Winter Break: A Beary Simple Wargame

 A Beary Simple Wargame made it out of the box today. My daughter set out the terrain while I cleaned up lunch and we played while the boys took their naps. I didn’t grab any other pics but the game featured both armies moving up to the center and slugging it out. Her artillery scored some good shots from range early. My general (grenadier caps) failed to rally the scared bears which made my counterattack much less effective. Eventually, her cavalry were able to team with the line infantry and break my lines from the flanks.  

The game was easy enough for a clever 6 year old to understand and make strategic decisions. She managed her turns independently, but we did discuss advantages of potential attacks before committing. She did the addition of advantages and subtraction of the dice. Well count it as education. 

Dominion of the Spear Army Builder

 It seems that the new hotness is a series of rules by Steve Parker starting with The Dominion of the Spear and having expanded to cover several other periods.  I have not yet pulled the trigger on purchasing a copy myself but, I have enjoyed reading others’ experiences with the rules.  I think that the models I have designed would work exceptionally well with the philosophy behind the series of rules.  

Early18th Century through Late 19th Century Line Infantry

One of the key aspects of The Dominion of the XXX series is an extrapolation of detail in favor of fast-play.  By using general battlefield areas instead of measurement in distances or grids, the games can feel almost more like a board game than a map-based war game.  The models I have designed fit the more game and less simulation mind-set of these games.  My models are not for “button counters”.  I didn't bother modeling faces, let alone buttons. They give an impression of massed forces while being cheap to produce, easy to paint, and not being too precious to use in gaming. They are chunky enough to be easily grabbed by even the clumsiest of players.  

My models are designed to be incredibly rugged compared to standard miniatures.  I have test dropped my models by dropping from tables many times.  Some of my initial attempts with spears would occasionally result in broken spears, but the musket/rifle/sword units have never broken when dropped from table height.  I have thrown them against concrete and still not broken them.  They’re just too light to build up much momentum.  The most vulnerable part of them are the paint jobs.  I apply a very liberal coating of clear cote to mitigate damage to the painting.  

I have fully designed ranges from the early 18th Century though the end of the 19th Century. I have partial ranges ready for Roman/Hellenic armies. My models also work well The Portable Wargame, One Hour Wargames, and other simplified wargames.  If anyone is interested in an army of your own, please reach out. Being a single person operation, I don’t have any other websites or sales platforms. 

New Bear Range Kicked Off

 

In my dwindling free time, I sometimes think about ranges I would finish if there were interest.  I’m more likely to have a free 10 minute block where I can design something on the computer than a whole hour or two to get a game set up and played through. 

The 18th Century Bears have made it to the table, Roadster Bears have been started and not finished.  I had been working on a racing game suitable for young kids, but it has stalled (pun very much intended). I've been tossing around the idea of a more character based skirmish game for a while. Cowboys seems to fit that theme well. There seems to be lots of opportunity for escort missions, searching for treasure, capturing key locations, and driving off enemies. It’ll being more narrative, it might also spur some writing prompts for my imaginative daughter who is very excited to write. 

If I continue down this path, these will be the most articulated and varied models I will have designed. 

Getting the Bears on the Table

 

Initial Deployment 

We recently moved houses (for the last time). My daughter asked to get the bears out, so of course I obliged her. We played a quick hunt for the honey game. Her bears were tasked with exploring the buildings and searching for honey. My bears knew where the honey was and were tasked with defending the honey. She lost 3 of 5 infantry units, but eventually found all 3 honey caches. 

She did ridicule me for bringing unpainted terrain to the table. I guess I’ll have to fix that. 

Bear Terrain

 

Above is are first three structures and some forest for A Beary Simple Wargame.  They will be primed and painted in the same glossy style as the Bear Units.  The prevailing architecture of the region is sandy stucco colored walls with terra cotta tile roof and bright trim. 

Other ideas for buildings/terrain: 

The Brew'n Bruin:  A coffee shop, teahouse, or tavern.  This would be noted by having a sign in the gable.  

Other stores: Book in gable for library, jars/boxes for grocer

Rivers, Bridges: modular sections, straight, corner, bridge, ford

Driving Bears pt.2

As a parent, I should have known that if I made a toy/game for one kid, I'd have to make something completely different for the other.  My son is currently a big fan of racecars.  I quickly mocked up a 1930's - 1940's US roadster and dropped the bear in.  

The entire roadster currently fits in a 1.25" x .75" grid.  This seems big enough to put enough spaces on the table and still have a decently large movement piece.  The car has a 1/2" square hole where the bear sits. This would (theoretically) allow bears to change cars.  Possibly players could sell cars and/or hire different racers to drop into their cars.  

I'm floating between two rough ideas for the game itself.  My first thought was to take a game like Chariot Race, Ave Caesar, or Charioteer and adapt it for early roadsters.  Racers would roll speed and control dice based on base scores and their current gear.  Successes on speed dice allow the car to move forward.  Control dice would allow a car to change direction as part of a movement.  

The other idea is to create a "never ending straight away" race track where as players complete a segment, a new segment is added to the front of the board.  Segments would be filled with obstacles, bonuses and surprises.  The board would be similar in mechanics to Thunder Road: Vendetta, but much more silly.

The benefit of having the complete circuit as part of the starting condition of the game is that it allows cars to make pitstops.  I imagine that both game ideas would have cars receiving damage and becoming slower, less maneuverable, or less controllable.  A multi-lap race gives players at least a few chances to make pitstops.  The never ending straight away allows for more customization in game length and would allow more creative obstacles/events to be added as the players become more advanced. 

Post 100: A completed project!

It is fitting, and un-planned that this is the 100th post on the blog.  The core of the bear armies are complete, the rules are playable, and the kids are interested.  Terrain and a square gridded game board remain outstanding, but should be in the works in the near future.  

Play-Test 1

 I got through a little bit of a game yesterday with the kids. My son (3) didn’t really understand what he was supposed to do, but did like rolling the dice. My daughter (almost 5) wasn’t really planning her moves yet but did understand the process and could make her way through a turn with minimal coaching. 

An early position as the armies collide. 

An “artistic” shot from the Red Army’s perspective 

A Bird’s Eye View

Driving Bears

 In a quick effort to see just how versatile the bear concept is, I stuck a bear in a Jeep model I had lying around.  The Jeep was originally going to either be part of a photo safari game or an off-road racing game.  Neither took off.  This probably isn't going anywhere either.

A padded seat back would be added if continued

Painting Progress: Just Faces to Go

 I’m down to the home stretch for the bear project. Only the eyes are nose remain. This is the biggest project I’ve completed to date. They should be suitable for arms length gaming. Once I get a few costs of clear coat, it should be ready to go.  

Flag Bear(er) Modeled

As I’ve been working on the Teddy Bear project, one piece that always seemed like it was missing was the command stand. The unit’s standard had always been the part that I couldn’t seem to get lined up well.  I think I may have finally gotten something tolerable.  

I now have two options  to accompany commanders or leader bears, a Flag Bearer and a Bugler.  I suspect I’ll be printing only the flag bearer for my project.  Perhaps as the kids get more experienced and want more granularity, I’ll want a musician unit. 

 

A Beary Simple Wargame v1.1

Updates have been made and posted to the page.  Thanks to everyone who read and provided feedback.  More feedback is always welcome.  

Beary Simple Wargame: First Draft of Rules

 The first draft of A Beary Simple Wargame is posted as a page.  If you have a few minutes, I'd gladly appreciate any feedback.  I'm especially interested in hearing what confusions you see or how it could be better simplified/clarified for younger players.  The goal for this ruleset is for it to be memorized by adults after a few turns and clever kids after a few games.  

Painting Progress: Christmas Break

The most completed units

 Today we’re traveling and won’t be back until after Christmas. The goal was to get done before Christmas. I fell a little short. Overall the pieces are coming along well, but I’m not using the best paint or brushes. There’s a lot of touch up work to do. The only batch-wide effort left is the bright metal on the muskets and swords.

The Princess’s Army

 

The Prince’s Red Bears

Painting Progress

 Minor progress has occurred. All bears now have the top of their tricorn painted. The trim colors are yet to be determined. The red bears have the back of their tricorn painted as well. 

Beary Simple Wargame: Rules Ideas Coming Together

I've started collecting ideas for the non-combat portions of the Beary Simple Wargame rules.  The goal is to get them collected onto one sheet of paper.  

General Rules:  
Square Gridded Game Board.  Units and Terrain must fit in grid together. Exceptions allowed for impassable terrain.

Measuring: All distances are measured through sides (not corners).  No diagonal movement or ranging is permitted.

Activation:
    Youngest player goes first.
    Players move two bear units per turn.
    Bears can move, attack, or move then attack.

Move Speeds: 
        Bears on foot may move 2 spaces.
        Bears on horse may move 3 spaces.
        Bears on foot may push a cannon 1 space.
        Bears moving into buildings, through a tree line, or over a fence/low wall may move 1 space. 
        Bears cannot climb high walls.  They must use a gate.  
        Bears cannot move through other bears.  

Terrain Types:
    Buildings: Only Bears on foot may enter buildings.  Once inside, they receive an advantage if they are defending the building in paw-to-paw combat or if being shot at by other bears on foot.
    Forest: Bears on foot may walk between the trees to cross into the next space, but if they do so they can only move 1 space.  Bears attacking from forests surprise their targets and have an advantage.

Attack:
Combat happens when the activated attacker checks for range and line-of-sight for ranged attack, or, attacker attempts to occupy same cell as defender for melee.      

Cannons have a range of 5 and can only be fired by Artillery Crews.

Bears on Foot have a range of 3.

Bears on Horse can only attack paw-to-paw.
    Players each roll 1 dice, add advantages/disadvantages, and then determine the result by subtracting the defender's roll from the attacker's roll.

        If the result is 4 or more, the defending bear runs away.

        If the result is 1, 2, or 3, the defending bear is scared and will have a disadvantage.

        If the result is 0, the defending bear may repeat the attack as the attacker.

        If the result is less than 0, the attack has failed.

       

Advantages and Disadvantages:

    Cannons have advantage over Bears on Foot

    Bears on Foot have advantage over Bears on Horse

    Bears on Horse have advantage over any Cannon Crews

    Scared Bears always have a disadvantage.

    Bears defending from inside buildings have an advantage.

    Bears attacking from forests have an advantage.

    

Future Modules for Experienced Players:
Rallying: 
Flank/Rear Melee bonuses

Locked in Melee
Charging
Diagonal Measurement 
Additional Troop Types: Elite Infantry, Sharpshooters, Melee Specialized Infantry (Highlanders)

I'm definitely open to thoughts/critiques/edits.  The goal is to  have a simple enough framework for the kids to enjoy while still offering some interesting decisions and rewarding thinking ahead and risk management.

Painting Progress: Adding more colors

Over the weekend, Little Prince celebrated his 3rd birthday, participated in his first Christmas pageant, and got to watch the excavator digging the foundation for the new house.  That being said, there was little time to paint.  We did manage to add some paint in a minute of downtime.  The kids each got to use my oldest/worst brush to slather their cannon's carriage with paint.  I'll go back later and fill in the missed spots and get sharper lines.  

Gun Carriages and Miters Painted in Each Army's Most Senior Color

Beary Simple Wargame: Putting the Pieces Together

The Beary Simple Wargame made it to the table (floor) for the first time last night.  Most of the rules weren't followed.  The princess was just excited to play with her bears.  Her favorite part was having her cavalry rapidly advance to steal my artillery.  While we had fun moving the bears and stealing the guns, I was working through how the game looks once set-up and how that might impact the rules.

Pink's cavalry bounds over the guns to steal them.

The board we played is for a different, mostly 3D printed, game called Tech?No! Bowl.  It's got all of the mechanics and miniatures of a wargame, but instead of a battlefield, it takes place on a a football (American) field.  The grids are 1" here instead of 2" so each terrain piece and bear should occupy 4 grid cells.  I tried to keep the right spacings to get a visual. 

A possible early-game position. 

After the kids went to bed, and between other chores. I got the first coat of paint on the Prince's/My Red Bears.  I was worried about the coat colors being too similar, but now that the bears have different color fur, it is easer to distinguish them.  

Contrasting fur helps distinguish the armies

I've also been playing around with a flag-bearer.  I already designed a general and bugler, but every army needs a flag bearer.  It's not ready to show yet.  I've made probably a dozen or so flags but none of them seem to work.  I ran into this same problem on my earlier 18th century army with the round body soldiers.

 

Beary Simple Rules: Combat Results

Below is my first pass at combat rules for Beary Simple Rules.  They need to be simple enough for a pretty clever five year old to enjoy and still somewhat interesting for grown-ups too.  She's already starting to get frustrated with games of complete chance (unless all of the chance is going her way).  The rules should be easy enough to memorize for adults. Hopefully, the kids can figure out most of them pretty quickly.

Potential Results:

If the Attacker rolls less than Defender: no result.  

A tie allows defender to counter attack. 

Attacker beating the defender by 1-3 would disorder/pin/scare the defending bear. 

Beating the defender by 4 or more removes the defender bear.  

Bears that are disordered/pinned/scared would roll with a -1 modifier.  Leader bear can rally away disorder/scared.  (Not sure if that complication is worth it for a few years)  Other modifiers would include terrain bonus for being behind cover, and a rock/paper/scissors scheme where infantry beats cavalry, cavalry beats artillery, and artillery beats infantry.  

This system seems to be a good compromise for basic games.  It involves both players so everyone feels like they have a role (or roll) to play in the outcome.  It isn't as swingy as a hit/save result with a single D6, which I like.  Most importantly, the math is pretty easy.  Once the kids learn about multiplication/division, maybe something with 2D6 and doubling/tripling would be better.

If anyone has encountered a system like this before and has critiques, I'd be glad to hear them.

Beary Simple Wargame: Rules Objectives

 The main objectives for the Beary Simple Wargame are:

1: Concise Rules

    Rules should be easily memorized by adults.  After a few plays, hopefully clever children will be able to play without being constantly reminded of the rules.

2: Fast Play

    Kids have short attention spans.  They want to play with all of their toys every day.  Something that takes too long will not be played frequently

3: Thematic

    Kids play games.  They don't simulate warfare.  Every action should have an in-game explanation.   

4: Gridded

    Kids don't want to measure with a ruler or tape.  Gridding minimizes fiddliness and speeds player turns. Gridding should also reduce need for precision in moving pieces when there are long reaches for short arms.  

5: Modular

    As players age/improve, complications/expansions should be layered on to provide more strategic depth. 

6: Minimal Stat Keeping or Markers

    If it feels like homework, kids aren't going to want to play.  There should be no writing required during the game.  If markers are needed, they should be very thematic, very clear, and very rare.

I have a rough outline floating in my head of a IGO-UGO system with each player activating 2-3 units per turn.  For now there will be no limits on which units can be activated or tests to determine if the unit obeys.  Combat would be an opposed D6 roll.  Combat results in: No Change, Defender Counter-Attacks, Defender becomes scared, Defender runs away.  Unit types would be held to 3 (maybe 4) to start and as kids improve, additional types would be added.  Ideally, I'd like to build up to the trait/point system that Ganesha Games uses and multi-based units receiving group orders from dedicated officer units, but that may be several years away. 

No painting yesterday.  We put up the Christmas tree.  Which really means we spent way too much time messing with dead bulbs on the pre-lit tree then ending up putting string lights around it.  This tree only has to limp through this season.  Hopefully, we're in a new house next Christmas.