Etiquette

[Sgt Barker]

Coming from a board game background one thing I miss (maybe… given the amount of time it can take with a large game…) is the opportunity to set up forces. Ahistorical to be sure – everyone was in a certain place at a certain time – but it creates options.

For anyone not familiar with the concept, setting up means that your forces are not in predetermined locations at the beginning of the game. You place them where you wish, within whatever parameters the designer dictates. For very sophisticated games there can be variable forces to deploy, so besides not knowing exactly where you’ll be your opponent doesn’t even know exactly who will be there. VC can then be modified to account for the differences, again unknown to the opponent. For example, did Comrade Stalin give you an Infantry Army, a Guards Tank Army, or nada, from the STAVKA for your reserve? Whichever you get/choose will help determine the VC for the scenario; with no reserves the German must take more territory, with a Guards Tank Army less.

And related to this topic, such a scheme means that studying the scenario before playing doesn’t give you any more info than your historical counterpart had. You know the broad outlines of what you’ll face, and the various hypotheticals, but few if any specifics.