I have to say, I found combat
very confusing. It was my first time - so I imagine (and I'm hoping) it gets easier
The issues I came across are...
- Determining Engagements
It's a little complicated and in my example above, the forces west of the Baltimore Pike are one engagement
What that means is that the attacking side performs it's attacks and assigns hit markers (unless it's Approach Fire where the defender gets to attack free with a -3 modifier on their To Hit chance), then the defender attacks (ignoring hit markers) and assigns hit markers...then each side (starting with the defender) checks morale and assigns SP losses and demoralisations. They also have to retreat - and that in itself is a pain
Look at Cutler (I think) in 16:06...if he's forced to retreat, the unit behind him has to do a morale check first and if he fails, he gains 1 demoralisation and the unit behind HIM would also have to do a morale check...if the unit behind Cutler passes it's morale, then Cutler moves into that space temporarily (he can't stop there for good because there's no stacking) and the unit behind (for Shaler or Wainwright) has to perform a morale check etc.
Then there's advance after combat!! - SP Losses
The designer has made it so that the SP counters show how many SPs the unit has left. My problem with this, is the demoralisation chits act in the opposite way - they show how many SPs cannot fire.
In my opinion, the SP counters would've been better suited to show how many SPs were lost, rather than how many were left...that way, when tallying demoralisations and SPs, you'd simply add both together and remove that value from the firing units designated SPs on it's main counter rather than ignoring the unit's designated SPs and removing the demoralisations from the SP counter under the unit - they just seem to be counter to each other. I'm not the only person to specify this - SPs and multiple combats
I had a situation last night with one engagement that had something like 8 CSA units against 6 Union units. It turned into a mess. I just completely lost track of where I was...
You have to split SPs between units. So lets say I have a CSA unit with 3 SPs and he's firing against 3 Union units. BUT - he's lost an SP so I have to check the counter below him and see he's only got 2 SPs. I then have to roll a die to determine who he's NOT attacking (he can't attack 3 units with only 2 SPs as SPs have to be split evenly between enemy units)
So he's attacking the unit in front of him and the one to the right. I'm trying to remember that he's NOT to attack the one to the left.
It's difficult to explain - it reads very easy and one of the things I was blown away with was how clear the rules were, how well laid out they were...but gawd - in practice, it's really, really difficult to see where you are in combat.
It's making me dread the full Gettysburg game because there are sooooooo many units and I'm having nightmares thinking how deep I'll have to go checking retreats and morale and demoralisations to see where a unit ends up retreating to....and then going back to the original firing unit and performing the same on the other units it attacked and are adjacent to...
It's a cracking looking game and the rules (with some typos) are excellent - but practically, with no chits to show who you are currently dealing with, it's an absolute nightmare.
Like I said, it was my first time and I hope it gets better. I've seen people mention using tile spacers to show who you are dealing with and those may help.
The SP thing for me caught me out alot last night. When I rolled for morale and had to assign a hit, I was automatically assigning an SP chit with the number 1 on it (signifying 1 hit) rather than taking 1 from the units SP value (say 5) and placing an SP counter of 4 underneath.
The other thing that caught me out - and in fact I didn't even do - was advance after combat. I had done all my morale checks for the defender and then the attacker and had forgotten who had retreated so couldn't work out who would've advanced and where...Thing is, the rules specify performing all morale checks (defender first then attacker) and then performing advance - I just can't see how you are meant to remember who can advance...
Anyway - just a couple of things to be aware of. I will of course report back if I find a better, organised way to do it or if it gets easier.
For what it's worth, I thoroughly enjoyed my wee playthrough last night. I would like to say though it made me wonder if the dice were loaded in Combat!. In Combat! a 10 sided die was used to check hits, TQs etc, etc...I was regularly rolling 1s and 2s....last night, the whole Union front shooting down at the CSA coming up didn't make a single hit. Looks like Picketts Charge may work this time (though no...probably not as I didn't perform any advance after combat!)