Interesting comparisons

I follow quite a few blogs, and every morning I try to make sure that I have time to read any new blog entries. When I did this today it was particularly enjoyable as there were two battle reports where the players had used my BIG BOARD PORTABLE WARGAME rules to fight typical First World War battles.

The first was featured on David Crook's A WARGAMING ODYSSEY and described a battle from the early months of the war. Part of the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) was retreating in the face of superior German forces, and had been tasked with holding up the German advance. The Germans were ordered to push forward and maintain the tempo of the advance. I will not go into details (but I would recommend a visit to the battle report as it is – in my opinion – very interesting), but the outcome was not predictable.

The second blog entry was on Steven Page's ADVENTURES IN PORTABLE WARGAMING. This battle report dealt with a British attempt to break through the German trench lines during 1916. As it states at the top of the battle report 'This time it will work. We will smash our way through the thin German line, pass through the village, and get our cavalry into the green fields beyond ...' The result of this battle was also unpredictable, and it held my interest right up until the end.

What pleased me most about these two battle reports was not that they had used my rules (and that the rules had worked!) but that the players had enjoyed themselves and had fought battles that seemed to have the right sort of 'feel' to them. In other words they had been able to fight their battles in the way that such battles had been fought during the Great War. It also helped that the battle reports were both well illustrated and described in such a way that you felt compelled to read them to the end to find out what the outcomes would be.