Developing a WW1 Board game

[highlanderm43Participant 103xp 1]

Hey everybody, hope all are well. I’m just dropping a line on here and ask a few questions for anybody willing to answer, to help me on my quest for developing a World War 1 themed strategy board game.

I’ve been working on several gaming projects recently, but for some reason(centennial, maybe?) the last few months I’ve been obsessing over making a world war one game work. More specifically, a board game/miniatures game hybrid with cards and dice combat, but something that would be a complete all in the box experience, not a fully featured miniatures game. But one with a lot of components to give it some depth, ala something like War of the Ring. I’ve been wrestling with a few mechanics that I like and want to explore more, but I wanted to come on here and see if anybody had any input for what THEY would like to see out of something like this. I am a historical gamer at heart, as are a bunch of you I would imagine, and that is who I am appealing to the most. So, what would you like to see in a game like this, to replicate the trench warfare in a somewhat realistic and respectable to history way, but also something thats fun and enjoyable…which is admittedly something World War One was not. I’m not looking for mechanic ideas, just input on a few themes and overall ideas

– SCALE : This is important, as I am having trouble figuring out what scale to make this game at. My heart wants to make something more tactical with company or platoon level combat. But it makes more sense, practically, for a board game of this type to have something more abstract and broad scale, like battalions or regiments, maybe even divisions or armies. But that really takes away from the intensity of the war. I love grand strategy, but I am looking to make something a little more intimate. My thoughts are to 3d print individual plastic miniatures around 10-15mm in scale, each one to represent a single unit in battle. My thoughts for a more tactical game would have the mini’s each represent a squad, maybe a platoon. They could go as high as a battalion or even army group. There would be several different unit types for each side, more than likely.

– COMBAT : Combat will be dice based, but my question is mainly should it be simplified some for a more fast paced back and forth dice exchange between the players(something akin to rolling special combat dies)? Perhaps to represent the back and forth counterattacks the war was notorious for? Or should it be more complex? Perhaps to represent the enormous level of casualties and complexity this new, modern war brought with it(something akin to rolling D6’s for casualties with special dies for other combat effects and ailments, etc etc). While I am in favor of a deeper more complex system…this would bring with a level of record keeping for battles. I am no fan of book work in a game…as I doubt anybody is, really, it just drags the pace down too much. But I want the combat to feel more satisfying and deeper than just rolling for 5’s and 6’s. Would you like something other than a dice combat system?

THEATER OF WAR : It will be based on the western front between 1916-1918 for sure. But I have not decided on a particular battle or place on the map to focus it on, or perhaps the entire western front itself. But the major players in the game will be Germany, France, and England. Do you have a particular battle that you think represents World War 1 in its most ruthless? This game will be a game focused of trench warfare, not a game with of lots of movement. Verdun was a thought, as was the spring 1918 offensive, and the 100 days offensive. My preference is probably focus on a particular sector or salient in the line during the war.

SECTOR COMBAT OR HEX GRID : That’s a hard question for me. I have good ideas for each flavor. Some people are turned off by hex grid games, and I do admit I like the simplicity of a sector or map based system for a board game, as hex games can drag down. But a hex grid can allow for more tactical gameplay. Or perhaps something else? Lane based combat?

Anyways that’s all I got, any input or suggestions for something you would personally like to see in such a game, feel free to throw it in, I’m still in the concept stages right now, I have a lot of good ideas but I can’t figure out quite what direction to go. Or even if this is something anybody would actually be interested in. The only WW1 game I can find that even comes close to such a style of game is Borgs WW1 board game which is just a another Commands and Colors game essentially. I’d like to make something a little deeper than that, without becoming a full blown WW1 grand strat game. I want to capture the feeling of trench warfare in a board game without making it as awful as it really was, as bad as that sounds saying that a hundred years after the fact. Anyways, I hope everybody is good and has a great evening, thank you for your time and input!!

-HM43

 

[oriskany 60763xp 0]

Great topic, @highlanderm43 .  😀

We’ve approached his topic a few times here on BoW, some of our results, discussions, and background might be helpful.

Most recently, for the for the Centennial Gaming in the Great War article series, we worked up a 1918 edition of the print & play Valor & Victory tactical board game system, developed for WW1.

Link to the Valor & Victory: 1918 Edition project:

Valor & Victory – 1918 Edition

It’s tactical-based, unit-based, and on a hex grid.  The scale might be a little small for what you have in mind, but  it might provide some ideas. 😀

For other theaters and scales, we also covered the Heroes of Limanowa  Kickstarter a while ago – the kickstarter didn’t fly but it may provide ideas for more operational-scale systems, or setting your game on different fronts.

Heroes Of The Great War: World War I Comes to Kickstarter [Part One]

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