Game Introduction December 2016
- 7 years ago
http://www.warblog.co.uk
The site is a blog and a game about wars that uses hex based mapping as a focus. The idea is that each scenario can be explored visually in a consistent mapped format for analysis and information as well as played in the traditional sense. It will be assumed that linked references will support the main bulk of the factual content and so the articles wont be that long in their own right.
Part of the sites objectives is to provide insight into all modern engagements. Clearly that will take some time, but eventually I hope it to be a solid starting reference for a good deal of modern wars.
The current objective is to create a new blog item every now and then detailing a specific battle, mainly out of interest in exploring that battle. The focus will be on modern warfare although battles from the past will be included across all time including the period BC. In particular the blog will from time to time cover current battles as they evolve. I am trying to be as diverse as I can across the 1945-date period.
The site does not purport to be a expert resource as such with regards to belligerants or orders of battle and where details are not know, especially in the current developing theatres, best guesses are made. Also, many battles are not that well documented on the internet where I get most of my background and that will be reflected in the scenario details.
Something that did inspire me was Brasseys Ditionary Of Battles which gives a simmple overview of a lot of battles, regardless of their scale etc. For example, in his forword he details the inlusion of military engagements where no shots were fired, including naval engagements where the outcome nethertheless was historically significant. I will be taking a slightly different stance, and will simple be including a massive span of engagements even when there is no historic merit, something common amongst the current affairs items. In total I hope to over the grand to the mundane. I persoanlly find the very small engagements, often with less than 10 counters to be even more appealing than the monster style games. Many current events are relativly mundane, but even in their own sense are still rich with cultural inflection and background and can provide enjoyable distractions or as apetizers for grander campaigns.
Whilst I consider myself a hardcore gamer, the truth is im not. Thats because I just dont have time, and im sure im not alone. This site aims to fill the gap for similarly serious gamers that dont have time for learning rules or commiting anything more than the very minimum of time. All the scenarios use the same very simple rules. Also, as much as I like big maps and lots of counters, the idea of spending 100 hours to play through once only then to have a grip on the rules and strategies etc that then require a seond play to do the game justice are not an issue. You can play all of these games relativly quikly, and then onec played, start again right away, no need to resort ounters and what not.
I have played a number of games, more recently Europa Universalis which in total I played 3 times I think, although I did have the previous version. However, they take time, days on end. Beause of my lak of time I spent quite a lot of time playing Hex Empires, a purile games but massivly addictive. That frustrated me a little as you walk away learning nothing and have nothign to remember it by. I hope that Warblog will fill a similar niche but at the same time offer people an educational opportunity and perhaps a stepping stone to further research, something Hex Empires and their ilk seldom do.
It is my intention to come back to certain battles and improve them either from an initial 'sketch' through to fine tuning elements as more is learnt. A key strength to this format is the ability to make modifications and fine tune detail over time. As suh, some senarios might appear unfinished or unpolished. If you have a partiular desire to play any game that appears unfinished, just ask and i'll look into bringing it up to speed.
Hopefully this 'blog' will provide an interesting medium to analyse current military engagements that you might read about in the news etc in a light that focusses more on the mathematical strategic situation.
The games are designed to be played over a small time-frame, such as a coffee break and differ from many conventional wargames in that they are not campaign based or epic in format. As such, things like supply and command are not dealt with. You can probably get just as much gameplay out of them by just looking at them for free.
Unlike traditional hex based board games, War Blog does not intend to create a raft of special rules for every type of action, and in fact wont show calculations or tables at all. Whilst part of the fun of traditional board games was learning the maths and look up tables, that was mainly because they were cardboard chit games. This is a computer, so all of that is done.
The site is a blog and a game about wars that uses hex based mapping as a focus. The idea is that each scenario can be explored visually in a consistent mapped format for analysis and information as well as played in the traditional sense. It will be assumed that linked references will support the main bulk of the factual content and so the articles wont be that long in their own right.
Part of the sites objectives is to provide insight into all modern engagements. Clearly that will take some time, but eventually I hope it to be a solid starting reference for a good deal of modern wars.
The current objective is to create a new blog item every now and then detailing a specific battle, mainly out of interest in exploring that battle. The focus will be on modern warfare although battles from the past will be included across all time including the period BC. In particular the blog will from time to time cover current battles as they evolve. I am trying to be as diverse as I can across the 1945-date period.
The site does not purport to be a expert resource as such with regards to belligerants or orders of battle and where details are not know, especially in the current developing theatres, best guesses are made. Also, many battles are not that well documented on the internet where I get most of my background and that will be reflected in the scenario details.
Something that did inspire me was Brasseys Ditionary Of Battles which gives a simmple overview of a lot of battles, regardless of their scale etc. For example, in his forword he details the inlusion of military engagements where no shots were fired, including naval engagements where the outcome nethertheless was historically significant. I will be taking a slightly different stance, and will simple be including a massive span of engagements even when there is no historic merit, something common amongst the current affairs items. In total I hope to over the grand to the mundane. I persoanlly find the very small engagements, often with less than 10 counters to be even more appealing than the monster style games. Many current events are relativly mundane, but even in their own sense are still rich with cultural inflection and background and can provide enjoyable distractions or as apetizers for grander campaigns.
Whilst I consider myself a hardcore gamer, the truth is im not. Thats because I just dont have time, and im sure im not alone. This site aims to fill the gap for similarly serious gamers that dont have time for learning rules or commiting anything more than the very minimum of time. All the scenarios use the same very simple rules. Also, as much as I like big maps and lots of counters, the idea of spending 100 hours to play through once only then to have a grip on the rules and strategies etc that then require a seond play to do the game justice are not an issue. You can play all of these games relativly quikly, and then onec played, start again right away, no need to resort ounters and what not.
I have played a number of games, more recently Europa Universalis which in total I played 3 times I think, although I did have the previous version. However, they take time, days on end. Beause of my lak of time I spent quite a lot of time playing Hex Empires, a purile games but massivly addictive. That frustrated me a little as you walk away learning nothing and have nothign to remember it by. I hope that Warblog will fill a similar niche but at the same time offer people an educational opportunity and perhaps a stepping stone to further research, something Hex Empires and their ilk seldom do.
It is my intention to come back to certain battles and improve them either from an initial 'sketch' through to fine tuning elements as more is learnt. A key strength to this format is the ability to make modifications and fine tune detail over time. As suh, some senarios might appear unfinished or unpolished. If you have a partiular desire to play any game that appears unfinished, just ask and i'll look into bringing it up to speed.
Hopefully this 'blog' will provide an interesting medium to analyse current military engagements that you might read about in the news etc in a light that focusses more on the mathematical strategic situation.
The games are designed to be played over a small time-frame, such as a coffee break and differ from many conventional wargames in that they are not campaign based or epic in format. As such, things like supply and command are not dealt with. You can probably get just as much gameplay out of them by just looking at them for free.
Unlike traditional hex based board games, War Blog does not intend to create a raft of special rules for every type of action, and in fact wont show calculations or tables at all. Whilst part of the fun of traditional board games was learning the maths and look up tables, that was mainly because they were cardboard chit games. This is a computer, so all of that is done.