Wargame Rule Options

When playing miniature wargames I always find the game more interesting if the players have more of a stake in the game than simply one side wins and the other side loses. Add a bit of a role playing option to the game. This works really well if each side has more than one player. You can use the roll playing option to give different victory conditions to each player. Victory conditions should be both "public" and "private." The public victory condition in the game could be that the German player must capture the bridge from the US Army forces.

The "private" victory conditions are given only to the individual player and they are not allowed to reveal them until the end of the game. Player one on the German side must capture the bridge and suffer no more than 50% casualties. Player two on the German side must capture the bridge and suffer no more than 10% casualties. This will have the effect of making player two reluctant to engage the enemy because he won't want to get too many casualties. This can make tensions between the two players rise as player one urges player two forward when player two does not want to go forward and risk casualties.

There are many other ways to use victory conditions or role playing to influence game play. Have each player select a soldier model to represent themselves on the gaming table. If they get "killed" they are out of the game, or maybe out of the game for a few turns until they recover from their wounds. Players suddenly become very fond of leading from the rear and spending a lot of time in the bunker when THEY may be hit by artillery fire. Make sure their commander figure is in position to command his units using what ever command and control rules your system may require.