From: "francois charton" Subject: RE : [consim-l] CNA Andreas, I don't think the whole campaign (1200 hours) has ever been played, apart from during playtest (the rule coments say they did play the whole of it, with something like 10 persons on each side). However, it contains several shorter scenarios, which fall below or around 100 hours of game play, and one serious scenario (the very beginning of the campaign) which is said to last less than 50 hours (and there were simplified versions of the air and logistic part of the game, which could reduce playing time further). This is a lot of time, but still comparable to long scenarios of big modern games. As CNA was published in 1979, I believe there have been quite a few gamers who played it. Personally, I did set up and play a few early turn of the first scenario (solitaire!), as well as a few local engagements. Although it did take a lot of time, I remember it as enjoyable, and fairly realistic, at the small, local, level I tried it. On complexity, the game system was not very difficult to learn or play (this is personal, I would say it is simpler than La Bataille, and as complex as OCS). I did like the system, because it contained a lot of interesting design ideas. However, a lot of bookkeeping was required, as players were free to organise their units as they see fit (at the company level), and had to keep track of who was assigned to which unit, and as trucks and their load had to be planned for individually... This is probably, more than playing time (again, having full campaign scenarios which last several hundred hours is not uncommon in games, and many of those games are played), what put off many gamers. CNA focuses much more on supply and unit management than traditional big games, and this is not what most gamers expect from a wargame. Computers might help, even though the system is fairly uncommon, so one would have to develop specific computer assistance tools, and the time needed to prepare all these specific computer charts might be important... Francois > -----Message d'origine----- > De : owner-consim-l@halisp.net > [mailto:owner-consim-l@halisp.net] De la part de Andreas Ludwig > Envoyé : jeudi 17 juillet 2003 22:38 > À : Consim-Liste > Objet : [consim-l] CNA > > > [Francois] > > My impression is that the former do a better job at modelling > > historical reality (provided the game research is well done), and I > > believe that many gamers share the view that more complex design, > > though they might be less playable (CNA anyone?) do a better job as > > "simulations". > > How many gamers have ever played CNA? This game is kind of a > myth it seems. Any possibility to take a look at the > rules.....? Was/is it that unplayable? And _that_ good as a > simulation? Would like to have some opinions on it! > > Andreas > > > > -- > >