Boardgame conversions - why I love them

[erichswafford]

Maybe it's because I'm 47 and so slightly predate the availability of PC's, but I will always have a deep fondness for boardgames and their conversions.

It seems like the boardgame roots force the designer to make a game both understandable and elegant - rather than just complex. We've all seen wargames that use the PC in an attempt to "brute-force" realism. I prefer a cleverly written rule or player interaction that successfully recreates reality.

While I love the subject matter, take a look at something like War in the Pacific: AE. This is a classic "brute-force" PC wargame, where the designer hopes that, by meticulously accounting for every bean and bullet, Reality will spring forth in an emergent fashion.

Now look at "War Plan Pacific" (basically Victory in the Pacific computerized). I've found that the latter game delivers much more consistent and historically "right" outcomes.

The reasons why:

1) I can comprehend what's going on enough to make good decisions.
2) The AI isn't overburdened with minutia.
3) You can actually playtest the entire war multiple times in a single day, thus eliminating bizarre anomalies.