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Author Topic: Assault - Red Horizon 41  (Read 23934 times)

bob48

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Reply #15 on: January 01, 2022, 06:58:07 AM
Whilst the command points rules are actually an optional extra, I found that in practise, they add so much to the game that I personally would not play without them.

As notes earlier, each formation card shows a number of command point symbols, and these are drawn as tokens once you have selected the formation cards for a scenario. All the tokens are 'pooled' but you will notice that you will have more actual units than command tokens.

At this point, we introduce an new phase to the sequence of play; The Planning Phase.

In this, we draw command cards (another optional rule which I'll cover later) and assign command point tokens to unit cards. As you would expect, to activate a unit you need to expend a command point, and in the Planning Phase you will assign tokens to enable you to do that.

As an example, you have drawn formation cards that give you 3 Infantry 41 units, 1 HMG unit, 2 Pz38t units and 1 PzII unit for a total of 7 units. With these, you will have drawn 6 command point tokens, thus you need to decide which of your units you want to activate in the next turn. This is a nice touch and makes players give some thought as to how they intend to achieve objectives and with what units.

Command points are drawn again at the beginning of a turn but loss of units will also result in a reduction of available command points.

Some scenario's will assign specific units, formations or reinforcements and the number of extra command points will be noted in the scenario description.

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'


bob48

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Reply #16 on: January 10, 2022, 02:08:41 PM
Command Cards are another optional extra, but again, they add to the gameplay and are well worth adopting as standard.

Each faction has its own deck of 14 cards, and there is a further deck of 14 'neutral' cards that can be used by both sides. At the beginning of a scenario, the 'neutral' cards are divided equally between the two players and shuffled into the faction deck. Scenario specific instructions will define the number of cards each side will randomly draw  the maximum hand size a player can hold. Once played, a card is placed on the discard pile.

Individual cards describe when it can be played and what the effects are. Some examples are;

'Tactical Training' (German) Can be played at any time. Effect – 'A friendly unit gets an additional yellow defence die when attacked in ranged fire'

'Getting It Together' (Soviet) Played before activation. Effect – 'This unit may remove a suppressed or fallback status marker. It can then do a fast action. This does not require the unit to spend a command point (if playing with the optional command point rules).

'Illusion' (Neutral). Can be played at any time. Effect – 'Enemy unit must re-roll one ranged fire attack die. Re-rolled result must be used'.

No two cards are the same, so there is a lot of variety that can impact a game thus adding to the re-playability.

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'


judgedredd

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Reply #17 on: January 10, 2022, 05:00:33 PM
I've been...my mates been watching this thread with great interest...but he's promised his missus there would be no game purchases (computer, PS5 or board) and no model purchases this year - in an attempt to show her that he can pull back on the spending so he can retire early.

Daft bugger!



bob48

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Reply #18 on: January 10, 2022, 05:13:40 PM
Oh dear, such a shame. Its a really good game as well. I know for a fact that they are working on an expansion for it that will introduce air strikes and off-board artillery to the game :-)

Anyway, I'll be describing the unit experience rules next, followed by the amazing 'Crossing the Narew' dynamic campaign.

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'


bob48

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Reply #19 on: January 16, 2022, 06:35:20 AM
Units in the game are at one of five levels of experience, and this is indicated in the game by use of round 'experience level' markers placed under the unit. The default level is 'regular' and such units do not need a marker.

Each level of experience has a different effect, and this is summarised as follows; note that these effects are cumulative.

Recruit: Blue marker – Attacker automatically gains a 'X' (suppressed) symbol when firing against this unit.

Regular: No marker, no special effect.

Hardened: Green marker – gains 1 blue defence die.

Veteran: Yellow marker – gains 1 blue attack die.

Elite: Black marker – This unit ignores suppressed symbols.

Some formation cards will indicate if that formation has an experience level other than 'Regular', in which case, the units in that formation are all given the appropriate marker.

When playing the campaign game, core units may gain (or lose) experience levels depending on if or not they survive the individual scenarios. Any such change of status will be explained in the individual scenario details.

All this is just one more set of variables that make this game so fascinating and adds so much to its replayability.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2022, 08:25:15 AM by bob48 »

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'


bayonetbrant

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Reply #20 on: January 27, 2022, 02:20:37 PM

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=++

Random acts of genius and other inspirations of applied violence.
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bob48

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Reply #21 on: January 31, 2022, 06:12:49 AM
There is a bit of a delay due to RL issues, but I will be writing about the dynamic campaign that comes with the game, plus a few other aspects that I have not yet covered, so watch this space!

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'


Wolfgang

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Reply #22 on: February 01, 2022, 08:37:53 AM
There is a bit of a delay due to RL issues, but I will be writing about the dynamic campaign that comes with the game, plus a few other aspects that I have not yet covered, so watch this space!

RL goes first. Looking forward to your experiences and opinions



bob48

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Reply #23 on: February 01, 2022, 08:40:12 AM
 :bigthumb:

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'


bob48

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Reply #24 on: February 06, 2022, 04:31:11 PM
'Crossing the Narew' is the dynamic campaign that is included and is another feature that adds so much more replayability to the game.

We begin with a starting scenario, 'Red Dawn', in which both sides select formations which will form the core units for the whole campaign. These are drawn using the methods described earlier, so again, this means that a huge variation of starting forces can be generated. Note that not all core formations are used in every linked campaign scenario.

Each scenario in the campaign will detail one of between three and five victory levels for the German player, these being; 'Decisive Victory, Victory, Draw, Defeat, Total Defeat. The result will then determine which linked scenario will be played next. Victory conditions usually are decided by capturing objective points.

Core formation losses are replaced, and any adjustment to unit experience levels are made. In addition, each scenario will define any extra units or formations plus reinforcements that will be available for that scenario, and any additional special rules. On completion of four scenarios, the final victory conditions are assessed to decide the winner of the campaign.

Campaign record logs and unit experience sheets are provide in the campaign book, and are also available to download from 'Assault Games' and as files on the games BGG page.

I should also mention that a nice option for all the scenarios in the game, both standard and campaign have an 'alternative history' option, whereby the 'Blue Force' becomes the Soviet player and the 'Red Force' becomes the German player. This reversal of roles provides yet another good chunk of replayability to the game.

And, for those of us that like to generate our own scenarios, each unit card is printed with a points value. I've not explored this aspect much yet, but its not difficult to come up with a system to generate scenarios or even campaigns. A good example of this is the 'OST' campaign rules by Norm Smith.

We already know that Wolfgang and his team are working on an expansion to give us OBA (off board artillery) and air strikes, and hopefully there will be additional expansion to come that cover other theatres and periods of WW2.

If you had not already guessed, I confess to being a huge fan of the game and hope that others will buy it and enjoy it as much as I do.

Any errors in all this are mine, and I'm sure that Wolfgang, who I know keeps an eye on the thread, will let me know so that I can correct them.

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'


bayonetbrant

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Reply #25 on: February 06, 2022, 07:20:15 PM
Core formation losses are replaced, and any adjustment to unit experience levels are made. In addition, each scenario will define any extra units or formations plus reinforcements that will be available for that scenario, and any additional special rules. On completion of four scenarios, the final victory conditions are assessed to decide the winner of the campaign.


So it's a real campaign, and not just a linked set of scenarios.  That's pretty cool! 

And now for the AAR from Bawb  :cowboy:

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=++

Random acts of genius and other inspirations of applied violence.
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
Six Degrees of Radio for songs you should know by artists you should love


bob48

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Reply #26 on: February 07, 2022, 05:59:19 AM
Its very good and, like the game as a whole, is very well thought out. I will do an AAR at some stage.

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'


bob48

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Reply #27 on: February 07, 2022, 07:33:14 AM
I should think that the 'Assault' rules would also work very well using minatures.........................

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'


judgedredd

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Reply #28 on: February 10, 2022, 04:07:36 PM
My mate has a question for you bawb...he asked if he was tempted to buy one game, would you recommend this or Across The Bug River?



bob48

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Reply #29 on: February 10, 2022, 04:24:37 PM
Oh, nasty.

Across the Bug River is, like 'Crossing the Line', a truly beautiful game in all respects.

However, being realistic, it covers a very specific operation, and, while there are always new ways to go about it, then like any game of that type, there are limitation.

Assault offers much more flexibility and replayability, and promises to have more additions to it. Bear in mind as well that unlike AtB and CtL, Assault is a squad level game. i will play those games often as I very much like the game system and the aesthetically attractive components.

The art style for Assault is also very good and again, the components are of a very high quality. Due to the nature of how Assault works, I suspect I will be playing it for a long time as it really does have a lot to offer.

Therefore, my advice would be - Sod it - buy 'em all......Mwhahahaha.


“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'