01 August 2011

Well, that's not going to work

Let me walk through a little calculation I just did

3
hours in the game
180
minutes in the game
6
turns (2 hours/turn)
30
which works out to minutes/turn
1800
which is second/turn
100
stands for each player
18
so we have seconds/stand each turn
3
phases/turn as an assumption (we will think about how that allocates out)
6
giving seconds/stand-phase

Six seconds!!  I've managed games with that many stands where I could do that, but only where the stand is a unit of number and the real decision applies to a multi-stand unit - at around 20-30 seconds for each unit for each phase I think we actually have enough time.  And I am a fast player.

How can we mitigate all this.  Well, we can go to simultaneous movement.  If we get things clean enough I think it can be managed while keeping up the stream of decisions.  But this is a minor point; simultaneous  turns can be more complex that Igo-yougo. 

Another (simpler) approach is to cut the stand count and simplify the usage.  This may need a scale change as well, but lets think about it.

So, here's an alternative.  We have cut the number of stands per division in two, and deleted or pushed to army the attached and logistics.  With a division at two stands, it really has three or four formations -- meaning the decision points are significantly reduced.  I have also generated two types of artillery stand - one with one gun and one with two.  Lets see how it looks:


French Stands Figures
Type Basing
Corps Command 1 1
Mounted command 30mm round
Infantry 6 36
Line Infantry 40x30


6
Light Infantry 2 on one above per div


3
Foot command on one above per div
Cavalry 1 6
Hussar and Lancers 40x30
Heavy Artillery 1 1
Guns (with crew) 30x30
Light Artillery 1 2
Guns (with crew) 40x30
Horse Artillery 1 1
Guns (with crew) 30x30
Mitrailleus 1 1
MG all up 30x30
Total 12









German Stands Figures
Type Basing
Corps Command 1 1
Mounted command 30mm round
Infantry 4 32
Line Infantry 40x30


2
Foot command on one above per div
Heavy Artillery 1 2
Guns (with crew) 40x30
Light Artillery 1 2
Guns (with crew) 40x30
Horse Artillery 1 1
Guns (with crew) 30x30
Total 8




One thing I like here is the ratio of half infantry and half support.  We still have some issues of division frontage and ground scale.  I'll look a that next.

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