From: "David S. Bieksza" Subject: Horse Soldiers A month or so ago a discussion in the ACW topic on the Virtual Wargamer HQ centered on the Turn Continuation Table. That motivated me to play _Horse_Soldiers_ (S&T 119) solitaire. I completed the game over the weekend. The following discussion is probably of interest only to TCT aficionados. _HS_ is a true transitional design, midway between the igo-yugo turn sequence of the GBACW series up to then and the brigadier-oriented sequence introduced in _Guns_of_Cedar_Creek_. In _HS_ activations occur by brigade; however, the deciding factor is not the Action Rating of the brigadier but a letter grade assigned to each side's overall commander. Thus the "TCT" is actually a table assigning each letter grade to specific dice roll ranges for Continue, Pass, and Finished results. This letter grade even affects which side gains the Initiative for the start of the turn. Another table cross-references the opposing sides' grades yielding a die roll range for the Confederates gaining the Initiative. For example, a USA "B" vs. a CSA "C" gives the Confederates a 1/3 chance of receiving the Initiative. The player with the Initiative takes his free action, then chooses another and rolls on the TCT. The action is allowed for a Continue result. A Pass result transfers choice of actions to the opposing player. And a Finished result means that side gets no more actions for the turn. The turn ends when both sides are Finished, both roll a Pass result consecutively, or one side is Finished and the other rolls consecutive Passes. Dice roll modifiers apply the TCT according to the action chosen, and these are very similar to the list in subsequent GBACW games -- with the exception that the quality of the brigade leader has very little influence. Apart from the lack of Random Events, the most notable characteristic of this design is the lack of limits on consecutive actions by a given side. The shortcoming is especially evident when one side becomes Finished -- the other side can choose actions knowing they cannot be countered (except possibly by Return/Withdrawal Fire). This can result in a major discrepency in player participation. Ages ago I played this FTF with CONSIMer Gordon Bliss, and it only took a turn or two for us to declare the game a yawn-fest and quit. The same was still true in my solo game: the Confederates were starved for actions all the way through. Some other interesting features are: * The only "free" action is the one gained through Initiative. Otherwise a player must always roll for an action (hence the possibility of consecutive Passes). Even the movement of division and corps commanders must be rolled as an action. * Facing resembles the older GBACW games, toward a hexside rather than a vertex. * Ammunition runs out faster because there's no "low ammo" state. Finally, _HS_ actually consists of two sub-games, "Brice's Crossroads" and "Tupelo." However, in a marketing decision only Dilbert's boss could love, the former was made available only to S&T subscribers. I had allowed by sub to expire well before then, so only "Tupelo" is in my collection. Based on some kibitzing of "Brice's Crossroads" at a club meeting, that's small loss. ------- Dave Bieksza bieksza@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu ------- "Comet Hale-Bopp" is an anagram for "HTML be poop, Ace." ------- From: Rusty Witek Subject: Re: Horse Soldiers On Mon, 2 Jun 1997, David S. Bieksza wrote: > Ages ago > I played this FTF with CONSIMer Gordon Bliss, and it only took a turn or > two for us to declare the game a yawn-fest and quit. The same was still > true in my solo game: the Confederates were starved for actions all the > way through. Berg brought this up to late-TCT code with an update, probably still available from him. If not, let me know. The situations are not eaxctly balanced, but certainly worth playing for the unusual units/organizations involved. Tupelo is unbalanced by the strength of the Union position and the high quality of the troops involved, not the activation system. Forrest got nailed historically, and he does in the game too. Brice's Xroads also has flavor, but only an utter green conscript can lose with the Union. Rusty