"Do we need a board for skirmish 1;1 gaming?" Topic

The OFM wants a board for gladiators, and I endorse that, but of course that is the ultimate 1:1 skirmish. Obviously many historical periods, and infinite fantasy and scifi, allow "skirmish" games which I am here defining as one miniature represents one fighter and can move independently. I think there are a number of factors that are common to cavemen and to medieval knights and to my Comanches and rangers, when operating as individuals rather than as rank and file within a formed unit. I think a board for such period-spanning considerations would be useful.

As an example, in a skirmish do you have states between fully functional and dead-right-there? Do you have casualty figures or markers for wounds, and do leg wounds differ from arm wounds: one can fight but not walk, the other the reverse. If each side fields only a dozen fighters, it is not unthinkable to have several miniatures for each; many players have a mounted and a dismounted version of the same individual, and now with 3d printing it is not inconceivable to have one or several wounded miniatures of each individual.

I don't think I asked for that…🙄🤷

The problem here is that you would need such a board for every single period.

There is already a vast multitude of boards that can be used for discussing skirmish gaming (amongst other topics). From the top of my head, I could mention:

1.) Game design

TMP link

2.) Wargaming in general

TMP link

3.) Historical wargaming in general

TMP link

And on top of that there are the period/genre specific boards, for those who want to discuss skirmish in a particular setting (e.g. historical gladiator skirmish gaming would probably best fit to ancient boards).

Yes you did!

And no, as I indicated, I think there are important questions in rules design and game play that transcend historical period (or fantasy and scifi). I offered one above about wounded figures.

Here's another: how does GROUP leadership and morale work when each fighter moves independently -- and typically when each fighter is focused ion the nearest enemy trying kill him and vice versa, with little broader situational awareness"? There are various mechanisms for this, often in period-specific rules, which may well work as well or better in other periods and game settings.

What I actually said was

I did also have some topless female gladiators. Sadly there is no Gladiator Board to cross post to.

It was meant as sarcasm. Which doesn't translate well without the appropriate emojis.
I am slowly coming around to the lament of CS, who said "More Boards. Lovely."

I have had quite a few gladiator rules. They were as tedious as Great War Biplane rules where one takes 5 minutes to plot a 1 second real time move.
And, please. Don't ask AI to write Gladiator rules, or even 1:1 rules.

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And, please. Don't ask AI to write Gladiator rules
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Oh.

Oh, no.

That's perfect. That's the perfect idea. I was trying to think of a genre to experiment with AI generated rules. And this is perfect. Because you're right. We all have a few of these rules. Your guy walks up to the other guy and you roll dice and lose hit points and that's it. The designers try to put in some clever bits, but it always turns out the same.

But maybe AI can think of something to break that bottleneck.

I'm only sorry that you specifically asked us not to do it (and I don't blame you) but this might be a great test case.

Melee from SJ Games, which is now a free download, is a spectacular set of rules that makes 1:1 fighting very interesting indeed. But it's not quite a set of minis rules.

Sorry for the hijack.

Do we need a need a 1:1 aka Gladiator board? Why not. More boards give us more choice over filtering our home page, right?

John, yes, I am struggling now (as you know) with buffalo hunting rules because it boils down to a few skill-based die rolls without meaningful tactical decisions. So you are likely correct about gladiators.

However, I WILL accept the challenge on behalf of GROK. I'm learning the system, and having a blast doing so, and this will be a good test.

And yes, sarcasm is hard to spot without tone of voice or an emoji. I thought you had a pretty good idea.

Andrew, I'm going to go for it! Stay tuned.

Actually, I like the idea of a 1 to 1 skirmish board. It could be for all periods. But doubt it will fly.

Grattan, thank you. We shall see.

And everyone, I just posted GROK's first cut at Gladiator rules. NOT a finished product, but a first cut and an illustration of how I use the AI tool.

Doc, follow the format. Since it's too late to add it yourself, hit the [!], on me preferably, 😄 and ask Dear Editor to cross post to Poll Suggestions.
That's what we Cool Kids do.

Do it for Gladiators too. And, let's settle for 30 "Yes, I would support this" instead of complaining when it's voted down.

the ultimate 1:1 skirmish

Proper 1:1 scale skirmish in 1:1 scale is called "re-enactment"…

We need a board to discuss boards. (Apparently.)