Saturday, April 10, 2010

Grim visaged war.

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The crisis point in "Hold the Pass", a British column assails advancing (but disordered) French grenadiers. War Artist - Donogh O'McCarthy RA - internationally renowned whippet fancier.

Gentlemen of the Mess,

Address yourselves to the above picture taken from a sketch by that notorious roué Donogh O'McCarthy RA late in the battle.

Ev Avant works off a roster system where casualties are not removed, but a unit loses morale points. However, in the past players have complained about not being able to "read" the morale state of units and being left totally in the dark. To that end, I've had some casualty markers painted, though insufficient for every unit thus far. In the interim I've taken to removing figures from bases and leaving them face down on the board to represent those poor unfortunates laid low by sabre and musket.

I'm not absolutely convinced by this approach myself, but it has the advantage of...

a) giving the players some sort of indication of what's going on.
b) not requiring me to transport additional models.

and it does impart a sort of jolly-toy-soldiers feeling to the proceedings.

So, what say you? Should I forge ahead with my casualty markers or remain with the current knock 'em down system?

Your obedient servant,

Conrad Kinch


3 comments:

  1. With all due respect, Conrad, my opinion as well as that of other readers.

    Which do YOU prefer? That is the only relevant question when it concerns YOUR table.

    We will never in all likelihood be in your home . . . but even if we were, it is still YOUR table.

    Do whichever YOU prefer, sir.


    -- Jeff

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  2. I like casualty markers visually, though they can be a bit grim at times. However, I'm not sure the extra demands of transports, costs and sheer time of laying the little blighters out is worth it.

    So here I am, like the cat in the adage.

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  3. Personally, I am fine with the figure removal aspect. That's what most of the games I deal with use.

    ReplyDelete