Re: The essence of miniatures

Mikko Kurki-Suonio wrote:
> You could put a finely painted Gordon Gecko on the table, but it would
> have no real effect on the Stock Trading Game. How close to the coffee
> machine was he when United Humbug fell? Who cares?

	Just to be a smart aleck...

	Did you ever see an old SPI game called "The Plot to
	Assasinate Hitler?" (it was a cardboard counter game but it
	could be adapted to miniatures)
	Each counter represented a specific personality, but the
	map was *not* a physical map of Europe.  It was more like
	an abstract "political space".
	The positions of the counters was more to show various
	political alliances instead of showing geograpical location.

> The function of the miniature is to show the exact position of a game
unit
> in relation to its environment and other units.
> The whole point of hide'n'seek games is that you DON'T know the exact
> position of an enemy unit in relation to its environment and your
units.

	Agreed.  I've heard that one of the best "fog of war" games
	sort of does away with miniatures.  I disremember the name.
	It replaces the miniatures with wooden blocks.	Your
	opponent only sees the blank backsides of the blocks.
	It has other innovations, like rotating the block to show
	four levels of damage reduction.

	Anybody remember the name?