(TFT) More about Troop Movement in TFT

[John Paul Bakshoian <shadowhex@hotmail.com>]

Let me take up the RPG and miniatures topic before I go into more Troop 
Movement.  Ah...Yes, the group is correct.  The Fantasy Trip is a boardgame. 
 It can be converted to a miniatures game.  My comment was that TFT <as 
Melee> started out as a miniatures game.

	Roleplaying            = all acting
	Miniatures Roleplaying = using miniatures w/ emphasis on RPG
	Roleplaying Miniatures = using miniatures w less emphasis on RPG
	Miniatures             = all representational tactics

	Bret Slocum - In RPGs, figures are simply a play aid, even if you have 
detailed rules for movement.  So, TFT & GURPS are RPGs, Melee & Dawn Patrol 
are miniature games. <boardgames?>
	Psychohist - I'd classify Melee as a wargame <boardgame?>, rather than a 
miniatures game, because of the board and the hexes (not to mention that 
most of the rest of the Microgames are clearly board games.)
	Dave Kohr - When I play it as a non-RPG, its really a board game.
	Ron Pehr (in a TFT review copyrigt 1980 SJG, Inc.) -
It is the hexagonal-spaces game "board" which makes THE FANTASY TRIP unique. 
Unlike other games it is designed to be played with pieces moved on a board. 
 The board consists of linked hexagons, each representing one and 1/3 
meters, the pieces are anything which indicate individual characters. Most 
people use 25mm metal figurines, sold by many different companies. Whenever 
a situation arises wherein distance is important, and that usually means 
combat, markers are put on the board at the appropriate distance from each 
other. All movement and weapon ranges are given in terms of the number of 
hexes separating characters. In this way are resolved the questions of who 
could perform certain activities at certain times during the hostilities 
between characters. All games have some sort of movement criteria, usually 
expressed in scale inches, but THE FANTASY TRIP fully develops the use of a 
board to completely define the operational limits of the characters.
This might seem limiting, the kind of thing you took up FRP to avoid, but it 
actually makes the game far more workable. Gone are the disputes between the 
players and Game Master in which the former claims the characters were out 
of position or didn?t have enough time. There is now a graphic, discernable 
basis for ongoing actions which increases rather than limits the fun. Those 
who can?t stand the idea of a board in FRP can simply convert "hexes" to 
inches and play on any surface, even actual scale-model terrain.

So if you play on a table without hexes and use lead figures, then its a 
miniatures game. The reason I bother to differentiate is that at Cons there 
are those who see miniatures set up on a terrain table and thinks its a 
miniatures wargame, while there are others who have only the thought of 
roleplaying as something acted out <no figures>.  Even with my friends who 
know how I run my TFT games, Troop Movement with 8+ figures per player does 
not offer as much roleplaying as Troop Movement with 3 to 5 figures.  
Running 1 or 2 figures is strictly RPG (per Bret's concept.  I agree.) with 
our without hexes.

Note on Hexes:  In TFT, a melee hex is supposed to equal 1 1/3 meters; thats 
about 4.5 feet.  A megahex then is 4 meters or about 13 feet.  I cheated and 
say a hex represents 5 feet.   Therefore one inch (hex) equals 5 feet.  At 
long distances, it starts to distort, but I live with it.

Note on Time:  I split play between game time of 5 second rounds and FLEX 
TIME of 'roleplay until you screw up and we need to go to 5 second rounds 
again.'  In FLEX TIME, you can move pieces around freely or just dispense 
with the board altogether.

Equipment:  I usually use a 4'x8' plywood board or convention table.  I 
throw a large green felt over it.  If you want hexes, you can buy giant felt 
hex blankets from game shops, etc.  I use 25mm resin houses, walls, bridges, 
whatever; anything from historical/warhanner gaming.  You can even buy ships 
(now where were those naval rules.)  I have various items for those creative 
players:

	* one inch base of 3" long orange sheepskin for huge fires
	* orange cotton for regular fire, white cotton for smoke/fog
	* 1/8" red brick painted wood block for walls
	* 1" black wood block for shadow hexes
	* small plastic pizza raiser posts for showing flying
	* small resin craters for....craters
	* blast radiuses and blunderbus patterns
	* string...for line of sight
	* I haven't come up with anything good for invisibility

I note the wind before the game:  Speed and Direction.  You never know what 
those players will send up.

I have a drymarker board marked out in 12 round boxes for time.  If the 
players go all the way through, one minute has passed.  These boxes are good 
for noting when some special occurance started.

And now for the Special Rule Expansions for Troops:

		THERE AREN'T ANY!!!  HA HA HAAAaaaaa......

Actually there are a few.  Though I've been playing multi-character TFT on 
tables with miniatures for over 15 years, its only been the last year that I 
looked at establishing some advantages for trained troops (UNITS) or other 
disciplined mass effort.

	Psychohist commented "I'm still awaiting the promised rules expansion for 
troops.  I've yet to see a system that allows one to abstract results for 
multiple figures 'stands', while retaining about the same distribution of 
results as one would get playing out all the combats individually."

Sorry Warren, these aren't abstracted results for multiple figure "stands".  
Its standard TFT movement & melee.  Each piece moves how it can.  Each blow 
for each person.  What I'm refering to when I say 'Troop Movement is mass 
combat' is you're running lots of characters, a mass amount of combat.

Rick Smith, can you post your TFT Mass Combat Simulation System?  [thanks 
Michael for mentioning it]

My small list of advantages for a trained military UNIT:

	If fighting 3  abreast* they get +1 DX
	            6+ abreast* they get +2 DX
	If shielded 3  abreast  they gain +1 shielded armor
	            6+ abreast  they gain +2 shiedled armor
			*with same weapon

	Only those in the line get the advantage, as long as the line
	doe not break.  One hex displacements are OK.

	If you have a back rank of UNIT trained spearmen, they get an
	advantage:  When fighting 2+ abreast with an overhand spearer
	behind, the back spearman gets +1 DX.

That's it so far.  The above isn't necessarily based on reality or IQ points 
or anything other than seeing a need for troops fighting as a UNIT to have 
their discipline mean something.  I'll take more suggestions!

Also, I found it real rough to run 100 characters and still try to maintain 
strict DX order.  So I've altered the TFT turn sequence to suit my tast 
[this will definitely raise some hackles, but I tried it for playability.]  
During Action Opitons:

	ALL MISSILE AND MAGIC GO FIRST BY HIGH ADJDX; THEN OTHER
	STUFF GOES (by clusters.)  ALL 2ND MISSILES GO LAST BY ADJDX.

	This makes a low DX wizard or bowman able to take out a higher DX 
character, but this arbitrary game mechanix does speed up play [those absent 
minded players can slow down the game.]

	By doing actions 'by clusters', I mean that I take small melees of the 
whole battle and handle their fights.  As long as there is no drastic reason 
to go strictly DX across the board, this is a lot more coherrent and 
satisfying.

	In order to prevent high dex, buff, mongoloid UNITS of 8 IQ romping thru 
the fields, any unit which has 25% or more humanoid troopers with 9 or under 
IQ cannot operate with any UNIT bonus.

With Troop Movement, having a military background makes sense.  Now you can 
be a sargeant and use your strategy (well, maybe not on a 4'x8' board) and 
tactics as it should be used.  It gives a reason for Seige Equipment.

And now on to other TFT Items.
I just started using the links on this website.  Many good TFT items and 
articles.  I have a seige weapons list I createted long ago and then I saw 
Rick Smith's "New Weapons and Armor for TFT" and Ty's "Revised Hi Tech TFT." 
 I'll enjoy testing these out.  And I'll see about posting my seige weapons 
list.

John Paul

(Next under Group List of TFT Talents, etc.:  Skill packages)




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