Over the past few months I have been increasingly using event cards in my games. These cards are also known as chance cards from Donald Featherstone’s Solo Wargaming. I am finding they add a bit of unpredictability and fun to my games. As I generally use rules from One-Hour Wargames, or more commonly variants to these rules, for most of my wargaming. I have adopted the card structure used from One-Hour Wargames (OHW) where event cards are divided into three types of cards:
- Cards which have no effect on the game
- Cards which benefit the current player
- Cards which are detrimental to the current player.
The cards are split into thirds, 5 cards of each type if playing a 15 turn game as in OHW, or as close as possible if playing other games. In my WW2 Western Desert games where the maximum game length is 12 turns, I use 4 of each event type.
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| The use of event cards in the games is proving most enjoyable |
The other aspect I like about using event cards is that you can create card decks for a specific period or even army. The example below is for my ACW games. For some of the cards I have used ideas borrowed from other games, such as the “Sharpshooter” card from the ACW board-game Battlecry.
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| ACW cards |
Where there are specific events in a battle, such as weather changes or the arrival of reserves. I make up one or two cards for the event and add them to the army’s cards replacing a No Effect card,. For example, to increase the likelihood of a sandstorm occring earlier in a game with my WW2 Western Desert games, two sandstorm cards are added one for each army’s card deck. The first sandstorm card drawn takes effect and the second is ignored, unless you want two sandstorms.
A similar approach could apply in horse and musket games with rain. Rain comes into effect with the first rain card drawn reducing the effectiveness of shooting. The rain ceases when the second card is drawn. I use this approach with some of my Jacobite games when the weather is deemed as changeable for a battle.
Another fun thing I have been doing for some of the card decks is to name events for a particular army theme (example Space Marine army cards below). This theming also goes as far as including more of certain events to reflect the nature of an army. For example, with a Space Marine army I may reduce the no effect cards by one and add an additional move and shoot to reflect their veteran status.
(Note - I am currently messing around with OHW sci-fi variant for the umpteenth time and trying to have standard rules for all armies and use the event cards to distinguish between styles of armies)
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| Space Marine themed cards |
For a Warhammer 40000 Necron army (slow moving robots that regenerate) I have replaced one or more move and shoot cards with a regenerate card.
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Necron themed cards
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Anyway, my next post is a WW2 Western Desert game report. If I write it here it increases the likelihood of me getting around to do it.
Good ideas Peter - I've made something similar for one of my games but haven't tried it out yet.
ReplyDeleteThey certainly add another dimension to the games.
DeleteFunnily enough I was reading one of Featherstone's books last week and about the whole chance card thing. It is something I really should try and your cards and ideas have given me plenty of food for thought. As always looking forward to the next Western Desert campaign AAR.
ReplyDeleteIt is well worth giving the change cards a go. The Desert campaign is still progressing in the background.
DeleteI game solo these days, and chance cards are an excellent way to introduce uncertainty into a game. My favourite set of rules for the Sudan has the Mahdist forces entirely driven by cards and a reaction table. It gives a scarily effective AI opponent.
ReplyDeleteThe change cards are an enjoyable and effective way of adding friction to the games. What are the Sudan rules called?
DeleteThe rules are called Sands of the Sudan. They're based on Peter Gilder's rules used at his holiday centre during the 80s, which in turn are based on the old Pony Wars rules. Carlo Pagano in Australia re-released them a few years ago.
Deletehttps://withpyjamasthroughthedessert.blogspot.com/2013/06/peter-gilders-sands-of-sudan-rules.html
Thanks for sharing your chance card ideas, Peter!
ReplyDeleteHopefully they may prove useful.
DeleteI am also a big fan of event cards. Many variations are possible - draw them before the game, draw them every turn, draw them only when an unusual die roll occurs, etc.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I found very useful, and to counter the argument of specific event cards being "useless" in some situations, is to offer the possibility to the player of either using the event cards, OR use it as a reroll for a die a roll. Exactly what constitutes a die roll (single die, buckets, ...) needs to specified in function of the rules being used.
Its a nifty idea the use of a re-roll when a card is not useable. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteRandom events are great for keeping games moving with a fun element and I particularly like stacking the deck to steer things along historical lines or encourage adherence to period norms. Just have to be careful not to overdo it.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of carefully stacking of a deck to provide a historical context and narrative to games. Thanks.
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