Scourge of War Boards

Bought SOW Gettysburg 150th Anniv edition almost 2 yrs ago. I studied the instructions and played the tutorials. I thought I understood how to play. However, I am frustrated by how much the game plays itself and I guess I just don't understand it. I have questions about how to play and don't know who to communicate with regarding answers. Any suggestions?

Run through the tutorials, they are excellent training for moving troops. Check out YouTube, the videos are a great source for battle and movement.

Come try multiplayer.

You'll learn quick.

www.sowmp.com

tbedell,

Here is a youtube video that has some interesting information on Scourge of War: Gettysburg

Hope it helps :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6PP7Rl1mzY

If you want to see anymore, google the game in you tube.

Chamberlain

I think I have watched these but I could be wrong. Thanks, and I'll try.
Am I wrong to think that this game pretty much plays itself? Only once have I even taken or held an objective and it seems the opposition just plays better. And, I do not get at all letting a scenario play on after the time limit because watching the computer play itself is boring and a total waste of time.
Anyway, I will give the videos a look.

I watched several of the YouTube videos and found that they confirm my impression that the computer runs things to a large degree and that even though you may instruct a group to do something the computer may not allow it because of its inherent concept of the scenario. I hear the players expressing my frustrations in similar situations. So, I guess that is just the way the game works; often there is no way to "win" a scenario because in historic reality the side you are playing could not win. If you are lucky and skilled sometimes you can learn how to win a scenario. Other times, you are just at the mercy of the game and how it was programmed.

I watched several of the YouTube videos and found that they confirm my impression that the computer runs things to a large degree and that even though you may instruct a group to do something the computer may not allow it because of its inherent concept of the scenario. I hear the players expressing my frustrations in similar situations. So, I guess that is just the way the game works; often there is no way to "win" a scenario because in historic reality the side you are playing could not win. If you are lucky and skilled sometimes you can learn how to win a scenario. Other times, you are just at the mercy of the game and how it was programmed.

True, scenarios that were lost historically are more difficult to win, but they can be. All scenarios released through NSD are tested thoroughly for victory conditions, and are not released until a Major Victory can be achieved within a reasonable amount of repeat playing times.

So, what was the number a repeated plays that was deemed to be reasonable, and who makes the determination, and what level of expertise in playing games of this type was used as the criteria?

So, what was the number a repeated plays that was deemed to be reasonable, and who makes the determination, and what level of expertise in playing games of this type was used as the criteria?

Don't want to sound vague, or like we're holding back secret testing procedures, but there are no set numbers of repeat plays because of the varying skills of the testers...some top testers can achieve a Major Victory with one or two plays on a grognard rated scenario, whereas other players take many more plays to achieve a MV.

Like you quoted earlier, "If you are lucky and skilled sometimes you can learn how to win a scenario", let me add, somewhat lucky when more difficult variants don't appear, but skilled or experienced is the key, as this is a game of skill.

somewhat lucky when more difficult variants don't appear

This is a good comment as the AI doesn't do the same thing every time. There are variations of how it will approach the same tactical problem and this gives replay value to the scenarios.