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Tuesday 20 September 2011

The Portable Wargame 2: The latest draft

I have spent my day concentrating on three tasks.

Firstly I have taken the next step in my battle with the Planning Enforcement Department at Greenwich Council. It is now over two weeks since I wrote to them and requested that they contact me as soon as possible regarding the breach – by my neighbour – of the planning permission he was given. I have waited patiently ... but now my patience is at an end. I have therefore made an official complaint about the Planning Enforcement Department to the Chief Executive. I don't know if this will do any good, but it is the next step in the Council's own complaints procedure.

Secondly I have been doing some work on my new hills. After making a trip to buy some more glue (Why does one always run out in the middle of a project?), I have glued a 7.5cm x 7.5cm piece of thin basswood to each hill to ensure that they have one flat surface. This will be the bottom of the hill, and will ensure that the non-slip felt that I fix to each hill will have a nice flat surface to adhere to.

Finally I have done some redrafting of my PORTABLE WARGAME 2 rules in the light of my recent play-tests and feedback from other play-testers, especially Ross Mac. The main changes are:
  • Unit quality is now included within the rules, and affects a Unit's ability to 'shrug off' hits received in both Fire and Close Combat.
  • The impact of different types of cover (i.e. soft cover such as trees and hard cover such as entrenchments) is also factored into the Combat systems.
  • Commanders are now more vulnerable in Close Combat but Artillery is slightly less vulnerable when attacked from the front.
  • Commanders now have an impact on the Combat systems as their presence in an adjacent grid area improves a Unit's ability to fire or fight a Close Combat.
I hope to play-test these changes once the hills are completed so that I can use my 'new' terrain boards.

6 comments:

  1. I will certainly give these a go next time around, probably over the next few days or this weekend. I have played a third battle that is just waiting to be "blogged".

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fitz-Badger,

    I have just read you latest battle report and thoroughly enjoyed it ... as it appears you also did!

    The fact that you have managed to fight three battles in three weeks is one of the reasons why I have developed PW2; it makes much easier to set up and fight a battles than some other sets of rules. They may not be as detailed, but I think that they would certainly give some of the DBx rules a run for their money!

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good luck with the bureaucracy and thanks for alerting me, this post had somehow slipped past my radar.

    This draft looks good. For a moment I thought "but infantry in hard cvoer is invulnerable in melee as well as against shooting" but then I remmbered that they still have flanks when in cover. This should fit the bill nicely.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ross Mac,

    I am glad that you like the revised version of the rules. I think that they are gradually evolving into something very workable.

    As to the bureaucrats ... well they will do what they like when they like ... until the find out that I taught the children of the local MP and several members of the Council, and that I am first name terms with them.

    Do you think that I should have mentioned that in my letters?

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  5. Bob,

    It wouldn't hurt to drop a hint with those folks, something along the line of "Jeepers, I asked A to do B and I haven't heard anything. I know they are all very busy, but do you think you could find out for me what is going on?" (I realize you probably don't say "Jeepers" in your neck of the woods, but you get my drift.) A word from my Congressman certainly did wonders for me with Immigration when I was trying to get my foreign adoption papers through. Our case magically went from the bottom of the stack, which is where they told us outright it was, to the top of the stack.

    As for PW2, could you post it or a link to it at your PW site? The copy you show in your message will not print out readably at all.

    Thanks and best regards,

    Chris

    ReplyDelete
  6. Chris,

    I don't like to use personal contacts to get things prioritised ... but in this case I am very close to doing exactly that. I am going to give the Chief Executive a couple of weeks to investigate and get back to me; after that I will be sending letters and emails to my ‘contacts’ asking for their help to expedite matters. Then we shall see what happens.

    I will try to add a downloadable copy of the latest draft to my PORTABLE WARGAME website tomorrow morning. I noticed one or two minor errors, and I want to make the necessary changes before I upload it.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete

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