"Never Say Die: Miniatures Wargaming in the Time of COVID-19" Topic

I went in with low expectations but left very pleasantly surprised by how much fun I had with one of my fellow Scrum Club mates playing a game of Battlesystem "virtually" today using streaming video via Facebook.

Read my thoughts about my this novel experience and the Battlesystem rules at my blog, Scrum in Miniature:

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COOL! Only don't think you really have to be that afraid of the Corvid 19 virus! a few years ago, I started buying, and painting 15mm mostly so that I can play the Battlesystem rules with my boy, while his friends get old enought to play AD&D.

Seems like a cool concept of wargaming via the web. Please tell how did that experience work?

I would think too a game like To the Strongest, which uses a grid, would be especially suited to this kind of thing. I could set up my own table or, in a pinch, make a little paper map with counters. Then I can call out my moves like Battleship:

Move the light horse in B7 to B8 then B9

I agree that setting up a grid system, would be much easier to call out your moves. That way the remote user would be able to convey their moves in a rough manner, while the camera would allow them to tweak their moves, for the finer movements. The player at the table will need to do all of the work, as well as clarifying any movement/rule limitations apparent on the table, but not so apparent from the camera's view.

Thanks for sharing your experience with remote gaming. I've been considering this for my RPG sessions, with the COVID-19 crap. Cheers!

…the remote user would be able to convey their moves in a rough manner, while the camera would allow them to tweak their moves, for the finer movements. The player at the table will need to do all of the work, as well as clarifying any movement/rule limitations apparent on the table, but not so apparent from the camera's view.

What you described is pretty much how it worked out without a grid. In this style of play you just have to be forgiving and patient. Power gamers and the uber-competitive need not apply. But that's not who I ever game with anyway, so it works out just fine.

Personally, I dont think the grid would really be needed, I cant understand all the bickering people do over a measely 1/4" during movement in certain popular games. The reality is, a army commander gives commands like "forward marche", " halt", "to the left march", "to the right marches", "about face", "charge", Other similar commands would be orders to "Advance towards the enemy unit with the red flag", or s"tand your ground and fire" or "take that hill over yonder" Fog of war you know, chaos of battle. When the 2 armies collide, then the battle takes place.

@Albus Malum: Yep, that's basically how it played out. I would say something like "Move my unit of orc spearmen their full movement toward the dwarf unit" or "Move my unit of trolls behind the building for cover." We really didn't need that kind of precision most of the time. If there was some question that required a bit more detail, I'd just ask my friend to move the camera around so that I could see the situation better, and then give him more specific instructions. Again, it was a friendly game…we just wanted to learn the rules and have some fun together knocking our armies into one another.

One of the things I really like about battlesystem ( and I am not a expert and have relatively few games under my belt) is that Battlesytem has a built in Monster list from a long played game, which allows relatively easy addition of just about any monster, or soldier from just about any setting you could imagine. You can design just about any army list you could imagine. Medieval vs Medieval- no problem, Medieval vs orc with summoned demons, no problem. The stats all exist, along with any issues or problems with most monsters from decades of AD&D play. One could even easily add boothill vs (name your army), no problem. Because of how vast AD&D is, there is SO many resources to draw from.

It is easy to make up monsters and rate them, so then it is easy to figure point for creating a battlesystem army. Can unbalanced armies be created using point? sure it can, but no system is immune.

THere are dozens of premade AD&D worlds you can choose to wargame in, from Greyhawk, to LOtR, to the real historical world we live in. Battlesystem works for it all.

The rules are simple enough to play, yet complex enough to cover such a broad spectrum play.

Albus, Bibliophile: my purpose in suggesting the grid is that, shooting from the hip, I thought it would speed up, and simplify, moves. I was thinking in terms of Chess, basically: "Queen's Bishop to King's Rook 4." I, too, do not like rules lawyers, nor the hyper-competitive players. They suck the fun out of the game, for me. Anything to make moves faster, though, is keen for me.

After reading Bibliophile's comments about movement, it might not be necessary to have a grid. I suspect, however, that if I were the remote player, the grid would come in handy for plotting my moves, and my tactics. I am very tempted to give remote gaming a try, after reading this, though.

Albus, you are correct about the BattleSystem rules being adaptable, and that they have such a broad palette of opponents to choose from. It is, IMO, a brilliant game system. I wish more fantasy gamers, and D&D players, would have a chance to try it out. I've been playing it for more than 25 years, and it is still an absolute blast! Cheers!

For online play, a grid or hex system, if numbered would allow both players to have a setup of the various armies to help both to be able to visualize distance, even if one player didnt have complete armies, but only a marker for something like a leader.

In any case though, the cool part is that people are still enjoying this game after all of these years. And for wargaming with my boy, it is my goto game:)