CyberBoard/King's College of London Games

[KG_Jag]

Play most as either a PBEM computer game or board game. Both the gaming program and games are free. The games start with the ancients and continue to the 21st Century--and not just ground battles.

What is CyberBoard?

The CyberBoard board gaming system makes playing board games by mail and electronic mail a more enjoyable experience. The system allows you to easily graphically design the various parts of a board game on your computer. The players can make their moves and exchange recorded versions of the moves with their opponents. The opponent can then play back the moves. Although many types of games may be created using CyberBoard, games that use counters or chits such as war games work particularly well.


CyberBoard is not an artificial opponent. It provides no artificial intelligence capability.


My goal for CyberBoard was to duplicate the experience of actual paper counter style gaming--at least to the extent that this is reasonable. In its current form the system does a pretty good job of this.


Link:


http://cyberboard.brainiac.com/index.html


The Games

Each student must complete an individual project (analogous to a course dissertation) by designing their own complete mini-simulation of a historical battle or campaign of their choice. This involves researching the history, geography and orders of battle in the engagement concerned, studying existing simulations of the same or related engagements, and choosing simulation mechanisms which come together to create a realistic but playable representation of the actual events. Students are required to make their simulations as short and simple as possible, which adds to the challenge of capturing the essentials of the conflict itself. Just as published conflict simulations go through extensive development and playtesting, so the student projects are played and commented on in draft form by other class members and by Professor Sabin himself.

What makes this project so educational is that the students must develop a deep analytical understanding of the dynamics underlying the real battle or campaign. They must address issues such as logistics, force-to-space ratios and intelligence, and must make judgments as to how close-run the actual battle was, how different tactical or strategic choices might have affected the actual outcome, and what pressures led the actual commanders to make the decisions which they did. The project requires a unique blend of painstaking analysis, legalistic precision, and intellectual and artistic creativity. The students must then reflect on the choices they have made within extensive designer's notes.

Link:

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/sspp/ws...imulation.html