Chris Crawford on Game Design

Simple Rules

Wargames by that time were putting on a lot of weight; complexity seemed to delight players. I did not want to bury my player in tons of rules, so I was determined to have a clean and transparent set of rules. The basic system constituted no more than the following.

Movement speed was based on terrain impediments: You moved faster down a road than through a forest. Each unit could be in one of three modes of deployment: movement, attack, and defensive. Each mode had its own benefits for movement, attack, and defense. Some amount of time was required to change modes. Units could face in one of the four cardinal directions; attacks and movement could be carried out only in the direction of facing. Attacking a unit on its flanks or ...