Damn—my halfling rogue read this, and now wants to volunteer for Afghanistan...Originally Posted by William F. Owen
Damn—my halfling rogue read this, and now wants to volunteer for Afghanistan...
Remind him
It's old school. i.e. If he's attacked by a troll with a battle axe, he'll have to run like hell, he can't just hit "reset."
John Wolfsberger, Jr.
An unruffled person with some useful skills.
Sam:
Our very own BayonetBrant is a commercial wargame designer (Bayonet Games), so you might want to drop him a PM.
You might also try to get hold of:
Peter Perla, The Art of Wargaming: A Guide for Professionals and Hobbyists.
James Dunnigan, Wargames Handbook, Third Edition: How to Play and Design Commercial and Professional Wargames. An earlier version of this is online here.
Already bought both books and waiting on delivery. Should be here today I hope. I got a couple others on math of gaming, etc...
I'll contact BayonetBrant , heck maybe he'll want what I'm developing.
Sam Liles
Selil Blog
Don't forget to duck Secret Squirrel
The scholarship of teaching and learning results in equal hatred from latte leftists and cappuccino conservatives.
All opinions are mine and may or may not reflect those of my employer depending on the chance it might affect funding, politics, or the setting of the sun. As such these are my opinions you can get your own.
I've done some work on games (both board and RPG) over the years as well. I'd be happy to help.
And don't ignore the role-playing game just because it looks flip. Some of those systems have very good tactical models built in, and they tend to be easier to tweak on the fly than a more rigid board-based system.
"On the plains and mountains of the American West, the United States Army had once learned everything there was to learn about hit-and-run tactics and guerrilla warfare."
T.R. Fehrenbach This Kind of War
Sam,
Strategy Page is run by old school wargamers. I'm pretty sure they wrote a 'how-to' book. I think the guys' names are James Dunnigan and Austin Bay.
Dunnigan's book : Wargames Handbook, Third Edition: How to Play and Design Commercial and Professional Wargames.
Contact away! (Sorry, but I'm not around much on weekends. SWJ is 'required' reading at work, but I'm trying to keep the computer in the bag on the weekends these days and spend more time with family).
One thing I've noticed is that although you specified a 'table top' game, there were a lot of computer game suggestions.
Other books to recommend:
Raph Koster's A Theory of Fun For Game Design
and anything by Salen & Zimmerman
Also, Dunnigan's book is available online, for free: http://www.hyw.com/Books/WargamesHandbook/Contents.htm
PM me, or email me, and I'll see what I can do to help out. This is kinda my schtick
Brant
Wargaming and Strategy Gaming at Armchair Dragoons
Military news and views at GrogNews
“their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of ‘rights’… and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure.” Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers 1959
Play more wargames!
Other books to recommend:
Raph Koster's A Theory of Fun For Game Design
and anything by Salen & Zimmerman
Also, Dunnigan's book is available online, for free: http://www.hyw.com/Books/WargamesHandbook/Contents.htm
PM me, or email me, and I'll see what I can do to help out. This is kinda my schtick
I got Dunnigans book so I'm working my way through that. I have a couple other authors that I'm reading too. The subject is a LOT deeper than I was thinking originally (of course). I'm expanding what I was thinking with the several on (off) line suggestions for how-to and readings.
Sam Liles
Selil Blog
Don't forget to duck Secret Squirrel
The scholarship of teaching and learning results in equal hatred from latte leftists and cappuccino conservatives.
All opinions are mine and may or may not reflect those of my employer depending on the chance it might affect funding, politics, or the setting of the sun. As such these are my opinions you can get your own.
Tabletop wargame resources
There are quite a variety of tabletop formats for wargaming, so you'll have to be a bit more specific.
There are "seminar-style games" and the best most recent resource for that is the book WARGAMING FOR LEADERS: STRATEGIC DECISIONMAKING FROM THE BATTLEFIELD TO THE BOARDROOM by Mark Herman, Mark Frost, and Robert Kurz. This complements Perla's book very well and updates it with a great many examples, mostly dealing with business applications.
There are "staff wargames" dating back to the 19th century. One can find miniatures game rules from Fletcher Pratt, H.G. Wells, and others with a bit of hunting. Modern systems work well, but the investment in figurines/gear can be prohibitive to many. Perhaps there is no better entry venue than John Bobek's excellent book, THE GAMES OF WAR: A TREASURY OF RULES FOR BATTLES WITH TOY SOLDIERS, SHIPS, AND PLANES. Strongly recommended for neophytes and novices to start with in this genre.
There are commercial board wargames of a wide variety. Best portal to get into that is the CONSIMWORLD website at http://www.consimworld.com. These are readymade games that, for a minimum of investment, can get you into tabletop gaming quickly if you can manage the rules. You will need a bit of coaching/mentoring to make it a smooth entry, however. If you aren't careful, you can get in way over your head given the dense rules and arcane topics that are often out there.
One should also mention the Role Playing Games of the Dungeons and Dragons variety and there's plenty of those dealing with just about every subject under the sun. Again, having a coach/mentor is highly recommended to make entry into it as smooth as possible.
Much depends on your personal objectives. What might those be? What do you hope to get out of the experience? What kinds of things are you interested in learning?
Last edited by ericmwalters; 02-03-2009 at 02:14 AM.
I've been deep into Dunnigan and others this last two weeks.
My goals or objectives? Two fold. First, my dissertation involves a revolutionary method to wage cyber warfare. The use of a new tactical and strategic planning tool that gets a cyber adversary inside the OODA loop of a target. I need a tool that tests the cognitive capability of protagonists when considering the objectives and tools available. Second, the tool needs to be flexible enough to be used with large groups of people and robust enough to withstand a variety of thinking strategies. Inside and outside of the tool. When done the tool should be a good way for training cyber response plans across organizations.
Oh and it should be fun.
Sam Liles
Selil Blog
Don't forget to duck Secret Squirrel
The scholarship of teaching and learning results in equal hatred from latte leftists and cappuccino conservatives.
All opinions are mine and may or may not reflect those of my employer depending on the chance it might affect funding, politics, or the setting of the sun. As such these are my opinions you can get your own.
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