Open Source Tabletop Wargame

[JustinOperable]

Hi all,

My name is Justin, some of you may have seen me working in the Art Development section on some portraits. I wanted to approach everyone here about another project I'm launching as I believe there are several people who frequent these forums who likely would be able to help in the project. I'm founder of a collective that aims to create free games media for all to enjoy and build upon as their own without needless proprietary restrictions. A new project I am now launching it's earliest stages is an as-yet unnamed Historical Wargame ruleset. From our introduction on our own new Forums:

"The main idea is to make a strong, elegant ruleset for pitched battles starting in the Ancient World and advancing forward in time until either the Renaissance or until the Modern Era as the rules allow. It may be such that the rules don’t foster Pike and Shot and Napoleonic Warfare well but it is our initial intention to have rules and Army Lists that cover the Bronze Age until the 19th century.

To facilitate this, we are going to be releasing armies of gorgeously illustrated chipboard units. They will be much cheaper to produce than sculpted plastic or metal models but still be aesthetically appealing. For those who love their models, the ruleset will still be usable with models, we just wont likely provide our own as theyre expensive to produce and there is plenty of a market for that already. What creating pieces in this way will do is allow us to provide freely licensed print and play copies of all of our armies, and provide professional quality play pieces fairly cheaply for those who want them. Maybe most importantly, it will give us low enough overhead that we will be able to cover a much broader number of historical militaries than would otherwise be possible, so we can have civilizations that other games simply don’t cover."

Not to mention the fact that if successful, we will have dozens of freely licensed pieces of historical illustration showcasing these ancient warriors.

Part of my interest in creating such a game is due to the fact that though I have enjoyed Wargaming, it is difficult for many (including myself) to pursue the hobby to its fullest extent because model armies are so expensive, just one army of romans can cost 300 dollars, the way we would do it would allow for an experience that was still beautiful to look at but much more affordable. Another part of my interest is the desire to learn about history through one of its most dramatic facets, Warfare. And I hope in taking part in the game, those who play it will learn more about history and the people who died creating it. The first collection of armies we will release will be early Iron Age civs, very similar to those being produced for 0ad part one. As such, I am confident there are people on these forums who have a deep understanding of the military history of their favorite cultures and civilizations, and can aid us in choosing the proper units, maintaining a sense of authenticity in our depiction, and in doing justice in our rules representations of the units. Each army will have between 10 and 15 unit types and we want to be sure to present as authentic and iconic a selection as possible.

So if any of you find the idea interesting, please follow the links below to register and contribute to the conversation. Also, if you know any other people who might enjoy taking part in the project, or know of a particular forum on ancient hittite warfare that you just know I have to contact for constultation on such and such an empire, let me know that too. Thanks all, and I am enthusiastically hoping to see a few of you in our new forums, contributing to the game.

Forum here:

http://blackflaggame...orical-wargame/

Register here:

http://blackflaggames.org/register/

[MishFTW]

These seems interesting but I doubt it will catch on until 3D printers become a bit more mainstream. Cool idea though

[JustinOperable]

Actually, we aren't using 3d plastic pieces, though I am interested in that intersection, and think it would be cool to have open source .stl files people could use to print units. If this project really took off, it might be possible to use funds to have either artists sculpt and then 3d scan in unit designs, or else just have 3d modelers do awesome printable model files.

Edited March 25, 2013 by JustinOperable

[JustinOperable]

Actually we're having some issue with forum registration, but it should be fixed tonight. But if anyone knows of good sources for visual reference for different civs, or feels they know a particular amount about their favorite army, we can chat about it here in the interim

[JustinOperable]

Ok, registration is fixed, I really hope some folks with excellent knowledge of different factions will hop on board and help make army lists, or point out good reference.