Can someone help me out....

[judgedredd]

I'm torn between Compass Games Battle of the Bulge and GMTs A Distant Plain.

When I say I'm torn, I mean I truly am. I've read up on both and watched videos of both and they both look really good, both are excellent for solitaire play and both are around the same price. Both are also different types of games to my norm...A Distant Plain is COIN and no counters and both are area based boards.

Anyway - anyone who has either - I'd be really interested in your views of the one you have

[bayonetbrant]

I have played ADP a lot (including a bunch of years at Origins), and I've never played the Compass 'Bulge' game.

But what I can tell you about the COIN games is that while they have the solo bot cards that can replicate having other players around the table, you definitely lose a lot of the dynamics that really make those games stand out when you're playing against a bunch of flow charts instead of other people.

That is true not just of ADP, but of all of the games in that series. The fact that you are capable of playing them solo does not mean that it's the way you should play them to really understand what makes them tick.

ADP in particular has some dynamics about it that you never quite get without the other players around the table, such as the fact that the Afghan government player has to rely on the coalition player for any resources they want to spend to execute any of their ops in the game. The kind of give and take you get in the negotiation of the Afghan player needing resources, and the coalition player needing manpower, you just can't replicate with a flow chart.
Similarly, the warlord player is in a weird middle ground between those two players and the Taliban. They're in a position to make life a headache for everyone, but they can't win the game unless they can successfully navigate a very tricky path down the middle of not becoming too much of a nuisance to anyone that they turn around and squash the warlords.
Again, you *can* use the cards to replicate that, but it doesn't work nearly as well as it does having to talk and negotiate your way through this with another player at the table.

If you don't think you're going to be able to regularly get several other folks to join you, that I would steer away from any of the COIN games because I just don't think the experience is going to be as dynamic as it would with multiple players at the table.

[bbmike]

Ok, I'm gonna try to help one last time. Go play that box of OST II you just unboxed. 

[judgedredd]

I have played ADP a lot (including a bunch of years at Origins), and I've never played the Compass 'Bulge' game.

But what I can tell you about the COIN games is that while they have the solo bot cards that can replicate having other players around the table, you definitely lose a lot of the dynamics that really make those games stand out when you're playing against a bunch of flow charts instead of other people.

That is true not just of ADP, but of all of the games in that series. The fact that you are capable of playing them solo does not mean that it's the way you should play them to really understand what makes them tick.

ADP in particular has some dynamics about it that you never quite get without the other players around the table, such as the fact that the Afghan government player has to rely on the coalition player for any resources they want to spend to execute any of their ops in the game. The kind of give and take you get in the negotiation of the Afghan player needing resources, and the coalition player needing manpower, you just can't replicate with a flow chart.
Similarly, the warlord player is in a weird middle ground between those two players and the Taliban. They're in a position to make life a headache for everyone, but they can't win the game unless they can successfully navigate a very tricky path down the middle of not becoming too much of a nuisance to anyone that they turn around and squash the warlords.
Again, you *can* use the cards to replicate that, but it doesn't work nearly as well as it does having to talk and negotiate your way through this with another player at the table.

If you don't think you're going to be able to regularly get several other folks to join you, that I would steer away from any of the COIN games because I just don't think the experience is going to be as dynamic as it would with multiple players at the table.

Cheers for that insight Brant. Very helpful.

[judgedredd]

Ok, I'm gonna try to help one last time. Go play that box of OST II you just unboxed. 

And that is much more helpful than the help I was looking for 

[bbmike]

 

[judgedredd]

I ended up getting Compass Games Battle of the Bulge. Purely for the Unboxing Thursday event in August

[bbmike]