Subject: Fw: Re:%20Re:%20Battle%20Cry%20for%203%20(long)&References=<8kn1uq$90d$1@nnrp1.deja. Carrbs@aol.com wrote in message ... I enjoy the write ups of scenarios. I have been enjoying Battle Cry very much. The wargamer in me wans to start adding all kinds of "realism" rules that will complicate the game. So far I have resisted because the beauty of Battle Cry is the simple game system. Still, I am curious what others think of some Optional Rules we've been trying out: 1. Multiple Discard: You can choose to skip playing a card and discard 2 cards (instead of 1). When your hand is full of junk, its nearly impossible to avoid being routed. This is especially bad in scenarios where one side has almost its entire force in one sector (Federals at Chancellorsville, e.g.). I think this change works well because I have never liked games where one side got in a hole and then had to suffer until the other side finished him off. Getting 2 cards at once helps give a chance of turning things around. 2. Off-Board Retreat: When a unit is required to retreat and it is on the back hex row, we treat it the same as if the unit's retreat were blocked by other units or impassable terrain, i.e. lose one piece for each flag. This is clearly a change of the express rules, but frankly, I can't stand the idea that the back of the board is a huge cliff. The rule as written makes the back row the most dangerous place on the board, where an artillery unit 5 hexes away can wipe out and entire brigade and a leader with one lucky shot. I played Gettysburg - Day 2 and I found Little Round Top to be indefensible because of the retreat rule. That's hard to swallow! To me this change does not mess up the pure simplicity of the game, and it just makes much more sense to me. Anyone else tried this one? or at least share my sentiments about the rule as written? 3. Infantry Marching: Whenever an infantry unit is activated, it may move 2 spaces and not fire, or do its unsual move 1 and fire. I like this because it helps get the units at the back up into the battle faster. There is a strong temptation to starting tweaking this one: the infantry can only move 2 in the open ground, or two so long as it doesn't enter terrain that requires it to stop moving. These variations make sense, but threaten to become too complicated for the spirit of the game. I am curious if others have tried this one. 4. Hit and Run Discard: I hate "dead" cards. With one friend we always play that if you start the scenario with no cavalry units, then you can discard the Hit and Run at the time you draw it. Of course the card can become useful if you get a cavalry reinforcement, so we require the discard to be immediate upon drawing it. Here's to a great game! Brian Carr -- Posted from imo-r05.mx.aol.com [152.163.225.5] via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG Subject: Fw: Battle Cry house rules? Brady Severns wrote in message <39713657.8F10E368@earthlink.net>... Lee wrote: > We are contemplating a modest house rule to this effect: All > "Skirmish" cards are understood to read: "Order 1 unit in ANY > sector." This would provide a *little* more flexibility to mount a > very limited, local response. But I don't think it would change > anything so much as to notably alter the feel of the game. > > We play that a skirmish card allows you to move an infantry or > artillery in THAT flank up to 2 hexes. Infantry can move 2 and fire (a > baby Force March card) and arty can move one and fire. This makes the > card MUCH more interesting, and offers a tougher decision as to when to > use it. Interesting variant, though I'd rather call the card in that suation a "Hasty Attack" or a "Spoiling Attack" card. When I see the title of the "Skirmish" card, I'm still in the literal mindset of throwing a weak line of infantry forward to scout/pin the enemy. Which is not quite what the card does. If it allowed an infantry unit to be deployed across two (or more) hexes, however... hmm. Might actually work if games were played double-blind! > As far as command problems, I've stated elsewhere that we play with > seperate but equal decks. All special cards are in a seperate deck. > On your turn, you can take ONE card from the special deck, or elect to > take 2 from your command deck and KEEP one --- discard the other. You > must announce BEFORE you draw the number of command cards you intend to > draw. I'm anxious to give this a shot with folks in my group. Thanks for reminding me of it! Brady Subject: Fw: Battle Cry: Rifled Artillery Brady Severns wrote in message <39714C9B.B7B881FA@earthlink.net>... Okay, here's a quick variant I just thought of that you might add to your games: Rifled Artillery! Note: The concept of rifled artillery was that an explosive shell projectile fitted to leave a rifled bore would have greater range and accuracy than the typical solid shot fired from a typical smoothbore piece, such as the 12lb. Napoleon. These advantages were born out in practice. However, the drawbacks were that rifled artillery pieces were more demanding to make and difficult to maintain and so were few in number. Ammunition for these guns didn't pack quite the punch of their smoothboore cousins among massed troops, though their accuracy and effect against enemy artillery was an advantage. Rifled artillery saw action by both combatants. Though there were several manufacturers of rifled artillery, the most common piece among rifled artillery units (when found) was the 10# Parrott. Rifled Artillery performs like standard Artillery with the following differences: 1. Range: 7 hexes. Dice at range are: 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 2. Inflicting hits: Enemy artillery units are hit when a _cavalry_ symbol is rolled as well. 3. Availability: Before the start of each game, have each player roll a combat die. If the player rolls a _cannon_ symbol, that player may designate one of their artillery units as a Rifled Artillery unit. Use a flag chit or other marker to identify the unit as such. OPTIONAL RULE: Morale for ALL artillery units. Note: Artillery units were trained to support infantry in both the attack and defence and were loathe to leave a position while friendly infantry were nearby to help repel attacks or who were counting on their support to soften the enemy line. Therefore: When attacks are made against artillery units, they may reduce the number of hexes they are forced to retreat by one IF they are already adjacent to a friendly infantry unit.