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Tuesday 11 June 2013

Returning to Joseph Morschauser's 'Frontier' wargames rules

As I stated in my earlier blog entry of today, I had decided that I needed to 're-visit' Joseph Morschauser's gridded FRONTIER wargames rules in the hope that it would 'rekindle my interest in doing rather than thinking about doing some wargaming'.

After going shopping with my wife this morning and doing some gardening this afternoon, I finally got some time to do exactly what I had decided to do ... and I have spent the last hour or so re-drafting Joseph Morschauser's 'Frontier' wargames rules so that they fit onto two sides of A4 paper.




I chose to use the same basic layout as I have used for all my most recent rules ... and I must admit that the results look quite reasonable. I have therefore made a PDF version of the rules available as a download here for anyone who would like to read them.

8 comments:

  1. Interesting, I hadn't noticed before that he reversed the way melee power is used so that stronger units are more likely to destroy their opponent rather than being more likely to survive. Since that's the same change I made, I like it! I think I may try these out on my small gridded table this week. The change in scale so that small arms fire is included in melee should really change the feel.

    Thanks for arranging and posting this Bob.

    -Ross

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  2. Ross Mac,

    It was my pleasure, and I hope that you find them fun to use.

    They are a deceptively simple set of rules ... and therein lies their attraction for me.

    I look forward to using them ... and to seeing how you get on with them.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  3. Thanks for your posts on the Morschauser rules. I'm in the middle of reading the book you edited with John Curry as well. As for the theoretical wargaming? When you find a solution let me know. I still spend much more time day dreaming than playing.

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  4. Hi Bob,

    First, thanks very much for posting these rules. I'm very intrigued.

    My copy of Morschauser's book arrives this week some time, so perhaps I'll find the answer in there, but how does one handle army morale and the like under these rules? More generally, how does one determine the winner of a battle? Is that typically scenario driven?

    Thanks Bob,

    Will Scarvie

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  5. Sean,

    I hope that you enjoy the book. For me the work I did to help make it available to a wider audience was a labour of love.

    As to the problem of 'theoretical' wargaming ... well, it is like rule tinkering: it is a burden that all wargamers have to bear ... and secretly I think that it is part of our enjoyment of the hobby!

    All the best,

    Bob

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  6. Will Scarvie,

    Interestingly Joseph Morschauser does not deal with 'morale' per se in the three sets of rules that are included in the book ... but in the chapter that deals with developing your own rules he makes several suggestions as to how it can be factored in.

    There are suggestions as to how one decides who wins or loses a battle. In the chapter that explains the basic rules he suggests that each side is allocated objectives they have to capture or defend.

    I hope that you enjoy reading the book when it finally arrives.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  7. Thanks for publishing this simple set of rules Bob.

    Perhaps you have considered this before, and if so forgive me for bringing it up: why not let native infantry and cavalry move diagonally, while European (and native troops trained to march and fight linearly) move orthogonally-only, as now?

    This makes it easier for the natives to slip through holes and around flanks - in Asia Crossroads, a strategic wargame on the "Great Game" I developed for/with Joe Miranda, we allowed this on the square-gridded (as opposed to hexed) map. It worked well.

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  8. Btrain,

    The rules - as I published them in my blog entry - are my re-write of Joseph Morschauser's original rules. The re-write did not change any of the original mechanisms; it just involved a bit of cosmetic reformatting and some tidying up of the language used.

    I think the idea that native troops should be able to move on the diagonal is a very good one, and I would certainly think that it was in keeping with Morschauser's design philosophy. It has been suggested before ... and I will certainly consider including it in any developments I might make to the original rules. (It has also been suggested that European cavalry might be allowed to move diagonally. I am also considering including it in any future developments.)

    All the best,

    Bob

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