5x3 works really well

[hazelbark]

Played two games tonight with version 2 rules on a 5x3.

I was shocked what a good game it was.

800 points.
Dacian vs Warring States
Dominate (non-swarm) vs Warring States.

the 5x3 other than terrain is really good.

1) it does away with 2 turns at least of jibber jabber manuver that favors dancing.
2) still had several key manuver pieces and decisions. Very far from a straight ahead slog.
3) quicker with actually more activity.
4) HF matters more and LH less.
5) Because you want more powerful units, you don't cover the board. Even over 50 bases of MF, 22 LF, 12 CV and 4 LH still left room for manuver.

I can see this being really good variety.
It would lend itself well to a mini-campaign in a day.
It does change the mix of armies.
It looks more like a battle.

It seems harder to crowd the table with terrain...good. But a large piece can't be placed on a 5 or 6. You just have to prohibt a player from have a mandatory that can't be placed on a 5 or 6.

We are going to try a few more including Pike to see if they are the uber that people suggested.

[philqw78]

But a large piece can't be placed on a 5 or 6. You just have to prohibt a player from have a mandatory that can't be placed on a 5 or 6.
.

Why? If the piece cannot be placed and the player wanted it he's a dumbass. If the piece gets placed, 4/6 chance, and the player took big because he didn't want it again dumbass.

[gozerius]

Can't be placed on a 5 or 6? Why not? 60" - 16" = 44", 18" - 8" = 10". Up to 2 large pieces up to 16" long and 10" wide could be placed in either center section.

[zoltan]

Played two games tonight with version 2 rules on a 5x3.

I was shocked what a good game it was.

Yeah we really like 5x3 in my neckathewoods pardnuh (da da da da da da da da dung)..

[pyruse]

We find that 25mm games on a 6x4 are very good, too (for the same reasons)

[kevinj]

I've attended a number of tournaments using 5x3 tables. We've always used a couple of slight tweaks to the standard terrain rules:

1) The compulsory piece is always placed, if necessary as near to within the rules as possible.

2) Players can only choose 2-3 optional pieces.

THis seems to work very well.

[hazelbark]

Well for Phil and Gozerius who are too obtuse or evil to understand the point.

5x3 if you are say an army that prefers open but you have ended up in say Hilly. You can risk taking a 16 MU circle as a mandatory and if you role a 5 or 6 it cannot be placed with the limitation of in the half and over 8 MU. So you have 1 in 3 chance of avoiding a mandatory. Obviously there is a risk factor of it showing up on a 1 through 4 and being a big piece.

Hence KevinNJ's solutions.

[philqw78]

Dan is obviously too thick to read and understand my post.

I have played a number of Hammytastic 5x3 games, the same time as Kev, and Hammy's rules were it will go on even if illegal to fit.
For Britcon we had 60x40 MU tables and we changed to if it doesn't fit it doesn't go on. Saves the Dom Rom, etc always getting their 16" rough circle on an already small table. But they could have a 14(ish)x12 and not be a dumbass like Dan.

[hazelbark]

Phil you throwing rocks at others...need I remind you about your incident?