tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post7163955995664360457..comments2024-03-17T04:35:24.517-07:00Comments on Polemarch: Developing WargamesThe Polemarchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-49254059454203031332014-11-19T04:11:50.334-08:002014-11-19T04:11:50.334-08:00Talking of football in Merrie England I'd be i...Talking of football in Merrie England I'd be interested to hear the views of any war gamers who'd participated in the Haxey Hood. Wonder if that experience would throw up any insights on morale and mob/phalanx actions.nundankethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12895608927860103442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-67477850314642758882014-11-17T06:59:31.501-08:002014-11-17T06:59:31.501-08:00Of course, in original football in Merrie Englande...Of course, in original football in Merrie Englande there was no such things as a bystander....<br /><br />Often the atmosphere is referred to, either as hostile or supportive. it is a bit like wargame morale - impossible to quantify but a real effect. But my voice shouting 'shame, ref!' is unlikely to be heard. 40,000 might, granted, but how many usually spectate wargames?<br /><br />I do think that clashing shields, war crys and so on have more effect than we usually warrant, as does dressing up in your Sunday best (or whatever pagan equivalent might be). The show, at least, counts. Alexander issued armour to his to counter the gold of the Indians. there were rich people who counted, and who wanted to fight them?The Polemarchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-90892555343872779672014-11-15T04:03:13.857-08:002014-11-15T04:03:13.857-08:00It might be seen as a comment on our society that ...It might be seen as a comment on our society that it is assumed automatically that in a football match one is an observer rather than player. <br />(Not a watcher myself). The players of course influence the game in the same way a wargamer or team of wargamers influence theirs.<br /><br />From listening to interviews (there were not enough spectators at inter squadron matches at college to matter) I understand that the roar of crowds does has an impact but on the players not the ref and is what we would call a morale effect which can result in a team being encouraged and playing harder or the opposite. Makes one wonder if the clashing of shields and chanting of warcries etc and martial music by units not currently fighting might have had a similar morale effect. I've only seen it refered to tangentally<br />in a few sets of rules.<br /><br />Oh, and yelling at the tv has, I am sure, no effect on a game.Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04053555991679802013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-53999406696380008442014-11-15T03:07:48.401-08:002014-11-15T03:07:48.401-08:00Well, i guess no analogy is perfect; my catcalling...Well, i guess no analogy is perfect; my catcalling the referee would have no influence. 40.000 doing so might, but my own influence is very limited. <br /><br />Someone said of the John Major government that they were in office but not in power. It seems to me that Grouchy must have felt in the same place. He could issue orders and have them obeyed, but not influence the overall outcome. <br /><br />Solo campaigns? I agree, but take a minimalist approach. I write a narrative, with a few dice rolls along the way, until i get to a battle, then I wargame. It saves having to worry about logistics, economics and all the things that I should worry about for 'realism', but which tend to send most wargamers gibbering into the corner...The Polemarchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-5650142606360398012014-11-15T02:32:07.002-08:002014-11-15T02:32:07.002-08:00Intriguing stuff. I confess I rather lost the thre...Intriguing stuff. I confess I rather lost the thread somewhere between the concept of the adequacy of language and involvement/influence in/over a wargame, but the ideas are stimulating. I am not sure that 40,000 football supporters all watching a match from the "outside" cannot influence it, but no matter.<br /><br />The final idea about level of influence in a wargame provokes some thought. One of the reasons I might consider I could "improve" on someone else's wargame is that I might make it more similar to the kind of game I would like, and I've grown used to the idea that my own preferences are a bit outside the mainstream. Last night I watched a video about the Battle of Wavre - 19th June 1815, famous as one of the more pointless military exercises of history, and I was left thinking what Grouchy was thinking about on that day, and how, in later years, he must have felt about his decisions and his level of influence on history as a result. He probably felt that he had indeed been an influential player in the events, but that his direct responsibility for the end of the Napoleonic Age was rather watered down by ambiguous orders, a few bad breaks and the unpredictability of the actions of rather a lot of blokes from the other side, not to mention the performance of his own side. So he was a leading influence, but overall he was a participant in the Battle of Wavre rather than the director or sponsor(?) of the event. That is how I see my own role in wargames - I decide to set out the table, get the soldiers out, I make some key decisions and design choices - I even provide some sort of plan for the conduct of the battle, but the events thereafter are sufficiently out of my immediate control for me to feel that I am present at an event - like Grouchy, I am nominally in charge, but I am one of many - my little soldiers and I are, to some extent, a collective. It is the fake-history narrative aspect which holds the greatest fascination. <br /><br />This is exactly why I am very partial to solo campaigns, though the work involved is sometimes daunting. MSFoyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14470241067504971068noreply@blogger.com