Many moons ago there was a miniatures game highly detailed design system that
included economic and technological factors. Days could be spent optimizing
the various factors (pre-PC). Such was Striker.
The first time I ran a game, I looked at the minis, pulled out Traveller Book
4/ Mercenary, and looked to see what was described for the Tech Level I
had selected. I then assigned values to the various systems at whim. It
worked.
Too much of the real game balance is in the scenario. ID the force structure,
SWAG the values (be consistent with things like size), and play! Total elapsed
pre-game time <= 15 minutes. John has it right, design the force
package, on capabilities and mission, then design scenarios to test it.
One of the things I look for in most of my miniatures games is a lack of a
points system, simply because I believe that many times it leads to arguments
about whether the system itself is balanced, if something is too cheap, or too
expensive for what it does. Even when playing FT, I don't normally bother with
"balancing" the points values between forces. Instead, I design scenarios
which have benefits and drawbacks for both sides. For example, one that I ran
recently had a KV raiding force going after an ESU freight convoy. Taking my
cue from one of the recently mentioned book series, I assigned heavy escorting
forces to the convoy, with the caveat that only one light cruiser and two
destroyers could independently maneuver at any given time; the remaining ships
had to stay with the convoy, which could only accelerate to try to get off the
opposite board edge asap. The raiders were somewhat limited in their forces,
having a strike cruiser as their heaviest ship backed by destroyers, but they
had the advantage of being able to attack from any angle, and to maneuver at
will. The independent escorts were picked off, and while some of the convoy
did make it off the table, the mission had to be considered a victory for the
KV, as they managed to destroy or disable
over 1/2 of
the cargo ships in the convoy. If I'd bothered to evenly match the forces
points wise, there would've been little point in playing the scenario, as the
KV should've either whomped on the ESU, or, if I didn't put restrictions on
the commies, the whole thing would've been just another space battle, with
cargo ships caught in the middle.
Mark
> Michael Brown wrote:
> Many moons ago there was a miniatures game highly detailed design
Total elapsed
> pre-game time <= 15 minutes. John has it right, design the force