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Rob Zacny

Episode 338: Legion Wargames

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Three Moves Ahead 338:

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Legion Wargames

Bruce kicks off the 2016 Winter of Wargaming by interviewing publisher Randy Lein of Legion Wargames. Legion is the publisher of many storied titles, such as B-29 Superfortress and Dien Bien Phu: The Final Battle. Randy offers some insight as how the publishing world works, shattering expectations of the glitzy night life and glamorous parties.

B-29 Superfortress, Dien Bien Phu: The Final Battle

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I love all the talks about production issues.  The focus on technical details is very grounded in a way that's is just refreshing.

 

Yes.  As someone with a background in (software) game development, it's fascinating to hear a practical discussion about what goes on over on the far side of the fence.

 

I may need to grab some of those Canadian games too; most of Canadian territorial history isn't traditionally wargameable (our rebellions were small and short-lived, most of the militarily interesting things happened in the French/British clash and 1812), so it's nice to see someone making an honest attempt.

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Fantastic episode!  Love all the Space Rumsfield we have been getting recently on the Idle Thumbs network.  Gotta love my fellow Minnesotans getting some love on the show -- even a transplant to Wisconsin -- gotta love the midwest! 

 

Anyway, a lot of fun!  I am a boardgame/wargame neophyte so I always love the Winter of Wargaming and this was an awesome way to kick it off.  Quick question, and unrelated to this particular episode, but will there be a discussion this winter about War of the Ring?  I know it had been mentioned previously and even on the previous episode thread, yet I am curious if there will be time enough this winter. 

 

Thanks for this podcast!

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Interesting. As a resident of Northern Illinois who wants to become a part-time game publisher, it's good to hear we live in a cornucopia of printers.

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I enjoyed the episode. But I don't play board wargames, and so I have some basic questions about what makes the difference between these games. What goes into a game that's more than "this unit has this much offense, this much defense, can move this many hexes, has this much morale, etc"? It's maybe too basic for 3MA but even a 10 minute sidetrack discussion would probably provide a lot of information.

I was thinking back over some of the older episodes and maybe answered my own question. For example the Vietnam game that was discussed a while back where what you did affected your "political capital" back home.

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I enjoyed the episode. But I don't play board wargames, and so I have some basic questions about what makes the difference between these games. What goes into a game that's more than "this unit has this much offense, this much defense, can move this many hexes, has this much morale, etc"? It's maybe too basic for 3MA but even a 10 minute sidetrack discussion would probably provide a lot of information.

I was thinking back over some of the older episodes and maybe answered my own question. For example the Vietnam game that was discussed a while back where what you did affected your "political capital" back home.

I also was a bit miffed about the coy skirting around the different Gaugamela adaptations and would have appreciated a more low-level breakdown of their respective strengths and weaknesses.

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I enjoyed the episode. But I don't play board wargames, and so I have some basic questions about what makes the difference between these games. What goes into a game that's more than "this unit has this much offense, this much defense, can move this many hexes, has this much morale, etc"? It's maybe too basic for 3MA but even a 10 minute sidetrack discussion would probably provide a lot of information.

I was thinking back over some of the older episodes and maybe answered my own question. For example the Vietnam game that was discussed a while back where what you did affected your "political capital" back home.

 

Games can use very different mechanics to represent the same thing, and where one game might assign specific combat factors to each unit, another may not use numbers in this way at all.  For example, the game Ici, c'est la France is about the Algerian War for Independence against France (and an excellent game, by the way) and each unit is rated for both strength and morale.  Strength determines how many dice you roll in combat, while morale determines if you get any modifiers to the roll.  The result of the roll determines whether you inflict a "hit" or not.  By way of contrast, in the game Colonial Twilight, which uses a completely different system to simulate the same conflict, units don't have numbers at all.  There are just cubes which represent troops or police (depending on color) and cylinders that represent guerrillas.  Troops can eliminate guerrillas anywhere, while police can only do so in cities. How many guerrillas they can eliminate is influenced by terrain but is usually just 1:1 or 2:1.  The guerrillas, on the other hand, simply roll a die, and if the roll is equal to or less than the number of attacking guerrillas, they are successful.  So in Colonial Twilight, the representation is very abstract.  Other games might make combat even more mathematical, and incorporate different types of combat results (disruption in addition to outright elimination, etc.)  Many games have no hexes.  There are about as many ways to represent offense, defense, and movement as ways you can combine dice, hexes, cards, and cardboard :)

 

I also was a bit miffed about the coy skirting around the different Gaugamela adaptations and would have appreciated a more low-level breakdown of their respective strengths and weaknesses.

 

Sorry for the coyness - we really didn't want to ruin the surprise we have in store.  You'll get a very low-level breakdown shortly!

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