"Do you transpose battles and scenarios..." Topic

…to other periods and genres? As an example I am taking a modern scenario that was for NATO vs WarPac and pushing it forward into a futuristic science fiction setting. Or taking something even further such as say the Battle of the Little Big Horn and using the tactical set up and terrain for a completely different era?

Our club recently did that as part of Army SLPD exercise we helped run. We took the battle of Quatre Bras and re-fought it simultaneously in 6 different eras, modifying the OOBs when necessary to take in to account historical differences. We did Medieval (WotR), Napoleonic, American Civil War, WWI, , WWII, and the '73 Arab-Israeli War. None of the participants were told which was the actual correct period until after the conclusion of the games.
For more info and photos, see my blog:

link

I've not done that yet, but another wargaming friend has done so for our group.

It is an interesting concept and should serve to add some excitement to a club or convention game.

Chris – Sounds like y'all had a great time with the games.

Jim

Depends on what you're trying to transpose. It's certainly something that can be done in stages. Simply renaming/replacing the participants and renaming the geographic features goes a long way.

Going beyond that, you can replace capabilities with similar (or very different ones), depending on your setting. For example, in one of the Hammer's Slammer's stories, the indigenous aliens have the ability to teleport. That's a good replacement for the Viet Cong's seeming ability to "disappear" from one engagement and "reappear" elsewhere.

We did Gettysburg with French and Austrians…

We sure did, ColCampbell! It was a really fun, and added enjoyment because it was the first miniatures wargame for many of the participants.

@OP: Little Big Horn was pulled on me exactly like that. I had a crusader force, and the "Indians" were all Turkish cavalry. I didn't fall for it though, and high tailed it out of there before I could go too far and get mobbed….

I ran a Little Big Horn game using French Foreign Legion vs Arabs. The result was a historic one. Even Major Renior was hunkered down in a defensive position while the rest were getting chopped up.

The response from the players at the end after they were told which battle they had just fought was, "Oh yeah, now I see it!"

Yes.

Frequently.

It's easy for spaceship gaming. I did a Starfleet Wars campaign based on the hunt for the Bismarck.

Major Renoir

I see what you did there. Perfect. :)

I have done many battles that way. Oddly, I almost never fight a battle in its real era.

There was a fairly recent thread on this very topic around here somewhere. Never done it myself but it seems like a popular idea and a good way to change things up.

-Will

I think I have played the "Battle of Rorke's Drift" with well over 30+ different periods and genres :) also so many other battles I would not even try to count them.

Tin Dictator that was brilliant. Chris I went to the blog post and wow that was a fantastic set of games you guys put on. Kudos!

I think one reason this idea has appeal is at some point in time you might have wanted to game say Rorke's Drift , or Waterloo, or as DesertScrb stated the Hunt for the Bismarck, but you did not own or collect that period. However, you were curious about the battle dynamics and wanted to see how it could turn out. The Quatra Bras example that Chris' group did is a fantastic example of this can be accomplished. It is kind of interesting to see if regardless of technology are the same tactical situations still relevant?

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the post.

I love transposing scenarios…Did it a lot for Sci-Fi and CBT scenarios I ran. And for historicals, believe me, for every well known battle there is…there's two or three lesser known engagements that probably closely model the well-known one.

All the time.

Some battles – Quatre Bras, Gettysburg etc – will not work unless you disguise them.

I haven't personally but I've read quite a few scenarios that seemed suspiciously like another historical battle.
Always good fun and I think it's a fun idea.

I have used the Bunshop Renaissance Scenarios for ancients and Napoleonic.

All the time. Period to period. History to fiction. Fiction to history.

Yes. I try to keep the scenarios within broad periods though, and within limits, use the same or similar troop types.

I had a PM for some elaboration on what I said, so let's take the 49 Ronin scenario. Historical Medieval Japanese warfare. But if we abstract what is going on:

- Small team of expert warriors
- Surprise attack
- Large number of average soldiers led by a few battle hardened senior soldiers (NCOs, if you will)
- Large palace area with civilians
- The goal is kill the noble (revenge)
- The noble is hiding in with the civilians
- Killing civilians is frowned upon
- Killing soldiers en masse is not necessary

Written this way, there's nothing particularly Medieval Japan about this. It's a lot of fun in many settings, including its original and its original with historically plausible what-ifs (ronin defecting, fewer ronin, better soldiers, more area, easier terrain, surprise characters, etc.).

I have heard of someone playing Little Big Horn with the British and the Zulus, which sounds like an interesting game.

ACW Market Garden. Started with 2 bridges having been captured by flying columns of cavalry.