Weekender XLBS: Why Modern Warfare Kicks Ass & Have We Reached Peak Tabletop?
February 24, 2019 by brennon
For some website features, you will need a FREE account and for some others, you will need to join the Cult of Games.
Or if you have already joined the Cult of Games Log in now
What difference will having a FREE account make?
Setting up a Free account with OnTableTop unlocks a load of additional features and content (see below). You can then get involved with our Tabletop Gaming community, we are very helpful and keen to hear what you have to say. So Join Us Now!
Free Account Includes
- Creating your own project blogs.
- Rating and reviewing games using our innovative system.
- Commenting and ability to upvote.
- Posting in the forums.
- Unlocking of Achivments and collectin hobby xp
- Ability to add places like clubs and stores to our gaming database.
- Follow games, recommend games, use wishlist and mark what games you own.
- You will be able to add friends to your account.
What's the Cult of Games?
Once you have made a free account you can support the community by joing the Cult of Games. Joining the Cult allows you to use even more parts of the site and access to extra content. Check out some of the extra features below.
Cult of Games Membership Includes
- Reduced ads, for a better browsing experience (feature can be turned on or off in your profile).
- Access to The Cult of Games XLBS Sunday Show.
- Extra hobby videos about painting, terrain building etc.
- Exclusive interviews with the best game designers etc.
- Behind the scenes studio VLogs.
- Access to our live stream archives.
- Early access to our event tickets.
- Access to the CoG Greenroom.
- Access to the CoG Chamber of Commerce.
- Access the CoG Bazarr Trading Forum.
- Create and Edit Records for Games, Companies and Professionals.
Supported by (Turn Off)
Supported by (Turn Off)
Supported by (Turn Off)
![Warcradle Studios Reveal TINY New 10mm Festive Marker! [Updated]](https://images.beastsofwar.com/2025/11/christmas-kyle-main-600-338.jpg)
Happy Sunday!
Whoo Who! Modern Warfare’ gets some love’en!
Modern warfare is great at all scales. Spectre Ops is a particularly good ruleset too. The only thing I’ll say that is that there are best modern warfare jumps from squad based to armoured company+ level instantly, and in open combat (as opposed to enclosed urban warfare, or at least heavy, difficult terrain) once you have tanks, attack helicopters and artillery in a battle, infantry are almost pointless. It’s almost too easy for hardware to kill large concentrations of infantry.
Interesting point and sort of explains why my take on moderns is quite different from how I see other wargames.
For me (and it’s only my opinion and some personal thoughts) I see MY fun in moderns at the very tightest scale (squad) and I see it as more of a puzzle game than a shooty ping ping game.
The possibilities for watching your strategic decisions play out along side your chosen choreography of the assault and then having to deal with where things go wrong is just mouth watering to me lol
Squad level is definitely the tightest scale as you say. One mistake costs disproportionately more and a single disabled opponent can swing an entire fight.
The problem with modern warfare in larger battles is that in real engagements “off board” solutions would be introduced if the battle went badly enough. The sheer killing power of vehicles like attack helicopters, Warthogs or ordinance means that there is no certainty in tactics as they can destroy swaths of enemy troops and vehicles. It was always that situation in Team Yankee that was feared that the Cold War would suddenly go nuclear.
No amount of off board support can undo the damage that bad press does though…
Or an opponent who doesn’t play by the rules of war
The other thing is smoke is your friend, especially in Spectre Operations. Spectre posted this up as a preview of the new rules.
Spectre FB Page
In the lead up to the release of Spectre: Operations – 2nd Edition, we are going to be talking about some of the changes and updates from the 1st Edition.
One of the biggest areas we have updated is suppression, so is a good place to start!
With the first edition, we concentrated on using the Suppression mechanic to simulate heavy fire effect on a force, which it did pretty well – but it wasn’t perfect. During the life of the first edition, we had feedback about the difficulty of book Suppression keeping in very kinetic or larger games, and requests for a morale mechanic – which we thought was a great idea, and thought the two could be linked. We set about devising a suppression mechanic that remained realisitc for each different tier of forces, but easier to manage and had a morale component.
So after a lot of play testing… rewriting and more play testing, we have a really innovative and realistic Suppression mechanic that does not slow the game down – and greatly enhances tactical game play…. In doing so, it led to the creation of an equally innovative squad mechanic… More on this later.
So – the Suppression mechanic – at it’s core, suppressive fire over a certain level triggers a command test… Failing the test creates suppression effects over several escalating levels; Suppressed, Pinned, and you asked for it.. Routed! To manage the differences in the abilities of troops, the effects are different – it is very hard to pin down and rout some of the better trained troops.
This new Suppression mechanic now makes squads and squad leaders much more valuable, especially for large Militia squads that gain bonuses in numbers, and for Professional or Elite troops mentoring lower tier squads…
But more on that soon along with much, much more, including gameplay videos, so you’ll soon be able to see how these new rules work in detail!
For now, here’s some photos of good models for pumping out large amounts of suppression!
cool … I like the idea of a mechanic that is simple to use while still simulating the desired result.
Ohh yeah HAPPY SUNDAY folks 😉
Why are you up so early, Men of Coleraine, stop your dreaming.
Can’t you see their spear points gleaming…..
If you looking at near future and the idea of PMC and you’re looking at a sci-fi (not realistic setting) then think MSG (metal gear solid) 4 here is a list of them.
https://metalgear.fandom.com/wiki/Private_military_company
Remember in that setting the PMCs are like their own countries, you could move into future if you look at such PC games are COD: Infinite Warfare and COD: Advanced Warfare, infinite warfare goes to space but COD: AW takes that PMC and runs with it.
Lots of opportunities for narrative play and ideas. The start of AW has the player with the US military drop podding into South Korea.
opening mission
https://youtu.be/0yHLq-SSccI
Metal Gear Solid is a perfect example. That would look extremely cool on the tabletop.
Happy Sunday!!
Good morning, everyone, and Happy Sunday!
A seriously great show! 😀 😀 😀
On the topic “characteristics” of Modern Warfare (and subsequently Modern Wargaming)
1) Asymmetrical forces. “Armies” almost never fight, it’s almost always regular forces vs. irregular forces.
Force-on-Force is a great one for this. The front of the book is how regular forces work, the back of the book goes into irregular forces, and it’s almost a completely different rule set. It’s almost about which player gets the other player to play “his” game.
2) Broadly speaking, regular forces ALWAYS win in firepower, training, armor, support assets, etc. But the irregular force usually has more numbers, is usually on the defense (with all the advantages that come with that), and MUCH EASIER victory conditions (e.g., the five SAS commandos have to retake the building against 20 terrorists, and all the terrorists could die, but if even one hostage is killed, the SAS player loses the game).
3) Casualty evacuation, which @stvitusdancern goes into.
Card mechanics and “random events” with an AI-controlled enemy was actually done very well with Warfighter:
I have this game and played it a few times. Not a miniature game. But this could easily be ported over.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/149951/warfighter-tactical-special-forces-card-game
Great point on the rise of PMCs, @warzan 😀 “Blackwater” was the company, one of many.
I think the real danger with these PMC companies is the “brain drain” they’re pulling out of the US and other Western militaries. It’s tough to do that job for what the military pays, putting up with the risk to life and limb and the usual hardship, then when your re-enlistment comes up, you realize you could do the same job for … seriously … 5-10 times the money, often with better support … So they understandably DON’T re-enlist, and instead join a PMC firm. It seems some areas of the formal military are actually having a hard time keeping force levels up to prescribed levels, there’s a real retention problem with the top-level guys in these fields.
And PMC’s are rarely hampered by the same rules of engagement, media scrutiny, government oversight etc.
Blackwater (now Academia) case in point.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academi
Yeah like when PMC’s killed 100,000+ thousand people most of them civilians with Nukes in Japan. Wait oops I meant like the time PMC’s invaded a foreign nation based on them having WMD’s then didn’t find any. Woops sorry I meant like that time PMC’s financed “Freedom Fighters” in Afghanistan against their enemies and they turned into the worlds largest terrorist organisation. Woops again. Governments have done insanely worse things than PMC’s and not had anyone punished for it.
PMC’s get judged FAR MORE harshly than any nation’s military/foreign policy. Government’s just get to hide behind things like “War” and “Collateral Damage” when they directly and deliberately target civilians with Nukes.
I’m not anti Military or Pro PMC but there is a huge difference between the perceptions of their actions. It’s like the difference between the Government losing billions of dollars of your money or a Private company losing investors money (not just mismanaging it but it totally disappearing from the books), the reaction is vastly different yet the action is essentially the same.
Blackwater – dang I forgot. I had brain freeze and couldn’t think of it. I all have you Jim to watch my 6.
No worries, @stvitusdancern – I have had them in that very chair – the “Blue Beret Paras Incident.” 🙁
boot camp
Happy Sunday!
Go on then, sell me Modern warfare! Make me break my NY resolution!
Join SITREP podcast 🙂
One aspect that differs tabletop from Tv/video and videogames is that whereas the last two are primarily digital and I suspect are mostly consumed in isolation, with limited opportunities for socialisation; compared to tabletop being primarily a social activity. As people tire with the virtual experience and seek more social experiences then tabletop gaming has an opportunity to pick this up. Look at Fortnite players seeking and being exploited in social gatherings related to their interest; there’s a primal need that isn’t being met.
Sure, we are seeing some consolidation in our world that is to be expected, but there will be opportunities for low cost, indie tabletop gaming ideas especially where they are being innovative.
Welcome to all the new backstagers 🙂
Bravo Two Zero was the call sign of an eight-man British Army SAS patrol, deployed into Iraq during the First Gulf War in January 1991. According to Chris Ryan’s account, the patrol was given the task of gathering intelligence, finding a good lying-up position (LUP) and setting up an observation post (OP) on the Iraqi Main Supply Route (MSR) between Baghdad and North-Western Iraq, while according to another, the task was to find and destroy Iraqi Scud missile launchers along a 250 km (160 mi) stretch of the MSR.
I’m a big fan of Moderns. I’ve lost count of the number of 28mm Rangers in Humvees I’ve Ambushed/Lead through the streets of Mogadishu. I should really get my own minis at some point.
Hands down my favourite period is the Soviets in Afghanistan. You can adapt almost any later scenarios to fit the era. Just replace the Trained Troops with Soviets. It’s also great since it’s essentially Bad Guys v Bad Guys. The Commies vs the guys who would become Al Qaeda/Taliban makes it easier for people who are a bit apprehensive to get into the period.
@avernos Force on Force does have Civilians in it and they act similar to the way you guys are talking about. They can just run around terrified blocking line of sight. They can be aggressive towards one side but not outright hostile, the enemy controls them but they can’t physically damage you. Or they can be outright hostile, hiding enemies in their ranks and you have to decide what to do.
@warzan with regards to the leaving men behind thing it might also depend on the PR perspective. If you lose a handful of SEALs killing Bin Laden or Al Baghdadi the Public will be more “tolerant” of those losses than if the same men were killed taking out a routine weapons cache.
Little personal story. I was at a Military Base here in Australia taking part in an Wargames Tournament (I’m not military active or retired) and a General of some stripe was supposed to come and take a look a the gaming since it was being run by the ADF Wargaming Association and he cancelled because a Soldier was killed, a General stopped his plans and personally went to the family of that soldier.
There’s a lot of interviews with Eric Prince the guy who founded Black Water and his business model was basically. 1. Recruit ex military. 2. Do what the Military does but better, for less and with less resources. 3. Specialise in not failing. And he made a fortune although he did end up taking a giant hit after all the negative media attention Blackwater got which wasn’t 100% his fault since Blackwater became synonymous with Military Contractors so they copped everything anyone did.
Mercenaries aren’t new. Not having Mercenaries is new. Mercenaries used to be the default. You went to war and the first thing you did was hire independent Mercenaries, they gave you trained, well equipped and motivated men right away. In the Industrial era that was replaced with Conscription and Shame. If you were a military aged man in Britain (No Conscription and a small Military, Naval pressing is NOT what people claim it is) in the Napoleonic Period it is unlikely you’d be shamed into the military, compare that to WWI where men were given white feathers if they didn’t enlist.
Boxes and bubble wrap – Chuck in some eps and it’s another day in the office! But congrats!
You couldn’t stick the first batch of tape on Justin – you’d rip his hair out…. (love ya @dignity)
Not a massive moderns gamer and skirmish games are a bit of a turn off but to me modern gaming its still the Soviets coming through the Fulda Gap in the 1980’s a place by coincidence that Napoleon led his troops after the French defeat at Leipzig in 1814
Modern boot camp PLEASE!
Preferably Spectre but anything else would do for me as well ?
Only a handful of figures to paint so we all (me) could focus on the gaming side. Imagine all those awesome scenarios we could play through ?
I can barely control my excitement now!!
I’d even be prepared to share my multi cam/ mtp speed painting recipe for this ?
Dawn, Gianna and Jim will have to come over then as well, of course!!
@warzan on the 29th March shipping will be via winged unicorns piloted by leprechauns or Justin operating a drone, the choice is yours….lol… best of luck
Great show, you should have Dawn and Gianna over more if possible.
on the topic of modern warfare.
I was working on a ruleset for a metal gear solid game and I had it so that there were 3 levels to the opfor. They would be on patrol,alert,contact depending on player choices (making noise, being spotted etc) if playing in 2 player, this means the early game for opfor isn’t as involved but they need to focus on their force setup whereas the operative player has a full on single miniature espionage game from the start. As he alerts more Opfor, the opfor player gains more and more control of his troops.
Typically, early in the game, the opfor player is rolling random directions for patrolling units until they make contested roles against the operative to spot them.
I included alot of rules with objectives like trying to identify a single hostage to rescue, carrying hostages, knocked out opfor’s, hiding bodies etc.
This can totally work with an AI deck. on each AI card, have a list of 3 actions, one for patrol,alert and contact. or if its less organised forces, maybe patrol, alert, broken? to represent their morale?
OH! I had interrogation and information in the mgs game! this was great as you would roll off against the opponent and depending on your success they could tell you the truth, lie to you or reveal info that is useful but not entirely what you were after, I don’t remember what my AI answer to this was though, I’d have to dig out the files.
If anyone is interested, I might be able to make this available. It wasn’t finished but it’s playable and I think quite adaptable to modern wargaming with potential for rpg levels of play
Please do make it available via projects on this site.
The idea of a small team of specialists vs AI controlled guards is one I’d love to see done.
It would be useful for Rainbow 6, Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell and to some extent a zombie survival game as well.
I’m not so sure if total random patrol routes are a solution, but there would definitely have to be some sort of mechanic to force the opfor player to make choices as to when and where his units patrol.
I dont remember if it was totally random, I think it may not be! We shall see. I’ll dig out the files and make a project at some point soon!
Just finished my basing on my american civil war figures and Warzen brings my cock up…. a lovely surprise and thanks.. i feel next sunday show could be a rude one….
Thanks Boss man
Alan
Another thought in Modern Warfare is the role of the media. Do you use a more difficult insertion point to hide from the glare of the media to hide tactics and tech etc ? I can envisage a game with a pre-planning stage. You are handed a scenario with time limit to complete. You have allocated resource points to complete the mission but they have time penalties. Do you wait 24 hours for special forces to become available or do you send in armed police now? Do you wait for further Intel to become available which would aid the actual mission?
If they made a film on real soldiers it’d mainly consist if them dicking about and getting drunk. The conversations would be predominantly beer sports and women unless they’re on exercise then it would general moaning about the weather food and lack of beer….lol
I prefer to alternative scenarios if I’m modern wargaming which is why I like Team Yankee.
Isn’t Jarhead that movie ?
@warhammergrimace – that was certainly my general experience.
Using / training with service rifle: 1% (and I wound up as a range coach, besides).
Using / training with mop and/or shovel: 99%
Good morning all!
So have to disagree on the comment about those above 03 (CPT) being more mission first over the well being of the wounded. There are those few glory hounds that fall into that category at the higher ranks but by and large that is not the case. I have personally witnessed one one one interactions with generals that have emotionally struggled with those types of situations and there is always hard gut wrenching decisions that are being made, but in the end trying to do what is right for the well being of the line troops comes first. That is the aspect of senior leadership that most in the junior ranks never see and is not something that we share often with others.
As I know I’ve shared before, I can’t play any modern game because it’s too close to home having lost very close friends and neighbors in those recent conflicts, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the discussion of today’s show! Keep them coming with this excellent dialog.
And your dead right on taking out PowerPoint and you will cripple he U.S. military!
On the topic of peaking out, I’m personally there and starting to downsize significantly. I’ve narrowed it down to three game systems. Everything else must go, I expect the glut of games on the market is going to create a lot of failed game systems. I’m not a business guy so not sure how that will impact the overall industry, but expect more and more of us will begin to specialize in just a few systems. As far as TV I’m very picky.
Thank you mate I’m very aware of the difficulties in discussions around this (and other factual settings) I’m also acutely aware that I dont have particularly the best skill set for navigating these discussions at times. But it’s so interesting that I really want to try (and do it justice) so that comment meant a lot mate 🙂
I will promise to come play the game you invent of modern warfare though when you create it, just give me a scenario like a hostage rescue not in the Middle East and I’m there!
BTW wish you were here today for the Rorkes Drift!
That would indeed be a blast! Hope you recorded it, would love to paint away while watching and listening to it!
The visitor center is flipping awesome! Having seen it before and after you guys truly did an amazing job! Now I just have to convince the wife to move back to Coleraine!
yes like the idea of the modern …
plus are going to put a link to the ebay outlet on your TT site as another way to get to it?
good weekend all
Happy Sunday!
I think I’m at the peak of entertainment simply through gaming YouTube channels. My Watch Later queue is getting out of hand – I’m going to have to delete some to get it under control. It’s peak times for armchair gaming fans!!
Good show guys. WWE looks like a good game
lovely to see the ladies on the weekender, Gianna @stvitusdancern with her moderns and sitrep podcast talking like a temptress luring me towards a force of my own, her accomplish @oriskanny and his recent articles adding to the mix its a pincer manoeuvre im telling you!
if Jim covers Aiden im doomed…..(plus my bank manager will hate you) lol
One of Us, One of Us
Thanks very much, @wolf320f . 😀
No pressure Jim but the pincer movements between you and Gianna is working, I phoned my pops and put him on alert that if you cover Aiden I’m into moderns and he will be bombarded with requests for info and guidance I may even snag a newbie an old one granted at 76 but not to be sniffed at lol
I can wait but times a ticking for the coffin dodger. ? ……. (that’s what he calls himself not me)
2nd attempt at watching. By anything that we’ve seen on BoW may come up… does that mean I can buy myself John – I have armies waiting!
@warzan have you tried Chain Reaction and the Two Hour wargames system , handles npc units really well, gives spec ops deff advantages over non trained.
“peak” entertainment makes sense to me. There is really too much. At a recent dinner with friends someone said their watchlist on Netflix was maxed out and another friend replied he has a maxed out video game list, Amazon Prime, Hulu and Netflix list as well as a maxed out audio book and physical book list. He has reached a point of analysis paralysis when he simply wants to relax. For me, I have become hyper selective in everything.
As far as a GM for wargaming to call out events, my brother have been doing something like this for what seems 20yrs. It is house rule we have added to everything from Battletech to recent Star Wars Legion and Frostgrave. It goes like this. We divide the map into 6 inch squares. The squares have a grid number, for example, 3-2. Meaning, 3inches from the long side and 2inches up the short side. We then roll a D20. The number that appears is the number of events that can be placed. We then have a program that rolls for the grid locations. We then have a pull bag that contains 100 event tokens. Each token has a number that corresponds to a event in an Excel spreadsheet that we keep. If during your movement, you enter that grid, at the end of your turn, you must reveal the event that occurred. For example, during Star Wars Legion, my brother picked an event called “falling star” This meant that some fighter or vehicle from above was going to crash. The rule for this event was to role for the grid location of the crash site. Any units in that area would be killed and there would be splash damage to some surrounding grids.
It takes some time to come with the events and some after you play do not make sense, but over time and refinement you come up with a nice list. The original idea is from past D&D Games and originally from the Fantasy Trip Adventures game in the 80s. IMHO, it can be easily applied to any game I believe. You can even have the OTT community help make them for various games. I have tried to sell event cards over the years. Mostly locally to various clubs I have played and while there was some interest, most did not seem to care. Anyway, thought I would share.
As someone who’s on the spectrum…….you had me at spreadsheets!! 🙂
Happy Sunday! Haven’t played modern yet. Looks really interesting. On a side note. Why did Ben end up looking like big brother from 1984???? lol.. cheers from The Bay Area!
YOU MUST WATCH THE SEIGE OF JADOTVILLE!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_JHsiQTTmg
“I don’t give a dam about the larger t’ings!”
It’s based on real events – like a modern war Zulu 😮 (Wiki real events for facinating facts about casualty/death rates). Maybe being Irish myself made the film extra stressful 🙁
And Generation Kill is worth watching.
+1 for Generation Kill.
Great show, yet again. Raising many points about the hobby and its perceived future! On the topic of ‘Modern’ Spec Ops style of gaming, it’s worth looking at ‘Black Ops’written by Guy Bowers (editor of Wargames Soldiers & Strategy magazine) and published by Osprey (only £8.39p paperback or £6.91p ePub/pdf).
Also, no longer in print, but maybe available from ebay, ‘Delta Force rpg’ by Task Force Games, quite detailed, but considering the subject matter, quite understandable!
I’d also second a mention for Two Hour Wargames ‘Chain Reaction’ system. (the same core rules are used throughout a whole range of historical and fictional settings books), it handles solo and in particular collaborative gaming very well indeed. It is very much an ‘immersive’ style of play, producing a narrative style of gaming experience!
Great discussion on Moderns! Anyone else surprised that Dawn and Gianna just showed up this Weekend? A welcome surprise! Wish I had a cool wargaming mom!
Edit: of course moms a mom. ;p
Happy Sunday all!!
Thoroughly enjoyed today’s XLBS. Modern warfare gaming isn’t something i have given a great deal of attention to despite my personal service. I can’t really contribute to the discussion until i have the opportunity to explore it further and i will be taking that journey along side the great folks at OTT.
I can say however in terms of the Med-Evac scenarios in MW Games, the British Army is changing its procedures on soldiers injured in a contact situation. Previously our triage procedure was to finish the firefight before administering any battlefield first aid to downed soldiers. However the doctrine will soon be changing to pushing the fire fight forward 15-30 meters in order to give cover fire so that first aid can be administered there and then whilst still engaged with the enemy.
On the main topic of discussion in regards to “Peak” gaming or entertainment i agree very heavily with @warzan. I have been a P.C. gamer for most of my life and it has been cheaper and more convenient than table top gaming, however after now coming out of an over decade long deep freeze in table top gaming, (All credit to beasts of war and this website for that, thanks guys!!) i find myself drawn to the greater depth of the quality of the experience.
I believe that what the real fatigue in video gaming is, is actually a social fatigue and a lack of true fulfilment in terms of real human interaction and long term reward such as relationship building, experience building and on a more cognitive level a more intensive use and expansion of the imagination that you can really only get from IRL (In real life) participation.
So to sum up i would say that in connection to last weeks main topic of discussion, with a combination of virtual fatigue, a greater desire to connect on a human level and coupled with the inevitable rise of more innovative technology, the true golden age of high quality, fully immersive and highly interactive gaming is just on the horizon.
I am happy and proud to be present as that new dawn rises! Thank you once again to the team at OTT for bringing me back into this world and producing such high quality content, you are just as much apart of the reason why the golden dawn is rising as much as anybody.
P.S. Hail UBERSTANTFUHRERGROSSUNIVERSEMEISTER GERRY!
Hi guys, great show as usual. The Moderns stuff has caught my eye recently and i am looking forward to picking up a copy of Spectre 2ED.
(sorry guys, just proof read before hitting ‘post’ and realised it’s a big one, apologies upfront, thanks if you get to the end, and hope someone else thinks this could work)
I want to say upfront that any ideas i have come only from watching TV & films, playing the odd game and or the odd Book, So this all stems from the cinematic side of things rather than realism.
That said, a couple of things mentioned earlier resonated and came together into something that i think would be cool, but I have no idea on where to start implementing them.
1) Gianna’s comments about accelerated time frame / avoiding the turn based sequence, and then the follow up comments about how things happen very quickly in combat scenarios.
I liked the idea of quick turns, and especially concurrent moving and firing on both sides.
2) A second comment was made about how much training special forces do and the back-up plans they make.
Something clicked and i started thinking back to many films where you see the soldiers practicing in make shift building mock ups, running simulations and anticipating responses and enemy forces based on intelligence.
3) There was then talk (i think it was Ben, apologies if not) about a more roleplay inspired co-op game versus a single “bad-guy” opponent or even an AI opponent.
I thought a great idea for a game (Or even a boot-camp … wink, wink) would be to develop this concurrent movement and action idea of Gianna’s and attempt to set a time frame to a game/encounter (not sure if this would be actual time or as a concept of a disappearing game resource).
To make the most of this, before hand the co-op players would practice ‘the mission’ in a simulated mock-up environment (‘board’) and practice against AI ‘baddies’ all based on intelligence given.
Back-up plans could be discussed and agreed and force deployment solutions would be based on this.
You then move to the ‘Actual’ game (and here i see one of Lloyd’s beautiful gaming tables) this would be what the ‘Mock-up board’ would be based on.
At this point the opposition player would get involved, they would have access to an ‘event deck’ with options to be able to change up their perceived force deployment (as an example of where ‘intelligence’ isn’t either correct or current). An alternative would be for the changes to be randomised from ‘event tables’ and then ‘baddies’ run as AI doing away with the need for the opposition player.
(With a few tweaks to the time mechanic, this should also work for single player)
That’s it chaps i’ll stop before i ramble on further, again sorry for the length, needed to get it out before i forgot.
It would be great if any of this works for anyone capable of implementing it, let me know your thoughts.
our excitement was off the scales ?
classic hands across the see @warzan start at 2.25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVk4nh-hBKY
lol
the price of figures may be a factor with smaller games rising in popularity for new gamers?
its behind you ben ?
loved the show guys.
On the subject of peak entertainment:
If it’s going to happen, it certainly is no bad thing.
I know I am certainly feeling the effects of it. I’m often asked by coworkers have I seen X,Y or Z movie/show whatever on Netflix etc.
More often than not, the answer is No.
Similarly, I have a game console that sits unused with games I have yet to play, and I still hold onto games for consoles that have died, simply because I never got around to playing them. I have this vague notion that I’ll get around to them “one day”.
The simple fact of the matter is: at the end of the work day, in the few hours before sleep, I have to decide what will give me the best value for time spent.
Most often, it’s painting minis. For the time I’ve put into it, I have results I can show. The latest TV show will give me a few minutes of conversation between customers, the minis can sit on display “forever”.
Occasionally I take a week off and Netflix binge, but not nearly enough to keep up with their release schedule. And in Australia, Disney is partnering with local service Stan rather than launch their platform locally. So that means I’ll have to activate an account with them too, if I want my fix of Marvel and Star Wars… it’s just a bit too much for me to be bothered mostly.
To model quasi-simultaneous action in a modern game, an app-based ‘tempo meter’ might be a consideration.
…A simple timer based on unit qualities … each time you performed an action you would give it a click … if you were acting too fast for the quality of your force it would give you a pause … even better if linked with your opponent’s app.
After a certain time or number of actions there could be a static phase where you update status to re-jig the parameters. ?? might work ??
Great show, All that modern talk had me reminicing the days my gameing group was addicted to Twighlight 2000 rpg and some of the other GDW line such as air superiority. The St Nazaire Raid has me super interested also.
@pafetikbazerka – Almost all GDW games were awesome. Used to cut school to meet with friends and play Twilight 2000 all day at a local park (we couldn’t exactly go to any of our homes in the middle of a school day). GDW actually had a had a Team Yankee game back in 1988 – part of their “First Battle” series – sort of a “light” intro version of their successful “Assault” series.
To go off topic a little. I can’t believe it’s over 20 years since GDW went defunct
Really looking forward to a potential modern boot camp. the only modernish tabletop game I have or have played is Team Yankee.
In regards to peak tabletop I have found a drastic shift back into 40k with its new edition which is siphoning off players from everything else that is played locally. Also the lack of high numbers on recent kickstarters may also just be due to people still waiting on projects that are several years old already and on those that have sworn off using the systems entirely after pledging to kickstarters that have now failed.
Monday morning! Huzza! Late to the party but all the more for me 😉
Interesting that you bring up the Iranian embassy siege. It’s about the first piece of news I remember and it stayed with me too.
When I discovered historical and modern minis exist (and that was when 80s SAS minis _were_ modern :)) I put a lot of thought into making it a game. Not knowing about asymmetrical games – RPGs aside – I couldn’t make sense of it, but I’d still be fascinated to play someone else’s.
@warzan make it so!
Not sure about the ramifications of ‘peak entertainment’ on the miniatures/tabletop community but I can see a bust happening in the tv/film industry because everyone and their dog starting up a streaming service. The problem with every channel having their own streaming service is that for most people they’re only interested in one or two shows on that channel so paying for the service isn’t really worth it, especially if they’re already shelling out for others such as Netflix and Prime; everyone having their own service will only see a small increase in the money the streaming industry generates as most of the money generated for the parent companies will just be money already being shifted around from current streaming providers. While the new streaming providers might not overly care as it still means they’re making more money than if they didn’t stream, and means they’re stealing money away from the big fish, ultimately it could end up being detrimental as it could spread the money so thinly that all the providers decide it’s no longer viable and shut down their services with no guarantee they’d cut a deal with Netflix, Amazon or whoever to shift content onto those providers staying in the game. I think most people will either stick with what they’ve currently got, or will switch each month to a new streaming service, binge watching the only two shows they’re interested on it before cancelling their subscription and repeating the process with another service.
The only one I think has a chance of succeeding is Disney, purely because of how large their back catalogue of films and shows is (@avernos mentioned there’s only ~18 hours of Star Wars, but he’s forgotten to factor in Clone Wars and Rebels 😉 ). As such Disney has such a broad collection of content that will be of interest to loads of people that enough people will be willing to shell out for the extra service to make it viable without causing the above mentioned problems of diffusing content over dozens of services.
so hard to not to make an inappropriate comment re Cass 1hr 50… you cant do that to me @warzan!
Some great points regarding the idea of “peak entertainment,” especially the notion that the different channels (gaming, TV, etc.) don’t exist in a vacuum. I have had to make a concerted effort to spend less time watching TV so I have more time for gaming — my wife and I have instituted a strict “no TV on weekends” policy and so far it’s been great, we’ve spent a lot more time on games, especially lighter “after dinner” card and board games that don’t see a lot of play otherwise.
When I was a kid growing up in the 1970s and 80s, it was possible to see every sci-fi/fantasy movie or TV show that came along, because there really weren’t that many. Now, there’s not a chance of being able to do that, but I think a lot of us are still trying, which means we’re spending way too much time watching a lot of mediocre TV in fear of missing something good.
Getting back to gaming, I think “Kickstarter fatigue” is definitely a real thing — I certainly have it, and as Ben suggests, I think a lot of us are looking at stacks of boxes of games like Conan and Mythic Battles and saying “this looked cool at the time, but I really just don’t have enough time to enjoy all this.” When looking at new Kickstarters (or new games in general) we should really be asking ourselves “can I afford this,” not just in terms of money but also in terms of time.
Something I’ve started doing when I’m looking at a new game (either on Kickstarter or even just at retail) is to ask myself “what game that I already have will this new game keep me from playing?” I’m finding that this approach is helping to keep me from being dazzled by the “cool factor” that a lot of new games (especially on Kickstarter) have, and it’s forcing be to be more analytical and realistic about how much time I have to spend on gaming, and to make the most of that time.
You guy’s should check out Black op’s
I think we’re hitting a peak in table top, the choice out there is vast. For awhile a lot of people, myself included have stretched ourselves too thinly across far too many games. People I know and include myself are cutting back to a few games, systems and miniature count. It’s gotten to the point that when you go to a show or walk into a store there is just too much choice, you’ve no idea where to start. It will affect some of these companies because people have spread themselves too thinly they’re not investing enough in any one game. I’ve people post on social media that they’re not selling enough and it’s because there are umpteen other companies chasing the same customers, and as customers we only havens much so are cash.
Completely agree with the saturation argument, i only have a finite amount of room and time to spend on my games so im after quality now. Quality gaming time and quality gaming minis.
If the market is going to see a decline due to over saturation then i can only see this as a good thing for the gamers. How many times have you started to get into something only for shiny syndrome to take over your gaming group and they move on?
My concern is the impact this will have economically on the wider market, it needs to find its balance between available choice (quantity) and quality of games.
Liking the whole e-bay thing, i did have a quick look, but while the relic knights looked awesome it was not for me. I know at some point you will put something that grabs my attention, i
ll be all over it.Im all for modern wargaming, think over the last few year
s i have drifted away from mass battles and looked into and played skirmish sized games. Now @warzen idea of a plane hi-jacking or the Iranian embassy are appealing or how about an ocean liner table, its the working out of the rules and what ifs that need fine tuning so to speak. Once thats done its time to get designing your gaming tables and the force youll be wanting to use.I
m just glad you said to Ben.......show us your tits, and not lets see your beaver. Which no doubt youll get him to do next weekender. As for Cass, words fail me.Happy Sunday! I love the SITREP podcast and Moderns are awesome 🙂
Thanks very much, @cheezfriend !
great show about wargames I’d love to try, very interesting!
For me, the modern warfare may be a too close, but it is wonderful to see others playing it. This is one of my favourite stories of herosim in modern times and I would love to see this played out on the tabletop. https://youtu.be/x6qHcd4imKk
I totally understand. After 24 years in the Army there are some things I don’t want to relive. I would totally be up for building this into a scenario.
Happy Thursday!
Completly forgot about the XLBS last weekend…
Again, good to have the US team!
Boot camps you say? And in june… I suppose the other one in june is going to be Bolt Action? Anyway, i’ll be following this closely since i have to choose my vacation time for the year in a month or two…
See you next weekend