Views on Hail Caesar supplements?

[katzone]

Scenarios in the style of C.S. Grant and S.A. Asquith

[rick priestley]

Thanks to everyone for all comments -  I'm not sure I'm any the wiser I must admit! - though perhaps it's worth pursuing all options because there's obviously a market for source books, scenarios, rules, army lists... you name it! I'm not sure that there is ONE answer - we really can do all sorts - but the chances are we'll end up producing supplements that prospective authors want to write - as there's no way I can do it all myself. Though there are some things I quite fancy a go at:) To my way of thinking it breaks down into these options: WAB style period specific supplements with background, army lists, special rules, scenarios and modelling/painting/gaming photographs of nicely done miniatures.Basic army lists covering all the major forces in broad outline style with points values designed for picking armies that are matched.Compilations of battle reports and scenarios with some complementary modelling/painting/gaming photographs and 'how tos'.Specific campaigns presented as a period specific supplements - so rather than broader (Early Imperial Rome and Her Enemies) specific (Trajan's Dacian War, The Civil War of 68-69AD, Boudicca's Revolt, etc). Similar to the WAB style but more specific and including scenarios and a campaign (ladder style campaign).Army guides - so collecting and building a particular army such as Roman, Celts, Germans, etc - all you might want to know about a single army including background, choosing the forces, modelling and painting the army, making appropriate scenery, battle report of army in action. I'm sure there are more - and some of the above are just different ways of cutting the same pie - some are more closely based in the collecting and modelling of the armies, some are more closely based on period expertise, but they're all worth thinking about I reckon.Rick     

[herzlos]

I certainly quite like the idea of campaign supplements, as I'd imagine a lot of us will struggle to come up with suitable scenarios that are vaguely historically accurate and yet still suitable for the gaming. I'd recently picked up a book on the roman legions activities, with the intention of using it as scenario source, but I certainly wouldn't mind a resource that did most of the work for me and gave me: an idea of the forces involved (maybe have both 'balanced' armies, and 'realistic' armies), the battle topography, the goals/objectives of the armies, and some background information.I think that WI covers this pretty well for a few specific battles each issue; there's a page or 2 on the actual history, some detail but not enough to get bogged down with, and an overview of what happened, then a description on how to recreate it on a table top with some army lists and objectives. They also detail a playthrough but that's not as necessary in my opinion. So something along those lines but extended to cover whole campaigns would be great. Maybe throw in a few sillier side-games that can still be played with the same figures to add a bit of variety as well.Detailed inspirational shots of armies/scenery and howto's would also be appreciated though :)  

[Vogless]

Agreed. Love the Campaign book idea along with the WAB supplements. Being so new, anything will help. Same goes for Black Powder....

[phoenixman]

well if it's stuff NOT to be covered in the main rules then these are my thoughts;1. no major army / unit specific rule changes in supplements that contradict the main rulebook. whilst i play WAB and they are in these rules and specific army books,  i would like HC to be different in that respect.2. a supplement concentrates on a specific era covered within the main rulebook and expand on things like actual army lists with proper points for units, scenarios specific to each period, campaign ideas, modelling and painting tips / info and scenery building tutorials.3. more pics and perhaps one or two more battle reports, detailing how the rules effected the units / game as it progressed to its conclusion.4. a list of useful websites, books and reference material the reader can use to check up on stuff, and complement the supplement to get greater use from it for their games. also, any chance of a set of counters (wounds, shaken, disorder etc) that can be used with the rulebook similar to those in Operation Squad, either as a separate sheet of punch out type counters or a download available for free from this website. just a few things, hope they are of use.   

[BigMike]

If you want little tiles/tokens you could do a lot worse than get a whole load of little mosaic tiles from a hobby store and write/draw your own with a CD pen!I'd rather HC had some ideas in for asymmetric victory conditions than concentrated on 'fair' armies.  so few historical battles were fought between fair armies i think this is a better way to go, especially as BP/HC is meant to be about fun, casual gaming rather than mega serious play-to-win tournaments.

[Colonel White]

Quite like that idea of using mosaic tiles as it would be in keeping with anicient times. Good one Mike

[zedeyejoe]

Laser cut/etched counters are soon produced as well. If a set of rules is popular, its needs are quickly met. 

[rick priestley]

Yes I like the idea of a campaign based supplement - something speciiic - but you do need to find expert authors to do that kind of thing - and there aren't that many around... who would want to write for HC... volunteers welcome of course:)WIth counters - because HC uses 6 as the standard Stamina value rather than 3 - it isn't quite as easy to see how many casualties a unit has 'at a glance' as with BP. For Chariot units we use a single wrecked chariot (of which the Perry's have quite a few from their old Kadesh game) with a dice in the cab showing the number of casualties. For most troops we tend to use deadies - although occasionally we have to resort of using Zulus - which is hardly right is it! I have also made up casualty markers out of shields, discarded bits of broken equipment, and such-like - mostly from spare parts from the plastic sprues. I've also had a go at using a spare Areonautica base - as these have numbers on little dials that you can use to keep track of the casualties - I found the size and shape (Hexagon) of these a bit intrusive though. On the whole we use individual deadies - but occasionaly we use a casualty 'base' which has room to balance a dice on it to show he number of casualties.Disorder - we always use cottom wool 'smoke' in BP - and we just ended up using the same for HC on the basis it represented 'dust' - simply because you need something that's more recognisable than a casaulty marker.Rick 

[A Lot of Gaul]

My personal preference would be for period-specific supplements and/or army guides. Battle reports would be nice too. The idea of supplements focusing on specific campaigns sounds intrguing, but might be too narrow and specialized to be economically viable. Basic points-based army lists designed for 'balanced' competitions would not interest me at all.Just my two obols worth! Cheers,Scott