Post by Bolingar on Mar 20, 2022 19:55:47 GMT
Here is an extract from the rulebook that gives the design philosophy behind the system.
Are you fed up with dice? At least sometimes? Tell the truth.
Dice have been a part of wargaming since wargaming was invented and the average wargamer can hardly imagine a game without them. Dice are fun, make no mistake, and I can recall several memorable games that were decided by a single, nailbiting roll of a die.
Fun aside however, there was never actually any compelling reason to have dice in a wargame. Dice were introduced as an easy way of representing the myriad of factors that influence the movement and fighting ability of a body of men. Rather than create pages and pages of tables, the game designers just kept a few important modifiers and let a random die throw take care of the rest.
This is valid—up to a point. If a single veteran Spartan hoplite faces off against a single average Athenian hoplite it is possible that the Athenian might kill the Spartan. The Spartan slips on a loose rock, say, or the Athenian fortuituously moves at just the right time to avoid the Spartan’s sword-lunge and then rams his own sword home, and so on. The odds are in the Spartan’s favour, but it’s not a sure thing.
However, if a thousand Spartans face off against a thousand Athenians, all else being equal, the Spartans will win the fight, every time. Some unlucky ones will be killed but the Spartan unit as a whole is guaranteed to overwhelm the Athenians. The factors that would influence the fight sufficiently to allow the Athenians to win are few and can be represented by a short list of modifiers: terrain, presence of commander, direction of attack, etc.
Keeping things simple, Optio uses a deterministic combat system with a single short list of modifiers. Units inflict a steady loss of morale on each other, cumulating in one unit (called a ‘Command Group’) routing and running for it, at which point its constituent bases may be killed by pursuing enemy units.
The battle sways back and forth and it is impossible to predict the winner until near the end. There are so many choices the players can make that one can’t determine the situation in any kind of detail even one turn ahead. Unlike chess players who calculate many moves in advance, Optio players must rely on general tactical principles and seize opportunities as they arise. The game is full of surprises. But every outcome makes sense: there are no extreme die throws to give skewed and ahistorical results.
Dice are an even less realistic way of depicting the command and control limitations of an historical army. Earlier rulesets like the WRG series had an orders system which obliged sections of the army to perform certain actions. This was replaced by PIP dice with the advent of the DBx system. A low PIP throw is interpreted as the commander not getting his orders, or misunderstanding them, or being unwilling to carry them out.
This however is not how it happened historically. Orders were given to army commanders before the start of the battle. They could not be substantially altered after the battle began. Once the men started advancing towards the enemy the general could time the execution of his commanders’ orders with trumpet or flag signals, but he could rarely change them. And unless they were unreliable allies, commanders did as they were told—under pain of execution.
In Optio there is a simplified orders mechanism. The battlefield is divided up into a square grid. At the beginning of the game each commander is given an ‘orders path’—a line drawn on a miniature version of the square grid printed on card—that tells him where he must go during the course of the battlefield. Depending on his command quality, he may change direction or pause in his movement a greater or lesser number of times. Once he reaches the end of his orders path, he may still continue to range a certain number of grid squares from the last square his orders took him to.
The commander’s troops accompany him as he moves along his orders path, but they are capable of limited movement of their own, even if out of command. This gives considerably more control to the player than a PIP-driven system.
Along with combat and command limitations, a good deal of effort has been put into making Optio’s troop types act like their historical counterparts. Roman legions are organised into a triplex acies and can perform line relief. Missile troops like archers and slingers have a cumulative effect on their opponents, eventually demoralising them. Generals and commanders are individual figures who influence the morale and fighting ability of the unit they are with, and who can be wounded and killed.
Finally, Optio has a victory mechanism that is quick and easy but is not arbitrary. Every time a unit is routed, a simplified morale test is made of nearby friendly units. Each figure base of the routed unit inflicts ‘panic hits’ on the nearby friendlies. The panic hits of previously routed bases are added to these panic hits. A certain number of panic hits will rout nearby raw units, more panic hits will rout nearby average units, and still more will rout nearby veterans.
As the game progresses and an army loses units, it approaches a tipping point when a decisive rout of a unit causes nearby average and even veteran troops to rout—which then inflict panic hits in turn on other units further away, in a chain reaction that can see the entire army run for it.
As a last point, Optio is quick. Working out combat is fast—no dice to throw, few modifiers to worry about. Movement is by squares—no measuring, no angles and no geometry. Everything has been streamlined to optimize gameplay. The players are mentally free to focus on tactics, and since there are no dice to randomize results, the game is all about tactics. Gain an advantage and you keep it. If you win you deserved to win. And even if you lose, you will have had a lot of fun.
Timing is important, that's true. Will I crack him there before he cracks me here. Routing enemy units as soon as possible matters as that's the only way one's own units can increase in morale, so getting those little boosts early can make all the difference.