Initial Impressions of a Player New to Series

[Queeg]

I’ve never played any of the other DC games, so I thought it might be helpful to other players new to the series to share my initial impressions of DC:B. In short, though I’ve only begun to scratch the surface, I’m very impressed.

Great Presentation. The game is great visually and the UI seems very efficient and informative. The unit icons are great – very easy to see organizational and status info at a glance. The OOB screen is outstanding (please take note, AGEOD). The data overall is plentiful yet clear. Compared to WitE/WitW, where the data is plentiful but obtuse, this presentation does a great job of telling you what to actually do with the data. Just spending a few minutes browsing the various buttons was fun and informative. The UI just works.

No Death By A Thousand Counters. The one counter equals one division scale was an inspired, and courageous, design decision. I’m sure there are those who would prefer a more detailed scale, but I’m happy to see an Eastern Front game with a scale more compatible with living a real-life life. There are other games out there that allow you to personally assume the workload of the entire German General Staff, but I don’t have the time, energy or patience to re-fight the entirety of Barbarossa down to the last pair of long underwear. The scale here is perfect – manageable but still sufficiently epic.

Clearly Defined Point of View. I especially like how the game has a clear point of view for the player. Unlike many games where you simultaneously play the roles of God, Eisenhower and GI Joe, your role here is more limited (and realistic). The artillery abstraction is a good example: You don’t order that a specific hex be bombarded by specific guns for a specific period; instead, you order artillery assets to focus more heavily on a certain front. It fits the point of view. I like it.

I’m just getting going, but this game has the look of greatness.

[devoncop]

Nice post

Difficult to disagree with a word. It does indeed seem a very elegant design. I have very limited experience with the D.C. series having recently got Warsaw to Paris to check out the mechanics so if you or any other player wants a pbem game on the server in game please pm me and I will no doubt proceed to embarrass myself 😀. Happy to play either side and ideally at least a turn a day as I am luckily enjoying an early retirement !

[Toby42]

How is combat initiated? With the other games you had an assault button. Then you hit list and eligible units were shown, and you picked from the list. And trying to keep the number to around 100!

[devoncop]

Very similar except Artillery and air are strategically managed so no need to assign each turn . As as example the units in Army group North such as Ist Panzergruppe, 18th and 16th Army etc can be assigned the tactical air support by the Luftwaffe for the Northern sector which gives units under that Army or Panzergruppe combat bonuses until the Luftwaffe is reassigned.

Individual Armies similarly can be designated as receiving Theatre assets provided relations with the Army Group C in C are good enough !

The system really does work

[Barthheart]

ORIGINAL: Treale

How is combat initiated? With the other games you had an assault button. Then you hit list and eligible units were shown, and you picked from the list. And trying to keep the number to around 100!

Same combat mechanics in this game.

[rjh1971]

ORIGINAL: Barthheart

ORIGINAL: Treale

How is combat initiated? With the other games you had an assault button. Then you hit list and eligible units were shown, and you picked from the list. And trying to keep the number to around 100!

Same combat mechanics in this game.

But now you try to keep the number to 200, unless you attack from more than two hexes.