Thoughts and Ruminations

[blooddave]

I'm fairly new to Sci-Fi wargaming. I've taken to it with a certain zeal, making terrain, painting up platoons, etc. But really, I'm still a noob.

Gruntz is a ruleset that is pretty easy to grasp. The basic rules are pretty straight forward and easy to remember.

I've been listening to the Meeples & Miniatures podcasts, and learning about wargames concepts like "friction" and alternatives to the Igo Ugo system. This has caused me to look further afield in the Sci-Fi genre for rulesets other than Gruntz.

I've purchased and read Tomorrow's War, Quadrant 13 and 5150: Star Army. There is a lot to like in those rules. But there is also a whole lot of complication. A LOT to remember.

I keep coming back to Gruntz because it's simple and streamlined. I admit, Tomorrow's War's dice convention (borrowed from Stargrunt II) has a really strong appeal to me, and the Fog Of War cards are a great idea, but the system as a whole is quite complicated. Quadrant 13's activation system seems like a great idea, but I don't really want to play a Company or more on each side.

My system of choice is Gruntz with a variant of the card activation system. I made cards, one for each squad, force leader and vehicle on each side. They get shuffled each turn, and then they indicate which unit is activated. This has the same effect as the "Totally Random Card Activation" system from the alternate rules. This is like the Quadrant 13 card activation system, except there is no "turn end" card, so all units from each side are guaranteed an activation each turn.

I know there's been some controversy on these boards lately about Gruntz errata, flaws, etc. What I know is that I've read and evaluated several Sci-Fi rule sets in the past 5-6 weeks, and I keep coming back to Gruntz.

Gruntz. It just works. ;D

[blooddave]

I wanted to post that as it was, but I do want to say this: The Tomorrow's War Fog Of War cards are awesome. I don't see any reason why something like them couldn't be added to Gruntz.

[Mr. Harold]

I agree... and I have the same feelings.

The game isn't worthwhile if you never get around to playing it!

And I agree with the fog of war cards! In fact, I started a project to go through the Tomorrow's war fog of war card deck with my normal opponent and agree what each one mean for Gruntz.

[inrepose]

Glad you all like it! I had plans for cards, not fog of war (although I have never seen them). They were probably similar ideas I had though to give small modifiers and bonus options based on random deck of events.

[zephyr40k]

Let me throw in my contrary opinion here, for what it's worth. I never use Fog of War cards in Tomorrow's War or in Force on Force because I find them to be too arbitrary and destabilizing. It's rather dispiriting for a player who is trying to execute a careful, clever strategy when their opponent gets a card that throws everything off. Yes, yes, I know, "stuff happens." And a little bit of that is fine and adds interest. But many of the Fog of War cards seem to be a bit over the top.

[inrepose]

Worth perhaps toning them down a bit or making the cards interesting in some sort of "scenario" way, rather than a direct instant debuff or failure for the Opponent. Perhaps mixing in some "Counter" cards, so you could use some as a method to canx out and not just mess up the opponent.