Total Transparency In Your Gaming?

[Weird WWII]

Got a question for you folks, if you have off-board support or reinforcements, do you tell your opponent or let then discover it when guns are blazin'?  I'm talking say a platoon of Pursing tanks heading in, or a squad or two of German FJs en-rout via a couple Dragon copters or some jump boys heading down in a turn or two?  Would you even tell your opponent that they are coming before they arrive?  What about hidden or dug in units like a sniper team or camouflaged bunker?

We don't give anything away when we play.  Reinforcements arrive unexpected making the game more stressful and fun.  We do make some calls that that kinda stuff enters on the owning players side or a random table edge which can make things really interesting when that CH21 makes its entrance next to a Wirbelwind or those Banzai-screaming Japanese emerge from the woods in front of those Zippo M4s or Satan M3s.  The game we play uses Sighting and Awareness Checks so as things are discovered we place them on the board but not before hand in most cases unless some kind recon was done before the battle proper.

Just curious on what you guys do?
Brian

[has.been]

I always fancied doing the last invasion of Britain, Fishguard in Wales, where the French surrendered to the militia because they saw British regulars appear on the surrounding hills. There were no British regulars anywhere near, it was in fact lots of local women in traditional Welsh costume (red jacket with black hats) curious to see the expected battle. This I would recreate by laying lots of British line infantry on a side table that the French player could see while making copius references about reenforcements.  I did something similar in a WW2 game. It was set in the early stages of Barbarossa. The German players were made well aware of how  fantastic the Russian T34s & KV 1s were compared to their Pz IIIs. Lots of T34s & some KV 1s were placed on a side table for the Germans to see. The Russian attack came during the night (poor visability) Much was made of hearing Russian tanks moving closer. The German players started withdrawing, this soon turned into a near rout as they all sought to get back across the bridge to their rear. When the Russian tanks came into view I put on several early war light tanks, but by then the Germans had given up their advantages. I never lie to players, but often fail to tell ALL the truth.

[Abbner Home]

Most of my WWWII games are directly or indirectly part of my WWWII RPG. Many are GM'd by me. Others that are more in the background we use maps and notice rolls. We're all role players at heart so it's easy for us.

[Cory]

Depends on the game and the opponent as well if their is a GM. Gms being unusual we sometimes use scenario cards that have a series of built in options as well as random event cards that allow for upgrades or additional units.

As an example in a skirmish game last year I knew fom pregame scouting the other player had two tanks but by mid game hadn't seen them (unbeknownst to me he had swapped them out for victory points). He then played a random event card that allowed two blind cards to be placed on my empty left flank that drove towards my undefended rear - I pulled back half my forces just to find out one blind was runnaway livestock and the other was his half squad of signalmen.

[Ballardian]

As Cory says, it depends - as long as everyone is on board with the notion, generally disclosing your list/OOB to your opponent prevents the 'you didn't tell me that!' moments, particularly in pick-up games with new opponents. If you're playing someone you know well, the 'surprise' is more acceptable.