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Tuesday 7 June 2011

The portable wargame: The final draft?

The recent play-tests that Ross Mac, Ron Porter, littlejohn, and I have all run seem to indicate that the current version of my PORTABLE WARGAME rules are close to being ready to be 'signed off'. They are not perfect (are any set of wargames rules?) but they have now got to the stage where the basic rules are fairly fixed, and only minor tinkering and adjustments are needed.

I have had requests for various minor clarifications to be included in the next draft, and it has been suggested that the wording needs to be changed in one or two places to make some of the rules more succinct and easier to understand. I have therefore decided to make that my next priority, after which I will need to begin the process of preparing for COW2011 as it is only just over four weeks away.

8 comments:

  1. Bob,

    What I might suggest is an FAQ as a separate download . . . so that you can address various issues as they come up without having to redo the rules (unless necessary).


    -- Jeff

    FAQ = "Frequently Asked Questions" for anyone who doesn't know what FAQ means

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  2. Looking forward to the final draft. Gave the rules an outing with my Sikhs and posted a report on my blog, Dispatches from Multan

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  3. Bluebear Jeff,

    An excellent idea! Many thanks!

    I have covered some of the 'extras' with the 'Additional Rules' section on the website, but an 'FAQ' section would enable me to give more general advice etc.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  4. Brigadier Dundas,

    Thanks for the excellent battle report ... and your very kind comments!

    I am glad that you enjoyed using the rules. The battle you fought is the sort of action the rules were designed for, and it is very pleasing to see that you had no problems understanding my deathless prose.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  5. Hi Bob

    I've been following your blog with geat interest (and sympathy!). Sorry I haven't been posting much, I was inspired by the Portable Wargame to complete my 15mm SCW Spanish and Italians. I'll be trying out the modern rules tonight with them and let you know what happens.
    Turning to the 19th Century, I still like the look of the "squares" game, is there any chance that you could update these rules in the light of all the useful comments you've been receiving?

    Cheers

    Nick

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  6. Nic101,

    Good luck with the Modern rules; they should be very suitable to use with your Spanish Civil War armies.

    Once I have finally finished the version of the 19th century rules for use with hexes, I have two directions that I want to go. Firstly, to produce a 20th century version of the rules for use with hexes, and secondly to re-write the 19th century rules for square gridded terrain. The latter should be fairly straight-forward ... but until I start the process I have no idea if it will be!

    I like squares – particularly for the 19th century period – but as I own so much hexed terrain, it was daft not to design the rules so that they used hexes.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  7. Bob,
    I'm sure you will -eventually, I'm not holding my breath! - arrive at a final version of PW that satisfies you. But I think, thanks to your inspiration, there will be numerous personal versions of the PW concept, adapted to suit different periods, levels and historical interpretations of individual players,
    And that - the flexibility of the system, its ability to be personalised - is IMHO one of its greatest strengths.
    Arthur

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  8. Arthur1815,

    Words of wisdom ... as usual!

    As far a PW is concerned, I am at the point of saying that it is about as good as it is going to get ... and that any further tinkering will be for personal consumption only.

    As the rules stand at the moment, they are a simple and flexible 'toolkit' of rules that players can adapt for their own particular purposes ... and the fact that they seem to have generated so much interest indicates that they meet a need.

    Thanks for all your support, ideas, and comments you have made.

    All the best,

    Bob

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