01 August 2012

GameTalk - Radio Nets


The entire force isn't operating on one radio net, if they have a radio net at all. How do you distinguish who talks to who on what radio net for sharing information on the tabletop, especially in tactical games in which the delay in relaying information can have very real effects on battlefield action.

What are some mechanisms that can be put in place to replicate these behaviors on the cardboard tabletop, without getting too fiddly?

By: Brant

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Miniatures rules sets seem to handle this best, with building in hitches in the transmission of orders.

However, it's difficult to maintain the necessary degree of schizophrenia to simulate hitches in the transmission of information - you know what you see, and you can't keep that from the other parts of your brain.

You could perhaps handle this by team play, with two or more guys on each side, playing in separate corners of the room with their particular forces moving within specific sectors on the map.

Like several double-blind umpired games running in parallel... would be fun and a realistic but frustrating experieence for the players! Perhaps too fiddly, though.

DomS said...

Agree that it's easiest with multiple players, and restricted comms. If you're playing it 'light', ie. not striving for too much realism, you can have everyone in the same room, same board, but simply restrict game-related communications to a limited number of written orders (or recorded, for a little more effort). Some comms could be lost or intercepted, to spice things up.

On a more practical level some games (I think The Operational Art of War?) penalise combined operations with sub-units from a different parent formation. Much more manageable, but not as fun!