Grosstaktik (1972) is a set of war game rules written by Leon Tucker for conducting eighteenth century battles. It was released by Guidon Games as part of the Wargaming in Miniatures series. Unlike other booklets in the series, it does not have the Guidon Games imprint on the cover or the title page. The only evidence the rulebook is a Guidon product is on the final page, which lists the booklets available from Guidon, including Grosstaktik.
The rules in Grosstaktik govern weapon fire and melee. The results of weapon fire are decided by casting a six-sided die and adding modifiers to account for factors such as distance. The types of weapon fire, in increasing order of deadliness, are carbines, solid shot batteries, muskets, rifles, and grape shot batteries.
When enemy troops encounter each other, they cannot fire and must engage in melee. Each side rolls a six-sided die, multiplies the result by the number of units in action, and then adds modifiers to account for the quality and morale of the troops. The ratio of the higher and the lower number is then computed, and this ratio determines whether the side with the lower number stands fast, retires, is routed, or surrenders. Surrendering is the best result from the point of view of the victor, and occurs when the ratio is 2.5 to 1 or higher.
Grosstaktik is appropriate for re-enacting battles from the War of the League of Augsburg, the War of Spanish Succession, the War of Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War, and the War of American Independence. The booklet includes short descriptions of each of these conflicts.
The Generic Universal RolePlaying System, or GURPS, is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to allow for play in any game setting. It was created by Steve Jackson Games and first published in 1986 at a time when most such systems were story- or genre-specific.
A pike is a pole weapon, a very long thrusting spear formerly used extensively by infantry. Pikes were used regularly in European warfare from the Late Middle Ages to the early 18th century, and were wielded by foot soldiers deployed in close quarters, until it was replaced by rifles, which had a longer range, and to which a bayonet could be attached. The pike found extensive use with Landsknecht armies and Swiss mercenaries, who employed it as their main weapon and used it in pike square formations. A similar weapon, the sarissa, was also used by Alexander the Great's Macedonian phalanx infantry to great effect. Generally, a spear becomes a pike when it is too long to be wielded with one hand in combat.
Deathmatch, also known as free-for-all, is a gameplay mode integrated into many shooter games, including first-person shooter (FPS), and real-time strategy (RTS) video games, where the goal is to kill the other players' characters as many times as possible. The deathmatch may end on a frag limit or a time limit, and the winner is the player that accumulated the greatest number of frags.
Lanchester's laws are mathematical formulae for calculating the relative strengths of military forces. The Lanchester equations are differential equations describing the time dependence of two armies' strengths A and B as a function of time, with the function depending only on A and B.
Full Thrust is a science fiction strategy wargame written by Jon Tuffley and published by Ground Zero Games of England. It is usually played with miniature figurines representing imaginary starships, although cardboard chits representing the vessels can also be used. Unlike many games, the publishers encourage the use of any miniatures rather than only "official" ones, though Ground Zero Games does also sell an extensive miniature range.
Squad Leader is a tactical level board war game originally published by Avalon Hill in 1977. It was designed by John Hill and simulates on infantry combat in Europe during World War II. One of the most complex war games of its time, Squad Leader is the natural extension of the trend towards greater realism initiated by several earlier games, including Avalon Hill's own PanzerBlitz and Panzer Leader. Those two earlier games were slightly larger in scope, with counters representing platoons and map hexes measuring 250 metres across, compared to Squad Leader's 40 meter hexes and squad sized units.
In the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard, a guidon is a military standard that company/battery/troop or platoon-sized detachments carry to signify their unit designation and branch/corps affiliation or the title of the individual who carries it. A basic guidon can be rectangular, but sometimes has a triangular portion removed from the fly.
Chainmail is a medieval miniature wargame created by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren. Gygax developed the core medieval system of the game by expanding on rules authored by his fellow Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association (LGTSA) member Perren, a hobby-shop owner with whom he had become friendly. Guidon Games released the first edition of Chainmail in 1971 as its first miniature wargame and one of its three debut products.
The Battle of Ceresole took place on 11 April 1544, during the Italian War of 1542–46, outside the village of Ceresole d'Alba in the Piedmont region of Italy. A French army, commanded by François de Bourbon, Count of Enghien, defeated the combined forces of the Holy Roman Empire and Spain, commanded by Alfonso d'Avalos d'Aquino, Marquis del Vasto. Despite having inflicted substantial casualties on the Imperial troops, the French subsequently failed to exploit their victory by taking Milan.
A Combat results table or a CRT is used in wargaming to determine the outcome of a clash between individual units within a larger battle.
Shatterzone is a space opera role-playing game by West End Games. The game went out of print in 1997 after the company went bankrupt. The game is now back in print, owned and published by Precis Intermedia.
In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, game mechanics and dice rolls determine much of what happens. These mechanics include:
Hitler's War is a strategic level World War II war game for 2 or 3 players, first published by Metagaming Concepts in 1981, and then by Avalon Hill in 1984.
Tractics: Rules for WWII Miniatures is a set of wargaming rules for conducting World War II style combat with 1:285 scale micro armour miniatures. It was originally written to use 1/87 scale miniatures which were easily available at the time of its writing. Written by Mike Reese and Leon Tucker with contributions by Gary Gygax, the game was published by Guidon Games in 1971 and republished by TSR, Inc. in 1975.
Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay is a role-playing game system with multiple source books set within the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The first game using the system, Dark Heresy, was created by Black Industries, which closed soon after the initial release. Official support by Fantasy Flight Games was discontinued in September 2016. The license was later acquired by Ulisses Spiele, who published a new game, Wrath & Glory, in 2018.
Melee is a man-to-man combat boardgame designed by Steve Jackson, and released in 1977 by Metagaming Concepts. In 2019, Melee was revived and re-released by Steve Jackson Games.
Player's Option: Combat & Tactics is a supplemental sourcebook to the core rules of the second edition of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. This 192-page book was published by TSR, Inc. in 1995. The book was designed by L. Richard Baker III and Skip Williams. Cover art is by Jeff Easley and interior art is by Doug Chaffee, Les Dorscheid, Larry Elmore, Ken and Charles Frank, Roger Loveless, Erik Olson, and Alan Pollack.
The Star Wars Roleplaying Game is a tabletop role-playing game set in the Star Wars universe, first published by Fantasy Flight Games in 2012. It consists of three different standalone games, each one is separate themed experience:
Corps Commander, or "Corps Commander: Operational Manoeuvre Group" is a set of micro-armour Miniature wargaming rules designed by Bruce Rea Taylor and Andy Ashton and published in the UK by Tabletop games copyrighted by B. A. Rea Taylor, A. Ashton & Tabletop Games July 1986.