Two test drives… First, finally playing the solo AI for “Fallout: Wasteland Warfare” after buying the base set, three expansions, and three card decks since it was first released years ago. Had done a little tutorial work, and struggled with minis and 3d terrain, etc… But for me decided that if I can play wargames on a 2D map with varying heights, etc, then I could certainly play a miniatures game the same way. You lose somewhat the ability to be “inside” and “outside” of buildings, but that’s a VERY minor issue. Using a great wet/dry erase board for the the mapboard.
The second test drive is my new “universal” miniature replacement discs. These went through many iterations before I found one I liked. Designed them at 30, 40 and 50 mm (to work with FWW model bases). I recently picked up Five Parsecs from Home and have NUTS waiting for me too as well as a few other solo-friendly tabletop skirmish games. The thought of making custom standees for each and every game as well as terrain was a huge obstacle.
So voila! The counters themselves are the three set sizes. And then I made 20mm insert discs that slot into the top. I made two sets of each group (A-R, S-Z/0-9) and did some fancy filament swapping to make the letters stand out more (could have just painted them, but ugh painting!!!). One disc goes on the marker. One disc goes on the character reference card. In games with player sheets, etc, you can just write the letter on there. Then move the counter around instead of a mini!
Works great! And with flat discs and flat terrain, measuring, LOS, etc is a pizzacake.
As for the “immersion” myth, it’s not an issue. The current game of FWW has been very tense and nothing is lost not having a little statue moving around on the board.
