Tag Archives: 6mm Grand Tactical

Writing a Sci-fi Tabletop Wargame – Part 19

It is 400 years since man first set foot on the moon, and 300 since man found out the Galaxy is a dangerous place….

As with everything I would like this to be community driven, so if you see any typo’s or think paragraphs need rephrasing or moving then please let me know in the form at the end of this article.

Last Weeks Poll Results for Orders

Here are the results from last weeks polls.

Although votes are tied on this poll, I have gone with the top option as this achieved the number of votes first

Based on these results, the following wording will be added to our living rules:

THIS WEEKS POLLS

Let’s have a look at Air Combat and Spaceship transport.

–Peter

Name Suggestions?

Do you have a name suggestion for the game or do you have any rules suggestions, or a topic you would like us to focus on next. Or perhaps you would like us to reword something in the main document. Anything you want, let us know below.

Writing a Sci-fi Tabletop Wargame – Part 18

It is 400 years since man first set foot on the moon, and 300 since man found out the Galaxy is a dangerous place….

As with everything I would like this to be community driven, so if you see any typo’s or think paragraphs need rephrasing or moving then please let me know in the form at the end of this article.

Last Weeks Poll Results for Orders

Here are the results from last weeks polls.

Based on these results, the following wording will be added to our living rules:

THIS WEEKS POLLS

A few general polls this week, but an important one around melee.

–Peter

Name Suggestions?

Do you have a name suggestion for the game or do you have any rules suggestions, or a topic you would like us to focus on next. Or perhaps you would like us to reword something in the main document. Anything you want, let us know below.

Writing a Sci-fi Tabletop Wargame – Part 17

It is 400 years since man first set foot on the moon, and 300 since man found out the Galaxy is a dangerous place….

As with everything I would like this to be community driven, so if you see any typo’s or think paragraphs need rephrasing or moving then please let me know in the form at the end of this article.

Last Weeks Poll Results for Orders

Here are the results from last weeks polls.

Based on these results, the following wording will be added to our living rules:

SPACECRAFT SHOOTING
When firing SPACECRAFT a hit roll of 6 will allow the attacking player to choose which SPACECRAFT system has been affected. If the attacking player successfully hits the enemy SPACECRAFT but does not roll a 6, then a system is chosen at random using the following table;

1-2  – Weapons
3 – Shields
4 – Propulsion
5 – Transported Units
6 – Navigation

SPACECRAFT DAMAGE
Instead of having a MORALE STATUS, SPACECRAFT will suffer damage to their systems from successful hits made against them. Shooting in SPACE COMBAT is carried out in the same fashion as the other theatres of war.

Each SPACECRAFT have a number of systems that can be targeted or suffer damage during SPACE COMBAT. Each system will have an effect on how the SPACECRAFT will operate in future turns. These systems are;

Weapons (-1 to hit rolls when damaged)
Shields (+1 to enemy hit rolls when damaged)
Propulsion (half movement speed)
Transported Units (Transported unit suffer 1 level of degradation in MORALE STATUS)
Navigation (SPACECRAFT is unable to turn)

Each of these systems are able to suffer two hits before failing and causing damage to the SPACECRAFT. Damage can be repaired through the use of ORDERS. If two or more systems reach two damage then the ship is considered DESTROYED)

THIS WEEKS POLLS

This week I want to focus on faction creation.

–Peter

Name Suggestions?

Do you have a name suggestion for the game or do you have any rules suggestions, or a topic you would like us to focus on next. Or perhaps you would like us to reword something in the main document. Anything you want, let us know below.

Writing a Sci-fi Tabletop Wargame – Part 16

It is 400 years since man first set foot on the moon, and 300 since man found out the Galaxy is a dangerous place….

As with everything I would like this to be community driven, so if you see any typo’s or think paragraphs need rephrasing or moving then please let me know in the form at the end of this article.

Last Weeks Poll Results for Orders

Here are the results from last weeks polls.

Based on these results, the following wording will be added to our living rules:

MORALE DAMAGE
All land and air combat units begin the game with a Confident MORALE STATUS. As unsaved hits are suffered by the unit this degrades, as it degrades the unit becomes harder to order and can eventually flee the battlefield. There are five morale levels starting with Confident then degrading through Steady, Nervous, Wavering and finally Broken.

SPACECRAFT DAMAGE
Instead of having a MORALE STATUS, SPACECRAFT will suffer damage to their systems from successful hits made against them. Shooting in SPACE COMBAT is carried out in the same fashion as the other theatres of war.

THIS WEEKS POLLS

This week I want to focus a little more on the damage to Spacecraft and how it may be allocated.

–Peter

Name Suggestions?

Do you have a name suggestion for the game or do you have any rules suggestions, or a topic you would like us to focus on next. Or perhaps you would like us to reword something in the main document. Anything you want, let us know below.

Writing a Sci-fi Tabletop Wargame – Part 15

It is 400 years since man first set foot on the moon, and 300 since man found out the Galaxy is a dangerous place….

As with everything I would like this to be community driven, so if you see any typo’s or think paragraphs need rephrasing or moving then please let me know in the form at the end of this article.

Last Weeks Poll Results for Orders

Here are the results from last weeks polls.

Based on these results, the following wording will be added to our living rules:

SHOOTING A TARGET
When any unit wishes to shoot, they do so by rolling a number of D6 equal to their FIREPOWER capability. For example, a standard conscript infantry battalion will have a FIREPOWER 1 rating, showing that the unit rolls one D6 when rolling to shoot at a unit.

HITTING
A unit will need a certain number on their FIREPOWER dice in order to successfully shoot an enemy unit.  All units start with a BASE SHOOTING SKILL (BSS) of 4+, this can be adjusted through the Faction creation process and each units RANGED ABILITY will be required on their FACTION SHEET.

Therefore, if a unit is targeting an enemy unit in the open that unit will need to equal or beat it’s RANGED ABILITY on its FIREPOWER dice to record a hit against that unit. However, before you roll the FIREPOWER dice you will need to check against the WEAPON RANGE of the weapon you’re using and apply any effects as below.

WEAPON RANGE
Each weapon will have a range profile showing its EFFECTIVE RANGE and its MAXIMUM RANGE. When a unit is shooting, if the range to the target sits within the MAXIMUM RANGE profile, then that unit will need to deduct 1 from its dice roll when rolling its FIREPOWER dice. Firing a weapon inside it’s EFFECTIVE RANGE has no impact on the dice roll.

ARMOUR SAVES
Once a unit has had hits allocated against it, if that unit possesses then it is allowed to make an ARMOUR SAVE roll for each successful hit against the unit. Use the FACTION SHEET to find the units ARMOUR SAVE. Cover also can have an affect on the save needed.

COVER
Depending on the type of cover a unit is in will have an effect on that unit’s ARMOUR SAVE. Cover comes in three categories, SOFT COVER and HARD COVER. SOFT COVER includes terrain like swamps, fields and woods, this type of terrain allows the player to add +1 to their ARMOUR SAVE roll. HARD COVER includes terrain like built up areas or fortifications and add +2 to a unit’s ARMOUR SAVE.

MORALE DAMAGE
All units begin the game with a **** MORALE STATUS. As unsaved hits are suffered by the unit this degrades, as it degrades the unit becomes harder to order and can eventually flee the battlefield.

THIS WEEKS POLLS

This does raise some additional questions in regards to Morale however:

With option two I can see each ship having a number of “systems” which can be damaged, i.e. the weapon system may take three hits before becoming completely disabled but each hit could mean -1 to hit with their FIREPOWER dice. Once a system has been completely destroyed hits have to be allocated elsewhere.

–Peter

Name Suggestions?

Do you have a name suggestion for the game or do you have any rules suggestions, or a topic you would like us to focus on next. Or perhaps you would like us to reword something in the main document. Anything you want, let us know below.

Writing a Sci-fi Tabletop Wargame – Part 14

It is 400 years since man first set foot on the moon, and 300 since man found out the Galaxy is a dangerous place….

As with everything I would like this to be community driven, so if you see any typo’s or think paragraphs need rephrasing or moving then please let me know in the form at the end of this article.

Last Weeks Poll Results for Orders

Here are the results from last weeks polls.

There was no wording to add to the current living rule book this week so the rules have been unchanged.

THIS WEEKS POLLS

We’ve covered movement, so the next step is to cover the all important shooting phase. It’s a big one this week with multiple polls! So buckle up!

Firstly as a unit on the table top can represent hundreds of individuals how should hits on that unit be treated? As Physical damage (i.e. the unit has a number of wounds and is removed from play once this reaches zero) or as morale where a unit can degrade from good to poor and so on but can have the ability to rest and recover.

Name Suggestions?

Do you have a name suggestion for the game or do you have any rules suggestions, or a topic you would like us to focus on next. Or perhaps you would like us to reword something in the main document. Anything you want, let us know below.

Writing a Sci-fi Tabletop Wargame – Part 13

It is 400 years since man first set foot on the moon, and 300 since man found out the Galaxy is a dangerous place….

As with everything I would like this to be community driven, so if you see any typo’s or think paragraphs need rephrasing or moving then please let me know in the form at the end of this article.

Last Weeks Poll Results for Orders

Here are the results from last weeks polls.

Based on these results, the following wording will be added to our living rules:

INFANTRY & VEHICLES

AIRCRAFT

All aircraft move at a BASE MOVEMENT RATE (BMR) of 10” when in an AIR COMBAT environment, when involved in a LAND COMBAT scenario, aircraft will have no physical model on the play area. Instead, these units operate as support during LAND COMBAT scenarios by conducting aerial bombing on ground targets.

Depending on the faction or the type of aircraft this can vary. As with Infantry & Vehicles, the Aircrafts movement will be shown under the unit’s movement statistic on their FACTON SHEET.

SPACECRAFT

Spacecraft will move at varying rates when taking part in SPACE COMBAT, these rates are determined by the type of ship as well as any additional faction rules. As with Land units and Air units, Spacecraft will have their movement statistics listed on their FACTION SHEET.

THIS WEEKS POLLS

I’ve been a little remiss and have missed a couple a key point during the drafting of what types of unit would be available to factions. There’s one type of unit we’ve not voted on whether to include…. TITANS ! (Think Battletech or Titans from 40k). Should our Sci-Fi game include these?

Also, I’ve been thinking a little about how faction traits should be added to player created factions….

–Peter

Name Suggestions?

Do you have a name suggestion for the game or do you have any rules suggestions, or a topic you would like us to focus on next. Or perhaps you would like us to reword something in the main document. Anything you want, let us know below.

Writing a Sci-fi Tabletop Wargame – Part 12

It is 400 years since man first set foot on the moon, and 300 since man found out the Galaxy is a dangerous place….

As with everything I would like this to be community driven, so if you see any typo’s or think paragraphs need rephrasing or moving then please let me know in the form at the end of this article.

Last Weeks Poll Results for Orders

Here are the results from last weeks polls.

Based on these results, the following wording will be added to our living rules:

MOVEMENT

INFANTRY & VEHICLES

All infantry moves at a BASE MOVEMENT RATE (BMR) of 5” and all vehicles move at a BMR of 8”, however depending on the faction or the type of unit this can vary. Whatever a unit’s movement is will be shown under that unit’s movement statistic on their FACTION SHEET.

MOVEMENT ORDERS

Once a unit receives a move order, that unit can make a move up to its maximum move distance. Remember that a unit can be ordered up to twice per turn and both orders can be move orders.

As well as the above, I’ve written up an introduction for the game along with some others bits and bobs.

THIS WEEKS POLLS

Continuing our polls around movement, we need to take into account aerial and space units. For example, in a ground combat theatre where infantry and vehicles are involved and moving at 5″ and 8″ respectively, what should the movement be of an aircraft? Also if the theatre only involved Aircraft what should their movement be then? How about in Space, what should Spaceship movement rates be?

–Peter

Name Suggestions?

Do you have a name suggestion for the game or do you have any rules suggestions, or a topic you would like us to focus on next. Or perhaps you would like us to reword something in the main document. Anything you want, let us know below.

Writing a Sci-fi Tabletop Wargame – Part 11

As with everything I would like this to be community driven, so if you see any typo’s or think paragraphs need rephrasing or moving then please let me know in the form at the end of this article.

Last Weeks Poll Results for Orders

Here are the results from last weeks polls.

Based on these results, the following wording will be added to our living rules:

“If an order is successfully issued, then the commanding player may perform one ACTION with the specified unit. Actions range from moving and shooting to charging into combat. Before issuing an order and rolling to see whether it is successful a player should first specify what their order is and to which unit the order is being directed. The maximum number of orders a unit can receive in any one turn is two.

THIS WEEKS POLLS

I believe that completes the Order phase (for now), so let’s move on to the movement.

Firstly, should all infantry types move at the same rate? Should all vehicles move at the same rate, or should the player be able to change these values which then affect that units points cost in the game?

How far should Infantry or Vehicles move at their base rate (i.e. the basic value which can then be adjusted up or down later on). Bearing in mind that you’ve all already voted on a gaming area of 4 foot square.

This is likely just to be the tip of the iceberg when drawing up movement rules, as the future will probably involve Grav-Tanks etc, as well as incorporating aerial assets such as fighter craft. Not to mention terrain.

But establishing the essential question of whether variation is allowed within a certain unit type will go some way to resolving some answers for future units as well.

–Peter

Name Suggestions?

Do you have a name suggestion for the game or do you have any rules suggestions, or a topic you would like us to focus on next. Or perhaps you would like us to reword something in the main document. Anything you want, let us know below.

What is Blucher?

BOARD GAME GEEK SUMMARY

Blucher is a tabletop game of the great battles of the Napoleonic Wars. Command an entire army from the first reconnaissance of the enemy to the deployment of forces and husbanding of reserves to the bombardment and engagement, and the final commitment of elite shock forces that will shatter the enemy’s weary defenders.

Blucher can be played with miniature figurines and terrain or with “unit cards” on any flat surface. You may in fact use both in the same game, since the cards provide a wonderful “fog of war” that conceals your forces until they are close enough to the enemy to be identified and represented with miniature figurines.

It has been given a rating of 8.2 on BoardGameGeek from 50+ ratings.

Epic Fox Table Top has produced a series of videos that are great at explaining the mechanics of Blucher.

1. Part One

2. Part Two

3. Part Three

If you’re interested in getting into Blucher. I can’t suggest you start anywhere else but these excellent collection of videos.

— Peter