Wargame Design: Do Your Mechanics Matter?

 

Mechanics are the tools you use to play-out the game on the tabletop.  There purpose is to create and end result, and output that the player uses to continue the game or get a result.  They are simply a process.  It is the result itself that is useful to the game.  Therefore, does it matter to your game what mechanisms you use to get to the end result?  

The mechanics of a game are simply the series of steps or actions that lead to the results you need to move the game forward towards its conclusion.  A process has a series of suppliers, inputs, outputs and users that make use of the process.  Mechanics can be the steps and equipment used to process the inputs for the suppliers and create outputs for the user.  In the case of Wargamers the suppliers and the Users maybe the same player, or a different player.  

In short, mechanics are simply a tool to get you from Point A to Resolution B.  Does it matter if you use one polyhedron dice over another?  Does it make a difference if you use cards rather than dice?  What about charts?  

Game designers spend a lot of time thinking about the mechanics.  Does all this thought and effort actually help make a better game? 

Restless Stars

No, It Doesn't Matter! 

Ultimately, the output is the key component of the process.  Therefore, how you get to the output you need for the game is less relevant than most designers believe.  Designer's spend time agonizing over what mechanics to use, when in the final analysis they are virtually interchangeable.  Whether you use a dice roll, a card flip, a spinner, coin flip, or a chart is irrelevant.  The only "wrong" mechanic is the one that does not generate the intended results.  

Design Goals are not met by mechanics.  They are met by outputs and results to the user.  For example, if you are trying to create uncertainty in the outcomes as a goal, it does not matter how this uncertainty is generated.  A random number generator, a card flip, or any number of mechanics can achieve the design goal, the specifics of the process are secondary and less relevant than the result itself. 

This liberates you as the designer and let's you focus on the key elements; the results of the process.  It doesn't matter which polyhedron you use, which cards you flip, what buttons are pressed.  All that matters is there is a mechanics to determine a result.  You don't have to agonize over these lesser decisions and you can focus on fulfilling your design goals instead.    

The focus in on the output of the process, and not the process itself.  One process is just as good as another.   

Restless Sun

Yes, It Matters! 

It matters because the players want more than a result from their games, they want an experience.  A wargame is more than the sum of its individual parts.  The mechanics of the game are queues on how the game itself should be played.  They highlight the components and aspects of the designer's POV that they want to highlight in their game.  This could be core mechanics, the hook, or even just the Chrome.  It is the process that gives the game flavor and soul.  

Mechanics matter because some processes are simply more efficient and better than others at achieving a result.  Consider the game Mouse Trap from Milton Bradley.  It is the definition of Over-Production as you spend the entire game slowly building a board-spanning mouse trap where the mice can only be trapped in it at the very end of the game.  The win condition of the game is to avoid the mouse trap as the players*.  This is not the most efficient method to achieve the result.  This is the classic discussion of simplicity and streamlining in game play.  Why have 12 steps in your mechanical process when 2 will do?  

A bigger factor in why mechanics matter is that the mechanics you provide, tell players what inputs and outputs are important to the game.  This will shape how they play the game.  The classic example here is XP in the original red-box Dungeons and Dragons.  You gained XP by killing monsters and getting gold coins.  Therefore, the ultimate expression of the game was killing things and getting loot.  Therefore, players started to look at every encounter from that perspective and the ubiquitous "Murder-Hobo" was the result.  That was the optimal way to be rewarded by the game's mechanics.  The process encourages a specific style of play, whether that was intended or not.  Therefore, a designer must be careful about their process in relation to their Design Goals.     

Since games are more than the sum of their parts, you can not look at mechanics solely as a matter of results and outputs.  The steps that lead up to the results are just as vital.  The supplier, inputs, process, outputs, and user all shape the overall experience of the game, so to ignore one of them in favor of focusing on the Result is folly.  

*= Note: This maybe the stated winning conditions for the game Mouse Trap, but you could argue that it is not the intended Design Goals of the game Mouse Trap.  Win conditions and design goals don't always align! 

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Final Thoughts

So which is it?  Do your mechanics matter?  

Like many things in life, it is not an either/or question.  The Ancient Greeks had an expression called "The Golden Mean".  It was an idea written about by Aristotle, but also was clearly relevant in Greek Myths as well.   

It is clear that both points of view expressed above have utility and value.  The idea of the Golden Mean was to avoid taking any one direction in excess, and instead finding and using the virtues of both sides.  Of course, there is no perfect recipe for this and each designer will need to decide where they and their game fall between these two extremes.

Of course the results matter, but so does the process to get the results.  Some processes are inherently better than others, but the process should not outshine the results.   

"What a non-answer!" I hear you bemoan.  Well, that's life for you.  It rarely is as simple as a clear answer.       

Free Bonus Content! 

So, the Siege Perilous Kill Team campaign is continuing.  This is a Chaos vs. Imperial simple points-based warzone control campaign.  I have been playing with either an Imperial Sisters of Battle team, or a Chaos-aligned Hand of the Archon team.  

This time, my Hand of the Archon took on an Ultramarines force on the DIY city terrain.  It was.... not pretty as I got absolutely smoked this time. I think all of my operatives were killed by Turning Point 3.  Ouch.  

One of the few highlights was my Dark Lance sniping an Ultramarine sniper from a rooftop with one shot.  However, my joy was short-lived as a second Ultramarine just clambered up into the same position and returned fire.  This second sniper remained a thorn in my side for the rest of the battle. 

I managed to grab some objectives early, but some not great dice-rolling plagued me through-out the game.  I think I managed to incapacitate 3 out of the 6 Ultramarines, but that was a hollow victory as I was tabled.  Made some bad choices along the way as well, and my opponent got a well-deserved victory.  

On the plus side, I got the basic starter set for Kill Team so I now have my own widgets, tokens, and barricades.  Woo-hoo me.  That also gives me an Ork and Vet Guard Kill Team, but I am in no hurry to paint them up.  

That battle for Powellington continues, but Chaos has a lead in 3 out of the 5 warzones.  That puts Chaos in a good spot half-way through Turn 1 or the three turn campaign.  Hopefully, my forces can be helpful instead of a hinderance as we go forward! 

Until next time!   

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