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Keith Medlin
United States
Holly Springs
North Carolina
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I've been thinking a lot lately about scenario design in ASL and other historical wargames. One of the things I keep coming back to is the idea that sometimes history isn't always the most enjoyable part of the wargaming! In fact, sometimes it's just a real drag. I remember playing The Defense of Rorke's Drift shortly after it was released and just thinking...this is horrendous. The carnage is well portrayed and the overall gaming experience was just devastatingly depressing. Similarly, I've had that feeling when playing Flying Colors. Many of the scenarios in that game don't portray even matches and often put one side out of the weather gauge from the start and therefore...struggling from the start to just be respectable.
So, when it comes to ASL and the thousands of scenarios available to players I've often wondered what makes them engaging. I think the history in the scenarios is often taking a back seat to creating an engaging game. After all, when you're looking at a 7 or 8 turn game on 1 board for the better part of 4 or 5 hours...you better have something compelling to keep the players going!
It occurred to me that...why don't we see more "gamey" scenarios. Does it matter that it never happened? For example, what about a scenario in which the Germans have to break through a Russian encirclement. When they control certain houses they get an extra turn and they also get some reinforcements who were "captured" in that location?
What if there was a scenario about a river crossing in which none of the troops had weapons and only melee was allowed?
I think there's some merit to this idea of putting aside the "That would never happen" attitude that a lot of players bring to historical wargaming. There's certainly a time for historical "sim-gaming", but I think the fun trumps accuracy for me most of the time. After all, they are games and not history lessons in a box. Most of what happened in the real situation isn't going to re-occur after all. There are dice involved and "Manos: The Hands of Fate" are going to strangle you a little different each time.
To that end, I think it'd be kind of cool to see a rating system that takes this into account.
Perhaps something like this:
H - Rated H for historical simu-gaming players. Scenario is supported by historically accurate maps, OOB, TO&E, and primary source bibliographical materials.
SH - Rated SH for Semi-Historical. Scenario is supported by a real-life situation, the map may have the flavor, but not the exact (and to scale) representation of the battle. Historical OOB, TO&E and primary source bibliographical materials are still present.
P - Rated P for Plausible. Scenario is supported by a likely real-life situation. The map may have the flavor of a distinct region or battlefield condition, but without distinct historical landmarks. OOB, TO&E have the flavor of a historical encounter, though not exactly represented. No primary source bibliographical materials are needed.
WI - Rated WI for "What If." What If scenarios are there to explore some aspect of the game to see how the rules handle the situation. Perhaps there are novel counters, specific rules, or outside tracking used to support the What If. OOB, TO&E, and map are entirely dependent upon supporting the specific What If being portrayed.
F - Rated F for fictional. This is an entirely fictional scenario. Perhaps SSRs introduce aliens or some other artificial change to the historical nature of the game. OOB, TO&E, and map are entirely dependent upon supporting the specific fictional situation.
By categorizing the scenarios on a scale from purely historical to completely fictional (Modern MBT in WW2 anyone?) you get a sense of what you're going to encounter before you begin play. ASL is pretty cool in that there are a box-load of scenarios designed for tournament play which are plausible. They have a great mix of what's fun with what's likely rather than a strict adherence to historical simu-gaming like a HASL may portray.
Anyone have any thoughts on how to code scenarios for this kind of rating system?
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