Hemigeddon Project

[originally drafted 2018-02-19]

This one is a Theoretical/Words Project... no new models to behold.

It has recently been local Epic Day and as I sometimes do I was in contact with a gaming buddy of mine; 'interested in coming along for a game?' etc.
He's at the tail end of the learning stage and strategically minded, but I think feels perturbed about playing 'real' opponents in a live/pressure situation [ed: if i am mistaken, my apologies].

As someone who struggles to remember stat lines and rule details I can relate; I clearly recall that learning Epic was a case of being overwhelmed with lists, rules, stats, special abilities and scenarios;
'oh, so you get to throw a bucket of dice at me based on those 4 small models?... interesting... ok... and i can't save?... interesting... ok...'
and that was just cancon 2018.   [ed: ba doom tsssh]

We also had some new folk at the FLGS at the end of last year so there was the potential of new blood in the system [ed: yet to bear fruit, but hope is the first step on the road...]. I showed them the basics when they were there and culminated in something less than Minigeddon.

Anyway, all of this got me thinking about the contemporary beginner's experience. Unless you're extremely lucky to have someone with expertise + keen + local + available to mentor you then learning Epic may well look something like this (and is not meant as criticism by the way)...

Phase 1
Start with a single formation of infantry and tanks; learn that there are moving and shooting actions; throw in transports perhaps; touch on terrain rules, try to hide in it; aim for the wrong set of objectives; get thoroughly confused by the Engage action.

Phase 2
Something resembling Minigeddon; more formations but only a handful; thinking about the game as more than a collection of models; have a better idea about what your Units do; aim (correctly) for the objectives on your opponent's side instead; be mistaken about Engage but at least know you have to roll 2D6 at some stage and possibly start to grasp that it's pretty important.

Phase 3
At this point in time it is not hugely uncommon to to get dropped into your first few 3k scenarios. Sure, theoretically it's just scaling up of what you already.

Phase 4
Tournament Mayhem. You're not going to have faced most of the armies you play so just sit back and watch it unfold.

The steep learning curve starting at Phase 2 -> Phase 4 is predominantly a matter of circumstance (hence not a cause for criticism). Epic isn't commonly played, so by the time you've learned the rules and played a couple of full-strength games your local crew might be gearing up for Cancon or Castle Assault or whatever, and you can either miss a month at the FLGS or get aboard for the next Epic road trip as well.

There's really nothing to resolve the game's popularity. It is what it is.

What I was contemplating specifically was the gap between Phase 2 and Phase 3; Minigeddon then onto Full Game.

As mentioned the difference here sounds like it should be a matter of scaling your knowledge to a bigger area and more formations. However i think there's more to it than that.

Not only are you still struggling to remember (your own) basic stats and the basic rules, but you're going to have to learn a lot more rules, plus any army nuance/quirks/tricks for whatever your opponent is playing this time around (and on the basis that they're not playing the same army as you any more).

Additionally, some armies are actually restricted to sub-optimal loadouts via the Minigeddon ruleset (which is not a criticism of Minigeddon, which is a specific purpose tool and good in it's own right).
An obvious example being Marines who are unable to employ air-assault tactics (no aircraft) and forced into ground-pounder mode which is the [shorthand] wrong way of utilising the army.




So where are you going with this?

The concept that resulted from this contemplation was to build an intermediate ruleset: Hemigeddon, which slots into the learning curve between Minigeddon and Full Game. It's intended for use as a learning method rather than a tournament system.

The main focus is on adding back more rules and strategy, not about making the game bigger (thus adding extended logistics into the mix as well).

You can link to the document here.


Features include...

Points
Half (hemi) Full game point limit per player (1500).
This is only 500 points more than Minigeddon; rather than the possibly anticipated 2k point limit (halfway between Minigeddon's 1k points and Full Game's 3k points).
Sure, you can get some extra Formations for the extra points but the focus is more about adding a little (so as not to scare the player) so you can do more strategically, without adding logistic bloat. It may help to point out the importance of force composition, formation synergies and activation count within your force. Now might be the time to add a supreme commanders and boost formation size rather than simple adding more formations.

Unit Types
Less restrictions on unit types; the restrictions are still aimed at super-large units and space craft.

Board
The board is 1200mm square, so bigger than Minigeddon but not yet full size. This allows the player to explore strategic movement and really start needing double and march actions. Minigeddon keeps the players corralled [ so it's harder to lose your units ;) ] but a larger board forces the player to 'scale out', which they will have to do even more so with Full Game.

Aircraft
Allows aircraft. They're common in Full game, but not included in Minigeddon. New comers have invariably asked me 'when do we do planes'?
You can take titans (War Engines) in Minigeddon, so Minigeddon does cater to more than just the most basic unit types (INF, AV, LV).
Hemigeddon introduces AC rules back into the mix; including the more advanced air-assault rules.

Scaled Objectives
Hemigeddon still has only 2 objectives per side; again reducing strategic considerations. By now the player should be keenly aware that objectives are important and be directing their formations to capturing them as appropriate. As the board is larger, the zone of control is 15cm as per Full Game rather than 10cm as per Minigeddon. 


Conclusion / Progress
So far (Mar 2018) I've had several games using the Hemigeddon system with good results. For beginners it helps retain focus; for experienced players it keeps the game moving along quickly (a quick game is a good game).
I'd definitely like to hear feedback about other people's experiences if you happen to give it a try.

Until next time...