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Greetings,

What makes a game a wargame? Playing Flick’em Up made me start to ponder this question. You see, Flick’em Up is a wild west shoot-out game similar to Legends of the Old Wets, Dead Man’s Hand, and The Rules With No Name. Despite the genre, I would wager many people would find calling Flick’em Up a wargame to be an affront to their hobby. You see, in Flick’em Up all effects are determined by “flicking” a disc around the table, there is no random number generators, no cards, no fancy terrain, no painted models, and no charts. All results are determined by the player’s dexterity skills. Is this a wargame or a dexterity game?



I recall in reading many varying thoughts about “Guess Range” weapons in wargames. The argument was often around substituting a player skill to determine results over tactical skills. I.e. some folks were just really good at visualizing and determining distance and therefore had an unfair disadvantage in the rules. Therefore, these “Guess Range” weapons were unfair and not proper additions to a true wargame.

I wonder what these folks would say about Flick’em Up. Each player controls 5 cowboy models that can take three hits. The game is scenario based and each scenario has a different objective. The board is a set of terrain and 2d card-buildings with rules for entering and shooting out of said buildings. The turn sequence is an alternating activation, and in a turn each cowboy has two actions, move or shoot. All of this is pretty standard fare for a Wargame.



What makes Flick’em Up different is how you resolve movement and shooting. Movement replaces a Cowboy model with a white disc that you flick with your finger to where you want it to go. Where the disc stops is the new location of the Cowboy. If he hits any other models or terrain, the move is negated. Shooting is similar, except a smaller black disc is placed next to the model, and you “flick” the bullet towards your target. If you knock them over they lose a heart. Any terrain that is moved or knocked over by the bullet stays down. In a way, it reminds me of the spring-loaded cannons in Little Wars.

Is this a wargame then? Full review at the blog, but what are your thoughts? What makes a game a wargame?

https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2017/01/review-flickem-up-zman-games.html

That's interesting at the very least. It's not too far removed from the games i would play with my sisters when we were little kids; setting up lego men and then trying to knock each others down with whipped quarters

It looks like it would be a lively and fun little game for a family, like you say in your review.

I've never been good with definitions, so i don't know that i can help with the question. I wonder, is it really important that it be called a wargame? is a wargame somehow superior to just a "game"?

Personally I don't think so.