Panzer General: Allied Assault . . . Delayed
Panzer General: Allied Assault showed up at my house from the math trade and I spent the last couple of evenings reading the rules. They aren't long or complicated, I've just been tired. The machanics of the game look pretty straightforward.
But, the biggest issue last night was getting the decks set up and ready to play for the scenario I was going after. In theory each card in the deck is part of one or more groups, where each group applies to a scenario. That's what the rules seem to indicate. There's a spot on the bottom of the card that has four or five deck numbers on them, so that for scenario A you pull all the "3" cards for the Americans and all the "6" cards for the Germans, that kind of thing. With only six scenarios in the book, they should have been able to have all the cards labeled properly and the scenario description should have indicated who got what. But that only appears to be an idea, not something actually implemented. I spent an hour last night getting my map laid out and cards into five different decks where I had to pick each out by name. I had wanted to play a turn or two just to get an idea for the flow. Instead I got my decks set up and my map pieces stacked neatly for quick deployment.
This game plays in 45-60 minutes and I spent an hour arranging cards. Granted this is solo and there's more decks and less people for the work in solo games, but they could have made it easier. As it stands I'll likely play the same scenario a couple of times before moving on to the next. I'm usually not one to whine about setup time but this particular instance kept me from actually playing. Some of the scenarios have "select 40 points worth of cards" written in the scenario which will make it even more complicated.
I may take a shot at gameplay tonight. Stay tuned.
S.