Top 10 Boards Used In Scenarios

[MrP]

Hey all,

Having a desperately-trying-to-avoid-work moment and I wondered which were the most popular boards that scenario designers use. So, using the excellent Chronology of War, I did some quick stats and thought I'd throw it out for discussion. The Top and Bottom 10 boards are:

Bd Usage
17 198
4 196
16 175
2 167
19 154
5 143
18 141
33 137
10 135
3 132
-----------
29 56
8 55
38 55
9 53
44 47
31 45
39 42
30 40
46 27
45 16

Scenario designers - why do you use/not use boards? An example is bd45, out of over 2600 scenarios in the CoW, only 16 use it and it's such a beautiful board. Does this tell us we need more boards like 16, 17, 18, 19 and 4? Why do the Top Ten boards feature in over 40% of scenarios? I'm sure there's a time/availability factor in there but I'm sure it ain't the full story.

I haven't included the AoFO boards as I don't have them yet...

Back to doing something productive with my time, it's amazing what thoughts playing car racing games on your ASL boards at breakfast time with your 4 year old son can trigger...

Cheers

Ian

 

[Ole Boe]

The CoW hasn't been updated in some years now, has it?

So one reason that boards 45 and 46 have seen little action, is that they hadn't been around for very long time when the CoW was updated.

Except for that, some boards are more general than others, and will therefore see a broader use.

 

[Roy]

If I were a designer, I wouldn't use board 23.......it's evil.:freak:

 

[Houlie]

The CoW hasn't been updated in some years now, has it?

When was COW last updated? Who "owns" updating it? I think it would be a great tool if it were updated regularly and we located in a central location...LIKE WHQ????? COuld COW be located here?

C'mon, let's get jiggy with it!

 

[Pitman]

I use the boards that I think best represent the terrain. Some boards are very specialized. The lack of certain types of boards--especially PTO boards and boards with different hill configurations--is a limitation I find very frustrating.

 

[Nat Mallet]

I don't have the numbers in my head, but I like the dense urban maps. The RB maps come to mind.

Mark: Have you tried designing your own maps? I know you've worked on a lot of scenarios, how much extra work would it be to make your own maps?

Nat

 

[Pitman]

A tremendous amount of work; and of course, it would cut down my options considerably, since they would have to be printed with whatever I designed.

 

[mkirschenbaum]

I agree with Nat about the urban geo boards, which have always struck me as far too clean and anti-septic even for areas relatively untouched by the fighting. Where, for example, are cars, carts, and other clutter? Not only are these streets 40 meters wide, they're utterly empty! Also, and I know some will think this is completely immaterial, but these boards have always been too green for me--I think the RB map looks more like a city, even though the clay color comes from most of it being level 1 terrain.

 

[Pitman]

I've long thought that there should be an "Urban Debris LV Hindrance," to take into account vehicles, small trees, streetcards, carts, booths, and all sorts of other things that frequently littered European cities. It could be invoked by SSR and basically would have a +1 same level hindrance for firing across X (probably 3) road hexes/hexsides. Something like that.

 

[Legion]

No doubt for me, the most beautiful board is the Stoumont map (KGPI)... deliciously evil with lots of nooks and crannies

 

[Robin Reeve]

I do hate board 6 : completely false proportions. It looks like a French "manoir" surrounded by a pretty garden... But the building is 200 meters wide (Versailles?) and the "trees" in the "orchard" are actually 40m diameter woods...
I am astonished board 6 does not appear in the least used boards (its great age must have something to do about it...

I never liked the 20-23 boards that came with BV : awfull colours (that deep green graveyard is ... eek and much too "US city boulevard", with nearly 80 meters from one side of a road to another.
Board 45 has much better colours, and board 4.. (don't remember the number) happily introduces village terrain.

I presume some not yet much used boards will progressively have their place in scenario designs - it is also a question of time...

 

[Pitman]

Don't forget that half of board six is pretty usable, just as half of board 38 is.

 

[MrP]

Actually bd 6 comes in 14th place with 89 scenarios....

 

[alanp]

I went to ROAR to try to see if there were certain boards that showed up in the '50/50 balance' list or the 'total dog' list. If a board is used in a lot a '50/50' rated scenarios with 300 playings, that might indicate something special about that board. Conversely, if a board keeps showing up on the 'dog' list that may show that there's a 'trick' or weakness in the way the board is laid out--the defense always has a 'safe' spot; the attacker has a sure-fire path of approach, etc. Yes, I understand OB has a lot to do with scenario balance, too, but the terrain is a major factor. Also, to get a large enough sample, it'd have to be an older board, most likely, but it's worth a look.

Anyway, I don't have enough of the scenarios at either end of the spectrum to judge one way or the other. Anyone else want to take the plunge into this research?

 

[Pitman]

I don't think it will turn up anything.

 

[Petros]

I like this post. The frequency of geoboard use is a near & dear subject for me. I've done similar surveys with the intention of discovering why some board types are used more frequently, and what kinds of boards are lacking, etc. Some random comments:
- obviously and not surprisingly the most frequently used boards are the most generic and less specialized than others. Designers need lots of such non-specialized board and terrain types. Historical narratives often do not report the exact nature of terrain and designers need to minimize the specific effects of specific terrain. That said, there is need for certain specialized boards (rivers,craggy hills,etc) IMO - but less of a need than for generic, but somewhat varied looking terrain (ie. open Russian).
- Board 45 was specialized (I did that intentionally) - and was intended to be a large Western European captial (Warsaw, Vienna, Berlin, etc.).
- I agree that the urban boards especially, need to be battle-worn, using RB Debris, Printed Rubble, etc. However, because these terrain types are not part of the standard ASL nomenclature as shown in Chap.B, I, as a board designer, cannot use them without causing problems with players not having all the rules shown in the ASLRB. It would be nice if board designs could include Rubble, Debris, and other battle scars.
- Looking over the entire mix of 52 boards, there's success and failure in terms of providing the best selections for designers & players. It has been a more or less random progression for the most part up til now. :nuts: (EX. PTO, No.Africa). This is why I am pushing for generic terrain types - but for somewhat more specific terrain 'regions' (Normandy, Ukraine) and which will hopefully be addressed in some new APs that MMP is preparing. I've prepared 2 more fairly open - again Russian oriented - 'multi-geomorphic'(6 for the price of 2)maps. They are by far the most versatile boards I've prepared.
Don