Warhammer 40k

So right now, I have once again been immersed into the wonderful world of Warhammer 40k. For those who don't know it's a tabletop miniature wargame. Which essientally means that there is two hobbies going on at once, the actual playing of the game and the building of the models that you play with. I am really into both sides of the game, I love 'converting' models for instance, but really it is the exercise in strategy and tactics that I love about this game. There is a feeling of uniqueness that each unit and army has on the battlefield. It's something that seems a bit lost in most computer games (less so in most turn based combat games, more so in RTS games). I've always felt that most 'tactical' games weren't really all that much tactical. There are of course exceptions,, X-Com, for instance but for most games I always get the feeling that they can be play algorithimically without much hard decision making. The *craft games are good of this. I love Starcraft, but really those and most RTS are about choosing the most efficient 'path' of generating units and seeing whose mob of units can win. There's not a lot of room for cleverness (notice I don't say no room) in these games. I've got Dawn of War chilling on my computer and I've played it maybe once, but it might be a little different, but I doubt it.

Perhaps I'm just bitching because I think I good at tactics but I suck at Warcraft III. But I feel that for a game to be tactical, position of units should make just as much of a difference as which unit is tougher or bigger. At least for strategy games where you are controlling an army. RPGs and Fighting games are a whole different beast all together. Something I may get into later.

Basically, all that rumbling in my brainpan has led to idea of game I want make which sofar as been call 'Position' but the name is crap and I'll change it as soon as I come up with something better. What I want to create is a tactics game in the vein of Final Fantasy Tactics, X-Com, and Tactics Ogre, but I want to remove the health bar. I want that grid to mean more than as a way of calculating line of sight.