A simple campaign system (Part 1): Exploring ideas

I want to include a simple campaign system in my forthcoming PORTABLE COLONIAL WARGAME book, but experience tells me that campaigns usually flounder after a few moves if and when players begin to get bogged down in the minutiae of how the campaign works. They rapidly lose interest, and move onto something else. It therefore follows that any design I come up with MUST be simple and easy to use, and require the absolute minimum of record keeping.

I therefore set myself the following parameters:

1. The system must be able to be used solo or for several players without access to an umpire.
2. Campaign movement should be area-to-area or point-to-point rather than anywhere on the map.
3. It should be possible to include unforeseen events into the system so that players have to contend with the unexpected.

On the face of it, these seem simple parameters to meet ... but when you begin to try to meet them, you soon discover that they are not!

The system must be able to be used solo or for several players without access to an umpire
As I do most of my wargaming solo, it would be relatively easy for me to devise a simple, solo campaign system ... but most wargamers are more sociable than me, and like to fight an opponent that they can see across the tabletop. Trying to devise a simple campaign system that is suitable for use by solo and face-to-face wargamers therefore has an added layer of complication for the designer, especially as you have to assume that players will not have access to an umpire who can 'run' the campaign for them.

Campaign movement should be area-to-area or point-to-point rather than anywhere on the map
I've taken part in campaigns where ordinary maps were used, and it very quickly became obvious where the 'good ground' was and therefore where the battles were most likely to take place. As a result, I have tended to favour simpler maps that use either area-to-area movement or point-to-point movement between the likely sites where fighting will take place, and I cited examples of these in DEVELOPING THE PORTABLE WARGAME.

A simple area movement map, as used in the game SAVE GORDON!

A simple point-to-point map of the area around between Brussels and Charleroi.

A simple area linear track map for a South or Central American revolution or civil war

It should be possible to include unforeseen events into the system so that players have to contend with the unexpected
A simple way to achieve this is the use of Event Cards or an Events Table, but unless one is very careful, it is possible to generate problems that don't seem to fit the campaign.

So where to start?
Having toyed with one or two ideas, I decided to go back to basics, and looked at some game designs that have been around for a long time ... in some cases, a very long time. I started with ludo.

Despite its Latin name (ludo = 'I play'), the game known as ludo probably originated in India, and is thought to have been brought to Europe in the sixth century. It is a simple, strategy board game for two to four players, where each player tries to chase and 'take' their opponent's pieces (i.e. return the piece to its starting point) and prevent them from reaching safety in the middle of the board.

The game has simplicity, but I thought that using it as a basis for a campaign system might not appeal to many wargamers. In addition, it did not seem possible to include any unforeseen events into the game without creating a completely new game.

I then looked at snakes and ladders as a possible model for my game design.

Like ludo, snakes and ladders originated in India, and the two games probably share a common ancestor. It is also a chase game, but with 'events' affecting movement (i.e. the snakes force players to move their piece backwards and ladders propel them forwards). In some ways this looked like a better starting point for a campaign design than ludo ... but as the players were all going in the same direction, the only potential for a conflict between players was when opposing pieces landed in the same square.

I also looked at Monopoly as a possible game design model.

The origins of the current game are generally accepted to have been a development of Lizzie Magie's 'The Landlord's Game', which she created in 1903. Charles Darrow took the design, developed it, and published it in 1932. It was subsequently bought from Darrow by Parker Brothers in 1934.

It is also a chase game, but with the added advantage of including Event Cards (i.e. 'Chance' and 'Community Chest') and a level of resource management (i.e. the purchase and development of property which generates additional income). Perhaps this type of resource management might not be applicable to a wargame, but the inclusion of something that requires players to manage what is available to them does appeal.

Ideas were beginning to form in my head as to how I could meld the various game designs into a simple campaign system, and my recent cruise gave me the opportunity to play around with them.

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Please note that the photograph of the Monopoly board is © Hasbro.