The local craft store was having a sale and I was able to pick up a second bag of scrabble style tiles cheaply. The reason for grabbing a second packet is to test a method of unit activation where identified units are activated one at a time when pulled from a bag.
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| Cheap wood scrabble tiles from the local craft store. |
I utilise a set (or a portion of it) to label individual units on the tabletop. I take the same letters from the second set and place them in a bag. Afterward, I draw the letters one by one from the bag to activate the labeled units. I plan to try out this activation method in a medieval game.
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| The units are uniquely identified by one set of tiles and the same letter as placed into a bag and drawn. |
Anyway, any medieval game will have to wait because tomorrow I'll be hosting a remote samurai game and finalising the write-up for the large-scale Napoleonic battle rules I've been testing and messing around with for the past couple of months.
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| Preparing the tabletop for a remote samurai game |
That’s a good idea Peter. I have a bag of lettered beads from a craft shop. I can try the same thing on the campaign game I’m running h solo at the moment.
ReplyDeleteChris/Nundanket
The lettered beads would work very well.
DeleteGood idea! I sometimes do something similar if I want to put more constraints upon players rather than letting them choose which command is activated. I use named tokens tossed into the cup but using Scrabble tiles works similarly.
ReplyDeleteThe scrabble tiles are a quick and easy way. Have named tokens would certainly add more to the narrative.
DeleteThat's an interesting idea that we used to use for Seven Years War. We don't use it now. I guess we found it frustrating to have a unit selected that could not be moved because of yet unselected unit being in the way... but I guess that's the point.
ReplyDeleteSome activation systems don’t alway suit a period. For the labelled activation approach and its frustrations seem to suit the medieval period.
DeleteIt's a nice use for the "Scrabble" tiles Peter - I look forward to seeing your Samurai armies in action again!
ReplyDeleteThanks, almost written them up.
DeleteThis type of activation of specific units can indeed run into the "traffic jam" problem - units cannot be moved because unactivated troops are in the way. But there are plenty workarounds, e.g. "hold a hand of tiles"; or be able to defer up to let's say 3 activations, etc.
ReplyDeleteA hand of tiles is a neat way of dealing with this. I was also wondering about allowing a tile for the leader that can be used as a proxy on any unit.
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