Random: The Close of the Year - A Retrospective of Sorts

 

Like sands through the hourglass, these are the days of our lives.... Wow, another year done and dusted.  At this rate, I am starting to feel some existential dread!  

As usual, I sorted my goals for the year around my big categories of Purchasing, Painting and Modelling, Games Played, Rules Writing, and Misc. Stuff.  You can see the initial goals I had planned way back at the beginning of 2022 here.   

Purchasing

I feel it necessary to start this section of the Goals with a huge "Thank You!".  As I have said many times, you make this section possible!  Every time you purchase a product from the Wargame Vault, buy one of my books from Osprey, or become a patreon; you are helping keep Blood and Spectacles Publishing moving forward.  Without your purchases, I could not get the products for me to review, the artwork for post-production, the models for the painting desk, or the terrain in the featured battle reports.  Your support makes this all possible, and allows me to keep making games.  

Thank you! 

With that said, creating games requires more than just writing rules.  The hardest part is the play-testing, editing, and post-production work.  The purchases I have listed below fall into two main categories.  The first, is items I need to complete or finalize rules and supplements.  The second are research or marketing items to keep me making new content.  95% of purchases are to help expand and grow Blood and Spectacles Publishing and get more games into your hands! 

So, here is what I wanted to purchase for 2022, with what I did purchase in green: 

• Dark Age Irish from Wargames Atlantic to help complete my Viking Age project
• Gripping Beast Dark Age Miniatures to complete my Viking Age project
• Tumbling Dice Korean War aircraft for White Star/Red Star rules
• Victrix Persians for an Ionian Revolt supplement for Men of Bronze
• Stay caught up with the Osprey Wargaming Series
• Purchase The Silver Bayonet for Review
• Purchase 1+ Indie wargame rules for review   
• Miscellaneous miniatures for a few Horror Games I am working on

One of the downsides of purchasing mostly to support my work for Blood and Spectacles is that there is not a lot of room for leisurely extras!  In addition, once I have what I need for a project, it is not unusual for me to move on and not paint anything else for it!  Therefore, I am doubting I will be painting up further forces for Fury of the Northman anytime soon.  Therefore, those Gripping Beast models of Anglo-saxons or Muslims may never make it to my cart as I start working on rules and forces for other projects.  

Painting and Modelling

The painting goal for this year was pretty simple, paint what I was purchasing!  To that end, I painted a lot of 1/600 aircraft, a lot of Dark Age Irish, and a lot of Persians!  That was mostly what I purchased this year!  However, there were a few miscellaneous projects that snuck in.  For example, I managed to paint a Nativity scene as a gift, a Kill Team, and several stand-alone minis for play testing Darkest Knights and other WIP rules projects.  I also painted some stuff I 3D printed! 

Overall, another good year on the painting front as I managed to paint about 345 models for the year, including various 28mm and other scales.  Here is a small sample of what got painted in 2022. 

Nativity scene from Reaper

Tumbling Dice 1/600 aircraft

Kitbashed Cadaver Troops for Under the Martian Yoke

Persian Immortals vs. Ionian Greeks from Victrix

Persian light troops scouting from Victrix

Like I said, that is a sample of what has been painted in 2022!  

Games Played

This was another productive year for games played.  I played a wide variety of games and was getting about two games a month in.  I say, "Not bad for me" but I have been getting two games a month in pretty regularly for a few years now.  I guess that means two games a month is average now?  

I got to play a wide variety of titles, including board games and Card Games.  Of course, the main focus here is Wargames.  Most of the wargames I played were Blood and Spectacles publishing.  My group jokingly said to me, "We mostly play your games, because then we do not need to learn the rules.  You know them pretty well."  If only they knew the truth!  

Some Kill Team that never made it to the blog

I got to play: 

• Castles in the Sky
• Men of Bronze
• Wars of the Republic
• Kill Team
• White Star/Red Star
• Aeronautica Imperialis
• Fury of the Northman

.... and many, many more.  I easily managed to hit my playing goals this year.  

More Kill Team that never made it to the Blog

Rules Writing

2022 did not disappoint in this category for me either.  I planned on having 4 games released in 2022, and I am happy to say that I eventually got there with all 4 of them.  They are all available on my Wargames Vault page for purchase. 

White Star/Red Star

- The Games: Blood and Spectacles: 2nd Edition - Gladiator battles while running your Ludus

- White Star/Red Star - Battles in the Korean Air War

- Fury of the Northman - Viking Age conflict

-The Ionian Revolt - A supplement for Men of Bronze focusing on Persia

Fury of the Northman

I also managed to release another game I have been working on called, Under the Martian Yoke.  This was a survival based skirmish game set after Orson Well's War of the Worlds radio play.  This time it was no theatre, it was real!  

The Games: Blood and Spectacles

Of course, Castles in the Sky was also released from Osprey this year!  That was a project 5+ years in the making.  It was really exciting to not only see it come out, but also see so many people playing it!    

I also did a lot of preliminary and post-production work on a couple of other rule sets.  I can write the rules faster than I can play-test them, do post-production, and release them!  That means I still have some games in the hopper for 2023! 

A writer friend once told me, "When you publish your first book, that is great but it does not make you a living.  Once you get to 50 books that people are buying, then you might be making a living."  I have taken that advice to heart, and am working hard to get myself to 50 books published, one way or another.   

Under the Martian Yoke

Misc. Stuff

This year I worked hard on getting better at 3D printing with my Resin printer.  Maybe I cracked the code, or maybe I just cracked?  We will see as I go into 2023.  

I did manage to print two entire fleets of Triremes for Poseidon's Warriors.  I plan to have some epic land and sea campaigns with my Greek and Persian forces.  Both sides have 25 ships a piece.  Thanks to Captain Ahab on Thingiverse for the design.  

Also, a big thanks to CookAndrewB on Thingiverse for making some cool 3D sculpts for Martian Ferals to be used with Under the Martian Yoke.  These designs drove me to try some more miniature style figures to print this year.  Here is a Feral cow, goats, and chickens.  I like to call it my Barnyard of Terror! 

In addition to that, I have decided to try to host a Quarterly gaming event in my area.  There are not a ton of Wargamers.... yet.  However, there is a local college, a local gaming store, and an art store/coffee shop that has some of the materials needed.  I have been slowly building up a local player base, and with our efforts combined we can continue to grow Wargaming in the Northwest Wyoming region.  

I have hosted two events, and participated in a third gaming event.  They were all modestly successful with enough players to keep the participation games going, some sales for the hosts/vendors, and an ever growing list of interested parties.  

Castles in the Sky Book Launch Event

Conclusion  

Well, before you know it another year is gone.  However, looking back I feel like I made the most of it in my hobby space.  Games were played, rules were written, people were met, and models got painted.  What more can a wargamer really ask for?

However, as I look ahead to 2023 there is still a lot to do!  Next week, I will worry about that.  For now, and this week; I think I will rest on my laurels.

Onward..... to next year. 

     

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On The Painting Desk: Send in the Cavalry!

 

One of my long running goals for 2022 was to release a supplement for the Ionian Revolt for Men of Bronze onto the Wargame Vault.  I have a similar supplement called Hercules Abroad that greatly expands the Greek world across the Mediterranean and adds more armies and supplements.  I also have a similar supplement for Wars of the Republic called Revolt! that focuses on the 3rd Servile War.  

Before Men of Bronze was released, I wrote up an article and campaign to play the Ionian Revolt for Wargames, Soldiers, and Sailors.  However, due to a lack of a Persian army for photographing, the article was not published.  Instead, I did a piece on the Battle of Delium instead.  However, I still had my notes and what I wrote for the Ionian Revolt.  

It was these notes and this article that would form the basis of the Ionian Revolt supplement.  In addition, the Ionian Revolt seemed like an ideal venue to take a closer look at the Persian Empire lines-of-battle, and revisit some of their non-Greek foes as well.  

However, in order for any of that to happen I needed to get over one big hurdle.  I needed a Persian Army! This had thwarted my initial article and at the time, there were not any great plastic models available.  However, time moves on and now we have not 1 but 2 ranges of plastic Persians to choose from!  

The first is from Wargames Atlantic.  I used this company for my Dark Age Irish, and was very happy with the results.  I was able to make an army of 6 units with only two boxes,  They also painted up easily, and were very affordable.  The sets are great for making infantry and archers, but their are no cavalry available.  However, you could easily make the sample Line-of-battle list for Persians from the Men of Bronze book with these models.  

The other plastic Persian army is from Victrix Limited.  This company has provided the bulk of my Greek, Macedonian, Viking and Roman forces in 28mm in the past.  I have really appreciated the level of detail and pricing of these sculpts.  The range also has a wider variety of forces from unarmored infantry, armored/unarmored archers, and light and heavy cavalry.  Since cavalry was a big part of Persian armies, it made sense to go with Victrix this time around. 

I have been steadily working on this army, and have finished off a large chunk of the infantry.  This includes various light infantry, drilled infantry, Sparabara, Archers, Immortals, and a few odds and ends. The only troops left in the Persian army were the Cavalry.  

Like the rest of my force, the Cavalry are from Victrix Limited.  I had two packs of light cavalry and one pack of Heavy Cavalry to finish off the mobile elements of the army.  The Persians were well known for their cavalry forces, and it was one of their major advantages against their Greek foes.  This time, I assembled all 30 horses first, and decided to finish them off first.  The problem with painting cavalry is that to get 30 Models, you really need to paint 60 miniatures! 

The first step was to assemble all the horses, and then undercoat them with cheap acrylic white as the base.  This was the same method I had used for all my Persians, so I did not want to change up the process now.  I then painted all their hooves Dark Stone. 

Next up, was splitting the horses into small groups based on the color of their hides.  I used a variety of colors including Desert Yellow, Bone White, Mummy White, Monster Brown, Fur Brown, Ash Grey, and Uniform Grey.  By putting them into smaller batches, I was able to get a wide variety of colors across the herd.  Once done, I reorganized them again into batches of similar colors for the Manes, using Dark Stone, Skeletal Bone, Fur Brown, and Monster Brown.  I was essentially batch painting all 30 horses at once.   

From there, I painted their tack.  Here I used combinations of colors I had used on the Persian troops such as Voidshield Blue, Daemonic Yellow, Rust Red, Leather Brown, Desert Yellow, and Skeletal Bone.  I also used Bronze to pick out a few metallic pieces of tack as I went along.  Again, I organized them into little groups based on the colors I wanted to use on their reins and riding blankets.  When they all finished, I then gave them a wash of Light Tone.  

With all the horses done, I then based them all using cheap acrylic Territorial Brown with scatted Moss from my terrain bin on the base.  Again this mirrored how I had based all of my Ancient troops.  The horses were complete!  

I then turned my attention to the riders.  I started with the Light Cavalry soldiers first.  Normally, I assemble and base coat the completed models.  However, this time I decided to try something different.  Cavalry troops have a unique painting challenge as they do not have a base to hold onto or mount while painting.  You have to grip them by the foot, or some other method.  To avoid this "grip" problem, I decided to try painting them on the sprue.  This was a technique I had not tried before.  

I undercoated the parts I wanted with cheap acrylic white first.  Then, I base coated them like my other Persian troops.  The shoes were all Monster Brown.  Flesh tones were Tanned Flesh, Monster Brown, and Fur Brown.  Then, I choose a color for the pants, and painted one sprue with the color, then switched to the next color and did the next sprue.  Persians generally have trousers, a "skirt" and then a third shirt color.  After that, their head gear was normally a different color.  For these parts I used a variety of colors including Alien Purple, Daemonic Yellow, Rust Red, Desert Yellow, Skeletal Bone, Ultramarine Blue, Greenskin, Mummy Robes, and Pure Red.  This gave me a wide variety of looks, all with the same general "look" to them.  However, no two troopers looked the same.   

Weaponry was a combination of Skeletal Bone and Oak Brown handles with Bronze tips and blades.  Sashes and belts were Voidshield Blue, Daemonic Yellow, and Leather Brown.  The banners I also painted the symbols on while they were on the sprue.    

Once the riders were painted, I clipped them out and assembled the models.  In a few places I had to do some touch-ups.  Overall, I decided that I did not like painting on the sprue.  They were a bit cumbersome, harder to mix and match colors on, and I kept missing spots due to blind spots.  Once assembled, I attached them to a mount and then gave them a light tone wash.  

That was the light cavalry troopers done.  However, their officers I decided to use the Heavy Cavalry sprue to make.  I pretty much used the same techniques on them.  However, I did not paint them on the sprue.  The biggest difference was the Alien Purple coats I gave to all the Persian officers.  You can see them here.

For the Heavy Cavalry troopers, I took them off the sprue and assembled them.  I pretty much used the exact same approach to painting them as the Light Cavalry troopers above.  The biggest difference was I used more Alien Purple, Daemonic Yellow, and Rust Red in their color schemes and less of the Browns.  Their beards were all Dark Stone.  I wanted them a little bit fancier than their Light Cavalry fellows.  I also used Greedy Gold for their armor, to match the Immortals a bit closer.  Alien Purple, Voidshield Blue, and Greedy Gold were the colors I was using for Imperial elites so these guys got the same.  

Once they were completed, I mounted them on their horses and gave them a Light Tone wash again.  The final stage was I painted the shields on the Sprues.  The officer got a Hoplon, but the rest got the more traditional Persian Crescent shield.  I then gave all the shields Little Big Man Studios transfers to make them POP!  

That's it!  The Persian Army that has eluded me for so long is finally done! 

Now, here are some shots of various troops on the table.  

Light Cavalry on the Persian Flank!

Infantry supported by Archers

Persian troops put a Greek city under siege

Wow, that was a big army to get all painted up in 6 months!  I am pretty proud of the progress I made and how it looks on the table!  Now, I can breathe easy, get some use out of this force, and think about what comes next!  I just managed to finish these guys before 2023 kicked in! 

I would love to add three elements to the list, but they are of secondary concern.  Those are 28mm Scythed Chariots, Camel Cavalry in 28mm, and a late Persian War Elephant!  I have enough heads left that I could probably make an Elephant pretty easily from most Elephant kits.  However, the Camel Cav and Chariots I have been less successful in finding what I want.  If you have any ideas for any of these, let me know! 

Onward! 

 

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Wargame Design: The Ionian Revolt

I had a lot of rules writing goals for 2022.  I had several projects that were close to completion and in post-production as 2022 dawned.  These were all intended to eventually find a home on the Blood and Spectacles Wargames Vault page.  One of the projects I was especially excited for was a supplement for Men of Bronze set during the Ionian Revolt.  When the book initially came out, I wrote an article on the Ionian Revolt for Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy.  However, it never made publication as they lacked a Persian army for photos.  I had run into the same problem myself!  Thankfully, now a few manufacturers make them in plastic, so creating a Persian army is much easier now and I was able to revive my work on this topic for a supplement of my own!   

So, what makes this supplement different from the last one?  The previous one, Hercules Abroad focused on new Lines of Battle and scenarios with these forces to round out the Mediterranean Basin with the foes of the Greeks.  This supplement has a very different focus and goals. 

The first goal was create a multi-game simple campaign focusing on the activity in the Ionian Revolt.  Therefore, there are 5 campaign historical scenarios, and there are also three additional scenarios that focus on some of the interesting aspects of the campaign beyond the field battles; naval warfare and sieges!  In addition, I created rules for Solo-play that can be used in the Ionian Revolt or anywhere else you wish.  

Persian Immortals face down Ionian Greeks

In the original Men of Bronze rules I was not satisfied with how I portrayed the Persian army.  After all, the Persian army spanned a vast amount of time.  Over this timeframe, it changed with new technology, new acquisitions, and new formations.  Therefore, the Persian Line of Battle in the main rules was a bit.... one dimensional.  Therefore, I took this chance to create a deeper Persian Line of Battle to face their earliest foes, all the way to the final battles with Alexander.  

With this more robust look at Persian military history, it also gave me a chance to dive in deeper on the Persian Empires foes too.  This supplement has new Lines of Battle for a variety of foes from Ionian Greeks, Lydians, Indus Valley Indians, Kingdom of Kush and more!  This expands the numbers of armies that you can field in Men of Bronze yet again!  You could have a very cool campaign featuring Cyrus the Great and his conquests.  

Persian troops repel Greeks from the Citadel at Sardis

Thankfully, there is a wide range of easily available plastic models to fill out the ranks of your Persian forces.  Both Wargames Atlantic and Victrix have come out with an excellent range of plastic forces in 28mm.  Plus, there is a variety of metal models out there to fill out the King of King's ranks.  Like all of my games, this supplement leans into the scale and model agnostic ethos so you can use whatever you got, without rebasing.  In addition, the game leans into the "Big Battles, Small Armies" focus that I am (in)famous for.   

There were very unique aspects of Persian warfare that made it very different than that of the Greeks.  This supplement explores this with new special rules that can help a Persian commander lean into the troops and tactics that made the Persian army the largest Empire on earth.  This includes mixed melee and bow units, the well-known sparabara, and of course the elite Apple Bearers/Immortals.  These features make the Persian army unique compared to the other armies in  Men of Bronze. 

Persian Troops assault a city while reclaiming Cyprus during the Ionian Revolt

Conclusion

I had been working on this supplement before Men of Bronze was released by Osprey Games.  Therefore, I am very pleased to finally have it out for the public to purchase on the Blood and Spectacles Wargames Vault page.  I look forward to showcasing the campaign and my new Persian army from Victrix on the blog in 2023.  With this released, that wraps up all of my planned releases for 2022! 

Become a Patron and get access to all the cool stuff, a peak behind the curtain of Blood and Spectacles, and early-access to playtest games!  

Blood and Spectacles Patreon! 

You can follow Blood and Spectacles Facebook page or Instagram for more fun! 

Check out the latest publications and contact me at our Blood and Spectacles website

Or purchase all out games at the Blood and Spectacles Publishing Wargames Vault Page!

 

On The Painting Desk: Our Arrows will Blot Out the Sun!

 

One of my long running goals for 2022 was to release a supplement for the Ionian Revolt for Men of Bronze onto the Wargame Vault.  I have a similar supplement called Hercules Abroad that greatly expands the Greek world across the Mediterranean and adds more armies and supplements.  I also have a similar supplement for Wars of the Republic called Revolt! that focuses on the 3rd Servile War.  

Before Men of Bronze was released, I wrote up an article and campaign to play the Ionian Revolt for Wargames, Soldiers, and Sailors.  However, due to a lack of a Persian army for photographing, the article was not published.  Instead, I did a piece on the Battle of Delium instead.  However, I still had my notes and what I wrote for the Ionian Revolt.  

It was these notes and this article that would form the basis of the Ionian Revolt supplement.  In addition, the Ionian Revolt seemed like an ideal venue to take a closer look at the Persian Empire lines-of-battle, and revisit some of their non-Greek foes as well.  

However, in order for any of that to happen I needed to get over one big hurdle.  I needed a Persian Army! This had thwarted my initial article and at the time, there were not any great plastic models available.  However, time moves on and now we have not 1 but 2 ranges of plastic Persians to choose from!  

The first is from Wargames Atlantic.  I used this company for my Dark Age Irish, and was very happy with the results.  I was able to make an army of 6 units with only two boxes,  They also painted up easily, and were very affordable.  The sets are great for making infantry and archers, but their are no cavalry available.  However, you could easily make the sample Line-of-battle list for Persians from the Men of Bronze book with these models.  

The other plastic Persian army is from Victrix Limited.  This company has provided the bulk of my Greek, Macedonian, Viking and Roman forces in 28mm in the past.  I have really appreciated the level of detail and pricing of these sculpts.  The range also has a wider variety of forces from unarmored infantry, armored/unarmored archers, and light and heavy cavalry.  Since cavalry was a big part of Persian armies, it made sense to go with Victrix this time around. 

I have been steadily working on this army, and have finished off a large chunk of the infantry.  This includes various light infantry, drilled infantry, Sparabara, Immortals, and a few odds and ends.  That leads me to my last batch of infantry, the Archers.  

Drilled Infantry

The Archers are also from Victrix Limited.  Like all of my Persian units the first step was assembly.  These went together pretty smoothly for archer minis.  The two-part heads still annoy me, and I foolishly misplaced some of the arrows along the bows, but in a group it won't matter at all.  I also converted the musician models into additional bowman.  Then, I brush undercoated them with cheap white acrylics.  

 I then went to town batch painting all 30 of them at once.  I started with painting their skin tones with a few different options including Tanned Flesh, Monster Brown, and Fur Brown to give them a variety of skin tones to represent the troops gathered from across the empire.  Then, I painted all of their shoes Fur Brown.  

Now, is where it gets tricky when batch painting.  The Persians all have a set of trousers, a skirt, a tunic, and head wear.  All of these should be in separate colors, so you need to group them into smaller batches to avoid duplicating colors on the different layers.  For these layers I was using Desert Yellow, Skeletal Bone, Ultramarine Blue, Ork Skin Green, Rusty Red, Leather Brown, Mummy's Robes, Daemonic Yellow, and Ash Grey in order to get a variety of colors on the models.  

Once I had the base colors on, I found myself separating out the 4 command figures.  These guys had more armor and gear than their fellow archers and were causing issues with the batch painting.  I decided to go ahead and paint them as their own little group and finish them off early.  I tried to make their belts Voidshield Blue to tie in with the officers and Imperial troops of the Sparabara and Immortals.  I also used Alien Purple for the coats to give the officers that Imperial tie in as well. Armor was bronze again.   

Officers for the Archers

 Once the officers were done, I continued batch painting the other 26 or so models.  Half of them got Oak Brown bows and Skeletal Bone arrows, and the other half got the opposite combination.  All the arrow tips were bronze.  

Finally, I got the archers painting up where I could complete their belts and straps, which used various colors from Ash Grey, Skeletal Bone, Desert Yellow, and Leather Brown again.  I wanted to keep their color palettes consistent.  Lastly I painted the bow cases and arrows last, using Leather Brown for the case and Desert Yellow for the trim.  The arrows matched the ones on the weapons, and I used Alien Purple as the fletching.  

Two units of archers, and 1 unit of bow armed skirmishers

The last step was basing the models and adding some shields for the officers.  Basing I used cheap, acrylic Territorial brown with left-over bits of moss and clump foliage scattered randomly on the base.  The shields I painted on the sprue, and used some Little Big Man Studios transfers for the final look.  I had hoped the transfers would fit on the standards, but they did not.  I had to free-hand those poorly.  

As a final step, I decided to take and base some of the large Persian shields individually, in a group of 10.  This way, I could easily convert two units of archers into Sparabara equipped units for some of my games.  

This set gave me a lot of versatile options for using the units in my Persian army.  I could easily use them as three sets of archers, or I could use one of the groups as bow-armed skirmishers.  I could also break them up and combine them with my Sparabara troops to create two units of Sparabara instead.  Finally, the individually based large shields gave me further options for the force.  

Imperial Persian troops block the Royal Road from Sardis

I won't lie, but finishing these as one big unit was a chore.  Half way through the process, I was struck by the plague.  Once I was past it, it took an extreme effort of will to pick up the brush and keep going on these guys.  The end results look good, but it took a lot of willpower to get this far.  Hopefully, I will not experience this issue when I tackle the 30 or so cavalry models for this army.  

Our arrows will blot out the sun! 

Once the cavalry are done, I can move onto a new force!  Plus, I will have all the units I need to start playing the Ionian Revolt campaign.  

Onwards! 

Become a Patron and get access to all the cool stuff, a peak behind the curtain of Blood and Spectacles, and early-access to playtest games!  

Blood and Spectacles Patreon! 

You can follow Blood and Spectacles Facebook page or Instagram for more fun! 

Check out the latest publications and contact me at our Blood and Spectacles website

Or purchase all out games at the Blood and Spectacles Publishing Wargames Vault Page!

  
    

Wargame Design - Avoiding Melee Yahtzee

Everyone knows that the basics of wargame design are the 4Ms.  Those stand for: 

• Movement
• Missiles
• Melee
• Morale

I have spoken about the 4Ms and individual aspects of the 4Ms at various times on the blog.  However, as a designer one of my big fascinations is how to effectively deal with Melee as one of the 4Ms.  In many genres, Melee is the great "decider" and is the crucial mechanics for the period or genre.  That weight of decision for the game should come from Melee.  

Yet, despite the importance of it I have found Melee is often the anti-thesis of fun and instead simply bogs down into a game of Yahtzee where you roll and pray for a better dice roll.  The core of good game play is decision making, and in many games once you get into Melee there are no decisions to make.  As a player, you simply completing the mechanical process of the game to get a result, so you are not playing the game.  The game is playing you. 

The Problem of Melee

To understand why Melee devolves into Yahtzee, we need to understand what is happening and why decision making is stripped from the game once Melee begins.  Here are some common mechanics that I see that strip decision making from the player.  

1. Decisions are made at a Strategic Level

The Strategic Level of a game is decision making that occurs before you even get the miniatures on the table.  This is primarily seen in list building or equipping your models for play.  These choices are made  "Out-of-Game" and the results of these choices impact the game in motion.  However, they do not necessarily allow a player to make a choice at the tactical, or in-game level.  

For Example, Chosen Men from Osprey is a good example of this.  Initiative order for combat is based on what weapons a model is equipped with.  If a model strikes before another and kills them, the enemy is removed and can not strike back.  Therefore, if a player chooses to equip a model in the Strategic list building in a certain way, it will have an impact during the game.  There is no decision by the player on who strikes who when.  

2. Melee Locking

This was an early and common aspect of Melee.  Once a close combat was initiated, it was assumed that both combatants would stay in combat until one of them was dead or incapacitated.  In this scenario, the key decision was when to join combat or not.  Therefore, once the decision to engage was made, there were no further decisions to be made in combat.  Instead, you just roll the dice and see who is left standing.  

Necromunda featured Melee Locking

3. No Options

Melee is often a stat driven activity.  Players had no actual options in combat other than to attack.  There simply was no decisions to be made.  Only dice to roll.  The person with the better Yahtzee roll won.  There were no options to feint, knock prone, parry, etc.  

4. To The Death

Melee was always to the death.  There was only one outcome available once melee was engaged.  One side would win and continue being operational, and the other would lose and be removed from play.  No other outcome was permitted.  Models or units could not disengage, fall back, retreat, or even take moral tests.  They were either killed or not killed.  

5. Comparing Dice

A lot of games have players simply compare dice and select "the best" to win.  There is very few ways to alter or modify how these dice rolls are used or applied.  It is a winner take all type of system, with only the RNG having a say in the results.  

Those are some of the key reasons why Melee has always seemed a bit of an uninspiring portion of many games.  I won't claim to be any better on this front.  In many of my games, Melee is "streamlined" with many of the problems I just outlined above!  However, this has also led me to think long and hard about how to make Melee more interesting.  You can see the evolution of my thinking in my games as well.  

Comparing Dice in The Walking Dead

Choice is Needed in Melee

Surprise, surprise.  I have frequently said that the key to good games is to force meaningful choices on the player.  Melee should not be exempt from this simple maxim.  In this case, I am specifically referring to Tactical or "On-the-Table" choices.  Players need options to execute in Melee to make things more fun!   

The following are some methods or ways to achieve choice during Melee: 

1. Remove Locking

Instead of models getting locked in combat, allow them to move freely in and out of Melee as needed by the player.  This gives the player a choice on whether they want to stay fighting, or leave when it no longer suits their needs.  

2. Attack/Defense Options

There are a variety of ways to do this depending on the genre and scale.  However, it is essentially providing different options to attack that force trade-offs on the player.  The player decides the attack or defense options and this has positive and negative connotations/mods on how the Melee is resolved.  The most common examples are parrying, feints, big strikes, etc. 

These could also be granted by equipment choices, but in game the player opts to use the special benefits or options instead of them automatically applying.  For example, a shield may allow a parry attempt, but at the cost of offensive ability in return.  You can opt to use the shield or not during the game itself!     

3. Critical Options

Instead of a Critical success just doing more damage, give the player more options on how to "cash-in" or use the Critical to gain advantage or chain success together.  Instead, of just doing damage, perhaps it also allows a push, or similar mechanic.

A Steggie can only swing its tail behind and to the side in Only The Strong Survive

4. Positioning

Instead of simply using Base-to-Base as good enough for combat, you could add Mods and penalties for facing and direction when a model is engaged.  This essentially is ranks and flanks with associated maneuver benefits applied on a unit or model level.  This also applies to how models support each other in melee as well.     

5. Not Always Deadly

Provide ways for a player to win a combat that does not involve death and dismemberment.  This could be maneuvering for position, breaking from combat, pushing back. following up, or something more exotic.  

In A Fistful of Kung Fu you can choose to "humiliate" your opponent with a suitable melee success instead of damaging.  This has Victory Point implications in the end game, and allows a bit of narrative flair! In Dracula's America you can convert success into a push that can be used to knock people off mounts, over cliffs, and out of cover.  

6. Force Moral in Melee

People rarely fight to the death.  When possible, they will attempt to flee from close combat.  Allow ways to drive off an opponent without killing them outright.  Morale is one of the 4Ms and should apply to Melee as much as it does or more to Missiles.  

Outremer has an interesting mechanic where in order to charge or engage in close combat, you must pass a Morale check first!  This represents a persons natural reluctance to engage in melee to begin with.  

7. RNG Manipulation

Create mechanics that allow the player to "manipulate" or shift around the results of the RNG.  This could include using them to cancel out an opponents dice, trade-in for re-rolls, swap results, or choose how they are applied on a chart.  This allows a player to make decisions about how the results are actually applied or used in game.  

Survivors face a Martian Tripod in melee during a game of Under the Martian Yoke

Final Thoughts

There are a ton of genres and game styles where Melee is the most important aspect of the game.  Therefore, those games require a greater depth of mechanics and decision making to make the genre fun!  Melee should not be boring and have more depth and interest than a game of Yahtzee!  Thankfully, there are a number of ways to add meaningful decision making to Melee.  Like all aspects of the game, it is about adding choice for the player that have meaningful impacts to the game down stream.  

 

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