Re: The essence of miniatures

In a message dated 4/16/00 8:41:48 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
laserlight@quixnet.net writes:

> 
>  
>  >JRebori682@aol.com wrote:
>  >> Sounds like Columbia's block games. Lots of fun.
>  >
>  > *That's* the one!	I've been meaning to get that.
>  > It is a little pricy though.
>  
>  Describe?  I'm thinking of a game that used cubes as playing
>  pieces.  One face of the cube was marked on each of the four
>  edges for effective strength; as the unit took damage, you'd
>  rotate it so the correct strength is up.  Your opponent wouldn't
>  know what the strength was--he couldn't see your side of the
>  cube.   I presume the progression was not necessarily 4/3/2/1,
>  ie it might be 4/3/3/1 or 4/1/1/1 (or 7/6/4/3, who knows).
>  That's all I remember about it--don't recall subject of the game
>  or anything.  At the time I saw it there were no opponents
>  anywhere near, so "fog of war" systems were pointless
>  investments.
>  
>  
>  
>  >> Anyone ever thought of how
>  >> to use that in a strategic space game?
>  >> Hmm, sounds like a new project for me. Like I need a new one.
>  :-)
>  
>  No problem.	Use them as fleet markers.  Scale = 1 hex per
>  system.  Your opponent would know (through intel activities)
>  that there was _something_ in the system, but not necessarily
>  exactly what.  Is that fleet a 4/3/2/1, or only a2/1/1/0?  When
>  two fleets are together in a system you can transfer units, but
>  you can only split off new units at designated bases (admirals
>  don't grow on trees).
>  
>  Either buy dice and paint them, or buy little wooden (or
>  acrylic) cubes at a craft store.
> 

That's how Columbia's games work. There are several out covering from 
Napoleon thru WW2 and a generic WW2 style.
They use a feature for the naval portion where the marker could be a
capitol 
ship, or a unit of escorts. I think that might be a better style then
just a 
straight fleet strength. Should make it easier to shift to the tactical
game 
and back. 
 
John Rebori
Don't think of it as being outnumbered
Think of it as having a wide shot selection