I recently picked up a copy of 'Innovations in Wargaming Vol. 1', edited by John Curry. The book is subtitled 'Developments in professional and hobby wargames' which got me wondering how many 'professionals' would buy it....
Anyway the book covers the kind of game that moves away from either a traditional toy soldier set up or else adds to the interest by upping the scale- the chapter on 'hall games' would be the most recognizable to most hobby gamers. Basically the example given is a large multiplayer game against an umpire controlled opponent.
The majority of the games covered are committee games. These fall somewhere between a planning session and a role playing game. 5 such versions are featured. It is a style of gaming I've slowly been planning myself so the hints and tips I read will be very useful, along with the excellent opening chapter on designing wargames rules.
Also included is a rather nice example of a naval Kriegsspiel set in the Napoleonic era. Sadly not an area of history I'm particularly au fait with otherwise I'd run it myself; however the ideas in it would be easily transferable to any other time you'd care to mention.
The book delivered pretty much what I hoped it would. I've been wanting to add an extra level to my regular Monday night games; a kind of mini game before the table top toy soldier game. My SWAT raid was an early attempt at this, so now with a few more ideas I'll try some more things out.
My only complaint about the book is in the ordering of the chapters. Having read it in the order each chapter is presented I felt that the first half of Paddy Griffiths' text should have been incorporated into the main body of the text rather than being left as an appendix, possibly after Bob Cordery's Designing Wargames Rules...?
The book is available here: http://www.wargaming.co/
Cheers,
Pete.
