How can a “one mini each” pub table game keep things dynamic, and not regress into a sterile dice rolling exercise?
I’ve always been fascinated with the question of “How small could this be?” when it comes to miniature games. In particular, I like the idea of a system where both players control a single miniature each. The reasons for this would need to fit your own preferred sandbox, but an obvious setting would be some sort of gladiatorial or arena combat.
Anyway, the problem, as far as I can see it, with 1v1 games (with the essential caveat that I’m not a games designer) is that the miniatures could simply become an aesthetic, rather than an integral part of the game. If you think about it, it’s likely that they’ll either both find static positions to take cover and shoot from, or, get into hand-to-hand and remain there. In both examples, these become dice-rolling exercises rather than dynamic tabletop experiences.
After a while, I stopped giving the idea any more thought. Then, I had a bit of an out-the-blue lightbulb moment when reading John Lamshead’s brilliant Sci-Fi Skirmish Scenarios.
In the book, John details a scenario where two warbands are trying to catch a drone. The drone is controlled by the game’s AI and is essentially bouncing around like a tennis ball, rebounding off the edges of the table, mat, or playing area.
I thought it was a nice idea, and that there was potential for a mechanic like this to exist that would actually do harm to the miniatures. For example, could it be a drone with whirring blades, a ball of malevolent magic, or some sort of slaver with a range weapon taking aim for a pop at a combatant?
Immediately, this would solve the problem of players keeping their minis in the same place. Their miniatures would need to stay mobile and break from bouts of melee combat regularly to risk being killed. From a cinematic point of view, you might also see a stronger or healthier character trying to hold an opponent in place to use this non-player weapon against them.
As discussed in my musings (ramblings?) on narrative solo and co-op wargaming, fighting the conditions, table, or game can often throw up more interesting situations than a “kill all the other guys” approach.
Back to this concept, though, it’s not necessarily about having whatever tennis ball-style weapon that fits your setting bouncing around the table. It’s about both players having a reason not to stay in one place for long. And that could apply to the entire playing area.
Maybe the arena is built on some sort of irradiated ground, electrically charged sheeting, or enchanted with a dark and cruel magic. Whatever the reason, it might mean that miniatures remaining static for more than one turn take an attack roll at the level of a low or medium-strength weapon. Maybe they wouldn’t simply be hurt, either – what if they were blasted off in a random direction (and range) using a D20 as a scatter dice?
Once you start to give it some thought, there are so many ways turn a low model count game into something dynamic, frantic, and cinematic. It could even work as a solo game using one single miniature.
I’m writing about this idea while fresh in my head and purely from a “this could be fun to try” perspective. For all I know, such mechanics or systems might already exist in games I haven’t encountered before. And, if that’s the case, I’d love to hear more about them!
Feedback on Single Miniature & Arena Combat Game Ideas
Some feedback from the Discord community.
Dr Spork said, “My mind was drawn to thinking about Robot wars. The randomly activated hazards and the house robots make things more interesting than one on one battles.
Another aspect to consider is giving the combatants extra options/skills that provide some tactical options outside the simple punch or shoot. D&D has a bunch of stuff like this that could be cribbed to make the combat a bit more varied. Grappling, pushing opponents back, rapid fire pinning them down, that sort of stuff.”
Gibby said, “One ruleset for this that I found to be really clever is Red Sand, Blue Sky by 2 Hour Wargames. It’s a game about Roman Gladiators (complete with a campaign about being a Lanista and running a gladiator school, and a campaign where you play as a gladiator trying to survive to retirement). The coolest mechanic in it was each combatant begins with a certain number of dice, which are used to throw attacks or pull off various tricks and such. Thing is if you ever run out of dice, then your character is exhausted and drops to their knees, there to be at the mercy of the crowd (or Emperor). Plus, you could do stuff like kick sand into your opponent’s eyes and such.”
And William said, “Maybe Melee or it’s supplement ‘Wizard’? They are hex-based games with an emphasis on duelling”