I am just finished the chapter about the advantages, disadvantages, and usefulness of using grids in naval wargames, and a large part of it is devoted to explanatory diagrams.
Over the years I have learnt that in many case people are more likely to understand a simple diagram than a long section of text, which is why I spend so much time trying to produce appropriately simple and informative diagrams. Here are some of the ones I am using, along with their captions.
Over the years I have learnt that in many case people are more likely to understand a simple diagram than a long section of text, which is why I spend so much time trying to produce appropriately simple and informative diagrams. Here are some of the ones I am using, along with their captions.
Turning on a hex grid. The white arrow indicates the direction that the ship was sailing in. It may turn to port (left) or starboard (right) by 60-degrees.
Turning on a square grid. The white arrow indicates the direction that the ship was sailing in. It may turn to port (left) or starboard (right) by 45-degrees.
In the above example shown above, the distance between the firing ship and the target ship on the hex grid is 5 hexes.
They may not be as glossy or professional as diagrams in other wargame books, but I think that they do the job.In the example shown above, the distance between the firing ship and the target ship on the square grid is 6 squares (2 orthogonally upwards and 4 orthogonally across).
Bob,
ReplyDeleteAgree that one picture or graphic is worth a thousand words in this case. Well done on the CAD diagrams - they'l look just right in your Pre-Dreadnought games book. Cheers. KEV.
Kev Robertson,
DeleteMy experience of wargamers supports the view that most of them are visual rather than text-based learners ... and prefer looking at pictures and diagrams as opposed to reading pages of text.
I draw all my diagrams using a mixture of MS Publisher and MS Paint, both of which are simple but effective programs.
All the best,
Bob
The diagrams are very clear but the ones with squares left me with more questions than answers, no doubt because I'm looking at them without the explanatory context. For example, does the turning ship end up pointing at the corner of the square or at a face and, if the latter, does it get to choose which of the two possible faces?
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that whenever I've tried to play around with squares for naval rules I could never get a satisfactory result - my ships tended to end up using repeated turns to sail along diagonals with a consequent 50% speed increase - so I'm curious as to how you solve the problems.
Mike Hall,
DeleteIn naval wargames on square grids I allow ships to end facing the corner of a square and to move diagonally at a cost of 2 squares of diagonal movement for every 3 squares of diagonal movement. I have drawn a diagram that shows this, and it will be included in the book.
All the best,
Bob
Glossy is less expensive.
ReplyDeleteJim Duncan,
DeleteI'll take your word for that!
All the best,
Bob
Stu Rat,
ReplyDeleteA ratio of 3 orthogonal squares of movement to 2 diagonal squares of movement is fairly close to the ratio between the length of the hypotenuse on a right-angled isosceles triangle and the lengths of the other two sides. (The square root of 2 x 2 plus 2 x 2 = 2.828.)
All the best,
Bob