's commission from one of our own.As some of you may have read in the forums, I've been toying for some months with the idea of using Victory as a campaign system for WWII gaming.
What's Victory?
Victory is not a miniatures game - it's a boardgame, or to be more specific, a blockgame from Columbia Games. It's an operational-level game in a fictional setting (in the original game, Red vs. Blue on various geomorphic maps) using familiar WWII technology - tanks, infantry, fighters, bombers, carriers, submarines, paratroops, Marines, and more.
The "block" business refers to the playing pieces, which are wooden blocks turned so that only the owner knows which piece represents what. This introduces a fog of war factor to the game.
Why Use Victory for a Campaign System?
When looking for a campaign system, I generally want something that won't take longer to play than the miniatures battles! Victory fits the bill due to its relatively short rules (although there are a lot of nuances in those short rules).
The other advantage of Victory is that by its nature, it generates "what if"-type battles rather than the same historical battles rehashed. The terrain is all-new, the situations are new, only the units and the tactics are familiar.
Of course, this advantage can also be a disadvantage. How do you translate "Red vs. Blue" into a tabletop scenario, using available miniatures? And how do you translate tabletop results back into the campaign game?
I have to say that I don't know yet... but I'll be doing some "experimental gaming" to see what can be worked out.