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Wargame movement

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JackDarwid
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Joined: 12/31/1969

Hi all !

I want to ask something about wargames that uses a lot of chits.
When you move counters, how do remember which ones that have already moved and which ones that haven't ?
I mean,if you each have 8 (or more) counters to represent your troops/army/whatever, and in the Movement phase you move each one of your counter X hex where X is that counter's Movement allowance.
"Then I move this 2 spaces forward, then move this 1 space to the left, then this one move backward 1 space, then this one 3 spaces forward, then , uh, which ones haven't moved yet ? Do you remember? "

Is this problem real or just in my head ? (I haven't played any wargames)

If it is real how to solve this problem ? All that I can think is using counter like Heroclix, or using both sides of counter to identify (like Fearsome Floors, but usually wargames use the back of a counter as a status for that counter (wounded status or something)).

THanks

jkopena
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Wargame movement

In many games you have to move them one at a time, which helps alleviate the issue. It's easier to track that you're finished with one than remember that you have X points left on this guy and Y on that one.

However, I don't think a lot of rules really address the issue well. I think people mostly just muddle through, which works ok until you have huge numbers of guys out there. When I play stuff where it might be an issue we have a pouch of little resin chits I made that we use to mark things like that. I think that's a common solution, put a marker or 8mm D6 down by the figure or chit.

There's a related problem in some scoring systems too. For example, the Carcassone rules don't say anything about tracking which cities have been scored for farming points (American rules) and which haven't. It can get pretty complicated. The solution's pretty easy, put a meeple down on all scored cities, but I don't think the rules say anything about it.

In general, making people remember things like that is a major pet peeve of mine that I think a lot of games don't address. It also shows up in bidding schemes. For example, say you bid on turn order, and then next turn you bid in reverse order. How do you remember the order? It's been a problem in a design I'm working on now, where the bid counters are essentially getting put back into the pool and there's no record of the previous turn order. I don't want to provide another counter because it's supposed to be a low fiddly-bit game. Usually it's ok, but if there's been a lot of action we have to sit for a moment and think about who went when.

larienna
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Joined: 07/28/2008
Wargame movement

You could move your units from left to right on the board.

Or , like in my game, you could limit the number of movement per turn. Like move 3 units per turn.

Lor
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Wargame movement

Maybe develop a sling, a quivver, or holder (look to your theme for the proper device) to hang on the character and place a signal counter you cna slip or drop in as his or her condition changes?

Emphyrio
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Joined: 02/10/2010
Wargame movement

The wargames I've played it's not usually much of a problem -- your memory and your opponent's are usually good enough. It also helps if you don't change your mind too much in the middle of movement. I haven't played any of the real monster wargames, though.

You could rotate each chit after you move it so that it's upside-down from your point of view (don't flip it to the back, just turn it). I think that would be easier than using markers. Or you could give each unit a unique ID and move them in order of ID (using a reference list if necessary), but that's fairly tedious.

xantheman
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Wargame movement

I play a lot of wargames and have never had much of a problem with this. I do have a game that I am thinking about using double sided counters for so the counter can be flipped when the unit has been used. Overall, if you move all of your pieces at once, it is pretty easy to keep track of which ones you have already moved.

Xan Lynch

www.rentoys.com

larienna
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Joined: 07/28/2008
Wargame movement

Rotation is good since in my game, the rules use the token flipping to record a damaged unit. So token rotation does not influence the rules. Even with the players I have played with, they uncounciously rotate the token where they want to attack.

This all depend if rotation and flipping is an important element of the game. If the facing of your unit is important, then rotation is not a good idea.

JackDarwid
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Wargame movement

Thanks for the replays !

In my newest design, the facing of counters is not important, so I try using the counter rotation once last night. It went well, but since I print the counter sixe sided (as big as the hex) sometimes it is too crowded to take and rotate a counter. Maybe I'll try using square counters.

Thanks !

Jack

Qundar
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Wargame movement

Hi,

Number them. I've seen some homemade wargames where the inventor numbered the chits. One player would have spaceships 1-50 and they were in blue, and the other player would have 1-50, but in yellow. I don't know if that would work in your game, as I don't know how it works, but numbering seems to me to be a good idea. Just move them in order.

Live long and prosper, Qundar out.

Pt314
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Wargame movement

This is one of the main problems I have been working on in my game. It has pretty much boiled down to 2 different ways of handling movement of lots of pieces.

1. Each player can move a set small number of pieces each turn. In Chess this would be 1, or like Larienna's game 3, but it could be any number as long as people can remember what they have already done. There is a varient where you have a set amount of general move points to spread around, you could use all on one piece if you want to. Or like in Risk you can in a sense move as much as you want until you end your turn.

2. Every piece is ordered in some fashion. Such as the example of numbers on the pieces, position on the board, or D&D's system for initiative/combat order. This makes it easy to keep track of what has all ready moved, but if you have a lot of pieces, it may get sluggish.

I am currently favoring the second for my game, but am wondering how much to tweak it.

Qundar
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Wargame movement

Hi,

Does your game use a lot of pieces, or a little? Cause if you have to move a lot of pieces, go with the first option, that would be best. However, if you have a large amount of pieces, go with the second. imho

Live long and prosper, Qundar out.

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