I recently received an email from a blog reader who was very interested in the development of my portable wargame. In his email he posed a particularly thought-provoking question; Although he could see why I had started with the otherwise disused and discarded chessboard as the basis for my game and rules at the beginning of the process, he wanted to know why I had continued to confine myself to the eight squares by eight squares of a chessboard as I had developed the concept. This question started me thinking … and here are my thoughts.
Firstly, it is a challenge to design something that will fit – and work – within a confined space. I must admit that when I started, I thought that it would be a simple matter to use Joseph Morschauser’s ‘Frontier’ wargames rules ‘as is’ for my portable wargame. After all, they had been written for a tabletop divided into a twelve square by twelve square grid of 3-inch squares. Admittedly, the chessboard only had 64 squares as opposed to the 144 squares of the original, but I thought that I could work with that restriction … and I found that it was possible … just. When I then decided to give Units armed with firearms the ability to engage enemy Units that were not in orthogonally adjacent squares, the necessary changes did require a bit more developmental work than I had expected, but the end result still worked.
Secondly, if you can develop a games system that will work within the confines of a small eight squares by eight squares grid, it should work with a grid that has a larger number of squares. All the larger space adds to the game is either more space to manoeuvre within or the ability to field more Units.
Thirdly, I already had some experience – albeit limited – of developing wargames that worked within the confines of an eight squares by eight squares chessboard. I gained this experience when I assisted Richard Brooks in the creation of SOLFERINO IN THIRTY MINUTES. Richard used a chessboard to develop his game mechanisms – with a bit of assistance from me – and I turned his design ideas into public participation game that was put on by Wargame Developments at SALUTE in 2009.
Firstly, it is a challenge to design something that will fit – and work – within a confined space. I must admit that when I started, I thought that it would be a simple matter to use Joseph Morschauser’s ‘Frontier’ wargames rules ‘as is’ for my portable wargame. After all, they had been written for a tabletop divided into a twelve square by twelve square grid of 3-inch squares. Admittedly, the chessboard only had 64 squares as opposed to the 144 squares of the original, but I thought that I could work with that restriction … and I found that it was possible … just. When I then decided to give Units armed with firearms the ability to engage enemy Units that were not in orthogonally adjacent squares, the necessary changes did require a bit more developmental work than I had expected, but the end result still worked.
Secondly, if you can develop a games system that will work within the confines of a small eight squares by eight squares grid, it should work with a grid that has a larger number of squares. All the larger space adds to the game is either more space to manoeuvre within or the ability to field more Units.
Thirdly, I already had some experience – albeit limited – of developing wargames that worked within the confines of an eight squares by eight squares chessboard. I gained this experience when I assisted Richard Brooks in the creation of SOLFERINO IN THIRTY MINUTES. Richard used a chessboard to develop his game mechanisms – with a bit of assistance from me – and I turned his design ideas into public participation game that was put on by Wargame Developments at SALUTE in 2009.
A photograph of Richard Brooks' SOLFERINO IN THIRTY MINUTES game under development ... using a chessboard for the playing area.
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