Things were moving along in the old way when I realized that something didn't "feel" right. So I paused to think about it. Then I tried a few ideas out for "feel" before getting back to work.
The problem seems fairly simple, the old stuff works fine but with the ratio of troops to me's the armies are more than I can handle without tedium, especially on days when I'm tired.
There are several good routes I can go to resolve the issue (playing smaller games not being one of them) but I need to make some choices about things like what's important to me and are the sort of battles I want to fight the same as they were a couple of years ago, and so on.
The game will be reset and resume shortly.
"the ratio of troops to me's"
ReplyDeleteHa! I like that, and relate to it. For me it means fewer figures per unit and/or multi-basing or good movement trays. Maybe for you it's more about actual number of units?
No, after reflection and a decent night's sleep, I think its about better logistics and offtable organization and not sacrificing quite so much of the tangible older ways for the sake of convenience.
DeleteWrong end of the stick.
I understand your dilemma! As for me, I usually focus on squad level so I have at most 30 figures to worry about at once.
ReplyDeleteThere are times I think my gaming is mostly an excuse for painting figures.
DeleteOne of the good things to come out of the 'One Hour Wargames' by Neil Thomas are the 30 scenarios that are of the teaser ilk and which only have between 4 and 6 units per side.
ReplyDeleteI can't seem to get my head that low. For a quick game 8-12 units seems my sweet spot. But this was supposed to be my antidote to all the quick small games and it seems my inner brain was trying to make it fit the new pattern leaving it neither one thing nor the other.
DeleteHi Ross- always something special about seeing AIRFIX - ACW in action...just delightful. Cheers. KEV.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kev, I agree, always a pleasure to just look at them on table.
DeleteOne feels that the ennui might have another root cause, but we are all different in our tastes. I like having several hundred figures and kit on the table, but on the other hand, smaller actions do help place the larger ones in context. At that, the higher the figure to me ratio, the more desirable the simple set of rules. I really like the way the action is shaping in that pic - 'twould be a shame were it to go to waste.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, a few years ago I 'wasted' a fine-looking set-up that sat on the table for several months with just 2 moves being played (I think I posted about it on my blog). I simply 'didn't want to know'. I guess that's pretty much where you're at right now.
Sometimes you just have to stop trying to push the ball up the hill and think about other things.
DeleteThere were reasons I decided to do the ACW games in an older style and I somehow forgot that or suppressed it. I've started to learn to walk away now when I'm tired and start trying to "fix" things.
Too much granularity in combat?
ReplyDeleteOn reflection, I think it was actually too much replacing too much of the simple but physical granularity with mental abstractions.
DeleteAs Kev said, wonderful Airfix ACW - the game looks fantastic but clearly it didn't go as you expected.
ReplyDeleteJust got my head turned around. Experiments should be avoided when tired!
Delete