Logical development

[FierceKitty]

Give the popularity of skirmish gaming these days, can we anticipate a new chess with a king on each side and no other pieces, bridge with one card per player, monopoly with each player starting off owning a patch of swampland (and no other properties on the board), and Diplomacy reduced to a downtown typing pool with squabbles over who gets the desk with a view of the parking lot?

[Techno]

I could get the hang of bridge if there were only four cards dealt out.

Cheers - Phil "One Club" Lewis. (Given that nickname at school when I bid one club and got a grand slam.)

[fsn]

Give the popularity of skirmish gaming these days, can we anticipate a new chess with a king on each side and no other pieces, bridge with one card per player, monopoly with each player starting off owning a patch of swampland (and no other properties on the board), and Diplomacy reduced to a downtown typing pool with squabbles over who gets the desk with a view of the parking lot?

No.

[mmcv]

Chess already is a skirmish game, there's a Monopoly Socialism that's just been released so you're not far off, I've never played Bridge but as to Diplomacy, office politics can be just as vicious and cut throat as the national kind, or maybe it's the national kind can be just as petty and ridiculous as the office kind... regardless, you might be on to something there.

[Raider4]

Typing pool? Have you been in the hot-tub time machine again?

And Diplomacy is probably more akin to the current fad of hot-desking, where there aren't quite enough desks to cater for everyone.

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Wot work ?

[Ithoriel]

I commend Power Struggle to the House

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/55697/power-struggle

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

You cant Boris has closed it 

[Chris Pringle]

Half our club is ancients tournament gamers. Over the years the ruleset de jour has changed but the game is always the same: minimal terrain, a big lineout, the line pivots either clockwise or anti-clockwise, and who wins depends which wing gives way first. One day I suggested a lot of time and effort could be saved by just tossing a coin; with a pocketful of change you could fight a campaign. 

[FierceKitty]

Half our club is ancients tournament gamers. Over the years the ruleset de jour has changed but the game is always the same: minimal terrain, a big lineout, the line pivots either clockwise or anti-clockwise, and who wins depends which wing gives way first. One day I suggested a lot of time and effort could be saved by just tossing a coin; with a pocketful of change you could fight a campaign. 

Did they request your resignation, or just throw you out of the window?

[Steve J]

I love your suggestion Chris .

[Chris Pringle]

Did they request your resignation, or just throw you out of the window?

They pointed out that my supposedly historical games are still all just fantasy anyway.

I accept that my suggestion of a coin toss, thus relying 100% on luck, was 100% wrong as it misses the point that what the tournament gamers like is the opposite of luck, they want control (as one of their number explained to me once).

Each to their own, they're good people and I'm glad they're there.

Chris

[FierceKitty]

I could get the hang of bridge if there were only four cards dealt out.

Cheers - Phil "One Club" Lewis. (Given that nickname at school when I bid one club and got a grand slam.)

It takes a while to get the hang of it, but, my God, it's exciting when you do.

[Techno]

I could quite happily count up 'the points' in my hand....and bid (quite possibly) appropriately on that.....

After that initial bid, in those days, I was completely 'stuffed'.

(What did it mean when my partner came back with '2 Diamonds....2 Spades....etc')

Fair enough....I had a pretty good idea of what I needed to do, as the hands were played....But that was it.
It WAS a game that I wished I'd had more time to learn 'properly'.

Cheers - Phil

[Orcs]

Over the years the ruleset de jour has changed but the game is always the same: minimal terrain, a big lineout, the line pivots either clockwise or anti-clockwise, and who wins depends which wing gives way first. . 

For this reason I always ignore the terrain set up "feature" in rule sets, and just set up a nice table.  If you end up with a wood or marsh in the middle of your deployment zone, use it to anchor your flank and throw a couple of skirmisher units into it to deter the enemy.

Makes you think a lot more about where you deploy what troops

[paulr]

Our local competition ancients gamers have taken to using preset terrain in their competition games, based on historic battles

Gives more time for pushing lead as they don't need to go through terrain set up and tear down each game

Also gives much more interesting battlefields

[FierceKitty]

Must say, I often feel that terrain means too little in our games; it slows down sweeping outflanking mavouevres and that's it. Must give this some thought (esp. since yesterday was my last labouring day at the old place, yippee).

[paulr]

Congratulations on the new freedom

[FierceKitty]

Thanks. Glad to get away, though taking leave of a few colleagues was a bit sad.

[Orcs]

Must say, I often feel that terrain means too little in our games; it slows down sweeping outflanking mavouevres and that's it. Must give this some thought (esp. since yesterday was my last labouring day at the old place, yippee).

I think that's  because with our "all seeing" view of the battlefield we know where everything is and its effect on our troops/  Where as a commander would have sent a message telling unit to advance to an objective, without being able to see the stream and marshy area between them and the said objective.