Wargame Mechanics Index

Initiative held until failure

The acting side keeps acting while its activation, combat or morale results succeed; the first failure passes or ends its initiative.

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Watch it played 2 moments

  • 2:49–3:16
    The Surprising Death & Rebirth of Warmaster
    Little Wars TV
    Rule explained Random movement and command friction design

    Game designer Rick Priestley explains the founding design philosophy of Warmaster, emphasizing top-down command friction where movement rather than combat is the primary random element.

  • 4:36–5:35
    Crossfire Rule Review
    Little Wars TV
    Rule explained Crossfire's Turnless Initiative System Explained

    Greg explains Crossfire's unusual turnless structure, where the initiative player continues taking actions indefinitely until failing an action or being halted by enemy reactive fire.

Moments picked automatically, by AI watching the video or reading its captions, and linked at the timestamp on YouTube. Quotes are from the captions.

How games do it 2 games

3turn
Activation chainFUBAR

A player keeps activating units until one fails, then play passes to the opponent.

How it works

The initiative holder rolls to activate one unit at a time; each success lets that unit take one action. The first failed activation ends his run and initiative passes to the opponent. Play passes back and forth this way until every unit has had one attempt to activate that turn.

He can continue to activate units until he fails an activation, then the initiative passes to his opponent.
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2turn
Liberal Move initiativeReaction Waves in War Games

The Liberal Move continues while its side keeps winning morale throws; the winner chooses to press, counter-attack or end it.

How it works

The winner of each post-combat morale throw holds the initiative: a winning defender may begin a counter-attack, a winning attacker may continue the attack, or either may call off the Liberal Move and request a new regular game move. A losing attacker forfeits the initiative, leaving his advanced troops exposed.

"THE WINNER OF THE MORALE FACTOR" may begin a counter attack (if he is the defender); may continue the attack (if the attacker); or he may call off the Liberal Move
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