Not being part of the FOG(A) team I add these comments as a player of FOG(A) rather than a game designer.hazelbark wrote:I think what all the FOG rules have in common is too much an obsesion with tournament open games.
I obviously have a history of doing that extensively.
But I think some helpful chrome is lost in the obsession for equal point battles.
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There is a difference between the 2-3 hour ( club evening or tournament) game with armies based on points that you can bring along and just play and a more nuanced and intensively worked up all day or half day game - whether points based or not. This was as true in the 1970's and later with WRG etc as it is now but I think FOG(A) ( and the other variants) - having set that "standard" game as the design benchmark were right to do so and have been pretty successful at that.
But one needs a set of rules or game system that works not just for that but for the " bigger" scale games too. Then you need to decide what, if anything , to dispense or replace with eg the terrain placement which has its issues on "big tables" I agree. ( I usually game in 28mm on a 12 by 6 table ). I have done big games ( circa 1200 points ) with FoG(A) like Qadesh and Platea and made amendments and designed terrain to match the history ( to the extent you can) and we have enjoyed them enormously and got results . But none of that infers or needs fundamental changes to the FOG (A )design . Points are useful to ensure that neither side has such a huge advantage as to make the game silly - or if not used to design the armies - to ensure you set objectives that are also not standard attrition points and reflect any force level asymetry with matching objectives .
Equally we have done the standard types of game with medieval armies for which it works particulary well in my view . Indeed I think it does suit historically matched opponents for the most part - tho' I can hardly claim to have tried all the possible pairings or even a large percentage of them!
Of course if you enjoy the style of gaming that pits non historical and non geographically matched opponents against each other or are just not fussed about that ( eg WOR English verus New Kingdom Egypt that I saw at one event)then you are bound to have to use some form of stylised and slightly artificial game set up system . It's not my preferred style but it is for many folk and that's fine by me.
