Slitherine

http://www.awargamersneedfulthings.co.u ... erine.html

Thanks

Good review. I also initially found the game to be so-so but then got into it after a few games.

"...I am using the term Fog Of War to represent the fact that due to the chit pulling you have absolutely no say in what your forces can or cannot do for this turn." I am coming around to agree with this. Some traditional FOW might be nice so you cannot see where your opponent may be trying to flank you, but the whole chit pull uncertainty makes every turn interesting and adds to the replayability factor for the game.

"The AI is brutal, simply brutal. It will attack and find your weaknesses. It might be too offensively minded..." Yes, I would agree that the AI is "too" offensively minded. To the point of being suicidal, which forces the player to respond in kind to win. Ideally, there should be a modest force protection consideration for the AI to withdraw units rather than risk unnecessary shattering. The AI is pretty aggressive and we don't want to stifle that too much, but maybe something could be done to tone it down a notch.

I have a different view of the chit pull feature. I like the idea as it adds a an element of chaos and confusion to the game and creates the basic tenet of civil war battles. I have noticed that the AI seems to get to move first in most turns and I wonder if this is as designed. I would like to have more key assignments to be able to have more information like:
1. Hex's a unit can move to
2. line of site of a unit
3. Range & hex's of an artillery unit
4. all units of that particular unit's formation.

I am having problems telling when a round/turn ends or begins. And how can I tell who has the initiative? I read in the manual that if you have the initiative you can chose when to play your combat chit during your turn (page 12, under "6.Initiative"). I saw no indication of how to do this in game.