Small Army vs Large Army

Posted on by

How does a large army with many small Corps differ from a small army with a few large Corps? Antietam is a great example of this. The Federal Army of the Potomac had 6-7 small Corps. The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia had only 2 Corps but they were large. What impact do these different command structures have?

Many of these differences become clear in the Pub Battles system. Each Corps has a chit. The Corps move in random order as you pull these chits from a cup. HQs can attempt to alter this random sequence by rolling a die. You can attempt to move first by jumping ahead of the current pull, OR delay your move by returning your chit to the cup.

The Federals must roll 1-3 to be successful. The Confederates are more likely to pull off the timing they want as they only need 1-4. This isn’t to say that all the Confederate officers were better. It is more a reflection of the command structure. The Potomac had more Corps and more command layers. It stands to reason that it would take a little longer for their orders to actually get people moving.

Ok, so how does all this actually impact game play? Who has the advantage? The big army with lots of Corps or the small army with few, large Corps? Here is a quick analysis:

Case 1

Big army wants to attack little army all up and down the line.  They can’t just advance everybody at once to engage.  They can only advance 1 small Corps at a time.  This will leave openings and gaps in the line.  The little army should be able to move in between these moves and cause all kinds of chaos and awkwardness. It is easy to catch them with 1 foot over the barrel.

Advantage:  Small Army

Case 2

Little army wants to attack big army all up and down the line.  With a little luck and timing, they most likely can pull off a coordinated attack all up and down the line at once. 

Advantage:  Small Army

Case 3

Traffic jams!  You are trying to relocate a big portion of your army.  This can easily result in traffic jams for the Big Army.  If you can’t pull in the right sequence, several Corps will be held up waiting for the ones in front of them to move.  This tends to make Big Armies slow and lethargic.  Sounds a lot like McClellan doesn’t it?

Advantage:  Small Army

Case 4

Let’s say it’s time to bug out.  All hell is breaking loose and you just want to flee.  This is like the big coordinated attack all at once, only in reverse.  If you can’t move in the right sequence, some Corps will get stuck.  Others will be in the way.  Which ones are fighting a rear guard action?  This can become a huge nightmare.  Especially if the Small Army can very likely jump in and strike at the worst possible moment.

Advantage:  Small Army

Case 5

The Big Army does have more flexibility and a slight advantage in numbers.  Antietam is a good example.  Let’s say the Federal artillery bombards a Confederate Division in the Sunken Road.  The Confederates flip and run.  Now who moves next?  This is critical.  The Federals have more chits in the cup.  So they have better chances of getting pulled first to occupy the Sunken Road before the Confederates can. 

There is also a good chance that the Confederates already moved for the turn.  Their whole army is concentrated in 2 Corps.  What if they got picked early in the turn?  They delayed but then got picked again?  That is half their army that has to move early.  Good chance they won’t be able to scramble back into the Sunken Road now. 

The Federals have 6-7 Corps.  Much better chances at getting one of them picked to move first.  This seems like a huge advantage but not so fast. First, consider that most of those Corps can’t actually get to the Sunken Road.  They are scattered around the field.  Maybe only 2 or 3 of them can actually get there.  Also, remember that some of those 2-3 Corps may have already moved.  

Advantage:  Slight advantage to Big Army.  Not as big as you might think.

So at Antietam, these 2 armies are going feel very different. They will require a completely different approach and strategy. There are going to be many other things to consider in your moves. I like how none of this requires any new rules. It is already built into the system.

It is going to require a little more thought, a little more time. It is more complex but the complexity is in strategy, planning and decisions, NOT in learning and remembering more rules. I like complexity in command decisions. This is complexity well spent on a game design. Not complexity in how units technically move and fight. Not in looking up results on tables of data.

This complexity is spent pondering timing effects related to command and how that can impact battle results.  These are decisions related to command.

This is what we are all about.

How Important is Victory?

Posted on by

I’ve notice many times that players never even look at the Victory Conditions for a game.  Do Victory Conditions in the rules even matter?  What would you think of a game with No victory conditions?  Is that completely crazy?  Is it even possible?  Here is my case:

 

Often times, players don’t even bother to lookup the rules for Victory.  I’ve seen this in many games.  They just setup and start playing.  Most games never even go to the end.  About half way through, one player usually gives up and concedes.  Game over.  They lost.

Players seem to have an intuitive sense for Victory.  They can tell.  They know when the lose.  They know when they win.  Both players usually see this at the same time and they are usually in agreement.  I don’t remember ever seeing players argue over this, where both players believe they have won at the same time.  I do see them argue over the meaning of rules. 

We usually love to discuss the outcome of the game afterwards.  This is often our favorite part.  It usually goes something like this:  “Well, looks like you won.  You really surprised me with this move.  I didn’t see that coming and then I got bad luck over here.  I did pretty well containing you here under the circumstances but in the end it wasn’t enough.  Good game!”

 

We like to talk about our brilliant moves and colossal failures.  Where did the game change?  What was the most important event or decision?  What were you thinking when you did this?

I don’t see players argue with each other but I do see them argue with the Victory Conditions in the game.  Often times they are at odds with the game rules.  How many times have you heard:  “Well, technically you won according to the rules but in the real war, I would have won!”  OR “You are winning now but IF we play 1 more turn, you are going to get stomped!”

This kicks off a very interesting debate on what happened in the real campaign / war and how the game events differed.  How would these differences would have altered historical events afterwards?

I’ve noticed that players consider many subtle factors and variations in these discussions.  They take into account far more information than any game rules on Victory Conditions could.  Could you imagine a separate 100 page, fine print rule book on how to determine Victory after the game?  How would the game results have impacted army morale later?  Public opinion on both sides?  The political impact on parties, elections and legislation?  Economic performance and production?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, or you could just look at the board and say:  “I think you won.”  For me, this is often the best part of the game:    Discussing and debating the outcome of the game.  Who won?  Imagine how history would have been different with this result.  Preferably over some cold beers.

Could you have a game like this?  Are there other views?  How important are Victory Conditions to you and your friends?  Would you play a game that had No victory conditions?

W1815 vs Pub Battles

Posted on by

W1815 is a zip lock game on the battle of Waterloo by U&P Games.  It is fast, small, simple and has a period looking map with wooden blocks.  Is this the same thing as Pub Battles?  How do they compare?

This is a great little review by

Chris Rakowski

Q:  What is the difference between W1815 and Pub Battles?  How do they compare / contrast?

Pub Battles is a very traditional miniatures-ish wargame. You choose where to set up. There’s terrain with modifiers. You measure distances and maneuver. You get close to and attack the other pieces and if you roll high they get hit and lose strength or fall back.

There is some hidden info about which units exactly you’re attacking until you start fighting. Cavalry is fast but weak, artillery has range and defensive first fire, and elites ignore a hit. There are no formations other than the occasional road column. It’s a full fledged black powder battle with no bull.

W1815 has none of this. The pieces go in their places and don’t move. Either they’re there or they’re not. The game board is more like a very pretty chart showing you how strong each corps is. The “game” is in the notecard for each corps showing whom it attacks and what can happen when it does with modifiers for the state of the game.

There’s a back and forth as one attack opens up the opportunity for a counterattack and you follow that branch until one side can’t stand it anymore and focuses somewhere else.

Your attack can hurt you more than it hurts the enemy, sometimes even as the best possible outcome. Instead of fighting, the Allies can shore up the line with reinforcements or roll for more Prussians.

As things get worse, each side has to roll rout tests on an asymmetrical table to see who quits the field first. It’s elegant, has strong narrative, is very easy to teach and really can be played in 15 minutes leaving you wanting to have another go with a different strategy. It’s a wargame bonsai.

I love this block aesthetic. It’s like l’m looking at a page in a military atlas. The actual games are very different, though, both accompishing what they’re going for, which is a game you can pull out and just play, without needing to make it a big event, and without your head in the rules. I happily have both and would get more in both series as they come out.

Marshall has several more in the pipeline. If UP isn’t interested in making more I’ll probably try to do more of those on my own.

Where to get them:

W1815

Pub Battles

Capture Those Colors

Posted on by

Pub Battles works great for scrappy little battles like Brandywine and Little Bighorn.  Is that what this system was built for?  Is it capable of modeling bigger engagements like Gettysburg or Austerlitz? 

This is a great analyses by Mike Strand.    -And by the way, we have pieces for Gettysburg and started on the graphics for the map this week!  I would expect to see this out sometime next year. 

The way many folks talk about Gettysburg, you’d think it was a fait acompli that the union would win, yet there are those who also maintain the 1st Minnesota “saved the union.” This dichotomy creates a real problem for game designers. How do you make the game realistic in the sense of what could the participants have realistically expected from various actions, and then factor in such unpredictable variables as the case of 264 man battalion charging a fresh 1400+man brigade and stopping them cold. 

 

One way is by just ignoring such anomalies and saying “well this game doesn’t count actions by smaller units.” Another design technique would be to include a deck of cards, one card would be the 1st Minnesota card that allowed a combat re-roll. Unfortunately, having the card be a known quantity that a player can lay down at any time is too powerful.

 

Now look how this plays out in a Pub Battles game. The Union has a bunch of spent units that have just retreated off Seminary Ridge and some fresh units behind those. The confederates facing them are all in good order. Whoever moves first will decide whether or not the Confederate player rolls up the Union line or not. The confederate command chit is drawn first, the union player rolls for his divisional commander to alter turn order…Fail! Next he rolls for his corps commander, success! The union spent units rally to fresh and the confederate attack is repulsed when Picket’s division is chewed up by a couple of the union units rolling 3 hits.

 

What happened historically? The corps commander, General Hancock, was trying to move up his fresh brigades to fill the hole in the union line, but Wilcox’s Virginians were already closing in, a 1400 strong fresh brigade. He had to delay them just a few minutes. Looking around, he spotted the only unit available, a Battalion of a couple hundred Minnesotans. He rode up to their Lieutenant and pointed to the Virginian’s colors. He said simply, “I want you to capture those colors.” The lieutenant said, “Yessir!”  The little Battalion surged forward and captured the colors before being repulsed with 83% casualties. The delay was time enough for Hancock to move his troops into position. The line and the Union was saved.

 

Pub Battles does not try to recreate the heroics of the 1st Minnesota directly, instead it creates the same results with a player’s decision to involve the corps commander directly, and with a die roll showing how successful he is.

 

Simple. Elegant. Brilliant. 

 

-Mike Strand

 

New Supremacy Pieces

Posted on by

The all new expansions are almost ready for release!  Our first Print Run has been sold out for awhile now.  We thought this would make a great time to re-tool and update to keep everything consistent.

We have samples of the new pieces now.  We are expecting our first shipment of new pieces this week, so Supremacy will be back!

Here is the first Sneak Peak of the all new pieces:

 

 

We tried to match to the existing colors as best we could.  They are very close.

The armies are the same design but much bigger.  They are thicker and much easier to grab.  The edges are now smooth so they stand up easily.

We liked how one side is flat and smooth while the other is convex.  It is a subtle difference.  This will allow for possible advanced / optional rules later.  It essentially makes the pieces double sided, so you could designate multiple strength steps, Fresh/Spent, out of fuel status, etc.

They are sized to easily accommodate stickers also!  Since they stand up, we could have hidden rotating strength, HQs, Paratroops, etc.  I don’t know if Supremacy is meant for all those things but it’s nice to have options later.

The new Navies are patterned after the Zumwalt destroyer silhouette:

And yes, the new Armies stack neatly on the Navies for sea transport.

These are some of the new expansion pieces:  Carriers, Fighters, MBTs, Stealth Bombers.  We tried to keep them all together in a consistent Supremacy style:  sleek, minimalist, mod.  This is what many people prefer.

There is another crowd out there though…   The one that wants Minis!!!

Don’t worry, those are just around the corner.  We wanted to get the basic expansion rule sets out their first.  Over the next several months we are going to be working on production molds for A&A style minis to replace these basic pieces, for those that want them.  If all goes well, we should have those out by this summer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chaos to Order

Posted on by

Pub Battles Strategy Guide

The traditional turn format of I-GO-YOU-GO is very neat and orderly. The turn sequence actually helps organize your thinking.  Handy but that is not the way the real world works. 

Pub Battles forces you to think like a real commander. Real battlefields are chaotic.  Imagine a flurry of reports coming in real time, explosions, musket fire, smoke, orders going out.  Half the time you don’t even know where your own troops are, little lone the enemy.  (In Pub Battles, each Command moves in random order as their chit is pulled.  Your HQs can roll to alter this sequence.)

Just like the real world, Pub Battles are a chaotic mess. This realism is good and exciting.  For new players, it can be overwhelming.  Where do you even begin?  Just like in the real world, you can often find yourself running from one emergency to the next.  You are constantly putting out fires with knee jerk management, always 1 step behind.  It is great if the enemy is doing this.  This is exactly the situation you want to create for HIM. 

You need to be much more ….premeditated. Here are some tips to help keep you on the right track.

Before each turn, look at each Command. What would happen if the enemy moves first?  Is that a total disaster or can you deal with it?  Now what if the good guys move first?  How much hurt will this put on the enemy?  Do you want to move first or last?  How important is this right now? 

In many ways, Pub Battles is like Poker. There is hidden intel.  In many ways it is like a random, chaotic street fight.  New players often overlook the fact that it is also a lot like Chess.  You must keep your eyes firmly fixed on 1-2 moves ahead.  Where is this going?  Where do you want it to go? 

 

 

Who has already moved? This is really key.  The enemy command in front of you that has NOT moved, is very different from the one that HAS moved.

Now that you know who needs to go first or last, should you roll now for HQs? No.  Big mistake.  Just sit tight.  Bide your time.  Let’s see who comes out of the chute first.  Maybe it’s you!  You got first move naturally.  Great!  If the enemy doesn’t like it and tries to roll, there is a good chance they miss.  That gives you intell.  You know what the enemy wanted and you know he’s not happy.  If the enemy jumps ahead of you, you can still have the last say by jumping ahead of him.

Notice what happens if you jump the gun and roll to go first?  You just wasted your roll. If the enemy jumps ahead of you now, you have no chance to alter.  You wasted it!   

Sit up and pay attention if the enemy starts rolling to change a chit pull suddenly. That means they are in danger.  They don’t like the way it came down.  If the enemy doesn’t like it, that means you do!  Do what you can to counter their changes.  If this threat wasn’t on your radar, you better start asking yourself why?  What would happen if the sequence stays as it is?  What is the enemy so afraid of?  What can you do to maximize their pain? 

 

 

 

Move First When:

  • The enemy is spent. Move to engage them. This will force them to fall back or fight you on unfavorable terms.
  • Critical terrain is currently unoccupied.
  • The enemy can block off routes of escape.
  • You can move up to block a key route of the enemy’s escape or attack.

Move Last When:

  • You plan on falling back but want to delay the enemy. Just make sure you can still get out!
  • When expecting an enemy attack. If he goes first, you can commit support afterwards.
  • When attacking prepared positions, so the enemy cannot react.

If you do move last, try to think ahead to the next turn. What could you do with a double move?  Try to setup the first blow now.

If your artillery is in a separate command, try to get them to move right before your attacking command moves. That way you can contact the enemy defenders before they can Rally. Also the defenders may flat out run, so you can occupy their good terrain without a fight. 

If you must attack first, make sure you guard your flanks! Attack all the defenders in the line.  If you can’t, you will need an extra piece on your flanks. 

If you attack last, you don’t have to worry about this technically. You can make isolated attacks.  Just keep in mind what could happen if the enemy moves first next turn.  🙂

 

 

 

This is a lot to think about for each command isn’t it? Yes, that’s why Pub Battles works even better with a live player for each command.  Then each player can really focus on just their part of the front.  You can also add in written orders, which opens up a plethora of communication problems.  Now you’re really in command.   

 

Supremacy Pieces

Posted on by

We got some new test pieces in today for Supremacy.  What do you guys think?

 

 

 

We are torn on the colors.  The Bomber and SLBM colors are darker.  We like these because the contrast with the map better. 

The MBT and Sub colors match the existing pieces better. 

Which would you rather have? 

Mega Supremacy Event

Posted on by

Our first ever Mega Event and it is completely FREE!!    We are so excited. 

Supremacy is perfectly suited to be run as a Mega Game. In many ways, I think the system works better as a Mega Game. 

What is a Mega Game?  It is a large, multi-player event.  They often have 30-80 players in 1 game!  The countries are played by teams.  So you break the duties down by role:  President, Diplomat, General, Trader. 

I’ve always wanted to do this with Supremacy. The problem is always, where do you get enough players?  The Mega Game format solves this! 

More Players = More Fun

This is a Large Convention, Supremacy, Kriegsspiel and Roleplaying game all rolled into some big, crazy, wonderful mix.

Make it if you can. I know many of you are not in the area.  We will report on the results here on our site.  We hope to start doing regular events like this here in the Front Range area.  As this expands, we may be coming to your area!

If you would like to see a Mega Supremacy near you, email us your location.

How Does Mega Supremacy Work?

When and Where is this?

 

Speed Supremacy

Posted on by

The economics: trade, loans, bonds, resource cards, market etc are fascinating.  This is one of the most remarkable things about Supremacy.  They make an incredible model of world trade.  All of these things however add a lot of time to play.  Sometimes, we just want to fight!

These rules dramatically speed up the game. All the economics are cut out and streamlined.  It’s all boiled down to just attack and build. 

With everything stripped out, the Victory becomes much more clear. It is all about growth.  If you sit and build, your score is ZERO.  You must attack. 

Setup

Each player should start with their regular forces but no money.

Produce

Ignore all Salaries for your companies.   Everything is now free!

Blockades and Seizures work the same.

Income

Instead of producing resources, just collect $100 BL in cash for each resource you have in cards.  

 

For Example, if this is your total cards:         3 Min    5 Grn    3 Oil

Your Income would be:  $300 + $500 + $300 = $1,100 BL

Trade

There is no Trading, Loans or Bonds. 

Instead of Grain, spend $100 BL in cash to Feed every 10 armies / naives.    

Combat

Instead of paying resources to move and attack, pay $200 BL cash for the regular 3 moves / fires.  The Defender must pay $100 BL for a committed defense.   

Redeploy

Instead of paying resources to move, pay $100 BL cash.

 

Build

Building now only requires cash, no resources:

Army / Navy     $100 BL

ICBM                $500 BL

ABM                 $1,000 BL

You must still research to get new Company cards and build ICBMs & ABMs. The cost is the same:  $200 BL per card you turn over.

Ending the Game

Record your starting production at the beginning of the game.

Your total score is:

Total Ending Production – Starting Production

All New Fortuna 2020

Posted on by

We’ve been working on this expansion for quite some time now. We could have rushed it out the door long ago but it just didn’t feel right.  I might be too much of a perfectionist sometimes.  In this case, I’m glad I held out.  What resulted is really spectacular and well worth the wait. 

We really liked the ‘idea’ of the old Fortuna Deck: Add random events into the world.  True.  Often times random events can trigger world conflict.  I also think people were looking to the Fortuna deck to ‘fix’ the broken market.  Moving the market around at random loosened things up and gave players more chances to buy and sell.  In the old design, it did help. 

IMG_8862

Well, the market is fixed now. It doesn’t need random moves.  What else did the deck do?  Apart from random market moves, it added natural disasters.  This sounded like fun to us at first.  In practice it gets old real quick.  How many massive typhoons, earthquakes, etc.  can hit per turn?  Seriously. 

Finally, we had a burst of inspiration: Why not use the Fortuna deck to control the Minor countries?  They just sit there and do nothing but get invaded.  In the real world, the actions of Minor countries can often prompt the Superpowers to act.  They trigger all kinds of world conflict, even war. 

IMG_8868

So the new ‘deck’ controls the actions of Minors. Tin pot dictators pop up in Minor countries with varying degrees of annoyance.  They might just build up their army.  They might decide to seize all factories under their control.  They can actually invade their peaceful neighbors and seize those factories.  They can acquire ICBMs from the black market.  There can even be outbreaks of deadly pandemic viruses.  Perfect. 

IMG_8876

We had one last improvement: we converted the ‘deck’ into dice!  So it’s not a deck at all really.  They are Fortuna Dice. 

IMG_8878

We were inspired by a bit of old technology:  Kriegsspiel Dice.  It is amazing how much critical info can be packed onto a few tiny cubes.  No charts.  No tables. No rules.  Nothing to look up.  They are smaller, lighter and faster to use than a deck of cards.  A quick toss and bam, there’s the result. 

Sometimes the Old and Unimproved ways are simply much better.