Perceivable Consequence

This is going to get abstract, so if you don't like text discussing intangible and theoretical ideas, navigate away now.

Perceivable consequence is self-defining.  It is the sense that a player can perceive what will become of his actions.  It is what connects a player to something like an abstract game and gives him or her the sense of agency.  It allows for the mastery of a skill, or the understanding of how the game works.  It allows that knowledge or mastery to be put to use in an effective manner.  This concept applies to a wide range of topics.  From video games, to chess.  Anything that has a system abstracted made to represent something.

Take Chess for an example.  The perceivable consequence of Chess is extremely high, and extremely obvious.  Often the immediate counter-move to your own provides enough feedback to understand how your action affected the game.  You will know if the move you made is a good one or a bad one by the end of the game.  This is a good idea in games involving strategy, as it allows the player to feel in control of the mechanics.  It allows him to feel like he is the master of his own destiny.  It allows both the application of skill and the knowledge of the system to be used deliberately to achieve a goal.  There is no random element to chess.  A Chess player who makes no mistakes or blunders will always win.  Two people playing Chess against each other who make no mistakes or blunders will always tie.  This sets it apart from many tabletop games.

Tabletop gaming is not Chess.  For starters, the systems don't attempt to mirror match up the opponents.  More importantly though, there are dice rolls.  Dice rolls add randomness to the formula.  They add chaos.  In the eyes of many, and in the eyes of many who write the rules, they add fun.  Fun or not, they also erode perceivable consequence.  Imagine if you had to roll a 4+ when you tried to trade a piece in Chess.  If you rolled under a 4, the move failed and you lost your turn.  No longer would the superior player win, and no longer would either player have control of the mechanics.  Many players who play table top games know it is not Chess, and are not looking for a Chess experience.  It is not an inherently bad thing for a game to have randomness.  It is not inherently bad for a game to not always work out in favor of the superior player.  However, there is a point where the lack of perceivable consequence is so lacking, that there is a disconnect between the player and the game mechanics.  I am going to argue that the level of this disconnect and the lack of perceivable consequence is rather high in Bolt Action.  I am not stating that is a bad game.  Nor am I stating that this is anyone's immediate fault, nor should they take responsibility for it.  I'm simply providing an interesting look at the recent perceptions I have made.  

Typically in a strategy game there will be degrees of randomness.  Sometimes these degrees will vary very harshly.  It is not intrinsically the level of randomness that attributes to the degradation of perceivable consequence though it does hold a strong effect over it.  One of the primary mechanics guilty of this are the ones that have a single die carrying the weight of a powerful shot.  When infantry fire, they typically are rolling between 10 or 15 dice depending on their level of casualty.  Often, these shots aren't extremely effective, and it is rare that they will alter the outcome of the game in a single turn.  It is the gradual, and continued use of strategic placement and orders that will win an infantry battle.  Who has better cover?  Who has better sight?  Who has more firepower, and how can one reduce enemy firepower while maximizing his own?  The firefight teeters and totters back and forth between.  Certainly the outcome is subjected to a level of randomness, but with the amount of dice thrown, and the generally less-than-heavy-hitting effect of small arms, the fight is often decided with wit, tact, and application of skill.  Occasionally the superior player will find he is on the losing end, but more often than not, he finds himself the victor.  This is where Bolt Action is at its best.  This is where the pins mechanic is used tactically and with clear perceivable consequence.  This is not how weapons that are large Anti Tank guns, or heavy caliber artillery work.

When something as powerful as a medium (or heavier) anti tank gun (or howitzer) is fired with a single die, it becomes a weapon that can swing the outcome of a game in a single roll.  These are weapons that can remove 200 points worth of something off the table and they're operating under something as wildly variable as a single D6.  Certainly there are degrees a player can increase these chances if he wants, or if he is on the receiving end, lower them.  Apart from removing line of sight however, there is nothing he can do to stop it completely.  This is where the lack of perceivable consequence shows in the gaps.  A tank battle is often decided by who rolls better, not who was in a better position.  Many times you can have the superior position, or even an equal one, and there is no stop to the 6 that was just rolled to hit you.  Did you make a mistake?  Were you out played?  Should you have done something differently?  Perhaps there was a mistake.  Perhaps there should have been a different choice, but there is such a stark loss of perceivable consequence that there is no way to know, or learn anything from the incident.  This removes player agency, and it goes both ways.  The player who made the good choice but got burned for it feels cheated, and at least on my end, if I get stupidly lucky I don't feel like I earned it.  I don't feel like I made a good choice.  I feel like I just chucked a die and something happened, regardless of my input.  The lack of strategy is not the bigger issue.  Surely some people aren't interested in a strategic game and just want to have fun.  It is the lack of a feeling of agency, and the feeling of being cheated that are toxic to a game system.  If you've cornered someone in the most brilliant tactical play you've made, and you were robbed by some single arbitrary dice roll, it leaves a rather bitter taste.  It's a taste of "am I even affecting the game?"

So how can this be repaired?  Well for starters, weapons that are more reliable would help in closing the gap of disconnect.  If players could feel more confident about what would happen when they take an action, instead of feeling like they're always throwing caution to the wind and banking on a single roll.  This would of course mean reigning in the power of the weapons.  I find the "risk-reward" system of balance to be a poor choice in a game of chance.  It rewards nothing to but luck.  Specifically to Bolt Action, perhaps making medium and higher Anti Tank weapons gain a permanent +1 to their to-hit roll.  This might represent the high muzzle velocity, or perhaps just the more careful aim a crew would take with a weapon they know has a long reload.  A counter argument to this change might be that it would make these guns far too accurate, and increase the value of going first.  I do not find this to be a valid complaint though, as it only shifts the focus to both the better management of your order dice, and to the more intense maneuver game of cat and mouse a tank hunt can be.  As for howitzers, the indirect fire ability is far too complex to analyze in this essay but when fired directly, an accuracy bonus of +1 might be a suitable solution as well.  Of course this requires a reduction in their potency, and I dare not be so bold as to suggest what that reduction is.  High Explosive requires a deeper look on its own.

These changes may not be "balanced" and they may result in certain units becoming more effective over all, and less effective in a single turn, but that is the exact idea.  Players should have a grasp of what will happen when they activate a unit, not feel like they're tossing a die with no input on the game.  Overall, I think that less powerful, more reliable weapons would increase the feeling of player agency.

The Old and the New

A while ago I did a bunch of 30k Blood Angels.  I had an opportunity to take some quick shots of some of them.  Here they are.

I don't know a single thing about 30k rules (or much about 40k anymore) so I can't comment on what these guys do.  But they'll sure look nice doing it.

Assorted Variety

After figuring out a small bug with Google Drive, I now have lots of things to show.  In no particular order.

A group shot of the British Para force I've nearly completed.  It's my last chance for a group pic.  There's 10 left to do.

Some Germans I did a bit ago but didn't have enough opportunities to take more images so they're just kind of here.

Sandbags!  The three with out grass at the base are ones I made out of a $0.97 pack of oven bake clay I got from Walmart.  They were real easy.  You just roll them out in a line to the thickness you desire, flatten them, and with a knife push and wiggle a little at even intervals.  Don't go all the way through if you want to make an easy line of them, or do go through if you want individual ones.  Do a bit of touch up where needed.  When you flatten them if you use something like left over pluck foam segments you can get a nice texture to them.  Also be careful with your fingers, the clay will really pick up your prints.  I'm pretty happy with the results.  I only wish I'd done it sooner.

More British Paras

Continuing work on the Paras.  As much as a do like the metal poses, it does tend to limit the variance of models, so I've been lazy in generating pictures, but here's some anyway.

A squad of 8 paras.  Not exactly much to see here, but they look nice on the table with the red popping really well.

I'm all about that guy's mustache.  I am finding these models are slightly a little more glossy than some others I have done.  I apply Citadel's 'Ard Coat onto them (because if you don't, prepare for chipping) but when I hit them with the dullcote afterwards it just tends to leave them in this semi gloss kind of state.  Any tips?

These Jeeps are real cute.  A little weird on scale considering a plastic Lee En field rifle from Warlord is larger that the MMG mounted on the jeep.

Other than the weird size, these guys look real nice on a table as well.

The Red Berets Are Coming

I began a large commission for a local friend's British Airborn army.  He bought in a few weeks before the announcement of the upcoming plastics.  My feelings on pewter are mixed.  On the hand you get personally sculpted poses that just have so much more character than plastic can give you, and on the other hand, you have a medium that paint hates to stick to and requires constant care and attention.  But anyway, here's some of the little red devils.  Please do click on the images, as they're much higher resolution than what fits on the page.

I particularly like the firing poses.  I don't know why, but something about their stance just feels a lot better than a plastic model's firing stance.

And as a surprise, they brought a Churchill with them.  How they fit that on the plane is a mystery to me.

Is that a Churchill Crocodile you ask?  Yes.  Yes it is.  Have I played against it in a game?  Yes I have.  Twice.

Is it a filthy vehicle flamethrower like everyone thinks it is?  Well......sort of.  It's also 500 some points so while it is particularly nasty, it doesn't do it without being half of an entire list.  In my first game against it I immobilized it with a medium anti tank gun and proceeded to easily secure the objective that was far away.  It kind of has the same impact as an air observer.  Depending on how the dice go, someone is going to have a bad game.  It was actually reasonably interesting to play against on occasion, though I wouldn't want it to become a mainstay of the weekly game.  

The lighting here really disappoints me.  The mud has much more contrast to the vehicle's green color than the image shows.  The wheels and suspension also has some nice gritty dust in it that I thought looked very nice, but might not be showing up on the picture very well.  I'm working towards a functional light box at the moment, but as you can see, it's currently in construction.

Being a Better Gamer (And Person)

There's an attitude of "the right way to play" when it comes to table top games.  I don't mean knowing the rules and how to actually play.  I'm talking about how to measure ranges (from the gun?  the hull?  the base?  the crew?), how to determine cocked dice, how to use certain terrain features, and so forth.  There's a simple way to resolve these issues, but it's not the way a lot of gamers seem to take.  Granted, this simple way won't work well in a tournament situation, but any time you're playing a game of dice for an actual prize, there's going to be some upsets.

Most gaming groups have their own convention of determining how to know if a die is cracked, and of course they're all as ineffective as the next.  Place a die on top of the suspected cocked die and if it falls of it needs to be re rolled.  Obviously that method favors a steady hand and someone with more patience.  Ruling everything that isn't completely flat on the table seems like a good method, but time consuming, and occasionally impossible considering how your table is flocked and set up for terrain.  However, there's a really easy way that no one seems to do.

Be consistent.   If you re-roll a die that is resting slightly on a models base, or leaning on a thin part of a terrain piece's base, then ro-roll all dice that end up that way.  Most of the time, what leads to negative feelings towards dice rolling isn't that one time someone re-rolls a one into a six.  That is only the spark that starts the fire.  The kindling of that situation is all the times the player didn't re-roll a die in the same position.  If on one roll, the die lands against a model's base and is showing a one and the player re-rolls it into six, and on the next roll the die lands in the same spot but showing a six and they don't re-roll it, that's when the table flipping rage starts building.  It's the inconsistency of what seems to be your opponent cherry picking the dice that he re-rolls.  It's not always their fault, they might not realize they're doing it.  Or maybe you're not paying attention to the times they re-roll their successes.  But ultimately, it's an inconsistency, and it's something both sides should be aware of.  Personally, I tend to try to not re-roll as much as possible.  If its on a model's base, those are usually fine.  If it's on a piece of flock on a weird angle, I let it go.  This might not be what you do, nor should it be.  What you do should be consistent; what ever it is.

This applies to nearly everything.  Remember you're here to play a fun game with a friend, not prove that your plastic army men are better than his.  Don't give anyone a reason to feel like they've been cheated.  If you measure your range from the muzzle of your gun, then always measure your range from the muzzle of your gun.  If you measure from the large decorative base for your mortar, then always measure to and from there, including for receiving shots.  It doesn't matter what method you use, as long as you always use it and don't cherry pick which every method fits you and then blame it on the 'vague rules'.  It doesn't matter if the rules are vague, that doesn't mean you have to be.

Announcing your intent is as clear as you can get.  Verbally tell your opponent, "I'm moving this squad into the woods." Of course then prove that you have the movement to do so. That way when a turn later something goes to shoot at them, and it's not quite clear if they're on the edge or in it, there is no confusion, because you declared your intent and both sides agreed that that was what is happening.

Of course there will be instances that none of this advice is possible to follow.  There will be tense moments that rest upon a very small margin.  In these cases, take a breath, step back from the game, remind yourself you're playing a game.  If what is happening is so close that neither side can agree, just dice it.  Or, if you're feeling like taking the moral high ground, give it to your opponent.  If something is really close, often with short range shooting and such, and it looks like it might be, but you're not sure, just give your opponent the benefit of the doubt.  Don't do something controversial that might lead to your opponent feeling cheated.  You're here to play a game with a friend, not argue that 1/16th of an inch is over the base and that you should have short range.

With out going on for too long, the last topic I have is the negative feedback loop.

When you do something like claim that 1/16th of an inch is over the base, and your opponent says no, and you press the issue, all you're doing is initiating a negative feedback loop.  Whether or not you were right, your opponent will be bitter about the experience, and is now more likely to do the same to you.  Maybe instead of arguing over a 1/16th of an inch, he'll just re-roll a die that was cocked that he wouldn't have re-rolled before had the negative feedback loop not been started.  Maybe in response to that, you'll feel cheated and start being inconsistent with how you measure to cherry pick your advantage.  He'll see that and start using unclear and grey areas of the rules to get his advantage, and before you know it, you're both playing a completely rules accurate game but no one is having a good time and both feel cheated.  Don't start it.  If you feel cheated from something your opponent does, let it go.  Take the moral highground, don't start the feedback loop.


No pictures in this one.  Sometimes communities get so much bitterness and salt against each other that they forget these things.  It's just a game.

AARP: Battle For The Open Field

The Vickers and Piat team had to take a bio break, but the town's plumbing was all messed up from carpet bombing, so they went out in the field.  That was unfortunately when the rest of the Royal Canadian Engineers realized the incoming Germans.  They had to fight to rescue their friends who'd been caught with their pants down.

The supporting artillery answered the call for a smoke barrage quickly (the brass ring), blocking out the view of the most closest Germans.  Once all the reserves were on the field it became clear the town was surrounded.  A StuH 42  and a Puma showed up along the road.  The Puma proved to be as annoying as all Recce vehicles are, milking that house for all the hard cover it was worth.

 The winds didn't have the same idea in mind, and shortly after the smoke was blown clear, leaving an open ground and an intense firefight to ensue over the remaining PIAT team suck in the hedgerow.  Germans pressed in from all sides, the Canadian's impressive fire proving ineffectual.  The Cromwell crew was having a bad day (Two 2+ rolls missed to 75mm squads right in front of it.)

The Canadians pushed up from the town to take position in the woods and provide some covering fire.

 

At the end of the day the Germans ended up taking the PIAT team and surrounding the town, forcing everyone inside into a siege.  Their success was in no small part due to the strength of the medium howitzer of the StuH and the lack of accuracy of the Cromwell crew.

My opponent had a winter based army, hence the white washed puma and all the white bases.  For this reason I didn't do too many overhead or close ups of the Germans.

KV2

The KV2.  With such a unique profile and history, anyone who likes tanks can recognize one.  I once read that if they did not fire on flat ground, they had a tendency to flip over.  In Bolt Action they are a heavy tank chassis with a heavy howitzer mounted on a turret.  The model is currently resin, and while I've seen some of the less-good looking kits from Warlord, I'm happy to report this one is crisp, clean, and best of all: not all bent and wobbly.  At least mine wasn't.  Since my Soviets have snowy bases, I put on some white washing to my KV2.

I do love me that big refrigerator turret.

 My KV2 I named "kitten" in Russian because all of my opponents were quaking in their boots about it, but in the 10 games I've used it in, I haven't killed more enemies than friendlies.  Which isn't to say I roll a lot of FUBARs, just one actually, but that is how unfortunate my to-hit rolls have been.  Recently he missed a 2+ point blank shot at some Fins, who then took their opportunity to charge him with anti tank grenades, setting it on fire and forcing the crew to bail of course.  So "kitten" it is dubbed.

 I have also used this vehicle in the attack on the Mannheim line mission, and it fell in the lake.  Though that wasn't too surprising.  There was a 50% chance of it happening.

Here's a shot of it in action against some Fins, avenging a fallen armored ally.

Foundation Post #2: What I Am Doing

Currently I am playing a lot of Bolt Action and loving it.  I play twice or thrice a week, sometimes more.  Balance and gripes against other systems aside, Bolt Action has a really unique Order Dice mechanic that removes the boring alpha striking that can happen in games where one side does all their things then the other side does it.  It also keeps the game much more involved and tense, since you're kind of always on bench.  It's a game you actually get to play for the full battle, where as you're only playing half the time in other systems.  I can get into the specifics of the rules later.  This will likely be a large chunk of the content here.  I'll save army profiles for later so here's just a bunch of Bolt Action pictures to get you going.

Here are my Canadians I was talking about.  I'll do a full profile on them later, but the idea is they be a kind of Royal Canadian Engineer force meant to be taking out the entrenched enemy fortifications.  This is what a typical game board tends to look like for us.  Buildings can get a bit dull with the way they block so much fire, but the foreground buildings look so nice we just have to use them.  

Some of the terrain is home-made by myself and the other groups at the club and some bought.  Half the fun is just building a cool looking table and watching toy soldiers running all over it.

What else am I doing?  Currently I commission paint for the locals and their friends.  I guess best case scenario would be if that some how blew up and I could turn it into a real job that I could live off of.  I'm a bit hesitant about that though.  The legality of someone mailing me their stuff and me mailing it back raises a lot of questions.  What if it gets damaged, or someone tries to fake damage, or a number of other things?  We'll see though.  It would be pretty awesome to make a life out of something I enjoy so much.

Foundation Post #1: What I've Done (Not the Linkin Park song)

In an attempt to document my hobby progress as well as potentially motive that extra step into prolific production, and ultimately serve as a connection to the outside world, I have begun this blog.  Topics will be wide, spanning different game systems, and universes and rules, but it will always be table top hobby related.  Mostly.  So here are a few Foundation Posts so you can see what kind of content this is, if its your type, and if you'll check back in.  Thanks for coming!


I started war gaming like many when I was a wee lad.  Of course I didn't know what I was doing nor the implications of just how much the hobby would eventually take over my life.  I started like many playing Warhammer 40k.  I maintained that for a while, before a full decade later I entered the world of Warhammer Fantasy.  Not a big leap really.  Surely this would be a great place to put pictures of my Warhammer models.  Unfortunately I don't have many quality pictures of them on hand.  The armies I have are a large force of Space Marines, and a medium to large sized Empire army.  My interest in playing 40k and Fantasy have waned (or made impossible by GW destroying the latter) so currently there will likely be little to no content involving my armies of 40k and Fantasy.  However, I do have some rare pictures on file.  These pictures are going to be big.  I may some day figure out a way to make it so you can click to enlarge, but until then, I'm dumping large images here so you can see every detail and flaw.

The Warboss for my Ork Speed Freak Army.  Also my fingers and mouse pad (it helped with lighting and color balance)

A Nob for said army.

However, currently I do friendly commission work for some members of the local group, as well as some of their friends, and some of their requests involve 40k models, so that content will appear.  Some of it right here, in fact.  Stay tuned for the next Foundation Post, subtitled What I am Doing to get a taste of some more.

A Fire Dragon I did for a friend.  I did a whole batch, but only have this picture left over.

A Blood Angel for a friend's 30k force.  I have done a lot of these, but this is currently the only picture I can gather.  Expect some more of this type of stuff.

A Dark Angel scout with sniper rifle.  Did this guys whole Dark Angels Army.  It currently serves as a good example of the quality I do on commission.  I wish I had more pictures.  Perhaps I'll follow him around with a camera next time I see he has them out for a game.  Also there's a cat in the background.

Since leaving the GW scene, I have since picked up the very popular, and ever growing Bolt Action.  I was hesitant at first but I'm very glad I went in on it.  I've enjoyed my time greatly, and the shift in painting styles was more interesting and fun than I expected it to be.  I have a large army of Soviets and a medium, currently expanding force of Candian Royal Engineers under the Commonwealth of Great Britain.  I will drop some pictures of the Soviets here, since that army is complete, and the Canadians I will classify under What I am Doing for the next post.

I thought this shot looked really cool, unfortunately I botched the quality and didn't realize it.

Assault Engineers with the monstrous KV2 next to them.

The same thing.  Different angle.  That KV will be the center of its own post one day soon.

I've got a lot more, but lets save some for the other posts, eh?  Hopefully you enjoyed something in here, be it the writing, pictures, or maybe you just like the action on your scroll wheel and you look for any excuse to use it.  You can expect more of the same, as well as more of some different: battle reports, tactic ideas, rules discussions, and what ever else happens to be on mind.