Ideas… Playing On The Fly
Sometimes life just doesn’t give us the chance to sit down a play a proper game. You know, a majestic affair with all of our cool looking miniatures, an impressive terrain layout for the battlefield and a beverage or snack of our choice.
Maybe it’s due to a trip to the cabin without your gaming stuff, which was left behind to appease a significant other. Or maybe a friend stops by for an impromptu short visit – not enough time to set up a full-blown game, but enough time to play a quick one if you were ready. Maybe it’s a much dreaded business trip, where all of your normal gaming accoutrements are not available and yet you have time to kill in your hotel. Whatever the reason, you do not have to give up hope – Combat Cards players have come up with a very clever way to still get in a game when your normal stuff isn’t available.
What the diehard players have come up with is the customized Combat Cards travel pack. In a small box they stash a couple of decks, a few colored glass beads for tokens, a string that can have knots tied in it at the appropriate range distances and some paper cut-outs of units in the their favorite genre. This way, if during their travels an opportunity presents itself for a short game they won’t miss out. They simply have to find a couple of items at hand for terrain (e.g. a drawing on a piece of paper, a clean sock, a drinking glass, etc.) and they can get started. Because the travel pack is fairly small it can fit in just about any suit- or briefcase, and can always be at hand.
If you want to put a little more preparation into your travel pack, you could add a few felt or paper cut-outs to be used as terrain. Folks have also tossed in little craft pom-poms for forests and woods and small blocks for buildings.
In terms of units, labeled wooden squares or discs work well, along with basic coinage (e.g. quarters for Armored Units, pennies for Infantry, dimes for Heavy Weapons, etc.), small pieces from old board games, as well as simple durable models (e.g. those ubiquitous green army men from our youth). Folks have even just utilized materials at hand to represent units – including their kids’ toys! The key thing though, is to keep the box small enough to be easily transported and accessed when opportunity knocks.
As far as needing rulebooks or other materials, you probably won’t. Once most folks have the basic rules down, they almost never have to refer back to them. For the special rules and unit functions, they are all written right on the cards themselves for easy reference. If you get desperate enough and do need to refer back to the core rules, they are always available free online so access to a smart phone or computer with internet will get you what you need.
One other nice thing about using the Combat Cards on the fly, is that it is not obvious to outside folks what exactly you are doing. If you are playing a friend at a table in a restaurant or cafe – and especially if you are using paper units and silverware as terrain – it just looks like you are playing a simple game of cards with some litter strewn on the table. As there are no clattering dice or heavy rulebooks to consult, no one will ever know you are actually storming a well defended position on the Normandy beachhead, or fending off a post-apocalyptic zombie horde. It will just be your little secret…
Now, nothing replaces a the fun and spectacle of a battle done with well-done miniatures and realistic terrain. But for those times when that level of commitment isn’t possible, you now have an alternative which allows all of the fun and almost none of the work. None of us should ever again be able to complain of not being able to get a game in – as long as we have our Combat Cards travel pack handy!
