It's generally not a great idea to tinker with rules but there have been a couple of things bugging me about my Muskets & Marshals rule set that I felt needed looking at. This is mainly the morale and melee factors for 'disordered' units and 'melee losers'.
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| I set-up a small game to try out my amendments. Goya would say that such things should be trialled on a spreadsheet and he's probably right but I do like to see the figures on the table. |
If you have played the rules then you will know that it is very difficult for a unit that loses the first round of melee to win the second round because of the cumulative effect of these two factors. So I have been experimenting with toning things down a bit to give a less predictable result.
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| I'm also taking a look at fighting in buildings because I have an idea to try a small Dresden type game next year and there will have to be buildings in that. |
I am concious though, that in the context of an eight-turn game where infantry melees only tend to happen in the last couple of moves, a dramatic result may not be a bad idea. At this stage the jury is still out.
I was taking a look at the weather for next week and thinking it may be wise to move my acrylic paints (and the PVA tube!) out of the cabin and into the house so I don't have a repeat of last year's calamity.
11 comments:
I will be interested in your final thoughts.
My own thought process would be that once you start to lose a melee it is very difficult to get the initiative back (unless you are replaying a Hollywood movie).
I'd say it's high time to move the painting bench to winter quarters. There could be a worse catastrophe than frozen glue!
Like Matt I think once a unit is losing a melee it is hard for them to win, interesting to see where your thought process goes with this. Aye it is indeed time to think about taking in perishables into the house, I was thinking similar thoughts myself this week!
Yes, I’m sure you’re right Matt it’s just about ensuring the game is balanced. In reality there weren’t all that many melees in Napoleonic warfare as one or other side tended to collapse but where’s the fun in that!
Thanks Bob, time to circle the wagons!
My thinking process has already gone around in circles (several times) but we’ll see where it lands!
Do keep us all posted on your changes. I suspect the root of the issue is that you only roll a single average die for morale so have a small (4) number of die results that is easily overwhelmed by a couple of modifiers. Personally, I prefer to have less variance in the combat and shooting and allow a wilder variation for luck in morale, but that's just a personal preference. If you did go that way then rolling 2D6 (which would make D6 the only dice used in the rules) is the obvious way to go but you would have to rework the scores on your morale outcome table.
Rob, I use the average die because it was used in the old London Wargames Section rules but I think the actual procedure there was roll 1 x ave die +2. I must check that. You are right though as only 4 possible outcomes is a bit limiting.
I've given this an unusual amount of reflection, running into minutes. I think Rob has hit the nail. You know how much I like to carp about rules, but I think the current balance is right in a game that will never go more than 8 rounds. I suspect that if you change the already minimal advantage of the previous winners, there will be unintended consequences.
Hi Ian. Where might one download a copy of M&M please? A friend has a contact who is interested so I might be able to get a game. Good to see that you are still tinkering!
Roy
'Unintended consequences' that sounds ominous Nigel, better not change anything then! Actually the more I've looked into it the less I am inclined to change things (too much)...
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