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Subject: 
Re: BOW, A new brick wargame
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.gaming
Date: 
Tue, 21 Nov 2006 17:56:26 GMT
Viewed: 
11226 times
  
In lugnet.gaming, Alban NANTY wrote:
  
  • You only need Bricks to play, even the dices are replaced with bricks.

I think this is an absolutely fantastic idea! I love the concept, plus the idea that it’s more statistically balanced. For instance, a normal 1d20 will do something “somewhere” between 1 and 20, but the odds of a 1 are just as likely as a 14 or a 20. In your version, you’re more likely to get a “middle number”.

I am curious if it might be more balanced to change the dice roll a bit, though. As I’ve heard (someone else did a little research on this), a studs-sideways roll will happen only about 27% of the time. What that means is that (for example) a Brick Roll of 6, 7, 8, or 9 is virtually the same thing. They’re all (on average) likely to result in a roll of 2 (actually closer to 1.62, 1.89, 2.16, and 2.43 respectively).

Essentially, it means that you’re unlikely to see very “exciting” rolls. There’s always that faint hope that a trooper with a knife (1d6) will cut through the wall of the fortress (1d20).

In the experimentation, a studs-down roll happened about 48% of the time-- quite a bit more likely. It might help add a little more excitement to the game if you counted these studs-down rolls instead of only the studs-sideways rolls. For the above Brick Rolls of 6, 7, 8, 9, counting studs-down rolls results in an average of 2.88, 3.36, 3.84, and 4.32 respectively, nearly doubling the “normal” range of a result, but still keeping the “statistically balanced” rolls.

Anyway, just a comment-- I haven’t play-tested it, so I’m not really sure what the scope of most rolls are “supposed” to be. But something to think about, anyway.

DaveE


Subject: 
Re: BOW, A new brick wargame
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.gaming
Date: 
Wed, 22 Nov 2006 13:02:06 GMT
Viewed: 
11268 times
  
In lugnet.gaming, David Eaton wrote:
   In lugnet.gaming, Alban NANTY wrote:
  
  • You only need Bricks to play, even the dices are replaced with bricks.

I think this is an absolutely fantastic idea! I love the concept, plus the idea that it’s more statistically balanced. For instance, a normal 1d20 will do something “somewhere” between 1 and 20, but the odds of a 1 are just as likely as a 14 or a 20. In your version, you’re more likely to get a “middle number”.

Thanks! When I tried it I had some fun to throw the bricks and hope a good result. And yes your are more confident in getting a good result when lauching a lot of bricks than just launching a 1d20.

   I am curious if it might be more balanced to change the dice roll a bit, though. As I’ve heard (someone else did a little research on this),

Really? That interests me, could you please find the reference? Maybe I could add a page on my website with some maths and probabilities explanations on how the system is mathematically balanced?

   a studs-sideways roll will happen only about 27% of the time. What that means is that (for example) a Brick Roll of 6, 7, 8, or 9 is virtually the same thing. They’re all (on average) likely to result in a roll of 2 (actually closer to 1.62, 1.89, 2.16, and 2.43 respectively).

In the experimentation, a studs-down roll happened about 48% of the time-- quite a bit more likely. It might help add a little more excitement to the game if you counted these studs-down rolls instead of only the studs-sideways rolls. For the above Brick Rolls of 6, 7, 8, 9, counting studs-down rolls results in an average of 2.88, 3.36, 3.84, and 4.32 respectively, nearly doubling the “normal” range of a result, but still keeping the “statistically balanced” rolls.

Anyway, just a comment-- I haven’t play-tested it, so I’m not really sure what the scope of most rolls are “supposed” to be. But something to think about, anyway.

Each Brick Roll is supposed to be done against another Brick Roll from your opponent, so there’s no standard difficulty result. That means you only need one brick more studs-sideways than your opponent to win. So a result of 1 can be sufficient. Doing the same calculation, a Brick Roll with 3, 4 or 5 bricks will give you a average result of 0.81, 1.08 and 1.35.

So if your brick roll use 3, 4 or 5 more bricks than the brick roll of your opponent, on average you should win.

Thanks for giving me the chance to do this little maths. :-)

Yours.


Subject: 
Re: BOW, A new brick wargame
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.gaming
Date: 
Fri, 9 Nov 2007 22:30:26 GMT
Viewed: 
8854 times
  
In lugnet.gaming, Alban NANTY wrote:
   Maybe I could add a page on my website with some maths and probabilities explanations on how the system is mathematically balanced?

Finally I made this page. You can find it on my website, menu “Related Stuff” > “Game System”.

For those who want to analyse the balance of this game mechanism in detail! :-)


Subject: 
Re: BOW, A new brick wargame
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.gaming
Date: 
Tue, 18 Dec 2007 02:31:18 GMT
Viewed: 
9510 times
  
This looks like a really neat system. The “description sheet” is very similar to a system I’ve used (though regrettably never got around to publishing) in a tactical dungeon game.

One refinement you might consider would be to put the minifigs onto 2x4 plates, and keep them there as they move around the battlefield. This gives you a consistent place to put damage markers (and mana/spirit-point markers, if you use those).

The only thing that really bugs me about the rules is that you seem to be using the term “hit points” backwards relative to every other game I’ve ever played. In normal usage, HP are points you start with, and then lose as you take damage. In your system, you start with zero HP and gain them as you take damage. I think I would frequently forget this, and get confused during play.

But otherwise, it looks like a very sensible system. Thanks for contributing it and writing it up so nicely — I know that’s a lot of work!

Best,
- Joe


Subject: 
Re: BOW, A new brick wargame
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.gaming
Date: 
Fri, 26 Mar 2010 17:26:33 GMT
Viewed: 
13273 times
  
In lugnet.gaming, Joe Strout wrote:
   This looks like a really neat system. The “description sheet” is very similar to a system I’ve used (though regrettably never got around to publishing) in a tactical dungeon game.

Thanks! Recently I had the chance to test it myself with a friend and I’m now really convinced of all the fun you can get from it.

   One refinement you might consider would be to put the minifigs onto 2x4 plates, and keep them there as they move around the battlefield. This gives you a consistent place to put damage markers (and mana/spirit-point markers, if you use those).

Yes, this might be an idea to try. However, it may becomes more difficult to move the minifig around. During my test, I found very convenient to just move the minifig one stud after the other, orienting it at the same time, just by counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...

   The only thing that really bugs me about the rules is that you seem to be using the term “hit points” backwards relative to every other game I’ve ever played. In normal usage, HP are points you start with, and then lose as you take damage. In your system, you start with zero HP and gain them as you take damage. I think I would frequently forget this, and get confused during play.

Yes, you’re right, most of the game give health point at the begining and then remove them during the game. It is still possible to do it in BOW with your Heroes. At the begining of the game you can add all the Marking Bricks on top of the HP on the Description Sheet of your Hero, then you remove them each time you take one point of Damage.

And for the Troopers, normally they only have one point of damage so the problem doesn’t really exist.

   But otherwise, it looks like a very sensible system. Thanks for contributing it and writing it up so nicely — I know that’s a lot of work!

Thank you. I will soon release the version 1.2 of the rules. Nothing changed but I rewrote some passage and add more pictures to make it easier to read.

Bye.


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