Wargaming at Iserlohn

Building a community  I'm writing a short update to mention that I created a small discord channel to discuss the game I am working on and organize any playtesting. The first scenario that I set up will take between 2 and 3 hours. I have created a Tabletop Simulator Mod and will be running players through the rules and answering any questions. Anyone is welcome to join. For now, while the rules are still quite simple and rough I'm going to be setting up each playtest but once they are a bit more polished and the rulebook is easier to understand I will be setting up TTS mods that can be downloaded to play the scenarios with your friends. The link to the server is:  https://discord.gg/YkfpxwSWYC

  As mentioned in my last post I've been preparing to do a quick playtest game to see if the base mechanics made sense. To do this I had to finish writing some basic rules for fighters and how to resolve hits on ships as well as rules on how to build battle groups. The rules I'm currently working with are somewhat rough and have spelling and formatting errors so I will not link them just yet. I did spend some time making a mockup of the front page as a distraction from all the rule thinking. I also had to choose a battle for my playtest and I chose the Battle of Lugen between the Black Lancers and the 10th Fleet. This battle is smaller than many of the more famous ones and it involves just one fleet from either side. Lastly I made some assets and set up the whole thing in tabletop simulator. The Game This is the setup for the game, the FPA has three battlegroups of 2 ships while the empire has 2 battlegroups with one of them having 3 ships. The Empire's fleet has several fa...

Type of Grid One thing thing I've been very split on is the type of grid to use for the game.  The only reasonable shapes are obviously hexes and squared, and each provides several advantages and disadvantages. Squares Hexes Advantages Clear front, rear and flanks Easy to line up ships in ranks Can fit 4 ships in a square More flexibility in movement choices Each square of movement is the same distance Disadvantages Diagonal movement is longer than orthogonal Less movement options No clear flank, only front and rear Cannot neatly line up Cannot efficiently fit 4 ships in a hex Overall I'm inclined to go with a hex grid and to split each group of 4 ships into separate hexes to not make then to small or too empty. Movement Movement will have to be in units of hexes. This will in theory facilitate movement by avoiding having to measure distances every time or argue over the minutiae of turning 28 or 32 degree...

Some Starting Ideas The turn structure is probably the best place to get started in designing a game since it gives the barebones skeleton of what the game feels like. As mentioned in the previous post I want command and control to be a a significant part of the game. Another principle I'd like to follow is having game sequences where there is a component of early planning and then a reactive part. For example one of my favorite games, Star Wars Armada , had a system where each player would program which special action each ship would do in advance. Depending on the size (and inversely the flexibility) each ship had a certain number of dials which would need to be set in advance. Each dial gave a ship a different bonus during that turn, such as the ability to repair or turn at tighter angles. This means that if you have a bigger ship, like a star destroyer, you would have to prepare 3 turns in advance what their command would be. Dials from Star Wars Armada, you have to stack them ...

 I'm writing this post because it's been many years since my last entry in this blog. After my last post I went to my local wargaming club to playtest the rules but it went so badly that it completely discouraged me from continuing this project. It was the first time I really tried to build a ruleset from nothing and I made several mistakes. After that event life took  over and distracted me, I got married, got promoted and acquired more responsibilities at work and now I'm planning on moving to a new country. I've continued playing games in the meantime and reading more rulesets, both for fun and to learn new ideas and approaches to rule writing. Since then I've learned that I love smaller scales like 2 and 3mm and that playing on a grid is a very smart way of controlling movement rules and gameplay while still providing an interesting decision space. One of my favorite rulesets is Strength and Honor  , it aims to model wars in the ancient period (from the Helleni...

It's been a while since my last update and that is because I have been busy painting up the remaining of my Imperial and FPA ships. Roughly 30 FPA and 40 imperial standard (battleships, cruisers, carriers) ships were added to both rosters. What are the Fleet File Garage Kits? Garage kits are basically resin model kits produced usually in limited numbers, in the past these kits were mainly produced by hobbyists in Japan in their own homes and sold at conventions or in small circles.  In the case of the Fleet File series they the unpainted and unassembled (slightly more than the normal kits which require minor assembly of antennas and fins) versions of the main series.  They come in these brown simple boxes with no art and include significantly more models (usually 20) than each individual standard kit.  One of the main benefit if you're someone like me that is trying to get models to beef up armies for a tabletop game is that it's very easy to paint named ships as standard...

 Fleet File Vol 11 This ship set came out in 2019 after a long gap of years between releases as volume 10 came out in 2011. Likely this is because of the renewed interest in the series due to the release of "Die Neue These" the year before; this is of course only speculation and I have no information on this apart from a letter included in Volume 10 which I will mention in a later post. Ostmark: the flagship of the Lippstadt fleet during the Imperial civil war. The main ship design is fairly standard and follows the traditional design of imperial flagships (I.E. just a big version of a standard battleship).  It is interesting in the fact that it also comes with two shield ships on the sides which give it a completely different profile. Viewed from the side the whole set looks just like one huge ship instead of three separate ones.   Berlin: The ships is basically a sister ship to the Ostmark, the only differences are in the interior (from the included booklet it was more ...

  Fleet File Vol 5 review  Another fairly standard Fleet File volume if not for the fact that it contains one of the weirdest/ugliest/confusing ships in the FPA fleet, the Triglav.  Theodoricus (Goldenlowe version): The flagship of admiral Thurneysen. Interestingly with the Goldenlowe crest, it is noteworthy because the last time this ship was seen in the animated series was before Reinhard's ascension to the throne so with the old Goldenlowe crest.  This is due to the fact that admiral Thurneysen fell out of favour after his blunder during the battle of Vermillion.   Grand Canal  + 2x Alliance cruiser, three copies of the standard alliance cruiser with the Grand Canal only being distinguished by the numbers on the side of its prow.   Salamander: Goldenbaun and Goldenlowe version: Admiral's Wahlen's flagship in both versions. I believe this is the only imperial ship equipped with a pair of claws on its lower part presumably to anchor the ship during ...