"Converting "Downtown" Boardgame" Topic

Has anyone converted or attempted to convert the "Downtown" board game to a tabletop game with miniatures?

I'm thinking of doing it with 1/600 aircraft, but don't want to spend tons of time doing a conversation if someone else has already do so and is willing to share.

Dan

I've thought about it, and I do recall seeing a blog out there where a fella was playing the game, but with minis instead of flats (how close is that?).

Other than that, Thud Ridge, from Wings At War (via Tumbling Dice) is a great set of rules for VN air war. I enjoy it quite a bit.

I'd be interested if anyone has tried this. I'm looking for a game a step 'up' from tactical level air combat games and this one seems to fit the picture. More a theater commander than a fighter pilot type of game.

Their other game, "The Burning Blue" also seems like a good one to convert and recreate on the tabletop (deals with the Battle of Britain).

Dan

Dan, you could easily convert it into a hex mat with miniatures game as the terrain doesn't mean much in that system. The only important things that you will need are miniatures for the jets, SAM sites, and various radars, then everything else can just use the game counters.

Downtown is an excellent game, but it's not for the meek. I've played several two player games and even some of the average scenarios take a good 7-8 hours to set up and play. Each game has been a rewarding experience, but there is a LOT to do each turn and I'm not sure how it would work with group play.

Also, look out for Elusive Victory coming out this fall, which takes the Downtown system to the Arab-Israeli Wars.

I urge you to give Thud Ridge a try based on your comment. You can setup a game and play it within 3 hours.

It involves deciding what your strike package will be (including escort), the ECM and anti-SAM setup, target recon, refueling, and the like.

Enemy forces, targets, and victory conditions are generated based upon the strike package. I've had some real nail-biting games, let me tell you!

Give this website a gander, the owner plays both games and has some AARs.

link

Darby E, know of any reviews of "Thud Ridge"? Anyone sell it in the states?

Dan

If Darby E cannot provide you with the name of a US retailer for Thud Ridge I would recommend Tumbling Dice in the UK. I live in the US and have ordered many times from TD, including the Thud Ridge rules twice since I left my first set in a hotel room while traveling. TD has always been prompt. Someone posted a while back that they were having trouble contacting TD but I have never had any commo problems with them. Got my last order about a month ago.

Al

Dan, I think it comes down to time. Thud Ridge will play much quicker than Downtown, but I think that Downtown does a great job of letting the U.S. side pre-plan ingress, egress, the various parts of the strike package, jamming, etc. . Of course the trade off is time spent and only you and your fellow gamers can make that choice.

Dan-

Brookhurst Hobbies carries the TD stuff. I think they may have the rules.

-Mike

brookhursthobbies.com

Brookhurst does carry the TD range but hasn't got the info uploaded to their new site yet. I called and placed an order with Larry there. Robert

My Yahoo 1/600th scale Wargaming Group
link

I bought Thud Ridge from Brookhurst. An easy to learn set of rule that is similar but not as detailed as Downtown.

Dan,
I've emailed you off list about the Downtown conversion to minis and given you write access.

I have both rule sets and put reviews of both on the link that Darby posted.

Agree with all the posts above. the scenarios in Downtown drive playing time (obviously). Raids into Hanoi take longer than an alpha strike into Haiphong. If you can do the set up and raid generation in advance then it plays a lot quicker but is a couple of hours work before hand (but then again most scenario based games do so this is really no different). I am building a scenario generator (paper only) to do the table set up for each year so you have the SAM locations all done.

Thud Ridge is normally a quicker game and as both sides choose their forces in private and have to achieve their own assymetric victory conditions. It can be quick or you could be there all evening (you can have forces entering on differing turns, hidden SAMs etc, large raid needs lots of hits on targets plus SAR etc)

Si

Curious to know what you've done with this, Dan. I'm having similar thoughts…

I'm torn about this. i like the idea, and getting Downtown just for games at the club seems like a good idea, but I'm not sure about how it works out in practice.

If i were to go down this road, i would probably want to produce a smaller section of the one half of map(s)area and create a larger "tactical" map based on a smaller area of the Downtown map. I particularly liked two pictures on the Yahoo 1:600 airgroup by "Grove" of a large Vietnem map. That is the sort of thing i would like to do. I am not sure how feasible it iwould be to marry up the two systems at this kind of level.

Actually, having examined the Downtown map more carefully, i think what i suggested is actually what other people have done. My mistake to misinterpret their efforts. Its a good idea.

Apologies for resurrecting this old post but….

Dan Cyr and I have moved on a bit from the initial discussions about both the conversion of Down Town to miniatures and also taking ideas from Down Town and Elusive Victory and applying them to the Thud Ridge rules set.

The level of discussion is into the weeds now and those of you (some are participants already) who started us on this route and invited

link

to keep developing the theme. We will post back onto TMP regular updates as to progress and keep it above the "try 2 inches and not 4, roll a D20 and not a D10" type discussions that we anticipate having in the ideas stage.

Si Tyler

Cool, keep it up. I'm looking into this myself. Please do keep us posted.

I wouldn't convert Downtown to miniatures. I'd use it to play the mission – and play some of the engagements using miniatures.

@Number 6 – Would you care to expand on your comments with some reasoning please.

Generally there is no reason why it wouldn't convert and in fact have played it quite happily with selected scenarios.

The whole remit about this project is that after the DRV have set up the defences you then select the target and then transfer the game to the available Table Top which in our case is a 6 x 4 table with 2" squares allowing over 60% of RP6 area to be played using the DT game mechanics.

Si