I do not like the march on scenario. For those unfamiliar with the various flavors of wargame scenarios, the march on scenario starts with all or a significant portion of the forces off the table, posed to march on at various times in the scenario.
I just played a Franco Prussian war game in which all of the Germans and 60% of the French started off the board. The French were also burdened with inferior numbers and most of their commanders were the worst rated for the rule set. This guaranteed that they came on late, slow and in march column. I was the French.
In theory, this is an exciting scenario because of the “just in time” or “just too late” arrival of fresh troops is supposed to keep the players in suspense. In practice, it usually means that the troops never arrive or they arrive just before the game has to be called because it is diner time. Even if the troops arrive in a timely matter, they are often strung out in march column or another formation that requires changing into combat formation before they can be effective. More delay and less impact.
The game began about 1:00 p.m. and the Germans arrived in force about 3:30 p.m. The game ended about 5:00 p.m. at which time, the French had brought on one of their 4 off map commands. The players were friendly, the host was great, but the game was dull. Afterwards, I was asked by the host why I thought the game went so slow. I told him - march on scenarios are no fun.
It is possible that game hosts do the march on scenario out of simple laziness or lack of any better alternative to the meeting engagement.. It is easier to leave a lot of troops off the table than to figure out the balance of the scenario during the initial set up. Balanced scenarios are difficult which is why most are game hosts put on meeting engagements. In a way, a march on scenario is simply a meeting engagement with staggered command activation.
What is the cure for the march on scenario? Start them close, start them on the table.
0 Yorumlar