One Ruleset to Rule Them All

I was away from home for a few days recently. During this time, I was itching for a game but did not have anything with me. It got me thinking about a travel game set.

When I got home, I started planning it out.

The Box

I haven't used it in a while, but I do have one of these Tiger Tuff boxes lying around. It is slim, under an inch in depth, so it is perfect for traveling. 

The Supplies

As shown above, I'll supply the box with a flip mat and some dry erase pens. That will take care of the battlefield and terrain.

I'm planning to go with blocks for the miniatures, as shown here

I would also like to be able to do skirmishes. I'm thinking of using meeples.

The Rules

Now this is where things are really getting crazy. I'd like to make a generic, universal kit. Big battles? Skirmish? RPG? I want to do it all with one ruleset. Impossible, right?

Well, recently I was struck by an idea for a light solo RPG ruleset. They key concept is what I call the Res (i.e. Resolution) Test. It always works the same - roll 4+ on a D6 to succeed. Specific conditions like PC level, enemy armor class, etc. will determine if the test is advantaged (bonus to attack) or disadvantaged. What makes this system so flexible is that I can assess advantages or disadvantages on the fly without a lot of math or stats.

Then it dawned on me. I already came up with this system - it's the same core rule for the latest incarnation of my MicroBattle rules.

So now I am expanding on that core, developing guidelines on how to apply the Res Test to different types of games. We'll see how that goes.

Easy Armies

Following up on my experiment with little block armies, I created a new portable wargame kit

It consists of:

• An 8" x 10" gridded battle mat (cut down from a Pathfinder battle mat)
• A pack of dry erase markers (to draw terrain on the mat)
• 2 dice
• 2 tins with the unit markers

I originally cut my own markers from craft wood, but I was unsatisfied with the uneven dimensions that I achieved. I then ordered some 3mm bases from Litko and painted them up.

 I am very pleased with the Litko bases. They are regular is dimension, in contrast to my misshapen attempts. They are 3mm thick so they have some height and are easy to pick up. Additionally, the sides are a dark brown (burnt from the laser cutter perhaps?). Initially I tried to paint the sides but they did not take paint well. I found that it was just easier to leave them unpainted. Because they are dark, they don't seem obtrusive.

Here are 2 armies - Red and Blue

Rectangles represent infantry, squares are cavalry, and the circle is the general. The square that is half-tan is artillery. My thought is that if the tan half faces the enemy then the artillery is limbered otherwise it is ready for action.

The dots are unit identifiers. Rather than numbers, I marked a dot on the left, center, or right of each base.

So far, I have painted 6 armies and plan a couple more (green and perhaps yellow).

For years, I've been wanting armies for each of the countries of my Francesia imagi-nations, but I never got around to completing the project. Now I have armies for Redgrave, Bluderia, the Empire, Grayrock, and various barbarian tribes that the Francesian powers shall discover on the continent of Rapala. I just need Greenglade and Drakendorf.

I'm still working on rules for this kit.