1.,Put the rules on the table, not tables full of rules. I put everything you need to know right on the unit base label -- essentially a hybrid between miniatures gaming and the chit-and-board games my mates and I grew up with. You can spend the game looking down at the board instead of looking things up in a book. Ditto for terrain -- you can look at a hex and know what the move restrictions and cover bonuses are, because each hex has a defining label.
2. No cause for argument. I wanted hex based, not ruler based movement and sighting/range. No room for differences in interpretation, no judge. I still have bad memories of arguments between players at convention games almost 40 years ago.
3. Modular expert rules. You can add most rules a la carte, depending on their relevance to a scenario and the level of detail you want. Leaving one rule out won't break the game.
4. Visual clarity: For the rule book, a simple type hierarchy, and each page is treated as a unified element. One core concept per page. Lots more room to let key concepts stand out instead of being buried in a sea of supporting details. Color use is limited and consistently applied. The only concession to "frosting" was using an antiqued/foxed paper background texture.
5. If you play my game, I am your biggest fan. As you know, I make custom unit base labels for free and will stat out pretty much any vehicle. I make commissioned Stars & Crosses terrain. And I actually play my game and keep tinkering, with transparency to the community. Several of you have petitioned successfully for different unit stats and those tweaks will keep happening as long as I can keep up.
As per my recen health problems I can actually sit at my keyboard for short stretches but am still very tentative about my back. Thanks for everyone's good wishes!
It is interesting to understand some of your goals related to the game's design. I think you have implemented these goals well.
ReplyDeleteI see you're working on British any plans on doing Russians? How can we get the British files and when do you anticipate they will be available?
ReplyDeleteHi Sherigon,
DeleteI have some British units ready to go. If you already have miniatures, tell me how many vehicles of each type you need bases for. I will make custom PDF files for you that you can print, cut out, and affix to bases. Email me directly at (remove all numeric characters from the address): doug77anderson888arts@gmail.com333
I realise design goal of using hexes but is game playable without such as using inches or similar??
ReplyDeleteIn terms of range or movement you could replace "hexes" with "inches" or some other increment. Not sure how it would play. Each terrain area, even if it's not a hex, would have to be defined as open, rough, soft, road, or impassable.
DeleteThanks for info
ReplyDeleteGood work, keep it up.
ReplyDeleteIt's looks like a great game. I tried the quickstart scenario yesterday and it was fun. The german won by agresssively attacking. I surely made some mistakes with the rules and i'll try another scenario today.
ReplyDeleteIt would be cool to have scenarios, and war conditions. I did that for my Squad leader games back in the 90' i'll try to do the same for s&c.
Do you plan to have a google group or to publish on wargaming vaults supplements ?
I'm really happy you tried the quickstart scenario and found it fun. I would like to do more print-and-play scenarios like it. Maybe Villiers-Bocage? A North Africa supplement will be out in a month or so on Wargame Vault, looks like France 1940 and Eastern Front after that.
DeleteI don't have a Google group -- I curate a Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/starsandcrossesbattlegame/ that has over 300 members. Easy enough to start a Google group! I will take a look. I really haven't given this blog much attention lately but will post some new pics.