"Communicating with your fellow commanders in a wargame" Topic

Any wargame scenario with multiple players on a side raises the question of communication. What rules, if any, goven communication among commanders during a wargame in your club?

(a) We allow verbal orders and discussions with no limitations among commanders.
(b) We permit the passing of hand-written notes only. No game-related verbal communication permitted.
(c) We use hand-written notes that must be carried by horse/vehicle to another commander (thus it may take a turn or more to communicate with possibility of message being lost).
(d) Some other method __________________.

(a)

All of the above.

Anything but (a) is too much like work.

(A) That's half the fun of the game,listening to your opponents panic while trying to decide what to do NOW!!!

(A) only if the Figures are base to base..otherwise .depends on the time period.My favorite is hand written notes .somebody always gets it wrong.

Usually just A.

However I have participated in games where absolute chaos erupted because…

1. Game period takes place before radios were invented. All messages must be hand delivered by courier and the speed it is delivered is based on how fast the actual courier miniature can move. By the time orders have arrived events have rendered the orders irrelevant but they still have to be carried out…

2. Period takes place when radios were invented however only one person can talk per turn otherwise the frequency is jammed with people walking all over each other's transmissions and no orders can be issued.

I like (C) for pretty much anything pre-ACW.
I like (B) for ACW through WWI.
From then on (A) is fine.

But games normally just become (A) anyways.

We played an internal security game where the players could talk to each other openly and privately if their figures were in contact. Or they could talk on the telephone if their figures were in buildings. However the Secret Police character got to go listen in to their private conversation.

Otherwise they could talk openly over the board and everyone got to hear them.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
bunkermeister.blogspot.com

One of the best systems I've seen is where a team can talk freely among themselves, but only during the other team's move.

So if the other team took more time, you got more coordination time.

And as you can't talk during your turn, each unit's move doesn't become work-shopped by committee.

For practical reasons we allow a team to ask if adjacent units have already been moved by another team mate.

regards

David F Brown

a, b, c, d – It depends on the timbre of the game.

Other methods:

- A formatted "order sheet". This method restricts the form and content of inter-commander communication. It creates an artificial pressure on C2 as a surrogate (not replication) for the real pressures of fog/friction in communicating during combat.

- Two Minutes in Hell. The parallel of Seven Minutes in Heaven, commanders go into the kitchen to whisper to (or possibly at) each other for the duration of a two minute egg timer.

- TweetCom. Each player gets a single private/group 140 character text message per turn. Just another artificial pressure. And you can't verbally coordinate who will text whom in what order or when.

- I Can Hear You. Similar to TweetCom, but I wrote a reflector server (basically, you text to the thing and it forwards to your group for you) that would randomly "intercept" some messages and pass them to random members of the other side. Players were not allowed to discuss or show the intercepted messages; you had to distro that information in your own message. It would also send "canards" (empty messages) to the other side to make player think their message was intercepted and there was event driven delay so the intercepted message might not be the last one sent. The reflect would also randomly redact/scramble/inject context relevant garbage into either direct or intercepted messages.

- Trivial Pursuits. Answer a genre-specific trivia question posed by the opposing side to get five minutes of open collaboration (including whispering/writing bits).

- Splice the Mainbrace.

Unless a player is new to the game system, we don't allow any "table talk" whatsoever. Of course we talk, ask questions, laugh and joke around, but absolutely no talk of same side tactics or planning…UNLESS both general figures are in contact, although written messages – given by tabletop messengers that must reach the general's figure – are allowed.

In one SYW battle (which I sadly missed), one subordinate general flagrantly disregarded the Royal Prince CinC's written orders. Now, the subordinate player did so, because he saw a fleeting opportunity and took it, with the result that his side won the battle. However, during the highly successful rout of the enemy flank, a message arrived from the Prince, telling the disobedient commander to meet him on the field of honour after the battle. The figures did so, shots rang out and the victorious but rebellious military genius was killed! (ie – they rolled off; he rolled lower).

There was one naval game we played set in the Napoleonic period, where players could only communicate using coloured ensigns. (Well, cards that the admiral would wave frantically about hoping players would notice his orders. If memory serves, bought them from Wargames Vault).