Cataphract: Medieval-fantasy roleplaying wargame, in the Black-Sea C. 1300
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Cataphract: Medieval-fantasy roleplaying wargame, in the Black-Sea C. 1300
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Re: Cataphract: Medieval-fantasy roleplaying wargame, in the Black-Sea C. 1300
#2Was totally interested until I read its play-by-post and he keeps track of all the troop movements and results. Not exactly what I had pictured in my head before I clicked the link. I don’t understand how people have the time to play things by mail in realtime. I want an evening escape, not a lifetime achievement.
Re: Cataphract: Medieval-fantasy roleplaying wargame, in the Black-Sea C. 1300
#3Was totally interested until I read its play-by-post and he keeps track of all the troop movements and results. Not exactly what I had pictured in my head before I clicked the link. I don’t understand how people have the time to play things by mail in realtime. I want an evening escape, not a lifetime achievement.
you're unable to comprehend why people have a long-term hobbies?
Re: Cataphract: Medieval-fantasy roleplaying wargame, in the Black-Sea C. 1300
#4The A Collection of Unusual Pedantry blog which the author references is an amazing introduction to this work of thinking (the challenges of military operations, and the forces that shape warfare and civilization). [1] If you're already familiar with ACoUP, or find Cataphracts fascinating, you might also enjoy Edward N. Luttwak's The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire of which one review says (and which I find a quality summary):
"The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire is written with a profound knowledge of the field, a thorough mastery of the sources and secondary literature, and a lively and engaging style that both specialists and general readers will appreciate." —Peter B. Golden, Rutgers University
Re: Cataphract: Medieval-fantasy roleplaying wargame, in the Black-Sea C. 1300
#5Was totally interested until I read its play-by-post and he keeps track of all the troop movements and results. Not exactly what I had pictured in my head before I clicked the link. I don’t understand how people have the time to play things by mail in realtime. I want an evening escape, not a lifetime achievement.
> I don’t understand how people have the time to play things by mail in realtime
It's not via mail, it's via discord; there are more details in the submission:
"I set up a channel on a reasonably-popular RPG discord server I’m on, then each commander gets their own thread, using discord’s thread feature. Each commander then gets a little doc with their character writeup and a sheet with their army numbers. They write messages to me, I reply and notify them as events occur, and I keep track of everything on a big spreadsheet and a running Photoshop map file. (...)"
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Also note that in early wargames writing down orders was part of the game, e.g.:
"Players do not speak to each other. Instead, they communicate with their teammates and the umpire through written messages. This is so that the enemy team cannot hear their plans. This is also so that the umpire can delay or block messages if he feels the circumstances on the battlefield warrant it. In the early 19th century, officers in the field communicated over long distances through messengers. There was no radio in those days. Messengers needed time to reach the recipient, and could be delayed or intercepted by the enemy. The umpire can simulate this problem by holding on to a player's message for a round or two before giving it to the recipient, never giving it, or even give it to the enemy."
Re: Cataphract: Medieval-fantasy roleplaying wargame, in the Black-Sea C. 1300
#6It will go well with fantasy ambience for RPGs: https://tabletopy.com
Re: Cataphract: Medieval-fantasy roleplaying wargame, in the Black-Sea C. 1300
#7Sounds like a really interesting and delightfully frustrating game. Bit busy to join at the moment but it’s going on my list for the future.
The comments about the loyalty of the sub-commanders being very strong due to the extremely restrictive information environment reminded me of opposite within the history book Nemesis by Max Hastings.
He covers the end of the Second World War in the pacific. One veteran commented that it seemed that the different commanders and services within the US armed forces were more at conflict with each other than with the Japanese, all trying to get the resources and credit for the successes. (Especially MacArthur in the Philippines).
The radio and news reels of the days could both provide fast information about what is/was happening and also ensure fame and fortune in the domestic environment if your narrative could prevail
Re: Cataphract: Medieval-fantasy roleplaying wargame, in the Black-Sea C. 1300
#8As a recovered EVE Online addict, there is at least one game out there that requires significant time on logistics and operations to win wars.
Re: Cataphract: Medieval-fantasy roleplaying wargame, in the Black-Sea C. 1300
#9> there are a lot of games about strategy [..] and innumerable games about tactics [..], but very few about operations. Almost no games, as far as I’m aware, are interested in, say, the logistics of feeding an army, or communication structures between commanders in the field.
Allow me to whine about Ubisoft buying out Settlers, which was initially about (peace time) logistics, and somehow thinking they bought a RTS.
Re: Cataphract: Medieval-fantasy roleplaying wargame, in the Black-Sea C. 1300
#10Was totally interested until I read its play-by-post and he keeps track of all the troop movements and results. Not exactly what I had pictured in my head before I clicked the link. I don’t understand how people have the time to play things by mail in realtime. I want an evening escape, not a lifetime achievement.
> I want an evening escape
That would be giving orders for one turn. Why the rush?
> not a lifetime achievement.
That would be those free to play clickers.