The Look, Sarge, No Charts(TM) family of rules is a unique concept in miniature wargame design. There are no chart cards filled with complicated calculations to clutter the table and slow down the game. But Look, Sarge, No Charts is not simplistic. Six years of design and refinement went into the creation of the first in the series, Look, Sarge, No Charts: WWII. The elimination of chart cards is accomplished through the use of a handful of special six-sided dice and the use of small labels on the backs of the bases. The result is an elegant system that allows players to concentrate on the game, not the rules.
Building on the success of that system, we’ve applied the No Charts concepts to other historical periods. We began with World War II. The next set was A Union So Tested for the American Civil War. Chris also applied A Union So Tested to large Victorian science fiction battles on Mars. The next set was Fate of Battle for the Napoleonic Wars. Years of complicated rules sets and “button counters” have convinced many gamers that the Napoleonic Wars cannot be fun to game. People in our club who won’t play Napoleonic games will play Fate of Battle. The most recent set of rules in this family was Bear Yourselves Valiantly for ancient, medieval, and fantasy battles. You can see details about each of these rules sets by clicking on its title to the right.
We have been experimenting with a near future and science fiction set. The combat results are not achieving the effects I have been looking for. There is an explicit cyber phase between turns in which your cyber teams are trying to break into each others’ networks to disrupt your actions. That part of the game seems to be working very well. I have been busy with several other rules projects, but I hope to get back to science fiction in the foreseeable future.