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25 May 2011

GameTalk - Hypotheticals

Plenty of WWII games give you the option to play equipment that was planed but never fielded (or not fielded widely). But what about a Dien Bien Phu game that gives you an extra 4-5 French units to commit outside the valley? What about an American Civil War game with the Brits/French getting involved?

How far do you like to see hypotheticals included in the game? Note that we're not talking about alt-history, but variations on the actual battles and campaigns that were fought...

By: Brant
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3 comments:

  1. Anonymous25 May, 2011 17:18

    Yes.
    Yes, I do.
    Yes, I have done.

    (hee hee - captcha word is "subcal")

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brant27 May, 2011 18:34

    OK smart-ass... howzabout you share some specifics and examples :P

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous27 May, 2011 21:14

    OK then:

    With reference to my own work, I have done quite a few historical situations that still allow players to build up and produce their forces as they go, so it's a bit of a hypothetical exercise from the get-go, within limits. For example, in Algeria the French player can tailor his counter-insurgent force as he goes along, but cannot do things like airmobilize the entire French Army. My expansion kit to Battle for China included western Allied and Soviet forces that appeared in the PTO at the end of the war, so that you could have a Wallies amphibious invasion of China (as was considered by war planners, if the island-hopping didn't work out well or in the absence of an atom bomb). My game on Somalia had UN forces randomly rotating every so often, so you could end up with useful commandos or dispirited stay-at-home infantry.

    I also often use conditional reinforcements that may be entered at a price in victory points or some other penalty. E.g. Autumn Mist (my Bulge game) had two SS Panzer divisions that could enter the game and British XXX Corps that was released if the German got to the Meuse. Summer Lightning (new Poland 1939 game) is full of options to tip things one way or ther other, but none are too far-out historically. Operation Whirlwind (Budapest 1956) had optional additional Soviet divisions available, and three levels of American intervention that climaxed with the 101st Airborne (in Pentomic five-battlegroup mode) jumping into the city - though maybe that last one is a bit much.

    AJP Taylor once said something like, "History is what happened, in the context of what could have happened at the time." Wargames are very much this kind of exercise, and I think it's quite legitimate to put in these kinds of hypothetical variations, but within reason - no time-travelling Panzer divisions or Godzilla coming from beneath the waves, just because you're bored with the situation and its contemporary limitations.

    Better?
    (captcha = "sprogere", which I imagine is a Latin verb for producing children.)

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