My Ideal Cataphract
My ideal Cataphract is probably some modification of Rooks run semi-smoothly. In more practical terms however:
My ideal Cataphract sits at around a player count of 30-50, leaning on the higher end of that.
My ideal Cataphract has a deep understanding of historiography and presents its world documents with that analysis in mind.
My ideal Cataphract does not care about thorough "balance". Asymmetry ought to be embraced. Balance is mostly just vibes. Tuning is not the same as Balance.
My ideal Cataphract contains win conditions within each faction all across the spectrum with atleast one public and shared condition or pressure. It improves my experience to know we all have one central contention we approach similarly in addition to a list of personal, political and societal conditions and pressures.
My ideal Cataphract cares deeply about tone. Some whiplash can be expected or even encouraged in games where you can play with strangers and out of game communications. But ultimately tonal dissonance trumps anything else.
My ideal Cataphract embraces pro-social learning. Unless you already know how multiple variants of Cataphract work at a foundational level, you probably aren’t going to be able to decipher the underlying rules well enough to figure this out on your own any more than you’d be able to reverse-engineer a sport or martial art.
My ideal Cataphract understands the limits of onboarding. Onboarding can be done better but it ultimately has limits. For some Cataphract represents an experience that is blocked by a barrier and if only you could wholly remove that barrier you would have the ideal smooth Cataphract experience. But large parts of the experience are defined by the ever-present process of overcoming that barrier!
My ideal Cataphract ultimately tries to get and give value from the experience. I have let my ego get in the way of my order; I will overfocus on the game we are playing rather than its people. Even if you are getting stomped, you are not reduced to being a waste of time or too stupid to even play the game.
And I will abandon the format and address the reader directly now. We frequently joke about "having learnt nothing" from some of the larger games, a sentiment I have repeated that is ultimately rooted in some issues becoming too tangled, emotional or a behavior we want to avoid but repeated in. But at a personal level you can still learn something. Some players in this community have spent years in their respective genres of expertise they've brought influence over. To quote Patrick Miller
"That’s because while individual games may come and go, the people who play them stick around and gain persistent experience over time that carries over from game to game."
Some of whom have studied their favorites for long enough to have practical (and sometimes literal) PhDs on the topic. You are lucky to share this deeply niche interest with a group of pretty interesting folk. I have witnessed players deprive themselves of interesting opportunities to learn due to not feeling up to par in knowledge, experience or context to even engage.
I have been this person before. It is a mentality that invokes a self-fulfilling prophecy and leads to burn out to the people trying to be a shoulder for you.
I have been this person. I was struggling greatly feeling like I had not contributed enough to Vanguard. A community member (now very close friend) noticed I was beating myself up for not knowing TTRPGs well or having ever played in a more traditional one (I only learnt about Mothership very recently). She reached out to me and told me very directly to ask for direct grounding and uplifting from the other GMs and on the spot she ran a quick Violence one-shot for me. I would have never played Violence if it was not for her. I was very quickly uplifted and grounded by my fellow GMs. Wargames are hard, and other people can make them easier, so knowing how to play them well creates social value for yourself and others, since you can then use your skill and understanding to help folks get better.
Also, it turns out that lots of socially awkward people are into Cataphract, so trust me, you’re not exactly sticking out.
- My ideal Cataphract is played for the people. In lore, objectives, setting, units expectation and conversation.
Remember: If you’re not playing for the people, you’re missing out on the best part.