"Using cube markers for Optio" Topic

This is a new system that requires only four kinds of cubes. Details on the Optio blog (which also contains posts on how Optio works).

Cube markers BTW would work well for other gaming systems. A cube has six sides. Each side has four edges of which the active edge faces the figure stand, so you have a maximum of 24 states for the stand/unit. Lots of possible nuancing there….

Very nice and I enjoyed my visit to your blog!

Thanks ou boetie. We must get together and play some time.

Cubes would work for many systems. I keep blank d6 in stock.
I personally have used d4 pyramid dice for years to count casualties or determine recovery time since they have numbers on them.

Cubes would work for many systems. I keep blank d6 in stock.

Good use for D6. Easy to stick labels on them.

I buy wood cubes from the craft store. 1/2" or 3/4" work well and I can make custom cube markers quickly and easily. I too sell blank d6 but the wood cubes are far cheaper.

Great idea EC. I need more for play testing games. Thanks.

I use tiny beads marked as dice (die). The holes for the stringing counts as 1, 2 to 5 are standard, but no 6. Great for indicating any number up to 5, use two for 6 to 10, etc.

One comment, you can stick magnetic sheet to itself so you don't need tin sheet with all the hassle of cutting same. This, I'd suggest, is quicker and easier than cubes.

@Extra Crispy

I buy wood cubes from the craft store. 1/2" or 3/4" work well and I can make custom cube markers quickly and easily. I too sell blank d6 but the wood cubes are far cheaper.

I bought plastic cubes online for feathers, but wooden cubes are fine. Tell me how you find the rules. ;-)

@Mark J Wilson

One comment, you can stick magnetic sheet to itself so you don't need tin sheet with all the hassle of cutting same. This, I'd suggest, is quicker and easier than cubes.

Only problem with that is that magnetic sheeting is magnetised in north-south-north-south strips, which means one strip will stick to another aligned only one way, and when you move one strip along another against the magnetisation it tends to jump intervals. Fine if you want one strip to just stick to another without moving, but not much good for counters that are supposed to rotate in 90 degree increments.

At the end of the day making up magnetic counters with metal sheet underbases produces the best result for a bit more work.

@TimePortal

Great idea EC. I need more for play testing games. Thanks.

Playtest mine!

@ Bolingar Fair point; if I could concentrate enough I might work out a 2D solution that didn't need rotation but that's not going to happen while I have long covid.

Bolingbrook there should be a number of factors to consider before establishing a system.
First of all what era does your rules cover?
The photo shows Ancients but I was not sure.
Is the combat season use d6 or d10? I chose d4 as markers since the pyramid is easy to distinguish as play aid. Are your dice have special coded sides?
Does your system reduce paperwork?

@TimePortal
Optio is good for any time period up to the end of the Middle Ages since it adapts the troop types of other rulesets' army lists for use in the Optio system. I have about 35 different Optio troop types to which those lists are converted.

Optio doesn't use dice for combat – combat resolution is automatic. D6 however are used to determine if generals or commanders are wounded.

All bookkeeping in on the battlefield using the cubes. No off-table paperwork at all.

Sounds interesting especially to a guy like me. Lol.
Having worked with Slitherine on army listed for several of the supplements for Fog of Glory. I also did lists for Mighty Armies by Rebel Games. Plus I had a number published on the Magweb back in the 1990s on hard to find armies for Popular rules of the time.

I will ask the main Ancient-Medieval tournament group in the Gulf South, if they have seen them.

@TimePortal
Interesting occupation. :-) How did you draw up the lists – a lot of reading of history books?

Would you like to have a look at the rules? The ruleset isn't published yet as I feel it needs a bit more playtesting and player input. I also need to do the conversions of the army lists of all major rulesets. I've done DBA, DBM, Triumph and am working on ADLG. Essentially it just consists of converting troop types.

Yes, I have taught history in high school and at colleges but my research preference is military history. Lol, I even got a degree in Military Science when I went to college. So research has been easier but my big flaw is the lack of a foreign language though reading them can be ok. For FoG my main supplement was the one on the Americas but I did contribute to the Far East, Korea, Burma, Siam. And I did some lists in Lost Scrolls. A number of Asian and African lists.

Mighty Armies was both historical and fantasy armies. The articles were a little of this and that. I agree that most of the effort is in troop unit determination with tactical use being an influence.

In the USA when applying for a copyright, you need to list all of the worked that influenced you. Not sure about where you are. Slitherine took care of the FoG copyrights.

The current rules of choice by the Ancient tournament play group is ADLG.
I am revising a few rules and a Space version using small forces. So there will not be a problem looking at.
scottnelson@bellsouth.net

@TimePortal
I'm in Durban, South Africa. I did some military research myself on military formations in Antiquity and published a book on the topic. I implemented my research into the rules, for example the fact that battlelines never wheeled in Antiquity (or at any other time in history) but formed column if they wished to change orientation.

I'll email you to continue the discussion. Ta for your interest. :-)