Killing a political dictator can cause that dictators regieme to fall.
That's not the same as a monarchy or representative government where
there are lines of succession. Though I suspect that in Iraq's case the
only thing that would happen is that Sadaams son (who is just as bad)
would take over.
It also is not the same as the effect of the death of a commander on an
army in the field.
The War of the Roses is probably a pretty bad analogy as it was a war of
succession where the armies fighting each other had absolutely no stake
in the conflict beyond the personal political ambition of the individual
that was commanding them. A better historical example would be the
Norman Conquest. Look at Hastings 1066, when Harold was felled a large
portion of the levies did panic and route of the Field but the
HouseKarls stood and fought on to the last man. The Saxons actualy
fought on for years after the death of Harold in many parts of England.
A commander being killed in battle often could have a dramatic effect on
the MORALE of thier troops. If it happaned DURING a critical moment in
battle it could very well cause a portion (or all) of the army to panic
and rout off the field. However, if a commander had his throat slit
during the night while on march... a fortnight before any possibility of
battle, they wouldn't just walk off and desert en masse unless they had
absolutely no other reason for being there then thier commanders
ambition. The only thing likely to happen was a day or two of confusion
while the subordinates sorted things out... and possibly some
demoralization among the rank and file.
I think this would be modeled very nicely by the lack of any bonus from
the commanders command rating while the army was performing actions...
and the loss of Morale when a commander gets killed in a personal
challange before battle or refuse such personal challange. Those things
should model that effect very nicely.
I would also put it that the situation in Middle Earth is much more
analgous to the Norman Conquest then the War of the Roses. The Riders of
Rohan aren't fighting just because of Theodoens personal ambition.....
thier fighting because the Orcs want to roast thier children and eat
them for dinner. They aren't likely to just give up and walk away if
Theodeon gets asasinated.... true they might be very demoralized... but
they have a very large stake themselves in seeing Rohan win, no matter
who is at the helm. Just my 2 cents.
ยทยทยท
-----Original Message-----
From: ulfang_the_easterling [mailto:ulfang_the_easterling@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, August 12, 2002 4:13 PM
To: mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [mepbmlist] Re: New NKA Forming - suggest some modifications
I can see why kidnapping/asassination are part of the game. In
addition to a war game, it's also a character game about the quest
to find and dispose of the One Ring. As such it does make sense to
have kidnapping and asassination as part of the game. However, to
this outsiders point of view, they have far too dramatic an effect
on the wargame portion of the game. Killing 7 or 8 individuals (no
matter how important they are shouldn't have the effect of wiping
out a countries entire millitary and economic capacity.
Hmm, so if we kill Sadaam Hussain, it would have no effect on the
Iraq situation?
If you go back even a few hundred years (War of the Roses), when the
noble leading an army was captured/killed, then the army pretty much
disappeared into the countryside.
I have no real problem with this concept in the game. But as I said,
many years ago, to the designer of MEPBM, I completely disagree with
all the assassinations in something called MIDDLE EARTH. They simply
didn't occur in any JRRT writing. His response was something like
assassination doesn't mean they are killed just removed from the
scene of action and no longer influence events... yada yada yada.
I think the game would be better if assassination was removed but
kidnap remained. If there was a % chance of escape every time a
prisoner was moved (to prevent people from just moving prisoners
around each turn), then you'd have to actually use the imprison order.
It would certainly add another layer of strategy into the game,
trying to rescue your characters.
Paul
Middle Earth PBM - hit reply to send to everyone
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