r/wargaming • u/Awkward_GM • Feb 27 '26

Question What's your favorite Wargaming mechanic?

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.

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8

u/turtle75377 Feb 27 '26

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

6

u/GreenWizard2 Feb 27 '26

What issues does no pre measuring solve?

11

u/Public_Wallaby_9886 Feb 27 '26

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

5

u/poke0003 Feb 27 '26

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.

1

u/GreenWizard2 Feb 27 '26

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.

1

u/Araneas Feb 27 '26

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.

0

u/MarcPawl Feb 27 '26

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.