ShamBattle The Game, as played anno 2001

The Arabs flee ...

It was decided at this point that the Arabs would flee the battlefield: The FFL had broken through one bridge, and the Arab offense on the other fronts was not succeeding and was meeting heavy resistance. A clear French victory!

Conclusions

Shambattle is of course not a simulation, it is a simple game for boys. In order to turn it into a 'real' wargame, where tactics are a bit more important than sheer luck, several things have to be modified:

• Cannons are too unpredictable: they only hit on a 1, but then destroy all troops under the template. Machine guns are better than cannons, they don't miss. I think it would be better to give a high probablity to every type of weapon, but provide a limited amount of ammunition. Then, players will have to think a little bit about when to use their heavy weapons.
• Melee is perfectly symmetric (cavalry = infantry, no elite troops). Die modifiers for different troops would be very easy to implement.
• Hospitals were not really useful, maybe if the battle is longer, recovering your wounded troops might pay off.
• The map with the 3 bridges is not very good -- the bridges act as choke points, and result in a die-rolling fest. An open ground battlefield probably would give a better game.
• There is no ranged fire - although it could easily be implemented, using the same simple mechanisms for casualty determination.

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This page was written by Phil Dutre and is maintained by Bart Vetters Schild en Vriend Miniature Wargaming Club Leuven