--- In frictionalheroes@..., "john467460"
<formbyfan@...> wrote:
>
> 'Handicapping' sounds like a good idea. I know the handicapping
> alters the size of the force, but how do you determine the size of
> the original force, pre-alteration?
>
>

Our handicapping scheme was developed in the context of a WWII
campaign. Units are "task force units" these frequently are three
armor units or 4 units of infantry / artillery / support weapons etc.
We all agreed that "points" were never going to even things out. You
might have 6 tanks a side but German Tanks are different than Russian
Tanks, etc. So any points system would carry an inherent bias and how
do you even up things like rate of fire or mobility when compared to
size of gun or armor. Cannot be done. Further, points merely make
you play to the strengths favored by the points system.

We felt that the talent of an individual when running a given army
would be reflected in his won / loss ratio. We further decided that
over time a guy might improve his game play and might not need the
same kind of advantage that might be in order early on.

Our rules favor the defender greatly. So we play games with a 6:3
attacker / defender ratio. Initially we manipulated forces to create
a leveling of the playing field. 7:3 or 6:4. This was not that
successful because there were many things that allowed you to overcome
numbers alone (just making more targets).

Then we started denying someone with an advantage certain weapons
classes (no extra heavy guns). This was very effective but also
somewhat profound in the swings it created.

Finally we started looking at relatively minor thinks like "wild
cards" that allowed a weaker player to move out of turn once in a
while or kept a stronger player from moving or shooting consistently
(missing a turn now and again). This really worked well and we were
surprised by how simple this was to implement.

Now we use a combination of all three -- or rather there are residuals
of all three in our current system. You see, -4 is as low as anyone
got and +3 is as high as anyone has climbed -- so the system at its
extremes has never been tested.

In essence, if you load up on Tiger Tanks and win a few, your
opponents get tougher and your own army starts missing a beat here and
there. Indeed at +2 you don't get to use your Tiger Tanks. This
creates some sanity in unit choice. Most guys now buy stuff that is
"standard" for the most part because you can use it at any handicap.
If you buy the hot stuff, you may have to substitute something less
lethal in future games. This doesn't mean you cannot throw in those
Tigers now and again it just means you won't be using them as a steady
diet.

The games are close and exciting -- really that's all you ever want
most of the time -- at least in my neck of the woods.

mjc