"Wargaming "Calvin-ball" in 15mm...any ideas" Topic

Being slow at the office today, I pulled a 'Calvin & Hobbs' book from out of the lobby and openned to a "Calvin-ball" cartoon. After reading I thought to myself "self, that would make for a fun miniatures game concept. what are you going to do about it?" so here I am asking…

so far the only "rule" is that the major powers be Hobbsia & Calvingovina; there is minor power named Suzielovakia, but nobody likes it very much…

We played a full-scale version of Calvin-ball at a company picnic a few years ago. We all brought every piece of sports equipment we had, made up rules on the fly, and it was a blast. We broke a bat, a tennis racket, and several badminton rackets hitting heavy basketballs, footballs, and volleyballs.

My team won, or at least we argued that we won, and that's what counts. Hah!

Bill Watterson never licensed Calvin & Hobbes, so getting appropriate "wargame" figures in any scale is going to be tough. (So, yeah, all those crude decals and T-shirts of Calvin tinkling on Ford or Chevy are illegal.)

No rules, just right…

"so far the only 'rule' is that the major powers be Hobbsia & Calvingovina; there is minor power named Suzielovakia, but nobody likes it very much…"</I>

That's the starting rule, but you have to make the rest up once the figures are on the table!

I win as I'm wearing my dancing banana-proof smoking jacket!

1. Have players write up reasonable (or otherwise) rules on cards before play commences.

2. Shuffle and draw these rules randomly.

3. A player may contest a rule at any time by moving one of his figures toward an opponent and starting a scuffle. If he wins, he must make up a new rule on the spot.

My two cents.

Calvin-Ball rules already exist! They're called Matrix Games by Chris Engle. link

If you want rules that reflect some flavor of mini-ness, then Coelacanth's idea should work.

It sounds a little bit like 1000 Blank White Cards.

link

Make cards as follows:

3 cards for each "ball" (so 3 baseball cards, 3 basketball cards, and so on)
3 cards for each "bat"
3 cards for each piece of "equipment"
1 card for each flag
1 card for each base
2 or 3 cards for each scenic element – tree, bush, top of hill, stream
Lots of cards for special rules: Run backwards (half movement), sing the "I Am Great" song (lose 1 turn), tag the nearest player (move toward nearest player), pick argument with nearest player (move toward nearest player then both players lose next turn), spot bee (run full move in random direction), spot horsefly (head toward stream and jump in if you reach it – lose next turn), throw item at nearest player, make up a new rule, swap 2nd base for 5th base, things like that. (I'll have to read my old C&H books for more ideas.)

Players set up their "child" or "toy" minis and their flags randomly around the board. (The minis and flags do not have to be next to each other.) Scatter the "ball", "bat", and "equipment" tokens randomly around the board, too.

The first player draws a card and either moves toward the item pictured or performs the action.

o If he draws an item ("ball", "bat", or "equipment") he moves his maximum movement (maybe 8 inches?) toward the item. When he reaches it, he picks it up and puts the card on the discard pile. If he has any movement left, he heads toward 1st base. So, if the item was 5 inches away, he moves to it, picks it up, then moves 3 inches toward 1st base.

o If the card shows a scenic element, the player moves toward the element. When he reaches it, if he has any movement left, he can use that movement to move in a direction of his choosing.

o If the card shows a flag, the player moves toward the flag. If he reaches the flag, he picks it up and heads toward 1st base with any remaining movement. (A player can carry both an item and a flag at the same time, but only one item or one flag at the same time.) The player who owns the flag must move toward the first player on the flag-owner's next turn, and must continue moving toward the first player until he either reaches him, or until the first player drops the flag. If the flag-owner reaches the first player, the turn immediately ends as they fight over the flag – roll a die, high roll wins. The winner gets the flag.

- If the flag-owner wins, he immediately drops the flag (short attention span) and on their next turns both he and the first player can either continue moving or draw new cards.

- If the first player wins, he hangs onto the flag (and the item he's carrying, if any) and on his next turn he can either continue moving or draw a new card. The flag-owner must continue to chase the first player until he either wins the flag back, or until the first player drops the flag.

Then the second player draws a card, and so on around the table. When it's the first player's turn again, he can either keep moving toward 1st base (or the helmet, if he hasn't reached it yet) or draw another card.

o If he chooses to keep moving and reaches 1st base, he immediately drops the item (and the flag, if he's carrying one), draws a new card, and either performs the action or uses any remaining movement to move toward the item.

o If he chose to draw a new card, he either performs the action or, if it is an item, he immediately drops the item (and the flag, if he's carrying one) and heads toward the new item. (It's a good idea to draw a new card if you're on one side of the field and the item you're after is on the other.)

When the first player reaches the second item that he draws, he picks it up and heads for 2nd base, and so on until he reaches home plate. The winner!

Meanwhile, if another player draws an item that another player is already carrying, that player moves toward the other player. If he reaches the other player, the turn immediately ends as they fight over the item – use rock, paper, scissors. The winner gets the item, and the loser draws a new card at the beginning of his next turn.

Could be a very cool convention game. Playtesting would determine a good base-to-player ratio (too many bases might make for a very long game), movement rate (8 inches might be too fast or too slow), number of items, and so on.

What do you think, sirs?

Whoops! The first part of the rules got cut. Append these at the beginning of my previous post:

Card-based: *Very* good idea, Coelacanth.

Here are some ideas:

Object: Touch all bases, in order, ending on home plate, to win the game.

Set up a decent-sized field of play – maybe 4 feet by 4 feet or so – just green grass as far as the eye can see. Set out three or more "bases" – roll a D6 +3 – and number them, marking one as home plate. Add a few big trees, some bramble bushes, at least one big hill, and a small stream.

Each player uses a "child" miniatures, such as those from Hasslefree, or a "toy" miniature, such as those from Reaper and other companies, or dollhouse miniatures.

Get a bunch of different "ball", "bat", and "equipment" tokens in dollhouse scale: baseball, basketball, football, volleyball, tennis ball, golf ball, soccer ball, baseball bat, tennis racket, badminton racket, golf club, catcher's mask, hockey mask, football helmet, and so on. Only one of each, though. Also buy or make one "capture the flag" type flag for each player. (Or have each player make and decorate their own flag.)

To watch a calvin-ball style wargame, just hand any Phil Barker written DBx series rulebook to two competative people who have never wargamed, add figures, and watch the fun.

these are all good ideas, particularly those of you jpattern, with the dolly sized equipment.

I was always taught that the guy who hosted the games, provided the beer, had all the figures and terrain, and had the bowl of Cheezies ready has the unalienable right to make up rules "Calvin-ball" style as the game (regardless of genre) progressed.

Beware the Pernicious Poem Place card…

Wyatt

I thought the only rule was that you couldn't play the same way twice!

Olly-Wolly-PolliWoggy-Ump-Bump-Fizz!

andy