GZG List archives -- November 2006
Re: [GZG] Point Systems
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric Foley" <stiltman@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Most serious battles don't have a gross advantage for one side over the
other. The ones that do where someone just rolls over the other are the
ones you never hear about. Wargames are generally designed to simulate or
recreate the battles that you _do_ actually hear about.
In just about all the later ww2 campaigns the allies had overwhelming
numerical superiority. Normandy and Bagration for examples. All the planned
battles were about building up overwhelming force so you could defeat the
enemy without taking massive losses
Actually wargames strive for fairness to try and make it enjoyable for both
sides. Some people get enjoyment out of wargaming hopeless situations and
these can be fun for scenarios when you have removed all elements of
competition from the scenario.
If you give both player similar objectives, typically kill the enemy, then
both players need to have a chance to achieve this so points systems come
into effect.
Wargames also tend to remove any strategic element from the games both sides
line up in a roughly linear formation within heavy weapons range with enough
models to cover the table from side to side. The choice came down to which
unit fired at which, scouting, finding weaknesses in defences, having enough
depth to form multiple lines of defence are not things easily replicated on
a typical wargames table.
So I don't think that wargames are an attempt to simulate a realistic battle
they are an artificial construct to allow both players an equal chance at
achieving the objective of killing the enemy and holding the table.
Fortunately wargames are more fun than a real battle. There is a distinct
lack of comfortable chairs and beer and a marked increase in bullets in a
real battle.
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