"Most Tenacious" Award

[Riley D. Smith]

Interesting replies all. Panzer...I agree with the rest...hang in there. I just got done with 2 weeks of working nights and one of the things I did was spend some "down time" just working through a couple of scenarios from different games. I took both sides and played them manually. Then I just carefully watched the results when making various attacks/defenses. See what works and what doesn't. Also it lets you see exactly what the combat results are for each side and you can compare that to the exact conditions/terrain/status of troops/leaders present or not/etc.

I also sat down and went through the entire users manual from start to finish. You (or any of the rest of us probably) would be suprised at the things you will learn simply from taking some time to read the manual (it also has a short tactics section that contains some things to always keep in mind).

As has been said, these games are pretty easy to learn, but it is equally easy to over-simplify the playstyle. Make sure that you are always taking every variable into account when attacking. What elevation is the target vice the firing unit? Are you adjacent? What kind of hex side are you fighting across? What terrain is each unit in? What type of weapons (and ammo loads...this one cost me a major loss) are the attackers using and against what type of target?

Take a look at the victory conditions every time you play a scenario. Play to the specific victory conditions. Sometimes what is required runs completely opposite what you might either want to do or what you think you should do.

Playing the upper players on the ladder is a good thing as that is where the experience lies (present company exluded...Ha) however, it is going to be pretty hard to achieve wins against them. Especially guys in the top 20 or so. I play most of my games against a fairly small group of opponents and it just happens that most all of them are in or near the top 10. If I were to rate myself in SB on a 1-10 scale I'd probably barely achieve a 6.

Keep on working at it. If you want...drop me a game and we can go off ladder just for some practice play (or ladder score it...I just don't want to appear to be a shark).

All the rest of youse guys...I am like that tough little dude that is too small to pick fights but always does. He gets his arse handed to him more often than not...but he ain't going away. Ha.

And Nik me laddie....someday I WILL have your ladder spot. heheh.