Do we need to compare these methods? Up until yesterday, I would have answered no: we use grid for Pathfinder and tape measure for Warhammer because that's how those games are built. No need to think about it.
HOWEVAR, I have just decided to run the initial 40K tutorials in Cult Engine Zero (internal codename: Discord), in order to get through them faster. And in fact, we might even end up playing most if not ALL official missions this way, for various reasons I'll elaborate elsewhere. But the problem with Discord is that, when moving with tape measure, it's very difficult for the players to declare exactly where they're moving: they'd have to post a picture of their move, and they'd ideally need to be in-engine in order to get the picture and an accurate read of the length, etc. It'd be a nightmare. Grid movement though solves all these issues, as the players just have to declare which square they move to. In fact grid movement was devised precisely in order to make tactical movement simpler, faster and easier. It makes sense then that it'd be preferable for crude, simplistic engines such as CEZ.
Wouldn't that result in a worse game though? Plus probably also unbalance the tactics since the mechanics aren't built for it?
That's what this thread is about: an investigation into the pros and cons of grid versus tape measure for tactical movement, which is an old conversation in tabletop gaming. The TL;DR however is that IT WILL PROBABLY BE FINE to run Warhammer with D&D/Pathfinder-style grid movement, just as it would probably be fine to run D&D/Pathfinder with Warhammer-style tape measure movement. In fact, in terms of pure immersion and tactical complexity, the tape measure is the clear superior, so I will probably be introducing it to our roleplaying campaigns (at least the tactical-heavy ones such as Pathfinder, not sure about the tactical-light ones such as Alien and Blade Runner) at some point in the future, especially for campaigns running on Cult Engine 3 such as Kingslayer that allow the grid and snap-to-grid to be completely turned off and become invisible for fully natural terrain and movement.
In short, here as elsewhere we won't write off any tool and instead employ the optimal tool for each gaming scenario: slightly DECREASING Warhammer's complexity via grid movement in order to be able to burn through dozens of missions in quick succession on Discord without having to dedicate to them precious weekend time (which should be reserved for roleplaying), while slightly INCREASING Pathfinder's complexity via tape-measure movement in TaleSpire since we're dedicating the weekends to it anyway, so we might as well go all-out.
Note that the switch between the two systems appears quite effortless: the miniatures' scale for D&D/Path/Starfinder and Warhammer is at least nominally the same (another thread is needed to elaborate this), so that when a Warhammer unit is listed as having 6 inches of movement on the tabletop, that's 6 squares on the grid, i.e. 30 feet in-game, which is the standard Medium humanoid's movement in D&D and Pathfinder. In other words, 1 inch = 1 square, and with this formula you can switch back and forth between the movement systems in both types of games, and this includes area-of-effect calculations etc.
There is A LOT MORE to think about and discuss on this subject, and that's what this thread is for. But FOR NOW, I am quite satisfied that the switch is easy to implement and will probably work fine, at least for the initial 40K tutorials. So I will go ahead and run those tutorials, and in the meantime I invite interested players to peruse the below reading material and pull out quotes and post them here to further the discussion. I myself will do this when I find the time in the near future, and certainly before we're done with the 40K tutorials and must evaluate whether to CONTINUE using grid mechanics, or switch back to tape measure.
Using Wargaming movement VS The Grid for minis combat in D&D 5E
https://www.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/comm ... _for_minis
DND using Warhammer style measured movement?
https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/1 ... d_movement
Miniature combat: grids vs. tape measures
https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/8 ... e_measures
Movement in grid-based games
https://www.reddit.com/r/truegaming/com ... ased_games
