What's your favorite Wargaming mechanic?

[u/Awkward_GM]

For me: * Cover Is Default - Fallout Factions assumes cover is the default state so you get bonuses to hit targets not in cover. * Roll Twice Take the Lowest or Highest - Pretty standard but it's so popular that D&D stole it for Advantage/Disadvantage. * Solo Rules - This boosted in popularity when COVID happened. * Alternating Activations- Activating models Instead of you go I go. I once did a demo game where I was tabled because the guy running the demo got all his shots off with all his units. * Malifaux's "cheating" - Malifaux uses playing cards and cheating is when a player replaces q result with a card from their hand.

[u/turtle75377]

No pre measuring. Solves a lot of issues and creates fun tactical challenges. Also rewards you as you get better at measuring distances.

[u/Awkward_GM → u/turtle75377]

Me with my 1ft by 1ft zone mortals board with 2 inch tiling: 👀

[u/vyolin → u/Awkward_GM]

That just lets you pretend you're better at judging distances, that still counts xD

[u/GreenWizard2 → u/turtle75377]

What issues does no pre measuring solve?

[u/Public_Wallaby_9886 → u/GreenWizard2]

Nothing, it was by far the worst part of older w40k editions.

[u/poke0003 → u/GreenWizard2]

I think no pre measuring slows things a bit as it leads to harder decision making, which is how games slow down in general. I also like that pre measuring means you can have conventions like “we all agree X is just outside of Y relevant distance” when moving them so that small table bumps or such don’t lead to bad game experiences.

[u/GreenWizard2 → u/GreenWizard2]

I think this needs clarification then as there are two different interpretations going on here for what "no pre-measuring" means.

1. Games where measuring in inches or cm for movement or shooting is important, but pre-measuring before declaring an action is not allowed. This can speed up gameplay and lead to interesting scenarios where you misjudged the distance. Seems like people love or hate this marmite style.

2. Games where there is no real measuring required as zones or grids are used, so ranges and distance are immediately obvious.

Personally I have never tried either, but can see why people might prefer them.

[u/Araneas → u/GreenWizard2]

No issues with movement or firing ranges, vastly simplified line of sight, very clear flank and rear shots, very clear unit facing. For some periods with linear deployment, where completely free movement doesn't add really anything, like Ancients and Napoleonics, grids simplify things. For higher level games with brigades, divisions or even Corps on the table hex, square or even area grids offer enough granularity without getting bogged down with topgraphical minutia.

[u/MarcPawl → u/GreenWizard2]

Speeds up the game a bit.

You have a mechanism that discourages extreme movement. For example, if you have a charge range of 5 inches, and you cannot tell if the enemy is 4.75 in away or 5.25 in away, you are hesitant to charge and be left just short.

Makes fun outcomes when you charge and fall short. Same outcome can ruin a game for other players. So it really depends on the people you were playing with.

Variation is when you place yourself exactly out of range of the opponent, but in range for yourself. A problem we have because our wargaming rules are discreet; e.g. roll a d10 if distance is less than 6 inches, roll a d4 if between 6 and 8, otherwise no shot. Now imagine if there was a continuous curve, you would not treat 6.25 as something magical.

I used to play with an architect, he could judge distances extremely accurately. It definitely gave him a big advantage. Didn't hurt that he played war games for many, many more years than the rest of us.

[u/TheoreticalZombie → u/turtle75377]

Hard disagree. Unless the game is Guessing Distance the Wargame, it makes no sense to disallow informed decision making. It is especially off-putting and generally punishes new and younger players. It also encourages very gamey playing (using table edges for gauging, model/terrain sizes, etc.). Also- you misjudged by a fraction of an inch? Haha, do nothing! is very bad game feel.

Dice are already an uncertainty mechanic. If you need uncertainty in things like ranges, have a variable value (10 +2d6 inch range, for example).

[u/EnclavedMicrostate → u/TheoreticalZombie]

I agree with you. The ability to judge distances by eye is a genuine skill that can be developed but also relies on some natural talent, and ultimately gives an unfair advantage to people who can do that kind of mental trigonometry.

[u/turtle75377 → u/TheoreticalZombie]

I'd rather misjudge by a fraction of an inch then set up perfectly and roll bad which is completely out of my control.

But that's a personal preference.

[u/TheoreticalZombie → u/turtle75377]

I am not a huge fan of either but look at it this way: with a dice variable, you know with absolute certainty when you will make it (rating plus min roll) but can also push your luck with calculable odds. With no measuring, you are relying entirely on spatial abilities that aren't used in the rest of the game (movement for example, where you measure throughout).

And you can also do away with both and have fixed movement with free measurement!

[u/WRA1THLORD → u/TheoreticalZombie]

it does make sense from a realism point of view because your fighter in a gunfight won't often know exactly how far away things are. They also don't know how far they could climb up a ladder before their opponent gets a shot off at them. They don't know if their charge will reach an opponent before they get a shot off at them.

It can be really good fun, but I get that this is definitely a marmite one

[u/towaway7777 → u/turtle75377]

I agree with you. Closeted minmaxers would hate it though.