We will be recording an Ask Sidney Oddcast in the next few days, so if you have a question for Sid or the team , please post it here and we can get it into his mail sack.
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Dear Sidney, how do manage to stay so humble and grounded whilst surrounded by two (admittedly gifted) guys who cannot match you for style, culture, civilisation, kindness, generosity, wardrobe, musicality, accent, celebrity status, finesse, panache and savoir faire (to name but a few things)?
Please may I ask Sidney & the team do they have a favourite use for a Chain of Command dice? Personally, I enjoy using them to move a Jump off Point forward and deploy off it. It give the impression that I am making headway. Thanks again for the great games & fun content.
Hi Sid. Presumably playing a wargame should be fun. How do you quantify "fun" in the design process and is there a balance to be struck between "fun" and "crunchy"?
Good games generally require a little prep; choice of scenario, selection of forces and digging out terrain. How do you minimise the prep time with all that goes on in life and maximise playing time on a club night?
We are hit with marketing words such as - realistic, innovative, authentic, credible - when presented with new rules sets for wargames in different eras, some of them even in fantasy and sci-fi works.
Is there a fool's errand in searching for the "realistic" ?
I've got one for Sid (and the rest of the team). Since the website reset we've now got a the "classic lard" section full of great games and supplements from years gone by but which is the most underrated and/or that would make for the best new edition?
Ahoy! With news that Victrix and even Gundam are producing miniatures games, with rules, are the days of ‘buffet’ gaming numbered? Will those of us who like to load up our plates with all sorts of different manufacturers’ figures, rules, etc. soon be condemned to the horror of the ‘set menu’?
Hi Sid! Recently, some boardgame designers have argued that the sole focus on "fun" hampers the development of the medium - after all, we wouldn't ask of all movies to be only fun. Do you think miniature wargames should also invoke other emotions, such as frustration, or empathy, or sadness etc?
Are modern gamers are more interested in the kinds of flexible deployment and FOW used by JOPs in COC than a more “authentic” system of blinds like in IABSM where forces are committed to an axis of advance before the action kicks off? Have we lost something in terms of a more double blind system?
I think its a false dichotomy as the scales are quite different. CoC is a single platoon being funneled up covered lines of approach, there's no O Group agreeing boundaries, sectors and support frequencies.
Very different games with very different scales and approaches.
A fair point. O Group does have some similarities where platoons can deploy off of combat patrols though. You have a similar level of flexibility in choosing where troops end up rather than having to commit to a plan before fixing the enemy’s position.
I was thinking of the historical o group with detailed planning, timings, start lines, objectives etc. To me CoC is very much more a 'tip of the spear" platoon tactical problem. You're the captain, not a Major or Colonel.
Why is it that some historical dramas play extremely fast and loose with historical representations and yet still be enjoyed by wargamers (El Cid, Zulu, A Bridge Too Far, Where Eagles Dare, etc), and yet others create frustration in the same people (Rogue Heroes, Battle of the Bulge, Patriot, etc)
Because it misrepresents a real person in a manner that is derogatory. By all means create “Major Hardnut” and make him a raving loon based on a real individual but somewhat distinct and different, but I think it’s wrong to do that to real people.
Sure, I get that and it's fair enough. But Henry Hook is traduced in Zulu and Henry Puelline seems done a huge disservice in Zulu Dawn. Some films get more of a free pass when it comes to misrepresentation and I was wondering why that was.
Probably the passage of time. Henry Hook’s descendants may well say that Henry was a God fearing tea totaller who played badminton every other Thursday, but none of them actually met him and his life is not well documented. With Mayne, that is not the case. We know loads about him.
His daughters walked out of the film premiere. He was a methodist preacher, teetotal, and had a good conduct medal prior to Rorke's Drift.
I'm not myself certain how badly Boy Browning was maligned in A Bridge Too Far, but his wife wasn't pleased!
I think you're right, time does play a part 1/2
I suspect because very often the chance to make a film or series on a subject is 'once in a generation' (or longer). So if somebody bodges it, it's not going to get a remake soon.
But it's still interesting how some bodges pass muster more easily than others.
I suspect that nearer the truth is the fact that the button counters were much younger and much happier when they watched ‘Zulu’ or ‘Where Eagles Dare’. Now they’re just bitter and twisted old Grognards yelling at the world to get off their effing lawns….
In some cases I think that might be so. But I think, for instance, Zulu captures a certain 'spirit' of the action despite all the omissions, anachronisms and twisting of characters. Ditto, in a different way, A Bridge Too Far. Yet Battle of the Bulge, of the same era, misses the mark somehow.
How do you come up with national characteristics when creating an army? For example, if I wanted to create a Bulgarian platoon for CoC, aside from finding that country's platoon structure, how do I create special rules that would make fielding that unit feel unique?
Comments
We are hit with marketing words such as - realistic, innovative, authentic, credible - when presented with new rules sets for wargames in different eras, some of them even in fantasy and sci-fi works.
Is there a fool's errand in searching for the "realistic" ?
Any plans for the 2mm ECW game that featured a few years ago?
Very different games with very different scales and approaches.
I'm not myself certain how badly Boy Browning was maligned in A Bridge Too Far, but his wife wasn't pleased!
I think you're right, time does play a part 1/2
But it's still interesting how some bodges pass muster more easily than others.