We really like the resolve mechanism in Tilly’s Very Bad Day. Bundling all morale factors into one number and using that to simulate combat, reaction to the result of combat, and a commander’s ability to rally. We think it one of the things that makes Tilly’s Very Bad Day unique. So I wondered how to take it further. One possibility is to weaken resolve when moving in disrupting terrain.
Steven Thomas
Musing on distance distortion in Tilly’s Very Bad Day
A couple of people have commented on the seemingly distorted distances in Tilly’s Very Bad Day with ranges being overly generous compared to unit frontages. I thought I’d respond. The truth is, I deliberately distorted the distances to enhance game play and they’re actually not as wrong as folk seem to think.
This post is part of my musing on Tilly’s Very Bad Day.
Musing on Tilly Units of Measure (TUM) in Tilly’s Very Bad Day
As I think about possible changes for a Tilly’s Very Bad Day 2.1, and continue my design of Deep Battle, I’m revisiting my decision to use Tilly Units of Measure (TUM). Should I have gone with Base Widths instead?
Deep Battle Design Notes 7 – Ground Scale
I do a lot of my game design in my head. Wrestling with how things will work / play / look. But with some things it helps to write down the challenges I’m facing. Here is my latest design quandary. With my Musing on Free Form and Area Movement and my subsequent thinking about big base sabots, I’m back to thinking about ground scale in Deep Battle, my draft rules for Operational level wargaming. Should I go for a tight fit, regular or loose? WARNING: This is a very abstract discussion; do not read if ground scales either terrify or bore you.
Steven’s growing collection of wrecks
I have a growing junk yard comprising nicely painted, but wrecked, vehicles. Nominally these are potential objectives for Crossfire, but I’ve only ever used one wreck. That was the Fieseler Fi 156 Storch for Papa Eicke. The rest of my junk yard are, well, waiting for inspiration for a Crossfire Scenario. These are all 15mm scale.
1643 Game 8 – Lower Thames Valley – English Civil War Campaign
We had a full house for the eighth game of Populous, Rich and Rebellious our four player Campaign using Tilly’s Very Bad Day, and set in the English Civil War.
Summary: In the “Battle of Romford”, the Royalists successfully defended London against a Parliamentary army approaching from the north-east.
15mm Wargaming figures for WW2 Soviet Paratroopers
Deep Battle, my draft rules for Operational level wargaming, includes the “airborne” troop type. I have Fallschirmjäger but not Soviet paratroopers. So I thought I’d have a quick poke around and see what I can do. This post covers the Soviet Airborne Forces or VDV (Vozdushno-desantnye voyska SSSR) of World War 2, including their uniform, painting guide, and which figures to buy in 15mm.
Musing on Terrain Density in Crossfire
One of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for Crossfire is Are real terrain features represented 1:1 on the table? The answer is “no”. A single real-world terrain feature can be presented by more than one Crossfire terrain feature (e.g. woods) or several real-world features can be grouped together as one on the table (e.g. buildings). In this post I explore that answer a bit more at least for woods, fields, hills and rough ground.
How big are Crossfire Terrain features
Sometimes people ask, how big should my Crossfire terrain be? It is really up to you. For myself, I started Crossfire using whatever terrain I had, but over the years I have standardised on the sizes. This is to make it easier to Draw Maps for Crossfire Scenarios. Check out the various Crossfire terrain type if you don’t recognise some of those I mention.
Ground Scale in Crossfire with Maps
In my previous post on Ground Scale in Crossfire I concluded that anything 1:300 to 1:1700 is defensible, but my own preference is 1:1000. I’ve taken that further and compared my preference with the extremes. What do 1:300, 1:1000, and 1:1700 look like on table.
2024 Confessions of a Megalomaniac Wargamer and Amateur Historian
2023 went pretty well although there were a few bumps and I still didn’t complete nearly enough of my plans. So what is on the megalomaniac agenda for 2024? Well, you’ll see below. As usual I present this as a brain dump of my active projects, i.e. those all projects that are more or less “in progress”. The list is then split into three parts: likely in 2024, unlikely, and background activity.
2023 Reflections of a Megalomaniac Wargamer and Amateur Historian
My goals for 2023 were typically overly ambitious – some would say megalomaniac. As usual I didn’t achieve them all, less than I was hoping, but it wasn’t a bad run.
Deep Battle Design Notes 6 – Musing on Free Form and Area Movement
I recently shared a version Beta 0.5 of my Deep Battle rule set with Andrés Ferrari. He challenged my obsession with hexes and encouraged me to go with free form movement or an area map. Can I? Should I?
Steven’s Gurkha Battalion for Crossfire
With my Japanese battalion ready for duty in Burma, my next project was the Gurkhas to face them. This is a battalion nominally from 17th Indian Light Division, the guys who fought at Bishenpur, Potsangbam and Ningthoukhong on the Imphal Plain 1944. You might recall from my A Case Study in Balagan Thinking – How I justify collecting Japanese, my justification for collecting Japanese was that I’m (kind of, sort of) Welsh, and so are the 2nd Battalion, 4th Prince of Wales’s Own Gurkha Rifles (kind of, sort of). Anyway, I’ve now got a battalion of Gurkhas for Crossfire. Yay! Can’t wait to get that bag piper on table.
Custom made Manipuri Hindu Temple for 14th Army
The Burma Campaign includes the Japanese invasion of India in 1944. So the setting flips from Buddhist Burma to Hindu India. Our Experiment in Ningthoukhong made me realise that to refight Bishenpur, Potsangbam and Ningthoukhong, I really needed to supplement my Home made Burmese Pagoda with a Hindu Temple from Manipuri state. Here it is. I designed it and Warbases laser cut it from MDF.