Rare Earth: Conflict, 6mm skaalan säännöt

[Hena]

Nyt päätän pukata tännekin omaa sääntöideaa taas kerran esille kun ropecon lähestyy. Jos löytyy ihmisiä jotka haluavat kokeilla niin se varmaan voidaan järjestää. Kyseessä on siis suuren skaalan armeijapelin Rare Earth: Conflict.

Ideana on siis fantasiamaailma joka on vedetty 1960-70 luvulle. Magiaa on hyvin vähän (tosin ei näissä armeijoissa, vaan suunnitelmissa olevissa demonien, epäkuolleiden ja korkea haltioiden joukoissa). Säännöt ja historia löytyy Tactical Command forumilta. Peli on vielä kehitysvaiheessa, mutta aika pitkällä maajoukkojen osalta.

Alla on hieman ideoita mitä pelin on tarkoitus toteuttaa.

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Model count

There are many 6mm scale games such as Games Workshops ”Epic: Armageddon”, Dark Realm Miniatures ”Seeds of War” or Specialist Publising three rule sets ”Blitzkrieg/Cold/Future War Commander”. Of these the fastest playing is the Epic: Armageddon. However I wanted to create a game with slightly higher model count, this was my starting point for the game. A game with proper army sizes.

To allow this, I’ve had several ideas to speed up play. First is to create as little multiple rolling as possible. One main principle was to create a system where events can be resolved with one roll. In shooting for example only one roll (except when firing at transports with units) is needed. In many other games there is one or more save rolls done by other player. Second is the Command and Control of which more below. Thirdly a high model count allows and even needs a efficient weapons. This is supplemented by combat efficiency part of morale, which prevents small elements from swamping the table.

Command and Control

Command and control was one main ideas that I had when starting to write the rules. As the model count go up, the time spent on thinking must be somehow shrinked. The main way to do this is to force both players to plan their game at the same time. To do this players need to in most situations to order the forces one turn ahead. Command stack allows this to be done in a simple and straightforward manner. Of course ones plans will change as the game happens, but decision of the order has already been made by that time.

Commitment of the armies

Another idea which was brought in at the early stages of rules was commitment of the forces. My friend who first was asked to comment some very rough drafts for rules. The rules were more or less a set of things which I wanted to do in the rules, such as command and control. He also wanted to see a possibility of armoured breakthrough and troops getting committed to battle. After a bit of though the division of movement values was created to simulate these both.

The Combat and Tactical move simulate both of these. First is that battle move is in general slower of the two thus slowing formation which are within combat situation. This creates the simulation of committing to battle. Secondly the variation between the combat moves allows armoured vehicles to react faster and more aggressively when in combat. This allows more differentiation between units which are designed to direct combat (such as Infantry Fighting Vehicles and other tanks) and those which are not such (as pure transports or artillery units).

Main Scenario

Last addition to the rules was the meeting engagement scenario. To create a difference to normal deployment the rules I went with a running start. This forces again to think about how the army is created as lists need to allow construction of battlegroups. It also creates a situation where the armies in some cases start closer to each others with sensible reasons. This method also allows to enlarge the gaming table size and army size very easily without losing the balance. Both which are extremely good for a game which wants to allow larger armies in game.