Umpire / double-blind play

The Vertraute writes the General-Idee, forms both corps, briefs each side separately on its forces, mission and what it would know of the enemy, decides what each side can see, carries all orders and reports, and rolls the dice for effects. His decisions are binding during play; criticism is only allowed afterwards. Large games use two umpires, one for hidden movements and one for losses.

Der Vertraute ist im Laufe des Spieles Autorität , seine Entscheidung gilt in allen Fällen und erst nach Beendigung des Spiels kann er in Anspruch ge- nommen werden

The Umpire's Handbook holds all rules and Mahdist doctrine and encourages improvising. The Officer's Pocketbook tells players when to roll and what they need, how far their men move, but only general hints about enemy speed and not what hits represent.

It did not contain all the rules, but simply the parts they needed to know to operate their forces.

The controller must know the rules and both sides' tactics, resolves disputes, holds the concealed defensive and minefield plans, adjusts movement for terrain and obstacles, and rolls indirect fire effects when the firer cannot observe the impact area so as to deny combat information.

When the firer does not have observation over the impact area, the template should be used by the controller. This must be done to reduce the bias of either player in assessing results.

The Fleet Tactical Game uses two fleet commanders, an umpire, a recorder for fire and sketch records, and two assistants who move ships and measure fire. In the Strategic Game each commander sits in a separate room with his own chart; assistants act as sole messengers, the umpire decides when moves begin, determines sightings and sends written information, and his decision is absolute.

All information must go through the umpire

Large games use an umpire per side plus a chief umpire; umpires follow the spirit over the letter. In the strategical game the umpire marks all moves on a private chart, determines contacts and passes all information between headquarters and ships. Player mistakes in their own favour count as engine room breakdowns at umpire option.

The umpire should have access to all charts and mark all moves upon a private chart of his own. He can thus at once determine when hostile vessels meet.

Each player is the ruler of a country and sends orders to the organiser at the start of each campaign year. The organiser plays out the moves and fights the battles, solo if needed, so players only see what their intelligence allows.

They send me orders at the start of each campaign year. ... I then play out the moves and fight the battles solo.

For large groups a 'god-like' gamesmaster rules on disputes, controls locals who form part of the scenario backdrop, judges which body parts cover protects, and can trigger fortitude tests or adjust dice.

you might like to use a gamesmaster; a god-like figure whose word is law.

The GM runs bystanders, adjudicates which body parts cover protects, may add fumble events on four or more 1s, decides whether rear approaches are noticed, and may modify dice as appropriate. A GM can also run tough Legends against a group of players.

In addition, you might like to feature bystanders: non-participants whose actions are controlled by the gamesmaster.

The advanced game sees Ninja performing missions against forces controlled by a referee or other players, initially rolled for randomly and modified by the Ninja's actions.

The advanced game sees a team of Ninja performing different missions against forces controlled by a referee (or other players).