An altertive to army points...

[timsnoddy]

Whilst waiting for the revised points values in Gruntz 1.1 I wanted to suggest an alternative to points based battles. This is done as follows:

Decide on the format of the battle and how the game is won. That is, by capturing victory locations or inflicting losses or any other way you want to determine the winner.

Decide what units will comprise one sides entire army. This army's composition is fixed.

Make an army list for the opposing army which is big enough to easily defeat the first fixed composition army list and win the scenario. This can include core units which cannot be bid away and auxiliary units which can be bid away or all its components can be deemed biddable. For Gruntz I would probably make a couple of Gruntz squads core units along with the army commander. If you have core units and auxiliary units make sure the core units could not defeat the fixed composition army on their own.

Roll a dice to decide which player "bids" first. That player can choose to be the fixed composition army or remove one item from the other armies forces. Bidding then passes to the other player who can choose to be the fixed composition army or remove a further item from the variable army. Bidding continues until one player chooses to play the fixed composition army list.

You may end up playing with your opponents figures but at least the battle should be between forces both players reckon are evenly matched at winning the scenario.

[inrepose]

I would always encourage people to play without points. The points are always optional, but offer a guide. Good idea on the bidding there.

[wikkid]

An honorable solution to suit a Trueborn warrior. Quiaff?

[Scorpio]

Interesting concept, but what's the incentive to not vote to remove the 'heavy hitter' units, like tanks, from the non-composition force? I am wondering how it would play out in practice for anything but really large armies.

[timsnoddy]

Jan 28, 2012 12:32:31 GMT -5 Scorpio said:

Interesting concept, but what's the incentive to not vote to remove the 'heavy hitter' units, like tanks, from the non-composition force? I am wondering how it would play out in practice for anything but really large armies.

This is not an original idea it was used for WWII competitions in Belfast. Yes the larger the armies used the more interesting the premise is. When you bid off a unit play passes to your opponent so he has a chance to play the fixed force. So if you bid off the best units (heavy hitters) from the variable force don't forget your opponent can choose to play the fixed force before you can. It can get quite tense.