One of the best wargamers on You Tube. Thank you for actually PLAYING the game and not opening it on camera to mount it on your shelf then calling yourself a "wargamer". Yes Dice Tower Im looking at you
Designer Mark Mokszycki was kind enough to provide some play tips and point out various errors that I made. I've posted them in the of video description. Thanks Mark!
Love this game, superbly researched, designed, documented. This is quite a rich and unpredictable mini scenario. I went for multi unit stacks in 1102, 1004, 0805, 0505,0305.... ezoc rules prevent Brits from penetrating the gaps turn 1 and they are faced by some pretty nasty odds wherever they attack, especially 1004 which can only be attacked from open fields. lots of fun and that is before the tanks roll and the panzerfausts fly....
Thanks for the tutorial. @Omer this tutorial has only adjacent LOS so elevation is not relevant. It is used for ranged attack and the only adv./optional rule for elevation is plunging fire. The rest are basic but relatively simple to apply and intuitive. They have a separate card - LOS flowchart included in the game.
@Mark Mokszycki @Counter_Attack Mark was incorrect regarding the IG unit at 56:40. According to the Scenario card 18.T1 the IG unit has a MA Leg of 1 see Point 5 Special Rules). However, in your game at 56:40 your IG unit was in eZOC. Therefore, in order to retreat you would have to pay an additional plus 1 to exit eZOC and hence the IG unit could not retreat. Sorry for being late to the party I've only just received my copy from GMT of this excellent game - it is tied with Fighting Formations: GrossDeutschland Infantry Division as my favourite game.
First impressions on watching the video are that whilst these rules look interesting, they appear a tad schizophrenic. They don't quite know whether they're operational or grand tactical. Obviously they're not squad level (or even one to one), but I don't think I'd have bothered with supply rules in such a low level game. Still watching the video- thanks for putting it up.
Keep in mind this scenario has stripped everything away to focus on just a couple aspects of the rules. There are something like 8 or so tutorials, each layering on more. It will start looking more tactical when the fog lifts and ranged fire is allowed. The supply rules are very light - being in "supply" makes it slightly easier to recover a step loss - meaning a trickle of additional replacements were able to get to their unit. You cannot actually run out of supply or fuel due to being cut off.
Great tutorial and great game. However, the idea of the British rushing up and down the line to find the best odds does not reflect the way they fought battles in Normandy. They would have been much more methodical at battalion level and any outflanking by troops actually engaged would probably have been restricted to one hex either sided of the contact. This is also a problem with the enemy counters being always visable. I think a great addition to the game for face to face play would be a large concealed marker to cover the hex. Enemy counters could only be examined if engaged by fire, assault or combat.
Isn't the english AFV guaranteeing an armor +1R to the attacker? I read the paragraph in the rules 3 times and I don't get why you are not applying it. Thanks for the video!
The scenario special rule 6. Treats them as infantry so they lose the armour bonus (which requires a MG present , which is the case) and can't ignore eZOC, MA=6.
I imagine that it's covered under the more advanced rules but - is there an importance to some hexes looking elevated? Or for the dotted lines that run along some hexsides?
Yes. Those are "slopes" and I believe only affect line of sight, which in this tutorial does not matter because line of sight is limited to 1 hex due to smoke on the battlefield. I believe they are intended to represent gentle rises and falls and not something like a steep hill that would also have major defensive benefits.
That would make sense. Do the more advanced rules make travelling through Bocage harder? As you've said, it's hard to reconcile the historical difficulty with the ease of movement in the game (along the same vein, how large is each hex? - simulation-wise, I mean - a sense of scale might make it more sensible than it first seems). Also, Mike obviously is used to people having trouble with his name, but for the sake of correctness, I believe the Polish pronounciation of Mokszycki is "Mok-SHI-tz-kee" (with the TZ pronounced like in Hertz - think the car rental company). Sorry, I know it's both pedantic and obtuse, but we each have our quirks
+Omer Hertz I believe for infantry bocage movement is as in this tutorial, but other unit types will have a tougher time. Thanks for the pronunciation tip ;)
The designer provided some insights into the bocage: "There seem to be some common misconceptions about the bocage in Normandy. The difficulty in moving through bocage comes from the fact that it is so easily defended. Numerous small, dirt farm roads and sunken lanes exist in every single bocage hex shown on the map, allowing for easy movement in non-combat situations, but these lanes are left out of our map to avoid graphical clutter. Keep in mind that each hex is 425 yards. Any place you see a hedgerow drawn in, this hedgerow appears in its actual, historical location, and there is an assumed dirt road along that hedgerow as well. So there are numerous ways to cross each bocage hex, assuming dry weather where mud isn’t an issue. Units aren't literally plowing up and over the hedgerows (except possibly in extreme Assault situations). The difficulty in progressing for the Brits comes from the German defenders. Every road between fields was potentially guarded by MG nests or carefully hidden AT guns, or sighted for artillery. Forward progress through the bocage therefore became a slow and tedious affair when in close proximity with the enemy. Moving around behind the friendly front line and out of LOS with the enemy was another matter entirely."
That sounds plausible enough, only it does not explain why ZOCs are negated when an enemy unit is adjacent to the Bocage hex - 425 yards is well within rifle range, not to mention heavier weapons, and moving along well-sighted dirt paths should thus be more difficult (at least for the British). I may be missing something here but, it seems to me that some sort of a negative modifier should've been used for moving in Bocage when an enemy unit is adjacent to it, so as to simulate the slower and more careful approach that was required of the moving units in that situation.
Very nice playthrough as always. A question about shifting odds though. Mind you, I havent played the game or read the rulebook yet. Is it correct to shift the odds to the left before rolling down to the max on the table. What I mean is, there is no 16/1 odds, so you shift odds to 8/1 if there is a 1L shift. What I generally thought correct is to get down to max odds (such as 8/1) then shift one left to 4/1. I hope you understand what I mean. Anyways looking forward to your next wonderful playthrough.
Well all I can conclude is that i should never have bought this game, but that's my bad. Rather play squad leader. I'm still going to try to play this first tutorial scenario But if there's no hope of the Germans winning then they might as well just do a banzai and see if they can get lucky n knock off a couple British units quickly.
I personally enjoy a desperate defense where I am trying to scrape together units from my dwindling forces, deciding when to stand and fight or fall back, etc.
I don't want to destroy the battlefield by rolling into the camera frame, and these videos are long enough without panning over to my die tray. Also, if I were cheating I would only be cheating myself ;)
One of the best wargamers on You Tube. Thank you for actually PLAYING the game and not opening it on camera to mount it on your shelf then calling yourself a "wargamer". Yes Dice Tower Im looking at you
P.S Fantastic TH-cam Channel currently, probably one of the best out there...….
Designer Mark Mokszycki was kind enough to provide some play tips and point out various errors that I made. I've posted them in the of video description. Thanks Mark!
Love this game, superbly researched, designed, documented. This is quite a rich and unpredictable mini scenario. I went for multi unit stacks in 1102, 1004, 0805, 0505,0305.... ezoc rules prevent Brits from penetrating the gaps turn 1 and they are faced by some pretty nasty odds wherever they attack, especially 1004 which can only be attacked from open fields. lots of fun and that is before the tanks roll and the panzerfausts fly....
Thanks for this play through it’s helped me immensley!
Nice, you have demonstrated just about every game I have wanted to play and very well done at that. Thanks.
Thanks for the tutorial.
@Omer this tutorial has only adjacent LOS so elevation is not relevant. It is used for ranged attack and the only adv./optional rule for elevation is plunging fire. The rest are basic but relatively simple to apply and intuitive. They have a separate card - LOS flowchart included in the game.
@Mark Mokszycki @Counter_Attack Mark was incorrect regarding the IG unit at 56:40. According to the Scenario card 18.T1 the IG unit has a MA Leg of 1 see Point 5 Special Rules). However, in your game at 56:40 your IG unit was in eZOC. Therefore, in order to retreat you would have to pay an additional plus 1 to exit eZOC and hence the IG unit could not retreat.
Sorry for being late to the party I've only just received my copy from GMT of this excellent game - it is tied with Fighting Formations: GrossDeutschland Infantry Division as my favourite game.
Thanks for the great tutorial
Best game of its type and scale....
First impressions on watching the video are that whilst these rules look interesting, they appear a tad schizophrenic. They don't quite know whether they're operational or grand tactical.
Obviously they're not squad level (or even one to one), but I don't think I'd have bothered with supply rules in such a low level game.
Still watching the video- thanks for putting it up.
Keep in mind this scenario has stripped everything away to focus on just a couple aspects of the rules. There are something like 8 or so tutorials, each layering on more. It will start looking more tactical when the fog lifts and ranged fire is allowed. The supply rules are very light - being in "supply" makes it slightly easier to recover a step loss - meaning a trickle of additional replacements were able to get to their unit. You cannot actually run out of supply or fuel due to being cut off.
I love your videos. I bought this thanks to you.
its the first tutorial dudes..designed to b kept simplistic!!!!!
Great tutorial and great game. However, the idea of the British rushing up and down the line to find the best odds does not reflect the way they fought battles in Normandy. They would have been much more methodical at battalion level and any outflanking by troops actually engaged would probably have been restricted to one hex either sided of the contact. This is also a problem with the enemy counters being always visable. I think a great addition to the game for face to face play would be a large concealed marker to cover the hex. Enemy counters could only be examined if engaged by fire, assault or combat.
Isn't the english AFV guaranteeing an armor +1R to the attacker? I read the paragraph in the rules 3 times and I don't get why you are not applying it. Thanks for the video!
The scenario special rule 6. Treats them as infantry so they lose the armour bonus (which requires a MG present , which is the case) and can't ignore eZOC, MA=6.
Same question as Erin on the odds shift.
According to the rules (8.3.1) you apply shifts to the original calculated odds, and then shift them to the max (or min) if still off the table.
Thanks.
I imagine that it's covered under the more advanced rules but - is there an importance to some hexes looking elevated? Or for the dotted lines that run along some hexsides?
Yes. Those are "slopes" and I believe only affect line of sight, which in this tutorial does not matter because line of sight is limited to 1 hex due to smoke on the battlefield. I believe they are intended to represent gentle rises and falls and not something like a steep hill that would also have major defensive benefits.
That would make sense. Do the more advanced rules make travelling through Bocage harder? As you've said, it's hard to reconcile the historical difficulty with the ease of movement in the game (along the same vein, how large is each hex? - simulation-wise, I mean - a sense of scale might make it more sensible than it first seems).
Also, Mike obviously is used to people having trouble with his name, but for the sake of correctness, I believe the Polish pronounciation of Mokszycki is "Mok-SHI-tz-kee" (with the TZ pronounced like in Hertz - think the car rental company). Sorry, I know it's both pedantic and obtuse, but we each have our quirks
+Omer Hertz I believe for infantry bocage movement is as in this tutorial, but other unit types will have a tougher time. Thanks for the pronunciation tip ;)
The designer provided some insights into the bocage:
"There seem to be some common misconceptions about the bocage in Normandy. The difficulty in moving through bocage comes from the fact that it is so easily defended. Numerous small, dirt farm roads and sunken lanes exist in every single bocage hex shown on the map, allowing for easy movement in non-combat situations, but these lanes are left out of our map to avoid graphical clutter. Keep in mind that each hex is 425 yards. Any place you see a hedgerow drawn in, this hedgerow appears in its actual, historical location, and there is an assumed dirt road along that hedgerow as well. So there are numerous ways to cross each bocage hex, assuming dry weather where mud isn’t an issue. Units aren't literally plowing up and over the hedgerows (except possibly in extreme Assault situations). The difficulty in progressing for the Brits comes from the German defenders. Every road between fields was potentially guarded by MG nests or carefully hidden AT guns, or sighted for artillery. Forward progress through the bocage therefore became a slow and tedious affair when in close proximity with the enemy. Moving around behind the friendly front line and out of LOS with the enemy was another matter entirely."
That sounds plausible enough, only it does not explain why ZOCs are negated when an enemy unit is adjacent to the Bocage hex - 425 yards is well within rifle range, not to mention heavier weapons, and moving along well-sighted dirt paths should thus be more difficult (at least for the British). I may be missing something here but, it seems to me that some sort of a negative modifier should've been used for moving in Bocage when an enemy unit is adjacent to it, so as to simulate the slower and more careful approach that was required of the moving units in that situation.
Very nice playthrough as always. A question about shifting odds though. Mind you, I havent played the game or read the rulebook yet. Is it correct to shift the odds to the left before rolling down to the max on the table. What I mean is, there is no 16/1 odds, so you shift odds to 8/1 if there is a 1L shift. What I generally thought correct is to get down to max odds (such as 8/1) then shift one left to 4/1. I hope you understand what I mean.
Anyways looking forward to your next wonderful playthrough.
According to the rules (8.3.1) you apply shifts to the original calculated odds, and then shift them to the max (or min) if still off the table.
Thanx a lot.
Do u need too read the rule book before doing tutorials or is it set up to just do tutorial
you need to read the rule book, but only certain sections.
Counter Attack I've just ordered this game so can't for post to come.is it hard to learn .
Well all I can conclude is that i should never have bought this game, but that's my bad. Rather play squad leader. I'm still going to try to play this first tutorial scenario But if there's no hope of the Germans winning then they might as well just do a banzai and see if they can get lucky n knock off a couple British units quickly.
this scenario looks pretty depressing for the Germans
I personally enjoy a desperate defense where I am trying to scrape together units from my dwindling forces, deciding when to stand and fight or fall back, etc.
Play a real man's game - play Advanced Squad Leader.
well dodgy that all die rolls are out of sight....
I don't want to destroy the battlefield by rolling into the camera frame, and these videos are long enough without panning over to my die tray. Also, if I were cheating I would only be cheating myself ;)
omg..lthis guy is sooo conservative and scareed....