12 replies to this topic

[DeathMerchant]

Anyone here familiar with the term Wargaming? For those who no idea what I'm talking about, Wargaming is a hobby where players run military simulations using painted miniatures, often accompanied with fake terrain and dice. These are often referred to as tabletop games. Some examples include Warhammer 40K, Warhammer Fantasy, MechWarrior, Flames of War, Chainmail, Lord of the Rings, and even D&D to some extent (Assuming miniatures are used). Tabletop Miniature Games can be placed in categories like Ancient, Medieval, Fantasy, Colonial, World War I & II, Modern Era, Futuristic, and many others.

 

The downside to miniature wargamers is the cost. Players will typically spend several hundred $ on some of the more popular games. Then you have to designate time to paint your armies. That is where the benefit of online wargaming comes in. You don't have to spend money (except for a couple games), and you can play with people all over the world.

 

While most wargames require players to be in the same location, some games can be played over the internet using a program called VASSAL. I haven't used VASSAL much, but I have done wargames/RPGs using Forums which seems to work well enough. A couple years ago I ran a historical, strategy/RPG based game, based around the Dutch East India Company. My former CN alliance was the VOC so I thought it would be appropriate to run a wargame based on our alliance. There were around 7 players who took part in it and we were able to make the game last around a month. Granted that is incredibly long for a wargame but we were doing our best to boost activity on the forum.

 

I've poked around in the RP section but it looks like its mostly CN related. My hopes are to startup a Wargame, one that revolves around using a detailed map with players controlling nations or various armies. Some graphics would be used to better immerse players in the game. Elements of strategy will be highly enforced and it would require players to be active. I should note that this game won't relolve around miniatures, but will have some type of marker/counter to designate units.

 

I have some material/rules I wrote up a long time ago for a couple game types but unfortunately I never had enough people interested. Amount of participants can be anywhere from 2 to realistically around 10. Each player would control a faction or specific part of a faction, depending on how many people are involved.

 

I have a list of some conflicts which would be easy to set up and run a game for. But I would like to hear of new suggestions as I could modify/create rules for basically any setting.

 

Large Conflicts would be played out on a grand scale. Players would take part in commanding large amounts of troops and coordination would be key. Smaller Conflicts would be a specific battle or a particular front. Small Conflicts typically would have 2 or 3 players, but could be modded for more.

 

Large Conflicts:

2-4 Players:

Korean War

1st and 2nd Chechen War

 

4-8 Players:

Crusades

World War I

World War 2

Vietnam War

 

Small Conflicts:

2-4 Players:

Peloponnesian War

US Revolutionary War

US Civil War

Eastern Front of WW 2

 

4-8 Players:

Colonial Africa

Trench Warfare of WW 1

Pacific Theatre of WW 2

 

So would there be anyone interested in joining me for some wargame fun? And are there any ideas or comments you would like to share?

[Blade 619]

I'd certainly be interested in have a go.... i used to do the whole Games workshop thing, so I'm assuming a similar principle is applied?

[DeathMerchant]

I'd certainly be interested in have a go.... i used to do the whole Games workshop thing, so I'm assuming a similar principle is applied?

For the most part it would be similar. However we won't actually be using models as that wouldn't be practical. Since most Codecs wouldn't work, my goal is to design a basic system tailored to whatever era we choose to play as. Or find one where I can draw insight from to modify for our use. I expect to create about 75% of the rules myself while the rest of the work will be already established battle formulas.

 

What games did you used to play and how come you got out of it?

[Blade 619]

I only ever really played 40k and LoTR. I got out of it simply becuase it fell by-the-by as friends stopped playing and I lost interest in sspending the money to get to the next level.

I never tried to get into war gaming properly... thoug the prospect of huge tank battles always entertained me!

How about napoleonic era?

[DeathMerchant]

I only ever really played 40k and LoTR. I got out of it simply becuase it fell by-the-by as friends stopped playing and I lost interest in sspending the money to get to the next level.

I never tried to get into war gaming properly... thoug the prospect of huge tank battles always entertained me!

How about napoleonic era?

Its a shame to give up a hobby especially when the people around you stop playing. That happened with me when I used to play Airsoft years ago. After graduating high school most of my friends stopped playing. We would do occasional games but we it was hard to get an adequate amount of people together.

 

I should add Games Workshop propbably didn't help retain your interest by jacking up their prices, and releasing new Codecs. Their business tactics are very bizare, it seems like they want want to conrol the whole market. Aparently they want to stop selling to a couple countries or really restrict how their items are sold.

 

Large tank battles would be very exciting to do. One day I hope to get a large group of 15mm assorted WW2 tanks and have a massive battle with a couple buddies of mine. Now that would be entertaining! I think Battle of Kursk would be a fitting scenario to use.

 

Napoleonic Era could definitely be done. Its one of the few time periods I don't know a lot about, so I will do some research. Depending on how many people would like to play, we designate what kind of map or region to use, as well as the size. I assume Napoleonic Era is centered around Europe and Western Russia?

[Maelstrom Vortex]

I don't know if you would be interested or not but we have an ongoing Geo-political simulation on the NPO forums, current date being 08/05/2017 roughly. Foreign diplomats are allowed to participate.

[DeathMerchant]

I don't know if you would be interested or not but we have an ongoing Geo-political simulation on the NPO forums, current date being 08/05/2017 roughly. Foreign diplomats are allowed to participate.

Is it kinda like a homemade spinoff of NationStates? I've seen some online communities run RP stuff similiar to that.

[Maelstrom Vortex]

No, we actually use the earth and existing nations and pick up from 2013/2014 ish at the the start of the round, not our CN nations. So we're usually debating topics that mirror rl events. Nationstates and CN based RP are a bit more arbitrary than this is.

[DeathMerchant]

Sounds very interesting. I'll have to come over and check it out soon. How many players are their? And does each player take on the role of 1 nation?

[Maelstrom Vortex]

That is correct, you start out as one nation. You can puppet or consume other nations as rp goes on. A moderator judges interactions in order to
keep things semi-stable and we try to focus on realism. I am currently playing the reformed USSR. Long story on how I reversed the "War of
laws", but lets just say there was a player before me who played Russian Federation poorly.. so the soviets came back to power after the people
deemed the capitalist experiment a failure. However, the USSR constitution got amended heavily before the reformation based on what
the member Republics had learned in the 30 something years of separation. We have an espionage system and if too many nukes are used
the world ends and a new round begins.

[DeathMerchant]

That is correct, you start out as one nation. You can puppet or consume other nations as rp goes on. A moderator judges interactions in order to
keep things semi-stable and we try to focus on realism. I am currently playing the reformed USSR. Long story on how I reversed the "War of
laws", but lets just say there was a player before me who played Russian Federation poorly.. so the soviets came back to power after the people
deemed the capitalist experiment a failure. However, the USSR constitution got amended heavily before the reformation based on what
the member Republics had learned in the 30 something years of separation. We have an espionage system and if too many nukes are used
the world ends and a new round begins.

Looks like its quite immersive. I'm very interested so maybe sometime next week I'll sign up on the forums and check it out.

 

Back on topic, are there any other players would like to join us in Wargaming? I'm sure IRON has plenty of people who have done tabletop games in their past.

[Maelstrom Vortex]

I see why not, where do I get started?

[DeathMerchant]

I see why not, where do I get started?

Well it would be nice to get at least a couple more players. What time era would be interesting for you? Or would you prefer Napoleonic? Once we decide what we're doing I'll start designing the map and get the rules.