/scernario might not be as much fun as a regular rule in a game.

We've also found plenty of times in the normal close game where there is more than 16 points casualties, more than 1/3rd casualties. These little metal men do die for us very willingly it seems.

DK: 'right balance of skill and luck'. That does seem a bit of a laugh to me in a game where the command point die rolls can be so frustrating. But all the rules sets we are playing seem to add more 'reaction' type points, so that doesn't bother me. In the board game reviews I watch that balance is often discussed.

DS: I think you are right, you would get players immediately adjusting to the new victory conditions and they likely would be more conservative as they tried to discover with their light troops more about the nature of their opponent (and their own army.) And we do see players giving up on games/scenarios when things get impossible. I actually don't have a problem with it (because we aren't trying to get to a final score.)

Scott: You are right that in a campaign game where casualties carry over, you do get that impact. The one day campaign system of the 2 Davids is what I was thinking about. But it might be more interesting to bake it into the system itself with some more direct rational for the campaign itself (Mongol terror, hatred of pagans, etc.)

I think we will try it to see if we like it, but I've already thought of some other variations.

Bill