Tactical and Strategic Cards - Appendix I

In Appendix I Strategic and Tactical Cards, the rules state the following:

To keep it simple the Player chooses before each game the cards he prefers (according to budget) discarding 2 Tactical Cards for a Strategic Card.

I am not sure what that sentence means regarding discarding cards.

You buy tactical cards and then for any battle you can exchange 2 tactical cards for a strategic card if you want one. So imagine that you spend 12 points for 4 tactical cards on your list. You could then hand two of those cards in at the very beginning of the game before set up and take a strategic card in its place.

As an aside, we tried the tactical cards and gave them up. The concept is good but we found two issues.

1. Some of the cards were not well thought out.

2, It slowed the game further. Since Impetus 2 plays slower than Impetus 1 the cards made the new game even slower.

Thanks Gaius, that makes sense.

Just curious, which particular cards do you have issues with?

kenntak wrote:

Just curious, which particular cards do you have issues with?

All of them! To be honest it has been so long since we used them that I can't exactly remember. I think we generally found them gimmicky and as I said it just delayed things. We decided to "man up" and accept the power of the dice to rule our Impetus lives. The only test that matters really in the end is the CT everything else is pretty much irrelevant. We do allow Genius commanders to have a Strategy Card (as a perk.)

Just to say that I quite like the Tactical cards as a way of adding more colour to otherwise generic troop types. Although I take GC's point that they may slow the game slightly.

I see them as part of a background narrative. For example, TC4 'Storm of Arrows' would represent the extra arrow supplies the Parthian commander organised for Carrhae. Maybe TC5 'Iron Discipline' for Sula's elite legions. Or simply a rousing speech before the battle, TC7 'Motivated Troops'.

If I was organising a competition I'd probably suggest they not be used, just another complexity in a tight schedule. But they can be fun.

That's exactly what I did with Storm of Arrows in creating my Carrhae scenario. It was necessary to balance the points, because the Romans had a lot of troops. It worked great, and resulted in a very interesting battle which the Parthians won. However, it was a pretty evenly matched game on the standard battlefield size. It would not have been as close if the battlefield was twice the size, because it would have allowed the Parthians more space to maneuver, and to shoot and run away.