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Congratulations to John. This is a great game in one of the best operational game system.
But I have a problem and I would like to know the John´s thoughts about it: How can the russian player to advance, attack and defend using the optional rule 21.3 (Independents and fuel expenses) and not using 12.5c?
I´m playing with the 1st Baltic Front. We are playing turn 8 and I have great problems with the supply, moving the artillery and AT russian units with foot MP and not supporting theese units to my foreces around Daugavpils.
I only used 1 artillery barrage at the whole game, because I have not supply for it. I only barrage with the planes. And I cannot use Overruns because I must spend 1T for fuel and 2T for attack (only using 1 tank brigade).
John, please, can you say me which fuel rule would use you for play the Baltic Gap?
Thanks.
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Malcolm Cameron
Australia
Sydney
NSW
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I am playing a campaign as the Soviet side at the moment. It is tough to keep the forward momentum going using standard series rules and no optionals. I suspect that using the optional fuel restrictions would only make sense if a very experienced player was taking the Soviet side against a relatively new player.
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John Kisner
United States
Windsor Heights
Iowa
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There are only a few of the series rulebook optionals that are EVER worth using (in my opinion). 21.2, 21.4, and 21.5 are pretty good, and I use those if the rest of the group wants to, but basically NEVER use the other ones.
And I am a bit on the wild-and-crazy side, at least compared to series designer Dean Essig, who doesn't use any of the series options when he plays.
So I cannot stress strongly enough that the optional rules in the series booklet definitely DO NOT represent the best way to play.
Also want to stress there is a lot of errata for Baltic Gap (sorry about that!), so make sure you dowload the errata. There is also a House Rules & FAQ pdf that you might find interesting. Both can be found at this link:
http://web.me.com/kisnerjohn/Site/OCS_Downloads.html
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Thank you, John, by your fast reply.
I know your page and your errata list (very few and less important, so, a game well designed), but the errata list doesn´t resolve the russian supply problem.
But your reply about your optional rules use says to me which is the problem. There are very few russian suply at the game for to use the 21.3 optional rule. I can sure to you that using this optional rule the russian independents units cannnot reach to Riga (supporting to russian infantry and tank and mech corps) until the russian player regauge the rail lines.
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John Kisner
United States
Windsor Heights
Iowa
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I see your point, Enrique. I will try and reply to it here.
The is a relatively small group that has been testing OCS games for years now. We are connected via email and Gamers-l and whatnot, and over time there has developed some common understandings that have not been written down.
An important one is this: you aren't supposed to test an OCS game using any of the optional rules. (But some people bend this, and use proprtional strength and the aircraft range effects, which they cannot live without.) The problem with the optional rules is they tilt the balance in ways that will be hard to predict, and it's hard enough to balance one of these games if every group is playing by the same rules.
What we should start doing, and I will try and add this into The Blitzkrieg Legend before I forget, is give some direction in the exclusive rulebook for how each of the series optionals might shift the balance of play. For example, if I had done this in Baltic Gap I would have said something like this: "Do not use the series option on independent units in this game, since in Baltic Gap there are game-specific optional rules to handle independent units. The series options related to air units work well in this game, but note they will tend to hurt the Soviet player overall. The Recon and Attacking Empties options are definitely not advised here. The Divisional Lines option is a definite wildcard that I have no experience with whatsoever... try it at your peril and if you do let me know how it worked!"
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