Wargaming Small Wars (merged thread)

[M-A Lagrange]

Playing a lot (when I am at home) whith 25/28mm scale, I would say that it’s not the best scale for what you attend to do. This scale goes really fine and is extremely visual and friendly used but 3 or 4 blocks means a very large board: around 2x2 metres. This in the idea that you have 4 blocks with let say 3 to 4 buildings per sides.
I would rather recommend that scale for a village position with a 1x1 m board and something like 5 to 6 houses and 1 mosque/church… Plus some surrounding country area.

For what you plan, the 1/72 scale seems the most adapted. Also it will be the cheapest option. You will be able to create your building easily with cookies boxes and beer canes (eat and drink first ) and vehicles are easy to find. Toy cars (matchbox or other brand) for civilian vehicles and miniatures from Heller or Airfix (or any other brand) military vehicles but you will probably have to assemble them.

It is extremely visual and shows well (if you have veteran with you) what does work on paper and not in reality. There is always a crazy angle you find in miniature that basically is blind in reality just because there is a tree, a civilian, a donkey or some garbage some where…

The pb you may find with the 1/72 scale is that players cannot really “see” what the soldiers can see. With a 25/28mm scale, it’s easier for the players to jump in the suite of the “combatant”. This because figurines in 1/72 are too small so you do not necessarily pictures the head of a guy above a wall.
The good point with that scale is that you can find easily civilians by going to the small train section. That you cannot find in 25/28mm (or more difficult).

Also, do not forget, those games are time consuming. Average 30 min/player/turn. With the 1/72 scale you can move a lot more figurines in the same amount of time.

The best would be 10 or 15 mm but it’s a hell to find and it’s definitively not made for neophytes. The visual effect works on large scale operation where you play a division.

[BayonetBrant]

http://www.ambushalleygames.com/

[Steve Blair]

You also might be able to modify Warhammer 40k or standard Warhammer to work for this. Lots of terrain and such out there, and the miniatures are of a good size as well.

[Rex Brynen]

You also might be able to modify Warhammer 40k or standard Warhammer to work for this. Lots of terrain and such out there, and the miniatures are of a good size as well.

Believe it or not, my Warhammer 40k Orks are already modelled on the West Side Boys. However, what shreds of credibility I still have would vanish if I put those in front of a class.

[M-A Lagrange]

While searching for wargame board material to play with a Yemeni officer who is rotting in the same hole than me, I found that game: Breaking news

I did not play it but thought it could be interesting as this game seems to integrate the media dimension (have to read the rules in depth).
Believe can be an interesting teaching material for 1st course/introduction to media management on operation field.
Especially as the scenarios are mainly focussed on counter terrorist/swat operations with civilian population involved.
http://www.dadiepiombo.com/bnrules.html


For those like me who are stuck far from nice little plastic angry warriors ( I do miss my WH40K and LoTR in the field), I found that game: Iraki Roads.
The very good point of it is that everything is available for paper soldiers. Just have to download your squad, vehicules... print it and play.
http://www.iraqiroads.de.tl/
(Tips: adverts and pop up are very, VERY annoying on that site)

[Rex Brynen]

I did not play it but thought it could be interesting as this game seems to integrate the media dimension (have to read the rules in depth).
Believe can be an interesting teaching material for 1st course/introduction to media management on operation field.
Especially as the scenarios are mainly focussed on counter terrorist/swat operations with civilian population involved.
http://www.dadiepiombo.com/bnrules.html

I've seen those.

Phil Barker, of Wargames Research Group fame (arguably the best rules-writer in the business, ever) has been working on a set of modern company-level COIN-type rules for the past few years. I'm not sure I like the dice system, but they otherwise look excellent. You'll find them here (at the bottom of his page, as a .doc file).

[pvebber]

I think this site may have been brought up in the past, but a great resource for classroom wargames is:

http://www.juniorgeneral.org/

Simple, rules, that can be modified easily, and easy to make components.

Pete Pelligino, a contributer to the site, has used the simple rules to run "cocktail party games" on the parque dance floor at the O-Club here in Newport to commemorate Trafalgar, Midway and Tsushima.

[Rex Brynen]

Cross-posted from PaxSims, on behalf of the folks at the Center for Applied Strategic Learning, NDU:

Regular readers of PaxSims will have seen the occasional posts about a series of roundtable events at National Defense University (NDU) on the subject of strategic gaming, hosted by the Center for Applied Strategic Learning (CASL). The goal has been to create a regular forum for practitioners and scholars to exchange ideas and compare notes about issues relating to game design, the use of games for analytical and teaching purposes, and interesting projects in the field. CASL is pleased to announce that our quarterly series of in-person roundtables will now have an affiliated online component, the Strategic Gaming Roundtable group site at APAN (All Partners Access Network).

The site is intended to be a place to continue conversation from the quarterly meetings, as well as a place to discuss gaming experiences, works in progress, and the state of the field. We hope that the new site will further advance our goals of getting to know and building lasting professional connections between gamers.

If you have a professional or academic interest in strategic gaming (or in simulation of peace and conflict issues, as Rex likes to say) we hope you will join the conversation. Please email Tim Wilkie to request an invitation.