tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111053985478999734.post4455894847195401471..comments2024-03-27T15:59:11.066+00:00Comments on Prometheus in Aspic: Activation Systems - AgainMSFoyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14470241067504971068noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111053985478999734.post-8257443650623495972012-08-25T16:48:23.399+01:002012-08-25T16:48:23.399+01:00Late to the party as usual -
We've handled t...Late to the party as usual - <br /><br />We've handled this in a couple of ways. <br /><br />1. Players draw normal hand of five cards or so and play those cards to move troops onto the field. The cards are not replaced. Once all the cards are gone, players draw a new hand and start the game as normal. Undeployed units are assigned to a section and may be move on later in the battle.<br /><br /><br />2. This has only been used in Second World War games. Units move double on roads - units on road may travel in "column". A column token adds one hex of movement and you can have up your movement in tokens. Units in column may not shoot. An enemy unit adds one die per token when attacking.<br /><br /><br />3. The Breakthrough method. Each card is marked with a number of "On the move" orders. An OTM order can be used to move, but not battle with, a unit anywhere on the board. Low numbered cards have the most orders. Scout comes with four for example.Conrad Kinchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15683395740934527502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111053985478999734.post-55138626519301303432012-08-24T11:10:28.952+01:002012-08-24T11:10:28.952+01:00Gentlemen all - thanks very much for your comments...Gentlemen all - thanks very much for your comments - good food for further thought - rather than squeeze too much into an unstructured comment, I'll add a further post on this subject once I've done some more reading and head scratching.<br /><br />In the meantime - Lee - for bigger C&CN battles, an option which I've tried which seems to work is as follows:<br /><br />The Command Cards divide into Section Cards and Tactic Cards - this is a simpler arrangement than in C&CA, for example, which have 4 separate categories of cards. The Section Cards in C&CN say stuff like "order n units on the Right Flank" or something - the Tactic Cards are a bit more exotic than that, applying to categories of troops (rather than locations) and so on. My rule tweak for big games is thus - on your turn you can play ONE Tactic Card or UP TO TWO Section cards - you may not play one of each. This works OK - speeds things up quite a bit, and it means that the game isn't changed much.<br /><br />On the general subject of C&CN cards, there are two FORCED MARCH cards, which allow you to get a move on with a bigger block of troops, but it's just infantry, and it's probably not enough for the strategic marches I was referring to. I am thinking of adding some extra "marching cards" to the Command Cards in the home-brewed C&C ECW variant. I may well say all this again in the next post...<br /><br />MSF MSFoyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14470241067504971068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111053985478999734.post-40866603217011822722012-08-24T09:26:28.000+01:002012-08-24T09:26:28.000+01:00Fantastic post Tony, I fell asleep thinking about ...Fantastic post Tony, I fell asleep thinking about it last night! I have no doubt whatsoever that the old game system where a player moves everything then goes through the laborious process of tracking back unit by unit going through firing, then melee then reaction tests then routs then rallys etc led to my almost giving up this hobby completely. How many times do players overlook certain things, or become confused about who did what and when? I could never go back to such rules again, thats for sure. When the original Fire & Fury set came along back in (?)they caught on like wildfire, because finally it offered a game that could be played at a fast pace, was fun, AND offered a reasonable simulation of ACW battle at Corps level. Not perfect of course, the dice rolls could produce extremes of results, but they were just so damn playable. I loved that activation system, still do. Like C&C the scenarios offered real challenges and a clear result by setting victory conditions. IN my humble opinion, in spite of its obvious shortcomings, F&F remains a very good set of rules that broke new ground. I'd play them again any time.<br /><br />If I have one issue with C&C Napoleonic its that the bigger the game in terms of unit numbers the more frustrating it can become when only moving a single or two units. Not a major problem, but when I have a brigade or division consisting of say 4 or 5 units I like to be able to think an order would activate the entire group and not just part of it. Maybe its just me and I'm not thinking in terms of my bases representing simply a mass of troops occupying a certain area of ground, maybe I need to free myself mentally of such higher groupings? But the card driven activation overall for me is superb, like my beloved F&F, just so playable. I'd never go back. 'Lee.https://www.blogger.com/profile/02728400013024811279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111053985478999734.post-73258163878945295552012-08-23T23:14:14.180+01:002012-08-23T23:14:14.180+01:00Interesting post. I've recently been playing M...Interesting post. I've recently been playing Memoir'44 (another of Mr Borgs creations) which is basically the WWII version of C&C and I must admit that I fount the use of cards really does give that frustration factor that any CinC must face during battle. Any rule system that allows a player absolute command over every unit in his force is (A)unrealistic and (B) quite boring to play. Imagine playing a game of chess in this manner....'Just sit there while I position every one of my pieces to my advantage would you good fellow?'<br />The C&C card system is much more realistic in my view as it (sometimes frustratingly!) restricts a player to carry out his 'grand plan' to perfection.... Such is the FOW...<br />Thanks for posting, <br /><br />SteveBattlescalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13530786317286215390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111053985478999734.post-79753014644238248422012-08-23T21:03:48.877+01:002012-08-23T21:03:48.877+01:00Hi MSFoy,
I concur, some mechanism is needed to al...Hi MSFoy,<br />I concur, some mechanism is needed to allow reinforcements to move up while units are battling on the front lines. I've been playing Battle Cry and Memoir 44 for many years; if you don't activate your front-line units they get shot to pieces with no reply; if you do, your reinforcements won't arrive in time.<br />Featherstone's system of move side A, move side B, then roll to see who fires first (which system I like) doesn't work here because too many units would be firing too frequently -- the front line would disappear quickly.<br />I have been considering allowing 1 activation point to activate a group of 2 or 3 adjacent units for firing, or for moving, but not some of each. Then a fire group could defend itself while a reinforcement group marched up.<br />Another possibility is to allow any surviving unretreated attacked unit to return fire at one attacking unit immediately for free, thus potentially freeing up those activation points for the reserves.<br />It is also extremely annoying when you barely get any cards for the critical flank the entire game; I guess that simulates a severe command failure.<br />They are still fun games and I keep going back to them -- fast, easy, lots of carnage.<br />Regards,<br />John<br />The Ferrymenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07741552972862333515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7111053985478999734.post-31072431465053357732012-08-23T18:08:49.754+01:002012-08-23T18:08:49.754+01:00I still haven't solved the dilemma of translat...I still haven't solved the dilemma of translating the real reasons why all units don't move all the time and in precisely the right way, into a workable game mechanism. I try hard not to think about how much better simultaneous moves with Grant style written orders that last until news ones are issued do it compared to other systems because there are various good reasons the system fell out of favour.<br /><br />My best thought in response is " Couldn't you add a card to the deck that allows a General to move all units in Zone X a double move but no units may battle" ?<br /><br />or do like the Winter War expansion of Memoir and add footnotes to the usual command cards (is that the right turns for things like "Probe"?) that allow 1 or 2 units to move only as well as the units being order<br /><br />Yes there would be production value issues with homemade cards so perhaps a look up chart that says "This card also allows a player to move X number of units but not battle with them." Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04053555991679802013noreply@blogger.com