Reply To: Why don’t we already have the perfect wargame?

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I doubt we’ll ever get a ‘One Rules to suit them all’  scenario however I often see mechanics introduced to rule sets that are ‘better’ than others. For example, ‘You go, I go’ may have cut it 25 years ago but very few people are singing it’s praises today. Random unit activation like Bolt Action gets a much better reception. The Warmaster method of issuing orders was another system that was well loved and there are many others.

In regards to probability and randomness I know we’ve recently engaged in the ‘Cards vs Dice’ debate recently (sorry @blinky465 but I’m with @sundancer on this), but it becomes a case of what players really want in terms of ‘luck’. If you use cards there are set outcomes that are predictable ie there are only 4 Kings, 4 queens etc. If the cards aren’t returned to the deck and shuffled immediately after use then the ‘luck’ becomes predictable. D6 have a  16.7% (roughly) weight per pip. If you want greater range why not D10 or D20? I heard an interview with Rick Priestly where he said Warhammer, and eventually 40K was originally going to be D10 games but the D10 mechanic became popular just prior to the games release so they went with D6 to go against the flow. Personally I think Warhammer and 40K would be much better with D10s. Would most other wargames?

Scale comes up all the time. There are at least two problems of scale, the first is that it just doesn’t work with some types of warfare. 28mm Bolt Action is great. 28mm War at Sea not so much. Then there’s the size of the battle/warfare.  The battle of Kursk done with counters is fine, if somewhat fiddly. If it was done in 15mm Flames of War you’d need a table 2km long and 1.5 km wide. Having said that I doubt anyone has gone past one of those demonstration games at a convention where they are doing a 28mm massed ranks warfare like Ancients, Napoleonics or ACW and not gone “Wow. Looks amazing. Glad I didn’t have to paint all of them”.

What I imagine is that if we looked at certain genres, that there would be a preferrable size, scale, combat system and luck mechanic for each of them.