Newbie Questions

[Mr Grumpy]

Also, I wondered about other optional rules. Many of them make perfect sense to me. But I'm worried that activating them will mess with the "balance" of the scenarios? Of course wargamers are usually not that competitive (more interested in the "experience"), but still. Maybe playing mirrormatches is the best solution? But then knowing about the enemy's strength and initial dispositions also ruins a game. That's the big problem of any scenario-based (rather than sandbox/custom battle) wargames.

I prefer to play with the "default" optional rules as they were selected when the title was tested and selecting additional rules can skew play balance or break a scenario entirely, however if both players agree to additional rules and both players fully understand their effects then there should be no issues.   

Mirror games can be fun and do iron out any balance issues by allowing each player to play what could be the stronger side, but as you say its downside is that it removes some of the FOW that makes these games so much fun.