Theming

[stevoid]

Hi,

Although I'm not sure whether it has been explicitly stated, I imagine that the ideal for large competitions is to group competitors on the basis of the FOG army books.

What I would be interested in, especially from the authors or their close allies working on lists (Hi Nik), is what would be an appropriate mapping where you don't have very large numbers, i.e. if you wanted to have say 3 themed comps, what would be the best way to allocate armies to those. Ideally such a mapping would handle from 2 groups up to 1 per book.

The mapping approach is to still allow players to bring any army and not restrict their choices to sub-set of the lists/books available.


Cheers,

Steve

[Phaze_of_the_Moon]

Wouldn't the answer to this question change every time a new army book is released?

And even if one was prescient enough to know the all the army books that will be released (even though many of them have yet to be written), wouldn't answering this question violate some NDA?

[hammy]

Themes are an interesting topic and FoG certainly looks like it will lend itself more easily to themed comps. If however when all the books are done you want to split a bit tournament into multiple sensible themes then either some armies will not be suitable to be used or you have to accept that the themes will be lose at best.

In DBM comps one 'theme' often used is the DBM army book but to be honest there is not a lot of thematic consitency between Early Byzantine, Normans and Samurai is there....

From the books announce so far I think you could combine Rise of Rome and Legions triumphant as a history of Rome theme or Rise of Rome and Immortal fire as a classical theme. Storm of arrows and Eternal Empire would go together as they are both later European lists and Sword and Scimitar will go with Decline and Fall to give almost all the Arab armies plys Byzantines and Crusaders.

The other books are not yet nailed down but I suspect there will be eastern armies at some point as well as dark ages, feudal and biblical. How they would combine with existing books is a good question.

[sgtsteiner]

Hi

I only have the Rise Of Rome book but it does contain a short paragraph at back detailing several armies from upcoming list books that could (should) be used in a Rise Of Rome theme, eg Galatian

Cheers
Gary

[hazelbark]

Other than army books and narrower time periods I think the next theme break will be around 1050 AD meaning that armies that faced KN or can have more than 1 BG of KN may be kept apart from the earlier period. But i am not certain of that.

[thefrenchjester]

Hi ,

in France , after two beta test tournaments , to experiment the rules in the comp. style ;
we have decided to try to organise themed tournaments suffisantly large by combining companion books and time span (?)

the next will be something like " from Pyrrhus to Julius Cesar "it's a first draft for the title ;

historicals encounters are more interesting in FOG ;
regards


thefrenchjester

[trev]

Themed competitions or game days can be great fun and for me is probably the best wargaming has to offer. Restricting lists by army book is probably the simplest approach but with a bit of imagination all sorts of possibilities are opened up. I've run and been to several events of this type over the years and I see no reason why the principles wouldn't work with FoG just as well.

For example, one event was based on the Arab conquests in the east, with all armies being drawn from Sassanid Persian, Byzantine or Arab lists. The players were divided into factions and the eventual winner was the most successful general of the most successful faction. Having your general killed lost you status places and likewise other masterly or infamous actions lost or gained you places accordingly. The use of closely contemporary armies often leads to very close games and the role playing elements give players plenty of ammunition for light hearted banter when a general is slain or a favourite unit is routed.

At my own club (sswg) we ran a similar event based on the Hunnic invasions of the 4thC with late Romans, Sassanids, Huns and Goths and I've been to others based around 7thC Britain, the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Medieval Italy and the Taifa Kings of 11thC Spain to name just a few. The restrictive army choices are not usually a problem if popular themes are chosen and players have a bit of notice. In fact the events I have been involved with are usually booked up well in advance and players have painted new armies just to take part in the next event.

Most of the games in these events were loosely based around appropriate scenarios or historical battles from the period in question. In our 4thC day for example we had a scenario based on Adrianople and another on the sally of the Gallic legions at Amida. In this latter example the attackers' task was to kill the enemy general, historically the Persian King, and casualties were fairly irrelevant.

Further variety and interest can be added with rewards for wins or special actions. Common ones are things like gaining a unit of mercenaries or some additional allies for your next battle, or a stat increases of some kind for a veteran unit. Random event cards can also be fun with general's delayed by the charms of courtesans, or units fighting below par due to drunkenness and even treachery by allies or subordinates. Play testing is advisable as such random chance events can significantly unbalance the game if too powerful. We tend to place more emphasis on having fun rather than who is the eventual winner though, so it rarely matters if things are slightly out of kilter. In fact, we've made it a point to stress that players are expected to bring armies that are both fun to play and to play against, with it preferable to err on the side of the latter.

There is no reason why the games must be one on one either, and in many ways the more you abandon the the more interesting the games can be. One scenario I played had two players attacking a third with the outnumbered side deployed on a hill on the far side of some marshy ground. Another day I organised was based around a comment in Agricola that Ireland could be conquered with a single legion. We had a series of preliminary skirmish games lead to a final massive multiplayer game with the fate of Hibernia at stake.

So the maxim is that you can let your imagination run wild and I hope that FoG players will embrace games like this and not be purely stuck in the mode of competitive one on one tournament rule set.

regards,

Trev