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View Full Version : Playing grid based combat with free movement on a table



Hazzardevil
2012-06-01, 03:29 PM
People often find it hard to make a lot of grids to run multiple combats quickly, so I was wondering, would it work if people used models for wargames and had 1 inch squared be the equivalent of a 1 square and models just moved 1 inch for every square of movement?

Has anyone tried this or see anything wrong with it?

valadil
2012-06-01, 03:39 PM
I haven't done a lot of wargaming but what I have done was incredibly slow due to measuring distances. I'd rather take 5 min at the start of a fight to draw the combat than slow the whole thing down by 10 min.

Keep in mind that depending on your system you won't just be measuring movement or ranged attacks. What about attacks of opportunity? Are you going to measure the 1" of reach for each creature?

Hazzardevil
2012-06-01, 04:36 PM
I haven't done a lot of wargaming but what I have done was incredibly slow due to measuring distances. I'd rather take 5 min at the start of a fight to draw the combat than slow the whole thing down by 10 min.

Keep in mind that depending on your system you won't just be measuring movement or ranged attacks. What about attacks of opportunity? Are you going to measure the 1" of reach for each creature?

I imagine that most of the time it would be, you don't qualify for an AoO unless they are bordering your units stand.

Adam...?
2012-06-01, 04:42 PM
My group uses a plain whiteboard when we play 3.5, and we find it's easier to just run combat freeform like this rather than drawing a grid. Of course, we have a pretty laid back group, so we're okay glossing over the numerous minor weird situations that pop up.

Examples: reach gets a little bit weird. A 5' reach means that you can only attack enemies who are in base contact with you. Using circular bases, that means that only six like-sized enemies can fit around a person, which is different from how squares would work. A 10' reach means you can attack enemies up to 1 inch away from you. You get a lot of situation where someone is just a few millimeters out of reach of someone. Do you play it strictly, or instate a "close enough" rule? If you're in a tight space, is it okay to nudge your ally over a little bit so both of you can engage the same enemy? Or, suppose a defender is standing half an inch away from a wall, and someone else wants to tumble through that small opening. Does that count as passing through the defenders square? What happens if someone is only halfway in the fireball's radius?

For us, the guys are pretty okay with letting me, as DM, make the calls in these sorts of situations. Or if they really disagree with what I say, we just have a quick roll off, no big deal. If your group can operate in the same manner, it should work just fine.

Jeraa
2012-06-01, 04:47 PM
A grid is not necessary. 3.0 was written assuming a grid was not used. Using a grid was a variant rule in the 3.0 DMG.

One thing about going gridless - the DM needs to be comfortable making decisions on the fly. With a grid, its easy to determine who is adjacent to someone else. Without a grid, what is adjacent? Is it bases touching? What about 1/8th of an inch away? 1/2 inch? How much of a creatures space must be in the area of effect for it to be damaged?

Grids aren't necessary, but they do clear up a lot of situations.

Nepenthe
2012-06-02, 02:26 AM
Brick Wars works exactly as you described. Key-chain sized tape measures come in really handy. As others have said, it will probably take a bit of DM arbitration for games originally based on a grid. It shouldn't be much of a problem though.

nedz
2012-06-02, 07:26 AM
People often find it hard to make a lot of grids to run multiple combats quickly, so I was wondering, would it work if people used models for wargames and had 1 inch squared be the equivalent of a 1 square and models just moved 1 inch for every square of movement?

Has anyone tried this or see anything wrong with it?
All versions of D&D prior to 3.0 used this style of movement because the game was derived from a skirmish wargame; which is why some of us used to refer to 3.0, et al, as a boardgame with the possibility for role-play:smallbiggrin:

I haven't done a lot of wargaming but what I have done was incredibly slow due to measuring distances. I'd rather take 5 min at the start of a fight to draw the combat than slow the whole thing down by 10 min.

Keep in mind that depending on your system you won't just be measuring movement or ranged attacks. What about attacks of opportunity? Are you going to measure the 1" of reach for each creature?

You should look at systems like Hordes of the things, or alternatively the various SPI style wargames of the 70's.

7RED7
2012-06-02, 09:25 AM
I occasionally play 40k with a friend who invests quite a bit of money into it, so he has a lot of little accessories and things. One of the most interesting little novelties is the TAC-template. It is a small template (~6" long) where each side is a length that is commonly used in the game.

http://www.amazon.com/Assault-Template-Gale-Force-Nine/dp/B001NH3YCU

I would suggest picking up something like this, or making one that suits your most used distances. It is definitely easier than breaking out a tape measure when dealing with small distances.

Jay R
2012-06-02, 09:55 AM
People often find it hard to make a lot of grids to run multiple combats quickly, so I was wondering, would it work if people used models for wargames and had 1 inch squared be the equivalent of a 1 square and models just moved 1 inch for every square of movement?

Has anyone tried this or see anything wrong with it?

Nothing wrong with it at all. Welcome back to traditional miniatures gaming.

Hazzardevil
2012-06-02, 11:25 AM
I occasionally play 40k with a friend who invests quite a bit of money into it, so he has a lot of little accessories and things. One of the most interesting little novelties is the TAC-template. It is a small template (~6" long) where each side is a length that is commonly used in the game.

http://www.amazon.com/Assault-Template-Gale-Force-Nine/dp/B001NH3YCU

I would suggest picking up something like this, or making one that suits your most used distances. It is definitely easier than breaking out a tape measure when dealing with small distances.
This is what gave me the idea.


Nothing wrong with it at all. Welcome back to traditional miniatures gaming.

Been playing 40K for a while, now lets drag DnD back into war-gaming.