Advanced Squad Leader became obsessed with detail, systems and subsystems covering everything from Panji sticks to riding a motorcycle through a cactus patch and yet for all the masses of chapters and rules there is no chapter for command and control and all human response is reduced to one single element – morale.
I think one question to ask of any wargame or rules is whether the theme is a slave to the system, or whether the system is determined by the theme.
In the former the theme (ie the history) is almost irrelevant it's all about the game, the theme is simply a veneer to give the game some character and colour. To judge the game or rules there is no point comparing it to the actual historical events portrayed by theme, the game is best judged purely for its ludic qualities.
In the latter we can use the history to judge how well the game mechanics reflect the theme the game represents. That will depend much on what the reviewer values in game mechanics, such things as degrees of abstraction, playability, complexity but also whether it feels right to them.
A simple example. In a game about warfare that relied on voice control I need a mechanism to reflect orders sent by messenger from the commander to subordinates. I do my research and discover that for a host of reasons only about 50% of messages ever got to the intended recipient. I could handle this several ways, one could be to determine all the different types of messages and carriers, how fast they could move and all the problems they could face. When a player wants to send a message we track the messenger and have mechanisms to see how well the message travels – charts, special events, dierolls, incremental movements, all keeping in mind to be reasonably historical only about 1/2 the message should arrive.
Alternatively I keep this simple. The player nominates the unit the commander is messaging and rolls a D6 to see if the message arrived. On a 4,5 or 6 it's successful and the unit responds.
Both mechanics would work and both reflect a historically accurate chance of success. Which is better? Surely that depends on what you are looking for and what you think is important.
