Fog of War again

Hi John,

 Let me elaborate:

 First of all, this an opinion piece, and I'm speaking in general terms.
I
don't have a specific goal I'm trying to attain, nor do I speak about a
certain game system, let alone a specific Official(tm) background...

(Audience: Hiss! Boo! Get off the GZG list then!)
 
 Miniatures gaming appeals to me in two basic ways:
 - the visual spectacle (with the obvious craft hobby tie-in)
 - the non-discrete nature of the environment

 Putting in a rigid coordinate system, IMHO, transforms the game into a
boardgame played with nicely painted tokens instead of cardboard chits.
Peter Pig's "Square Bashing" rules are pretty much this -- fun games,
but
not really miniatures games in my book. And so are many of the
traditional
American "miniatures" games -- BattleTech, Silent Death etc.

 Some game systems, e.g. Arty's Crossfire, have managed to implement a
discrete location system and still maintain the miniatures feel. But
those
solutions have serious limitations, e.g. Crossfire works in cityfights
but
breaks down in desert (Arty even readily admits it only works in certain
environments).

 The reason, IMHO, why you can't have a sensible WWII carrier or sub
game
in miniatures, is not a question of scale but a question of the nature
of
the conflict. Those two are extreme forms of hide'n'seek -- I find you,
you still don't know where I am, GAME OVER! Plus a small possibility for
mutual detection/kills.

 It's the same basic reason you don't have Wall Street Stock Market
Trading Miniatures Game -- the most interesting aspect of the thing just
doesn't translate to miniatures.

 Actually, the way I'd do carriers would be to set up the task forces on
*separate* tables -- the ships are never going to be within visual range
anyway -- play out the search stage on paper/computer and then deploy
aircraft minis for the strikes. Given the speed differential, the ships
would be effectively immobile on the table.

 Subs would be even more boring...

 What I'm trying to say is that IMHO miniatures games is not a good
format
for hide'n'seek games. One should either PSB the hide'n'seek aspect
away,
or just try another format.

 In other words: The first rule of gunfights is "bring a gun".

 OTOH, it's not my money if someone decides his Ferrari Spider is the
perfect vehicle for Offroad Championship racing...

-- 
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