I've only recently read up on games like Warhammer and I began to wonder if a wargame would be possible but rather than a player have access to multiple units, they had only 1 customizable one? (Sort of like a real world pokemon, if you think about it). What would make it a game people would want to play if you could only have one unit? Would that one unit have to be very unique and customizable? Would it just be boring to control only one unit? Would it depend on the way combat was handled? With only a single unit, I can't imagine if you would still have terrain but then if positioning didn't matter, what would you be doing? Standing at a table holding a large figurine? Consider a sort of "mech" wargame in which each player can 'create and customize' their own mech unit and they pit their mech unit against other players' . People could even join together in tag-team or team matches. I'd like to hear from everyone, including people who currently or have in the past played tabletop wargames.

There's actually a Warhammer game called Inquisitor where you only control a single unit.
It still has turn-based combat, which is much deeper than regular Warhammer, but is more based on role playing... I guess it could be compared to Mass Effect - an RPG with shooter mechanics.
With only a few units, terrain could become more important - the gunfights are more intimate so smaller features of the world, like individual pillars, become important cover objects.

I haven't played many mech games, but I assume terrain is important to them as well - taking the right approach around a mountain or through a city might detrmine who gets the first good shot off, etc.

That's pretty interesting. I couldn't find info on specifics, but should I assume that these units have their own stats and abilities? Defined by the player or are they universal (found in a book)?

Each player involved has only a single unit under their control? Kind of like most table top role playing games with PVP?

Hmm, back in the '70s we played Ogre. Of course, back then D&D only went up to level 3, and we had to use our imaginations instead of buying them from a vertically integrated conglomerate.

Good to see old ideas can be new again.

Yes, it is possible to ahve a war game wher the player only uses 1 unit.

There is a table top game called "Wings of War" where the player plays as a single fighter plane in WWI or WWII (depending on which version you get).

In Warhammer type games, each unit (besides some hero type units) can either succeed or fail. Either they kill their target or their target escapes without damage (usually - there are a few exceptions). But these units are grouped into squads and because of this each squad has more to it than "succeed or fail".

In a game where a single unit is used, this succeed or fail can't be used for that unit, but can be used for parts of that unit (you might loose weapons, armor, etc). This way the unit cna still function, but parts of it might become inoperable, just like parts of a squad in Warhammer type games become inoperable on a succeed or fail bases.

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Original post by Bregma Hmm, back in the '70s we played Ogre. Of course, back then D&D only went up to level 3, and we had to use our imaginations instead of buying them from a vertically integrated conglomerate. Good to see old ideas can be new again.

Actually, speaking of Ogre.
There was a game released more recently called Demigod that had a similar style of gameplay.

It might provide some inspiration.

Battlemech works with only 1 figure per player.

"one unit table top game"

Read my post named "3d craft/ship movement in a table top board game platform"

I believe that you can have a game similer to my 2nd scale, the ship to ship combat. each player would have there own, super customizeable ship with enough persistant ship and crew stats to keep the game interesting for a 1 on 1 unit game. the ability to move in true 3 dimentions would make it even more interesting. and add in the possiblity of deployable fighter craft and boarding parties. you migh put a seperate objective in there, a secondary wining factor. like WizKids Pirates Constructable Card Game. not only can you achieve victory by destryoing your enemy's ships, you can also achieve victory by racing them to the "Gold Coin" resources on the islands. a player with a fast, low armor, low weapon damage corvette might want to stick to a collect and run tactic. While the player with the slow, heavy armor, heavy weapon damage battle ship might want to stick to stratiegicaly blocking the enemy ship from the resources and eventually forcing them to approach and be destroyed. when that system is ballanced, having 2 like craft with slightly different stats. it can turn into both a race to collect and a race to destroy.

another idea is instead of ships, is robots. just another hero analog for the same concept. ultracustomizeable battle bots. collect the stat boosters and see which one has the best stratagy

Depends on what you mean by "wargame." Star Fleet Battles by Task Force Games was frequently played as a ship vs. ship wargame where players each commanded a single large ship of dubiously original design.

Steve Jackson's "Car Wars" was less wargame in theme, but followed the same principle and almost exclusively had players controlling a single unit (although there were one vs. many scenarios).