tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3851227102582333116.post5550721837608610550..comments2023-10-19T09:58:11.557-04:00Comments on Cheatin' Steve's: Bolt Action Battle Report-16 December, 1944. The US Army is poised to resume their offensive into Germany...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00020849169035190011noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3851227102582333116.post-46251690439003860232015-05-01T23:09:56.683-04:002015-05-01T23:09:56.683-04:00Love the Heavy Metal reference, ha, ha!Love the Heavy Metal reference, ha, ha!Mike "Shades" Schaeferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09713709248807527404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3851227102582333116.post-7638493569576800442015-05-01T16:02:12.704-04:002015-05-01T16:02:12.704-04:00Rhett is SO the Man!Rhett is SO the Man!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00020849169035190011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3851227102582333116.post-47739523470305875622015-05-01T15:32:32.707-04:002015-05-01T15:32:32.707-04:00What an awesome AAR. I am really impressed by Keit...What an awesome AAR. I am really impressed by Keith's GMing here. I hope you post this to the boltaction.net forums. <br /><br />Rhett came over to pick up some more Germans to build, so that problem should be solved as soon as you get to painting them. ;)John Stieninghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01860350974000948346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3851227102582333116.post-27884354798683990062015-04-30T15:46:31.003-04:002015-04-30T15:46:31.003-04:00*rimshot**rimshot*Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00020849169035190011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3851227102582333116.post-59369155360800443242015-04-30T15:34:39.936-04:002015-04-30T15:34:39.936-04:00Always comes back to buttholes with you, Carey!Always comes back to buttholes with you, Carey!Mike Brandt; mvbrandt@gmailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00818846784767602047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3851227102582333116.post-5047647506175548432015-04-30T13:14:51.970-04:002015-04-30T13:14:51.970-04:00Like I said, I like it and you don't. The ten...Like I said, I like it and you don't. The tension caused by the potential for a reversal of fortune is one of the things that makes Bolt Action great. Take that away, and you get Bolt Action Lite. It's not the same thing without the pucker factor. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00020849169035190011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3851227102582333116.post-9621187580975172015-04-30T07:55:49.432-04:002015-04-30T07:55:49.432-04:00I actually don't mind the risk mitigation mech...I actually don't mind the risk mitigation mechanic. I just mind the catastrophic bad luck / good luck component. The former is fantastic, and played out often in our choices. The latter caused all players involved to shrug their shoulders, throw up their hands, quit playing the game altogether, and go "well that's war!" <br /><br />I am not an overly big fan of a game mechanic allowing extremes that cause everyone to quit.Mike Brandt; mvbrandt@gmailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00818846784767602047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3851227102582333116.post-68779522724984998322015-04-29T09:46:07.254-04:002015-04-29T09:46:07.254-04:00Good points, Mike. You should absolutely experime...Good points, Mike. You should absolutely experiment with capping activation. I will leave it uncapped. I don't believe that it makes "0" changes to the mechanic, although I do agree with you that the changes would be negligible most of the time. <br /><br />But I also believe that is would cause a significant change to the overall feel of the game because a cap softens the importance of risk mitigation decisions and greatly reduces the potential for catastrophic bad luck that is built in to the Bolt Action activation system.<br /><br />Fundamentally, we have something in a game that you think is bad and I think is good (sooooprize! soooorprise!). The foundation mechanic in question is the balance of risk management between player decision and structural constraints. All game designers must decide how to balance risk management along that continuum. Generally, you seem to prefer managing risk through mechanics, while I generally prefer managing risk through player decisions. The flavor of the game changes as you slide the balance point between these two preferences. Mechanical risk constraints provide a safety net for bad decisions and/or bad luck. I love the fact that Bolt Action has the potential for things to go irrecoverably poorly at any time. It really heightens the "life hanging by a thread" idea that is ever-present in high intensity combat. High stakes!<br /><br />The end of our last game is a perfect example. Gavin and I decided to deploy aggressively to draw the German side (specifically the vehicles) into a deployment commitment, and then build our engagement area to disadvantage the Germans. We had six dice (four of which were "throw-away" bait units) to the Germans' four total dice. We took a calculated risk with the odds in our favor and promptly drew something like five or six of the first seven dice. Through bad fortune our risk management decision totally failed and our tactical intent was turned on its head, providing the advantage to the Germans. We could have deployed very conservatively, but we didn't. Our plan didn't work, but it could have, and when we started drawing dice the odds were in our favor. Damn.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00020849169035190011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3851227102582333116.post-28007073640278187422015-04-28T23:05:23.204-04:002015-04-28T23:05:23.204-04:00The betrayal was rad tad.
I think a simple hard ...The betrayal was rad tad. <br /><br />I think a simple hard cap on activation while still allowing 3-4 (maybe even a GM predetermined 3 OR 4 depending on turn so you can never actually "know" you're about to go) in a row would literally do 0 harm to the mechanism while preventing some cases of total crazy streak (ie there was also a 9 activation in a row American turn earlier). I'm a fan of random activation as long as you cut the super extremes off the bell curve. <br /><br />Great fun!Mike Brandt; mvbrandt@gmailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00818846784767602047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3851227102582333116.post-81000384956794482592015-04-28T11:05:10.923-04:002015-04-28T11:05:10.923-04:00I was too stunned by the betrayal to take pictures...I was too stunned by the betrayal to take pictures in the late stages of the game. That was fantastic.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00020849169035190011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3851227102582333116.post-76935110979701616612015-04-28T10:43:47.858-04:002015-04-28T10:43:47.858-04:00Great AAR! I -almost- feel bad about how it ended...Great AAR! I -almost- feel bad about how it ended! I just wish I'd recorded your reactions to my treachery!Keith Sloanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07319879076978887933noreply@blogger.com