Stephen used French (technically Poles) with 17 units and I was attacking with Russo-Prussian force with 25 units.
After usual waffling (mostly about upcoming GDA2) we got into game.
++NOTE++ afterwards I discovered that I had omitted the Move card from my deck !! and for what I can only put down to brain-barf we forgot to roll for multiple Move segments on any Move option until well into game. I was wondering why my lot seemed stuck in mud !
Not going to go into game as not wanting to spoil for Saturday but some further brief thoughts on Bat Cmd.
Probably highlighted by lack of Movement early on we noted that the defender can avail of a lot more Artillery shooting in Bat Cmd.
Stephen rolled really well with his D12 General on the Action Matrix generally rolling high and evens thereby gaining lots of options (the strength of new system) of which he frequently chose Artillery Firepower and was able to pound one of my Brigades seemingly relentlessly (and some of his rolls at long range were amazing).
Conversely I was able to use Leadership more often as well although I was more hampered by lower rolls/differentials (D10 General) and odds results which is much more limiting.
This is a different dynamic than in FOB3 with its default 3 Artillery Firepower or 3 Leadership cards etc per Average deck as once you use them they are gone until deck runs out (barring a re-shuffle) whereas in Bat Cmd these can appear as Secondary Options on other card types.
Using Tactical Advantage Card is tad different (not in effect but in timing) as it is not retained when a shuffle required which occurs much more frequently in Bat Cmd, due to small deck of 8 cards (or 7 in my dopey case) and with so many more Initiative rolls the chance of a tied result (ie shuffle) is more frequent, think we had 3-4 tied rolls.
Interesting stuff that just takes a bit of getting used to after years of FOB system.
The shuffles aside (and we had several in our game as well, for the reasons described), BatCom pretty much guarantees that you will get one each of the cards within a reasonable run of cards, but with the options, good die rolling certainly impact the game. Note especially the effect of having a Grand battery; once it's in position, it's a no brainer to choose "Artillery Fire" for that command whenever you can. Likewise for Cavalry Commands and MOVE/MELEE options. Both of those contributing heavily to the French come from behind victory in my Ocana game. On the other hand, the longest possible impetus run is now 4 cards... but in the right circumstances, and rolls, you can do a heck of a lot with those 4 cards!
ReplyDeleteThe amount of Artillery fire by defender was a stark contrast to what we are used to with FOB and the Action Matrix/Dice Rolls and ever changing Initiative are very new ways of playing the game combined with the familiar aspects.
DeleteIf it was the same as FOB essentially there would be no point to new set :-)