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Post by josta59 on Aug 1, 2023 17:55:14 GMT -5
Hey, y'all! I've been using AI for all kinds of things this year. Now I'm working with Claude.ai to create a tabletop wargame in a modern setting. Claude will act like a "dungeon master," sticking with the original plan but making adjustments depending on the results of each game.
I asked Claude:
It did a great job on the first try, but it used fake country names. I asked for real countries, so it gave me India vs Pakistan. Since my tabletop is made for grassland, I asked it to adjust for grass. Then it gave me fake countries again, so I had to remind it to use real countries. Then it gave me an awesome campaign, but it was better suited for 6mm (or a bigger table than what I have) because it included a lot of armor. So I asked it to make one that's more infantry-focused. And this is what it gave me:
This is perfect. I'll need to buy, assemble, and paint some new miniatures, but this was partly an excuse to get myself to do that anyway.
The great thing about an AI like Claude is that I can ask it to expand the details of each of these game situations into a fully detailed scenario. It doesn't know any rules like Force on Force, but I can give it parameters and work with it to get detailed scenarios for each game that I can use with any rules.
Claude will also make this a true solo game by providing me with incomplete intel, random events, hidden units, initiative shifts, objective shifts, AI-controlled forces, and alternative scenarios based on win/loss conditions. It's gonna be awesome!
I posted this in the "Full Game Logs" section because I'm excited enough to keep you guys informed and write up some after-action reports. I still don't have any APCs or tanks for my table after all these years, so it will take me some time to get set up for games 2 and 3.
At first I thought about playing as Poland, but Belarus looks like they get to do some fun stuff! Which would you pick?
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Post by josta59 on Aug 2, 2023 17:39:37 GMT -5
My first table for this campaign should look something like this:  Looks complicated! This is the northernmost checkpoint between Poland and Belarus, and Claude agrees with me that it makes the most sense for the Belarussians to probe here since it's the closest checkpoint to the Suwałki Gap that they want. There's no way I can model this on my table without a whole lot of work, so I'll just have to use what I have. It wouldn't be worth all that work for just one game. |
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Post by josta59 on Aug 2, 2023 17:51:38 GMT -5
Boy, this AI saves me a lot of research time, and yet I'm still learning a lot about this part of Europe! The forces in game 1 will be: Poland- 1 infantry squad (8-12 soldiers) forming a quick reaction force. Mix of standard rifles and 1-2 machine guns.
- Supported by a border patrol of 2-3 light vehicles - combination of HMMWV-type 4x4 trucks and Oshkosh Sandcat scout cars for mobility. Armed with machine guns.
- Checkpoint likely has some fortifications - sandbags, watchtowers, bunkers, obstacles. But not extensive.
- Limited mortar and anti-tank capability on site - e.g. 60mm mortars and disposable RPG-7s.
- No tanks or heavy armor permanently stationed at checkpoint. May have to wait for reinforcements.
- Troops likely come from nearby 12th Mechanized Brigade based around Szczuczyn, part of Poland's 16th "Pomeranian" Division protecting this sector.
Belarus- Approximately 30 Spetsnaz soldiers total in the raiding platoon.
- Organized into 3 squads of 8-10 men each. Mix of standard rifles and 2-3 PKM machine guns per squad.
- Support weapons attached like RPG-7s for armor and GP-25 grenade launchers.
- Limited mines, demo charges for sabotage. Possibly 1-2 man-portable anti-air missiles.
- Transportation either on foot over the border or by truck from a forward staging area.
- Goal is quick infiltration, strike on checkpoint, sabotage, and exfiltration before Polish reinforcements arrive.
- Spetsnaz troops likely come from elite separate brigade based in Maryina Horka.
Yikes, thirty men surprising a dozen sleepy and unsuspecting Poles. I'm leaning toward playing as Poland, and this looks pretty tough. EDIT: Oh, the Polish squad is supported by border patrol with machine guns, so that helps! |
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Post by Whiterook on Aug 2, 2023 17:57:41 GMT -5
Hey, y'all! I've been using AI for all kinds of things this year. Now I'm working with Claude.ai to create a tabletop wargame in a modern setting. Claude will act like a "dungeon master," sticking with the original plan but making adjustments depending on the results of each game. I asked Claude: It did a great job on the first try, but it used fake country names. I asked for real countries, so it gave me India vs Pakistan. Since my tabletop is made for grassland, I asked it to adjust for grass. Then it gave me fake countries again, so I had to remind it to use real countries. Then it gave me an awesome campaign, but it was better suited for 6mm (or a bigger table than what I have) because it included a lot of armor. So I asked it to make one that's more infantry-focused. And this is what it gave me: This is perfect. I'll need to buy, assemble, and paint some new miniatures, but this was partly an excuse to get myself to do that anyway. The great thing about an AI like Claude is that I can ask it to expand the details of each of these game situations into a fully detailed scenario. It doesn't know any rules like Force on Force, but I can give it parameters and work with it to get detailed scenarios for each game that I can use with any rules. Claude will also make this a true solo game by providing me with incomplete intel, random events, hidden units, initiative shifts, objective shifts, AI-controlled forces, and alternative scenarios based on win/loss conditions. It's gonna be awesome! I posted this in the "Full Game Logs" section because I'm excited enough to keep you guys informed and write up some after-action reports. I still don't have any APCs or tanks for my table after all these years, so it will take me some time to get set up for games 2 and 3. At first I thought about playing as Poland, but Belarus looks like they get to do some fun stuff! Which would you pick? WOW, that’s frickin’ AMAZING! WHAT Claude is doing, is basically what someone like me that likes to write scenarios she’s by picking a subject, researching the crap out of it through many many many articles, actual combat logs, etc. it’s doing all that it seems, in a fraction of a time. It’s kinda on the same lines as the Battle Generators you’re seeing in big companies like Lock ‘N Load Publishing and Academy Games, but on a more loose scope…as yiu say, it doesn’t know specifically game systems. I’ll be following this with great interests. Part of me feels like the autoworker, watching the robot that just stole my job… but hey, it’s undeniably the way of the future, as much as I may or may not like it ( frickin’ robots!!! LOL). The scenario itself sound awesome… it is detailed enough to run with it all and develop it, without the *chance* that you (not you personally… us) may never have thought of the dang scenario to begin with. |
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Post by josta59 on Aug 2, 2023 19:06:15 GMT -5
WOW, that’s frickin’ AMAZING! WHAT Claude is doing, is basically what someone like me that likes to write scenarios she’s by picking a subject, researching the crap out of it through many many many articles, actual combat logs, etc. it’s doing all that it seems, in a fraction of a time. It’s kinda on the same lines as the Battle Generators you’re seeing in big companies like Lock ‘N Load Publishing and Academy Games, but on a more loose scope…as yiu say, it doesn’t know specifically game systems. I’ll be following this with great interests. Part of me feels like the autoworker, watching the robot that just stole my job… but hey, it’s undeniably the way of the future, as much as I may or may not like it ( frickin’ robots!!! LOL). The scenario itself sound awesome… it is detailed enough to run with it all and develop it, without the *chance* that you (not you personally… us) may never have thought of the dang scenario to begin with. Yes, exactly! I heard someone say earlier this year that it's not AI that will take the jobs, it's the people who learn how to use it that will take the jobs. I really took that to heart, and I use it all the time now. But even I was really impressed with how much Claude is helping with this. He actually seems pretty excited about it. I had to correct him on some map details today, and he took it in stride and thanked me for it. I'm not sure how well he can read a map, so that will be my job. These large language models are far from perfect, which is another reason I'm not worried about our jobs. But working together, we can come up with some cool stuff. |
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Post by josta59 on Sept 4, 2023 19:48:15 GMT -5
I did my best at constructing a border crossing. The unsuspecting Polish infantry are in the northwest corner, and the Belarusian Spetsnaz are creeping across the eastern edge. 
The Belarusians want to enter the large border crossing station on the west edge and sabotage it. The Poles must keep them from entering the building. I'll be using a tweaked version of my Quik Frik rules. I realized over the holiday that no other rules I've seen can compare in terms of quickness, realism, and overall satisfaction. |
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Post by Whiterook on Sept 5, 2023 8:45:20 GMT -5
Looks impressive to me, mate! I like the overall layout and I think it gets the needs of the scenario at hand laid out in a way that looks like a border crossing. I’ll be curious to see what specifically, was changed in your Quick Frik rules… I get that it’s a system that does what you want in this type of quick modern warfare.
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Post by mikeh on Sept 5, 2023 14:18:39 GMT -5
Nice looking impression of the checkpoint.
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Post by josta59 on Sept 9, 2023 9:01:56 GMT -5
Thanks, guys!
Quik Frik definitely has some rough spots, both in the writing and in the gameplay. I'm ironing some of those out. I had purposely made it so that it required two figures to kill one enemy figure. I wanted the player to focus on a combined arms approach. Well, I'm over that now and want more realism. So instead of 10 friktion points required for a kill, now it will be only 7. It will still be hard to kill an enemy, but now it will be more possible, especially at point-blank range in the open, which will help gameplay go faster.
My rules left the definition of a unit a little fuzzy on purpose, and I think that's a good thing. If you set up a big game and want a unit to be a fireteam rather than one figure, you can do that. The Force on Force combat rules put team against team, rather than having just one figure firing at a time, and I've always liked that idea. So now I'm thinking about how to make that work in a big game of Quik Frik. The last time I played a big game of Quik Frik, things got really bogged down. So I need more flexibility in the rules to make big games work better.
A previous change I had made but never published was the ability to allow troops to activate along with their leader if they are very close. This allows more troops to activate during a turn, which makes big games run more realistically.
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Post by Whiterook on Sept 9, 2023 9:51:53 GMT -5
Thanks, guys! Quik Frik definitely has some rough spots, both in the writing and in the gameplay. I'm ironing some of those out. I had purposely made it so that it required two figures to kill one enemy figure. I wanted the player to focus on a combined arms approach. Well, I'm over that now and want more realism. So instead of 10 friktion points required for a kill, now it will be only 7. It will still be hard to kill an enemy, but now it will be more possible, especially at point-blank range in the open, which will help gameplay go faster. My rules left the definition of a unit a little fuzzy on purpose, and I think that's a good thing. If you set up a big game and want a unit to be a fireteam rather than one figure, you can do that. The Force on Force combat rules put team against team, rather than having just one figure firing at a time, and I've always liked that idea. So now I'm thinking about how to make that work in a big game of Quik Frik. The last time I played a big game of Quik Frik, things got really bogged down. So I need more flexibility in the rules to make big games work better. A previous change I had made but never published was t he ability to allow troops to activate along with their leader if they are very close. This allows more troops to activate during a turn, which makes big games run more realistically.Have you considered posting a thread in the Game Design Zone of the War College? One of the original and standing reasons for having that subforum is to “work out” game designs you’re either developing or altering (hatchet-jobbing  ) into a not-for-profit gaming solution. You could post anything from ideas and problems you’re having along the way, to a link to say a Google Docs version of the rules to see the whole thing.; what I’m saying is, collaboration help. It’s another reason why the Playtesting Zone his nested within, so that you can do a thread(s) actually playtesting portions or full games. |
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Post by josta59 on Sept 10, 2023 14:37:19 GMT -5
I'll think about that, Em. Thanks. This might not be the total rout I thought it would be. Against the odds, the Poles got some good intel on turn 1 and were alerted to the presence of troops approaching the border crossing. A Polish Humvee with a machine gun rolled into view, shining a spotlight across the dark border. The gunner saw armed men in the open, including one lifting an RPG to aim it at the vehicle. He opened fire on the lead Spetsnaz fire team, killing one soldier and pinning the team!  |
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Post by Whiterook on Sept 11, 2023 12:49:54 GMT -5
Action right off the bat!!! Nice! Is there a Spot roll for nighttime spotlight use? Sounds like the weather is clear and the enemy is pretty darned close, so they’d more than likely be easy spots, but it might make an interesting Check in combat.
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Post by josta59 on Sept 17, 2023 16:12:15 GMT -5
Action right off the bat!!! Nice! Is there a Spot roll for nighttime spotlight use? Sounds like the weather is clear and the enemy is pretty darned close, so they’d more than likely be easy spots, but it might make an interesting Check in combat. No, didn't think of that. I do have a limit for how far they can see at night, but not a spotting check. That's a good idea for an addition to my rules at some point. What I do have is opportunity fire, so every time something moves into LoS of a team that hasn't fired in that turn, the opposing side throws a die to see if they can fire before the moving team fires. If the throw is unsuccessful, I assume they didn't spot them or weren't ready. |
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Post by Whiterook on Sept 17, 2023 18:29:39 GMT -5
Action right off the bat!!! Nice! Is there a Spot roll for nighttime spotlight use? Sounds like the weather is clear and the enemy is pretty darned close, so they’d more than likely be easy spots, but it might make an interesting Check in combat. No, didn't think of that. I do have a limit for how far they can see at night, but not a spotting check. That's a good idea for an addition to my rules at some point. What I do have is opportunity fire, so every time something moves into LoS of a team that hasn't fired in that turn, the opposing side throws a die to see if they can fire before the moving team fires. If the throw is unsuccessful, I assume they didn't spot them or weren't ready. Funny thing for me on Opportunity Fire… I hated the concept when I first heard of it, but later came to see it’s a principle component of the majority of wargame rules I’ve been through. I now see it for what it’s generally meant to be, which is, you notice something and unload a clip into it and ask questions later!!! |
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Post by josta59 on Oct 1, 2023 14:06:45 GMT -5
Battle update: The Belarusian Spetsnaz platoon (green uniforms) has destroyed two Polish Humvees as they make a lightning dash toward the border crossing station. Only one team of Polish infantry (tan uniforms) is currently unpinned and has a chance to stop them. It's coming down to the wire for Poland.  This new version of Quik Frik is currently my favorite set of wargaming rules. This is an exciting way to play. |
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) into a not-for-profit gaming solution. You could post anything from ideas and problems you’re having along the way, to a link to say a Google Docs version of the rules to see the whole thing.; what I’m saying is, collaboration help. It’s another reason why the Playtesting Zone his nested within, so that you can do a thread(s) actually playtesting portions or full games.