Time is getting short and the days are busy with extra diversions (like the Porcupine high up in the old Willow in our dog yard, munching on new, crisp, green Spring Willow tips, as is his wont in Spring), but things are coming together.
Much time was lost on the weekend when I saw the grid on the cloth I'll be using and I got nostalgic for the days when there was no fiddling with tapes required.... The first solo test was too quick, the next boring and so on. I was tempted to say screw it, rip the guys off their bases and call MacDuff back into service until I remembered the near impossibility of setting up and playing to a conclusion a multi-player MacDuff scenario in 4 hours. So, the fourth? fifth? abandoned playtest was reset and it all began again.
So I persevered and the current version, on grid, inspired by Morschauser's rules but based on Hearts of Tin (nee Morschuser Meets MacDuff). seems to be working. The aim is to have players making decisions, with nothing guaranteed but with player decisions usually outweighing die rolls not so quick that its all over in an hour, not so slow that it's unlikely to reach a conclusion in the allotted time.
Once I take myself hostage and staple gun to my head, force myself to sit down and finish the required book work for my wife's business, and then finally, file our taxes, (One more broken promise that THIS YEAR I would not leave it till the last minute...) I'll have to do another test of the Frogs & Lobsters game, this time using these rules instead of MacDuff.
Today's lesson - porcupines climb trees. I had no idea. Interesting to see the armies and the thinking evolve - it'll be alright on the night, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteI've got 3 weeks to 'Make it so'
DeleteThe toy soldiers look wonderful and I admire your dedication to play testing (How terrible it must be to have to play more games!). But I admit I was hoping for a picture of the porcupine.
ReplyDeleteI thought about it but even the video clip is more than a little obscure. I'll add it to the next post though.
DeleteRoss Mac,
ReplyDeleteChances are you are almost there with your rules and that after a break doing something else, the solution will come to you.
Good luck with your efforts.
All the best,
Bob
Almost but not close enough, so, I've decided to back up off the gridded diversion.
DeleteVisually the table/ battlefield and shiny toys look splendid… and I am sure your ‘guests’ will thoroughly enjoy themselves on the day.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course as always happens they will do things in ways that you never even imagined.
And of course tree climbing porcupines (that sounds like a hipster band to me)… not the sort of thing you see round these parts.
All the best. Aly