Hail Caesar vs To the Strongest

[Eric the Shed]

That activation mechanic is the worst part about Hail Caesar and Black Powder.  I've played in my one and last game, and seen many more, where one player consistently rolls poorly and gets to sit there for a four hour big convention game and never gets to actually play.   I would rather stuff cupcakes in my eyes.
 
Re-rolls can mitigate this a bit, but would not entice me to play again, because one player still has the chance of being 'that player'.  I'll only play this sort of game with the house rule that the first activation always works, but you don't get to roll for additional actions unless the first roll was an actual success.

I dont disagree with your point BUT we mitigate this by having more commanders commanding fewer units, plus the General/Battle Commander can give either a reroll or command any unit on the table provided it has not already received/been sent an order.

[LouieN]

A clarification question around Hail Caesar.  Does becoming Shattered means having hits double of your stamina in that combat round or accumulated total over the game? 

For example a shaken heavy Infantry unit takes six more casualties in combat.  It is shattered? 

1. Yes because it had six already (shaken) and took six more for a total of 12 (x2 stamina)
2.  No because only six in this combat and shaken has no associated "casualties".  Even though you can rally to remove casualties of a shaken unit.   

I am leaning to #1.  I am trying to judge how often units break off the board.   

Thanks

[Ran The Cid]

#1.  6 for shaken plus 6 more in that round of combat.  But if the unit only takes 5 hits, the unit lives on in shaken status and you need 6 more next round. 

In practice, units fall back or are removed after checking on the break chart.  -5 on the break chart is hard to survive.

[LouieN]

Thank you Ran

[Dr. Zombie]

I like both games. But they do two very different things. TtS i very fast paced and you can play a game with rather large armies in an evening. And it is easy to learn. You can teach it to people with no wargaming/boardgaming experience in a turn. We play on a board where we have only marked the corners of the grid, so it is not as visible so the grid does not bother me at all. My main "issue" with TtS is that in combat you cannot really stack the odds in your favour. You charge in and hope to draw a good card and that your opponent does not.
I like combat in HC better, where you can stack the odds a bit with supports and/or a commander to your help the charge.