Whilst sitting in hospital on Friday waiting for my appointment with the Endoscopy Department, my mind turned to thinking about the standard 8 x 8 PORTABLE WARGAME square grid ...
... and its 3 x 3 FAST PLAY version ...
... when suddenly realised that it was quite possible to overlay one on the other if one was willing to compromise a little.
This is more obvious if I overlay a red version of the 3 x 3 square grid ...
...over a grey version of the 8 x 8 square grid ...
... thus:
I must admit that I am amazed that I hadn't noticed that this was possible before last Friday. As to the compromise ... well the size of the Reserve Areas and Flanks are reduced in comparison with the size of the 3 x 3 grid squares, but as a lot of players seem to favour larger grid squares for their 3 x 3 battles, this seems to me to be a minor compromise.
PS. The need to compromise on the size of the Reserve Areas and Flanks disappears completely if one uses a 10 x 10 square grid for one's 'standard' PORTABLE WARGAMES, thus:
I think this holds true for any even numbered grid where the 'Fast Play' grid has an even number of smaller squares. It also works in both grids are odd numbers, e.g. if the Fast Play grid squares are made up of 3x3 small squares, then the flank and reserve areas are balanced if the 'standard' grid is 11x11 or 13x13, or 15x15 etc.
ReplyDeleteNundanket,
DeleteVery true. I was just amazed that I hadn’t seen this earlier.
It means that with a bit of thought on my part, I can create a board that I can use for both standard and 3 x 3 PW battles … which could save me space in my toy/wargame room.
All the best,
Bob
This would also help with the 3x3 games that use half squares.
ReplyDeleteMark Cordone,
DeleteThat makes it an even better way of looking at it!
All the best,
Bob
It seems like combining the two in one board also allows for the possibility of "zooming" between scales of a particular conflict without switching out boards? Using the 3X3 space for larger scale "army level" battles, "zooming in" to 8X8 (I think I am preferring 10X10 personally) for more tactical actions.
ReplyDeleteBookLordJohn,
DeleteI like the idea and I think that it is worth exploring in greater detail. Thanks for sharing it with us.
All the best,
Bob
Would one use both red lines and black lines on the board (as shown on the 10x10 grid)? It might be somewhat distracting, but if not, using only 1 color would make using the board for 3x3 games a little tricky, at least at first. Or am I over-thinking this?
ReplyDeleteBest regards,
Chris
Chris,
DeleteI’ve moved away from drawing lines on my boards/cloths to delineate my grid squares, and tend to use coloured dots to indicate the corners of the grid squares. By using different coloured dots, it should be possible to have a single grid that can be used for standard and 3 x 3 PW battles.
If I was using lines to delineate the sides of my grid squares - as I have in my diagrams to show how the concept works - I agree that even using different coloured lines for each type of grid would be potentially very confusing.
All the best,
Bob
I've started using dots for Square grids too. Less confusing on the eye and they can even be small bits of scatter terrain (rocks etc)
DeleteMartin Rapier,
DeleteI believe that Peter Pig rules have been using rocks etc. to delineate the corners of grid squares for quite a few years, and if it works for them ...
All the best,
Bob
The game Go uses boards of varying sizes. "Noobs" are usually taught the game with the small 9x9 board, then move up to the intermediate 13x13 and finally graduate to the 19x19 grid.
ReplyDeleteThe board is almost always a full sized 19x19 grid but they demarcate the smaller grids with dots at the appropriate intersections. You could do the same with an 8x8 board. Take a look at this link to a Go board:
https://pathunstrom.wordpress.com/2011/07/20/the-divine-move-the-game-of-go/
Keep in mind that Go is played on the intersections of the lines and not the squares as in Chess.
Mr. Pavone,
DeleteI didn’t know that about GO! The use of different coloured dots to delineate the grids on the board is something that I will certainly copy from GO. Thanks for the link, which I will be following up ASAP.
All the best,
Bob
Ah. but what if one has a 12 x 12 board, as I do?
ReplyDeleteWhiskers,
DeleteAn interesting question. I’ll see if I can come up with a solution … although I’m not sure that I can.
All the best,
Bob