Janos
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Here's an idea you may want to try. Some friends of mine and I worked out a good system many years ago to randomize start points and victory conditions on the battlefield.
RANDOM START POINTS
Divide the battlefield into areas -- examples are below. Write each one on a card and the commander of each army draws one.
East side of map
West side of map
North side of map
South side of map
Within two feet of the city
In the villages
First commander (for ex.) draws the first one, and the other draws the last one. The first commander's army then is off the map to the east, and has to march on to the battlefield. The second commander starts with his army in the villages.
RANDOM VICTORY CONDITIONS
Sam-o Sam-o, except now we list victory conditions instead of starting points. Examples:
Hold all three villages
Hold the city
Hold the city and one village
Kill the enemy commander
March 1/2 of your army off the opposite end of the map
Destroy the enemy's cavalry
This replicates real-life, since we seldom fight to the last man, or completely know our enemy's goals in battle.
SCENARIOS
Two battles that come to mind doing this.
In the first one, an army of Mongols and Poles had to fight through a German Army and get half their forces off the opposite end, which had to hold a town and its fords at the end of the game. Although they lost nearly half their army, the Mongols and Poles got through the Germans and made it most of the way off the board; however, the Germans, rallied by the Bishop after the death of their commander, rallied and were able to hold the city and one of the fords. Mongol-Polish victory, but a close one.
A Hungarian Army with slavic conscript infantry had to seize and hold the three villages while a German Army had to secure the east end of the battlefield. The Germans holding a city were killed to the last man and withdrew off to the east side, holding about 60% of it -- the other 40% was across a river and was held by the Hungarian's infantry. The distance to the three villages was huge and the defenders tenacious -- two fell quickly and the third had one survivor who refused to die in it. Marginal victory to the Hungarians, even closer than the last.
I think this randomness adds a lot to gaming and hope this will help you.
JS
RANDOM START POINTS
Divide the battlefield into areas -- examples are below. Write each one on a card and the commander of each army draws one.
East side of map
West side of map
North side of map
South side of map
Within two feet of the city
In the villages
First commander (for ex.) draws the first one, and the other draws the last one. The first commander's army then is off the map to the east, and has to march on to the battlefield. The second commander starts with his army in the villages.
RANDOM VICTORY CONDITIONS
Sam-o Sam-o, except now we list victory conditions instead of starting points. Examples:
Hold all three villages
Hold the city
Hold the city and one village
Kill the enemy commander
March 1/2 of your army off the opposite end of the map
Destroy the enemy's cavalry
This replicates real-life, since we seldom fight to the last man, or completely know our enemy's goals in battle.
SCENARIOS
Two battles that come to mind doing this.
In the first one, an army of Mongols and Poles had to fight through a German Army and get half their forces off the opposite end, which had to hold a town and its fords at the end of the game. Although they lost nearly half their army, the Mongols and Poles got through the Germans and made it most of the way off the board; however, the Germans, rallied by the Bishop after the death of their commander, rallied and were able to hold the city and one of the fords. Mongol-Polish victory, but a close one.
A Hungarian Army with slavic conscript infantry had to seize and hold the three villages while a German Army had to secure the east end of the battlefield. The Germans holding a city were killed to the last man and withdrew off to the east side, holding about 60% of it -- the other 40% was across a river and was held by the Hungarian's infantry. The distance to the three villages was huge and the defenders tenacious -- two fell quickly and the third had one survivor who refused to die in it. Marginal victory to the Hungarians, even closer than the last.
I think this randomness adds a lot to gaming and hope this will help you.
JS
