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Saturday 5 January 2013

Using the playing card tiles

I have been giving some thought as to how I can use my newly-acquired playing card tiles, and so far I have come up with two methods that can be used with the PORTABLE WARGAME rules ... and possible with other sets of rules.

Method 1 (Suitable for both solo and face-to-face battles)
  • At the start of each turn a playing card tile is picked out of the bag and placed FACE DOWN next to each Unit on the tabletop.
  • Any Artillery Units that fire in the Artillery Fire section of the Turn Sequence have their playing card tile removed.
  • Once the Artillery Fire section is completed, the playing card tiles are turned over and Units are activated in turn. The order of activation is in ascending numerical/face value and suit order precedence (i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, and King being the numerical/face values, and Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, and Spades the suit order precedence, with the 5 Hearts being activated before 5 Clubs, and 5 Clubs being activated before 6 Hearts).
Method 2 (Suitable for face-to-face battles)
  • At the start of each turn a number of playing card tiles are picked out of the bag and given to each player so that only they can see the value of each playing card tile. (The number of playing card tiles may depend up the commanders ability or may be generated by a die throw.)
  • Each player places a playing card tile from their 'hand' FACE DOWN next to the Units they wish to activate.
  • Any Artillery Units that fire in the Artillery Fire section of the Turn Sequence have their playing card tile removed.
  • Once the Artillery Fire section is completed, the playing card tiles are turned over and Units are activated in turn. The order of activation is in ascending numerical/face value and suit order precedence, as above.
I hope to try out at least one of these methods in the very near future.

12 comments:

  1. Bob, both seem quite workable. The only question that came to my mind was your "suit order".

    The traditional ordering of suits (in bridge, for example, is Spades, Hearts, Diamond, Clubs).

    Did you have a particular reason for your order?


    -- Jeff

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  2. Bluebear Jeff,

    The reason why I chose that particular suit order is because I was taught to play Whist and not Bridge when I was young ... and it is the suit order in Whist.

    As long as the players agree the suit order before battle commences I cannot see why the Bridge suit order could not be used.

    All the bet,

    Bob

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  3. I thought it was because you bravely (Heart) rush into battle, the enemy kills you with a Club, steals your valuables (Diamonds) and then you are buried (Spades).

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  4. SAROE,

    I wish that you were right ... because it sounds as if it should be the reason why I chose that order for the suits!

    All the best,

    Bob

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  5. I would, of course, do the suits in alphabetical order :)

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  6. Kaptain Kobold,

    And why not!

    All power to your elbow.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  7. All great men know whist. It is a little known fact that an impecunious Cordery made his living playing whist during the Peace of Amiens!

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  8. Conrad Kinch,

    My secret is out! My misère(y) is now definitely ouverte … and just when I thought that my lack of abundance was forgotten!

    All the best,

    Bob

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  9. Generally I find face down tokens annoying, as I have to keep checking values. I will be looking for stands for my card tiles so they can stand up like old Stratego game pieces. They will still be hidden, but I can see all of them at a glance.

    It will take some thought on what I can rig up cheaply.

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  10. Dale,

    The tiles are only face down until they are turned over after the Artillery Fire section of the Turn Sequence. After that everyone can see them face up.

    The idea behind this is to introduce a degree of randomness into the rules in Method 1 and player intervention/control in Method 2.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  11. Did you consider the option placing the tokens in accordance with your first method and then turning a pack of cards and activating the units in the order the cards turn?

    I have used this successfully in solo games, sometimes in combination with a commander activation test dice roll so that even when the card is turned the unit might not move.

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  12. Epictetus,

    I must admit that I had not considered it, but it is a very neat way in which to add even more 'friction', especially in a solo game.

    Thanks very much for the suggestion.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete

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