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From: jeff@utastro.UUCP (Jeff Brown the Scumbag)
Newsgroups: net.games.board
Subject: Re: Opening Discussion
Message-ID: <669@utastro.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 7-Sep-85 00:57:20 EDT
Article-I.D.: utastro.669
Posted: Sat Sep  7 00:57:20 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 11-Sep-85 08:23:04 EDT
References: <394@brl-sem.ARPA> <163400001@uiucdcs>
Organization: U. Texas, Astronomy, Austin, TX
Lines: 37

[munch]
On introducing new players to war board games:

We had a great deal of success playing SPI's Sniper!
(supposed to be real soldier-level combat: each counter
= one 20th Century infantryman, set in a built-up area,
one hex = 1 meter, one turn roughly 10 seconds of time)
in a multiplayer free-for-all variant called "get the goodies"
(it was suggested in MOVES magazine long ago).  Basically
each of several players (we typically had 6 to 8, half or a little
more of whom would be newcomers) draws a weapon at random, puts a
quarter in the kitty and a quarter in front of him.  In
the center of the board a special counter is put down
representing something like a valise full of cash or
recreational pharmacutica; players start at the board's
edge.  The object is to get the goodies off the board.
If you "kill" somebody you get the quarter he has in front
of him; the one who gets the goodies wins the kitty.
The rules were "softened" a little to conform with everybody's
conceptions of how combat ought to be; Sniper!'s rules
are formidable and messier than they could be.  The friendly
atmosphere, and vaguely intuitive way the game was supposed
to work, helped an awful lot.

Anyway, we had a great time many Saturday afternoons with
a mix of experienced and neophyte gamers with this.  The
neophytes could gang up on the old pro's (who knew enough
not to trust each other), and the games tended to degenerate
into near-slapstick affairs as the guys who ran in and grabbed
the goodies first got pinned down by the others who set up in
nearby buildings to block access.  We allowed deals, but you
had to trust the others not to shoot you in the back....

Jeff Brown the Scumbag
		{allegra,ihnp4}!{noao,ut-sally}!utastro!jeff
		jeff@astro.UTEXAS.EDU
Astronomy Department, U. of Texas, Austin