SOLO Miniatures?

[gcbisset]

Hi! I am new to the forum, and ran into HWLG while looking for PC games to use for solo miniatures.  I am retired in Costa Rica, and play solo miniatures every day using PC games.  The type of games I am looking for are usually turn based, so they report combat results (so many casualties, x brigade routs, etc), and I need a decent AI to avoid boredom. If HWLG fit this bill, I would certainly buy it.

I notice alot of miniatures players involved in the forums, so my question is would it be possible to modify HW to use it for Solo minis (or perhaps for group games that are tired of discussing rules!)? I have often wondered why Real time tactical games dont have a setting toggle that would report at least significant events (or even print them out). Or perhaps a different program using the same code could be developed. The closest thing I have found so far are the Hussar games, and they dont have editors, so the field is still wide open!

Roll High! (or whatever the PC equivalent would be)

George

[nix]

Download the demo and have a go! You get a good idea how the full program will be from this... but you do need to play through the tutorials and read comments on the forum to get an idea how to get the most out of it.

[Hook]

I'm trying to imagine the amount of record-keeping that would be involved for even a small battle.

I think a "significant event" report would be useful for PBEM, so this might be good feature even for people who don't have any lead armies.  If it allows people to use the game with miniatures, it could attract a wider audience.

Hook

[Brigadier Gerard]

I have been involved with miniature wargaming for awhile, but my interest in Histwar is solely as a computer game, where it seems to shine as the ultimate solo wargame.  Given the amount of data (OOB, Doctrine, capabilites, etc.) contained in Les Grogs, it appears that you could make good use of it in Solo Wargames but that would be dependent on two primary factors, IMHO: time/unit scales and data reporting formats.

Time as a factor, becomes a consideration since Histwar is mostly a real-time game and you have to decide how to break it up into segments that consistently meld well with your miniatures table top.  Scale is a factor depending on how your miniatures are based, for what rules, and what size battle is proceeding on the table top.  Are you trying to replicate an entire battle shown on the screen that goes down to regimental, or lower, level; doing only part of such a battle; or playing much higher level with fewer miniatures?

My only 'hands on' experience with Histwar is the current demo, so I don't know what reporting routines will be built into the final game.  You would probably need to have some form of a mini-AAR, with numerical summaries, that could be produced based on what time segments you have selected (per the para above).  Based on what I have seen so far, don't think that reporting capability exists yet, but you may be able to extract the information in some way with the full game.   If you raise it as an item with JMM, he may include some such capability as a patch or update.

Ref Solo Wargaming, there is a book by Donald Featherstone called "Solo-Wargaming", that presents a lot of good information on physical and paper-based techniques for such games.  It has some excellent information that could probably be adapted to computers fairly easily by someone familiar with Visual Basic or one of the other similar languages.  My copy is an old version, published in 1973 by Kay & Ward (London) and Frederick Warne (New York).  I saw a new updated version of it about four or five years ago at one of the miniature wargaming conventions.

[nix]

Re books on solo wargaming Stuart Asquiths PARTIZAN PRESS GUIDE TO SOLO WARGAMING is a good recent one available from www.caliverbooks.com. I think this was an update of Fetherstone's book mentioned above. Some sets of wargamming rules for tabletop battles lend themselves to solo gamming more than others . I have read many sets of Napoleonic rules and have found the PIQUET Les  Grognards rules to be very good in solo mode ( see www.piquet.com).

However i think the comments on Histwar les grognards and tabletop gamming made above are spot on!

[gcbisset]

Yes, those are good comments!

I have to say I am not very interested in solo miniatures as it is usually understood, perhaps a bit stuck in the Seventies or the second millenium. Since we have had PCs for 25 years or so, I am only interested in using PC games, (and there are a few that are useful).

I think we agree that if an RT game had some kind of critical event reporting (that could be toggled on for those who wish to use it) It could make HW not only interesting to me and other solo miniatures people, but also appeal to people who prefer the kind of feedback one gets from turn based games. The exact critical events reported could be those most easily reported by the program, but would hopefully include heavy casualties to a unit, a change in unit morale, results of close combat/melee etc) Things like units moving, their position on the field, whether they are firing without great effect, etc can be easily seen on the screen (tho it is helpful to pause the game while you study this)

[Brigadier Gerard]

Right, it would be a wonderful addition to have  reports in a usable format.  Information of that type would probably make the game appeal to miniatures wargamers, particularly those who like to do campaigns.  It might also draw the interest of board wargamers who push cardboard counters around for strategic level games.

I think there are a few aspects of this type reporting we would need to consider:

1.  How is the report initiated?
 

[War Depot David]

I play both PC games and tabletop wargaming and regularly game solo.  I tired using Empire In Arms as a battle generator as it runs as the campaign, you can export details of contacts and import the results and continue on.  I see HW as the opposite.  Run your campaign on the table or map and when forces meet use the OOB Editor to build your battle and then fight it out.  Maybe then screen print all the results pages and modify your campaign notes accordingly.

To date I have never been satisfied with PC offerings for Napoleonic gaming and always return to the table.  While some have great eye candy, none allow me to fight large battles at battalion or regiment level realistically.  The closest is Take Command: Manassas with the Horse and Musket mod.

I have downloaded and played the demo for HW and so far am keen to see the full product although a little disappointed the smallest unit of command is the brigade.

[Brigadier Gerard]

Oops!

The system login expired on me before I completed my complete reply to the previous postings... ...here it is...



Right, it would be a wonderful addition to have  reports in a usable format.  Information of that type would probably help make the game appeal to miniatures wargamers, particularly those who like to do campaigns.  It might also draw the interest of board wargamers who push cardboard counters around for strategic level games.

I think there are a few aspects of this type reporting we would need to consider:

---------
1.  How is the report initiated?

     a. Automatically occurs every designated period of time.
     b. Automatically occurs at the conclusion of specific events.
     c. Occurs when player pushes button or clicks mouse at his own discretion.
     d. Other.

2.  What is reported?

     a.  Current location, combat and morale status of all units.
     b.  Changes in combat or morale status of which units since last report.
     c.  Current orders of all units as well as orders in route by courier.
     d.  If based on 1.a, what is result of the specific event.
     e.  Perhaps include a screen shot of the overhead mini-map or the 3D screen.
     f.  Other
--------

That is kind of a quick take on what it might be.  Possibly, this could be useful even for those who are only playing the Histwar games.  I recall someone mentioned that the games are saved in the form of a movie that one can review.   If the system was saving a report with this kind of information, in a style like a page of the new website, you could have a nice summary of an entire game with perhaps 10-20 such reports and the saved game to review.  Those could be used to simplify writing AAR's and then  combined with the AAR and video as a complete ppackage on how the game proceeded.

[Count Miloradovich]

I have downloaded and played the demo for HW and so far am keen to see the full product although a little disappointed the smallest unit of command is the brigade.

Smallest unit of command is the regiment.

[lodi57]

Smallest unit of command is the regiment.

And the company for artillery.

[War Depot David]

Say what?  I have only done the tutorials so far so maybe the battles that can with the demo are at a differing scale?

[War Depot David]

Oh yes I see now.  Can move 1 regiment of 2 to 5 battalions but cant move individual battalions.  Bummer.  Still, okay.