Last night saw the final play test of the latest version of MoBaS (MoBaS 2.0 Dreadnoughts) at the club but with a subtle twist - this was fought 'off piste' as it were - or rather off the grid. I am happy to report that the game went very well and resulted in a narrow Turkish victory - all the mechanics worked very nicely with the revised firing and the tweaked torpedo rules coming up trumps. There was a few facing and firing arc issues (I have been spending far too long on grids and so had forgotten about such niceties!) and the use of a free table was was greeted by a truly Cowardesque comment from Mr Fox along the lines of "Anybody can drive a ship along a grid!"
I will provide a full off grid optional variant for the main set for those that wish to use the rules in this fashion in due course. I also think that the game may have benefited from using larger measurement increments - I used 4" to the hex when perhaps 6" may have been better - this would have given A class guns a range of 36" rather than the 24" they had. It is funny that distance and range 'compression' does not seem quite as noticeable when using a grid as opposed to a 'free' table.
I am really pleased with the way the rules have worked out and once again would like to thank all those readers that have commented, encouraged and tested them to the nth degree - as ever this kind of support is the life blood of an evolving rule system.
It does mean though, that after what seems like an age I am finally done in respect of the rules for this period of naval history - 1890 to 1920 - but MoBaS will live on into the 1930s and 1940s when I can get to that particular period.
6 comments:
David,
Well done!
The fact that it was possible to use the rules with only a few minor changes to make them suitable for a non-gridded tabletop, shows that they are fundamentally sound.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob,
Many thanks for your kind comments and unswerving support and encouragement!
All it will need is a couple of paragraphs for the non grid version and perhaps some firing arcs/turn indicators and that is it really. I want to add some firing arcs to the grid based version and will play around with the same. They will be pretty generous though.
I have the ships charts ready for the Balkans fleets and will upload those in due course.
All the best,
DC
Looking forward to giving the free form version a spin :)
Don't suppose you fancy running it at the Naval Wargames Show in June?
Hi Dave,
I hope to have the 'free form' option ready over the weekend so watch this space.
Many thanks for the very kind invitation.
I would love to run this at a show but sadly the calender for June is full already BUT - should somebody want to take it on I am more than happy to provide the spadework.
All the best,
DC
David,
Once again you have succeeded with a simple yet very playable rules system. Have to say I cannot wait for the ship stats and trying this on my own table.
All the best and well done.
Andrew.
Hi Andrew,
Many thanks for the kind words! The rules are not perfect and from a scale perspective will offend the rivet counting fraternity but they are playable and give a good game which is the object of the exercise after all!
I hope to upload the first of the ship charts over the weekend and these will be added to as and when I get around to it! Seriously though, once the fleets begin to appear it would be easy enough to add in new ships types just by using what is available.
All the best,
DC
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