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Hello Dakka!
Today I was seized by the urge to write a wargame. There was but one problem; I’ve played a sum total of three games in all my time in the hobby. I much prefer painting.
Not to be deterred, I set to- and this, at the end of the first day, is the result. Honestly I need all the advice I can get.

Somme- A simple wargaming combat system for 28mm-scale models.

Required
-Models representing your units
-D6 dice

Skirmishers
[light]
Wounds: 2
Charge: 20”
Walk: 10” and shoot once
Weapon: rifle
Weapon range: 20”
Melee: if a Skirmisher comes within 5” of an enemy unit, he must engage in close combat. He must roll above 4 three times to kill the enemy unit.
Skirmishers must roll 3 or above to hit.
If they are within 10” of an enemy unit, they may roll 2 or above to hit.
1 hit = 1 wound lost.
20 points

Grenadiers
[heavy]
Wounds: 5
Charge: 15”
Walk: 10” and shoot twice
Weapon: larger gun
Weapon range: 15”
Melee: if a Grenadier comes within 5” of an enemy unit, he must engage in close combat. He must roll above 3 three times to kill the enemy unit.
Grenadiers must roll a 3 or above to hit.
If a a Grenadier is between 10” and 5” away from an enemy unit, any shots hit automatically.
1 hit = 1 wound lost.
Between 10” and 5”, 1 hit from a Grenadier = 2 wounds lost.
30 points

Special weapons

Special (a)- Sniper
[special]
Wounds: 1
Charge: N/A
Walk: N/A
Weapon: Sniper Rifle
Weapon range: A sniper may hit any unit on the table. He may do this twice in a game.
Melee: if a Sniper enters into melee he will automatically be removed from play.
Snipers hit automatically. The only units exempt from this are enemy snipers and vehicles.
1 hit = removal of all wounds.
30 points

Special (b)- heavy fire emplacement
[special]
Wounds: 1
Charge: N/A
Walk: N/A
Weapon: Cannon
Weapon range: 35”
Melee: N/A
A cannon can hit any enemy vehicle unit provided it rolls above 2. Rolling 2-4 will remove 3 wounds. Rolling 5 or 6 will cause instant death to the enemy vehicle.
50 points



Vehicles

Tank
[vehicle]
Wounds: 5
Charge: 25”
Walk: 15” and shoot twice
Weapon: Light Cannon
Weapon Range: 30”
Melee: N/A
The Light Cannon will hit on 5s or 6s. It will cause instant death for an enemy unit if it is within 10” of said unit. If it is further than 10” away it will remove half the enemy unit’s wounds. Tanks must move BEFORE the enemy can target them.






Somme core rules

Somme’s core system is extremely simple.
-Player 1 moves his units. He may move them any distance up to the maximum listed in each unit’s profile.
-Player 2 does likewise.
-Player 1 selects which of Player 2’s units he will target. Any unit may shoot at any enemy unit within range.
-Player 2 does likewise.
-Player 1 rolls his dice. The rolls required for hits are listed in each unit’s profile.
-Player 2 removes his dead units and notes down the damage to others.
-Player 2 rolls his dice. The rolls required for hits are listed in each unit’s profile.
-Player 1 removes his dead units and notes down the damage to others.
-Repeat until no units are left.

Objective Holding

For “Objective Holding” missions, the above rules remain the same, but with the added caveat that an objective marker is placed at each end of the board. This could be a small flag, a button etc. Army A must reach the objective on Army B’s side, if only with one model, and vice versa. Whichever army holds their designated objective for the longest wins.

Recommendations

-Use 28mm models
-The recommended table size is 60 -80” long and around 40” wide, although larger tables should work well too.



Incredibly simplistic and pedestrian, but not bad for a first try, methinks. As I said, any and all advice welcome.

So a good starting point would be explaining what it is you're trying to accomplish. I.E. What kind of game are you trying to write, what are you trying to model or simulate, what experience are you looking to promote with it, etc.

As a game ruleset it works, but whats the "hook" - why would anyone play this over another game? What does your game do better, or do differently? At a very basic level, its basically 40K/a GW game in its approach to mechanics and gameplay, just with a slightly different turn order.

Without knowing anything beyond the basic bits you've written, my advice would be to step outside of the GW bubble (which also includes Warlords games), do some research and see how other games play, basically free your mind of the expectations you've developed as a result of your limited experience and familiarity.

For quick reference, look into The Other Side (and to a lesser extent Malifaux), Warmachine/Hordes, Star Wars Legion (and X-Wing/Armada to a lesser extent). They are three very different approaches to game design, not just from GW but from each other. You might not have any interest in writing a game like any of these three, but they are a good starting point for exploring what a ruleset can look like and how it can play, and they can help free your mind of some of the expectations you've formed by showing you alternative approaches to mechanical resolution systems, etc.

Alternating phases has the inherent issue that any and all maneuvers can be directly responded to before you have a chance to utilise them.

For example: My tank moves towards you, within 10" range (thus allowing me to destroy your model!). In response, you move backwards, invalidating my attack plan. As a result, no-one will bother trying to get into 10" range, as for player 2 it will be suicide (as player 1 always shoots first) and for player 1 it will be frustrating, unless they can somehow prevent the opponent from moving away, EG cornering them.

A better approach is Alternating Activation, where the tank may move forwards into 10" range and kill an enemy model, and the opponent can then respond to the complete change of situation by cutting the tank off from the army, or moving their own tank into 10" range of the enemy tank to take them out.Allowing player 1 to make and then subsequently take their opportunities will give a more rewarding game than seeing player 2 entirely control the positioning.

As it is, if player 1 moves a tank forward, player 2 will never move a tank to within 10", as their tank will always get attacked by player 1's tank first.

Read chaosomega's words of wisdom!

chaos0xomega wrote:
So a good starting point would be explaining what it is you're trying to accomplish. I.E. What kind of game are you trying to write, what are you trying to model or simulate, what experience are you looking to promote with it, etc.

As a game ruleset it works, but whats the "hook" - why would anyone play this over another game? What does your game do better, or do differently? At a very basic level, its basically 40K/a GW game in its approach to mechanics and gameplay, just with a slightly different turn order.

Good point. The point to my writing it was primarily to come up with a very simple wargame to get my friends into. That is, I suppose, the draw; for somebody new to gaming, the slew of GW books/games could be somewhat intimidating. Or that was my thinking, anyway. It also- albeit accidentally- provides a sort of continuity with GW’s games.

Without knowing anything beyond the basic bits you've writting, my advice would be to step outside of the GW bubble (which also includes Warlords games), do some research and see how other games play, basically free your mind of the expectations you've developed as a result of your limited experience and familiarity.

For quick reference, look into The Other Side (and to a lesser extent Malifaux), Warmachine/Hordes, Star Wars Legion (and X-Wing/Armada to a lesser extent). They are three very different approaches to game design, not just from GW but from each other. You might not have any interest in writing a game like any of these three, but they are a good starting point for exploring what a ruleset can look like and how it can play, and they can help free your mind of some of the expectations you've formed by showing you alternative approaches to mechanical resolution systems, etc.

Thanks. I’ll look into those


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 some bloke wrote:
Alternating phases has the inherent issue that any and all maneuvers can be directly responded to before you have a chance to utilise them.

For example: My tank moves towards you, within 10" range (thus allowing me to destroy your model!). In response, you move backwards, invalidating my attack plan. As a result, no-one will bother trying to get into 10" range, as for player 2 it will be suicide (as player 1 always shoots first) and for player 1 it will be frustrating, unless they can somehow prevent the opponent from moving away, EG cornering them.

A better approach is Alternating Activation, where the tank may move forwards into 10" range and kill an enemy model, and the opponent can then respond to the complete change of situation by cutting the tank off from the army, or moving their own tank into 10" range of the enemy tank to take them out.Allowing player 1 to make and then subsequently take their opportunities will give a more rewarding game than seeing player 2 entirely control the positioning.

As it is, if player 1 moves a tank forward, player 2 will never move a tank to within 10", as their tank will always get attacked by player 1's tank first.

Now that’s a much better way of doing things, and one that I’ll incorporate. Thanks.

I love the enthusiasm.....

I suggest you look at the Delta Vector blog series on Wargame Design as well as my own series on Wargame Design at my Blood and Spectacles blog.

Delta Vector:
http://deltavector.blogspot.com/2018/01/game-design-index-update-2018-some.html

Blood and Spectacles: https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/search?q=wargame+design

Seconding Delta Vector, its good reading.

 Easy E wrote:
I love the enthusiasm.....

Good, ‘cos I’ve got much more of it than I have skill

I suggest you look at the Delta Vector blog series on Wargame Design as well as my own series on Wargame Design at my Blood and Spectacles blog.

Delta Vector:
http://deltavector.blogspot.com/2018/01/game-design-index-update-2018-some.html

Blood and Spectacles: https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/search?q=wargame+design

I’ve had a look around, that’s a great site. Very insightful. Thanks

 DalekCheese wrote:
The point to my writing it was primarily to come up with a very simple wargame to get my friends into.

I think you're much more likely to get them interested in wargaming if you introduce them with a well written, thoroughly playtested, established (and yes simple) set of rules, rather than one written by someone with very limited experience. There's nothing wrong with having a go at writing rules yourself but (as others have said) getting experience of lots of different rules is essential if you're going to write a decent set yourself that people will actually want to play.
My recommendation for a good introductory set (if they like fantasy / LOTR etc) would be Song of Blades and Heroes.

Update





Somme

























Somme

A simple wargaming system for 28mm-scale models.

Required
-Models representing your units
-D6 dice

Troops

Skirmishers
[light]
Wounds: 2
Charge: 20”
Walk: 10” and shoot once
Weapon: rifle
Weapon range: 20”
Melee: if a Skirmisher comes within 5” of an enemy unit, he must engage in close combat. He must roll above 4 three times to kill the enemy unit.
Skirmishers must roll 3 or above to hit.
If they are within 10” of an enemy unit, they may roll 2 or above to hit.
1 hit = 1 wound lost, except if the Skirmisher rolls a 6. This does not apply to an Officer.
20 points
If more than 5 Skirmishers are included in your army, you have the option to designate one of them
For an extra 5 points, if any member of a Skirmisher Squad is within 5” of his Sergeant, he may add 1” to all movement rolls.
If a Skirmisher is within 5” of a Radio Operator, who is himself within 18” of an Officer, he gains +1 to all shooting rolls below 6.
If a Skirmisher has 1 wound left, he must subtract 1” from his movement rolls.

Grenadiers
[heavy]
Wounds: 5
Charge: 15”
Walk: 10” and shoot twice
Weapon: high-powered rifle
Weapon range: 15”
Melee: if a Grenadier comes within 5” of an enemy unit, he must engage in close combat. He must roll above 3 three times to kill the enemy unit.
Grenadiers must roll a 3 or above to hit.
If a a Grenadier is between 10” and 5” away from an enemy unit, any shots hit automatically.
1 hit = 1 wound lost.
Between 10” and 5”, 1 hit from a Grenadier = 2 wounds lost.
30 points
If a Grenadier has less than 3 wounds left he must subtract 1” from his movement rolls. If he has 1 wound left he must subtract 2” from his movement rolls.





Special weapons

Special (a)- Sniper
[special]
Wounds: 1
Charge: N/A
Walk: N/A
Weapon: Sniper Rifle
Weapon range: A Sniper may hit any unit on the table. He may do this once per game.
Melee: if a Sniper enters into melee he will automatically be removed from play.
Snipers hit automatically. The only units exempt from this are enemy Snipers and Vehicles.
1 hit = removal of all wounds. The only units exempt from this are enemy Snipers and Vehicles.
You may only include one Sniper in your army.
30 points

Special (b)- heavy weapon emplacement
[special]
Wounds: 1
Charge: N/A
Walk: N/A
Weapon: Cannon
Weapon range: 35”
Melee: N/A
A Cannon can hit any enemy vehicle unit provided it rolls above 2. Rolling 2-4 will remove 3 wounds. Rolling 5 or 6 will cause instant death to the enemy vehicle.
50 points

























Vehicles

Tank
[vehicle]
Wounds: 5
Charge: 25”
Walk: 15” and shoot twice
Weapon: Light Cannon
Weapon Range: 30”
Melee: N/A
The Light Cannon will hit on 5 or 6. It will cause instant death for an enemy unit if it is within 10” of said unit. If it is further than 10” away it will remove half the enemy unit’s wounds. Tanks must move BEFORE the enemy can target them.

Other

Officer
[unique]
Wounds: 2
Charge: 20”
Walk: 10” and shoot once
Weapon: Pistol, sabre
Melee: if an Officer comes within 5” of an enemy unit, he must engage in close combat. He must roll above 4 twice to kill the enemy unit.
Officers must roll 3 or above to hit.
If they are within 10” of an enemy unit, they may roll 2 or above to hit.
1 hit = 1 wound lost.
If an Officer is within 10” of a Skirmisher unit, that unit gains +1 to all shooting rolls.
You may only include one Officer in your army.
40 points

Radio Operator
[light]
Wounds: 2
Charge: 20”
Walk: 10” and shoot once
Weapon: rifle
Weapon range: 20”
Melee: if a Radio Operator comes within 5” of an enemy unit, he must engage in close combat. He must roll above 4 three times to kill the enemy unit.
Radio Operators must roll 3 or above to hit.
If they are within 10” of an enemy unit, they may roll 2 or above to hit.
1 hit = 1 wound lost.
20 points
For an extra 5 points per Squad, if any member of a Skirmisher Squad is within 5” of his sergeant, he may add +1 to all shooting rolls.





Somme core rules

Somme’s core system is extremely simple.
-Player 1 moves one of his units. He may move it any distance up to the maximum listed in each unit’s profile.
-Player 2 does likewise.
-Player 1 selects which of Player 2’s units he will target. Any unit may shoot at any enemy unit within range.
-Player 2 does likewise.
-Player 1 rolls his dice. The rolls required for hits are listed in each unit’s profile.
-Player 2 takes account of Terrain Rules and rolls accordingly,
-Player 2 removes his dead units and notes down the damage to others.
-Player 2 rolls his dice. The rolls required for hits are listed in each unit’s profile.
-Player 1 takes account of Terrain Rules and rolls accordingly,
-Player 1 removes his dead units and notes down the damage to others.
-Repeat until no units are left.

Alternating Activations: what and why?

Alternating Phases has the inherent issue that any and all manoeuvres can be directly responded to before you have a chance to utilise them.

For example: My tank moves towards you, within 10" range (thus allowing me to destroy your model!). In response, you move backwards, invalidating my attack plan. As a result, no-one will bother trying to get into 10" range, as for player 2 it will be suicide (as player 1 always shoots first) and for player 1 it will be frustrating, unless they can somehow prevent the opponent from moving away, EG cornering them.

A better approach is Alternating Activation, where the tank may move forwards into 10" range and kill an enemy model, and the opponent can then respond to the complete change of situation by cutting the tank off from the army, or moving their own tank into 10" range of the enemy tank to take them out.Allowing player 1 to make and then subsequently take their opportunities will give a more rewarding game than seeing player 2 entirely control the positioning.

Using Alternating Phases, if player 1 moves a tank forward, player 2 will never move a tank to within 10", as their tank will always get attacked by player 1's tank first.

Objective Holding

For “Objective Holding” missions, the above rules remain the same, but with the added caveat that an objective marker is placed at each end of the board. This could be a small flag, a button etc. Army A must reach the objective on Army B’s side, if only with one model, and vice versa. Whichever army holds their designated objective for the longest wins.

Recommendations

-Use 28mm models
-The recommended table size is 60 — 80” long and around 50” wide, although larger tables should work well too.
-Even-sized armies are recommended, but uneven matchups can make for more interesting games.


Extra Rules: Artillery

This section includes rules for Artillery Bombardments.
Once every 4 turns, an army that includes a Radio Operator may add a Bombardment Phase at a cost of 40 points of allied infantry being removed from play.
Artillery is situated several miles away from the battlefield, and thus is not represented by models in-game.
Before an artillery bombardment is initiated, a circular area on the board must be selected. You will then roll twice.

Roll #1:
1 : artillery hits on-target, there is no need for roll #2.
2-3 : moves artillery to the left
4-5 : right
6: artillery misses completely, there is no need for roll #2.

Roll #2:
1-2 : All enemy units within the area are removed from play instantly.
3-4 : ½ of the points within the circle are removed. Whether the more or less expensive half is removed is up to the unit’s commander.
5-6: No enemy units are removed from play by the blast, but all within the circle suffer 1 wound.

Snipers are immune from Artillery.

This is potentially a fairly time-consuming mechanic, and can safely be discarded from smaller games.

Extra Rules: Cover

This section includes rules for cover.

If a unit under fire has Obscuring Terrain between it and the enemy unit, it must roll 1D6. If it rolls a 1 then the Terrain has no effect. If it rolls a 2 or above then it is immune from the effects of enemy fire.

If a unit under fire has Covering Terrain between it and the enemy unit, and is within 15” of the Terrain, it must roll 1D6. If it rolls a 3 or below then the Terrain has no effect. If it rolls a 4 or above then it is immune from the effects of enemy fire.

If a unit under fire has Light Terrain between it and the enemy unit, and is within 10” of the Terrain, it must roll 1D6. If it rolls a 5 or below then the Terrain has no effect. If it rolls a 6 then it is immune from the effects of enemy fire.

Snipers are not negated by Terrain.
Units must move around Terrain, not through it. The only exception to this is Light Terrain.
To travel over Light Terrain, a unit must roll a 1D6. If it rolls a 4 or above then it may cross that piece of Terrain directly rather than going around it. If not then it must go round the Terrain.Units are not protected by Light Terrain when travelling through it.

While Terrain rules can be dropped from games of Somme, it is not advised.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ok the formatting fethed that up