Death in the Dark Continent question?

[Happy Wanderer]

Gents,

For those that have played DitDC/have the rules, a question popped up tonight regards the deployment in the Planned Attack scenario.

The scenario set up says…

Planned Attack
In this situation the defender is awaiting the attacker in one of his towns or villages, or his camp in the case of an invading expedition …."The defender deploys 75% of the attacker’s points total. Both sides must deploy a baggage train on the table at the start. The attacker may choose to deploy along either a long or a short table edge. The defender must first deploy a village or camp, any fortifications he wishes to use, and all his figures, in his own half of the table. Up to 2 of his units may be in ambush: the rest must be placed on the table at the start of the game. The attacker must then place at least half of his units, plus his baggage, within 6 inches of his own table edge. He may dice to bring on the rest as late arrivals.


Question is…
Reading the above text …does the attacker choose the table long or short edge BEFORE the defender places down a village or camp, or, does the defender place the village or camp down first, THEN the attacker chooses to come on from his chosen short or long edge (now having seen which edge will give him most advantage to move onto his objective)?

It’s a bit confusing and affects the way the scenario plays out based on the 8 turn scenario time limit.

Any old hands at DitDC that can help on this would be appreciated.

Cheers

Happy W.

[Grimjack]

The soon to be 'old' edition of the rules is a little confusing isn't it? I'm looking forward to the hardback, super-sized, more reader friendly edition which is being worked on now.

We've played this scenario both ways but, more often than not, we aim for the defender's village going down first, then the attacker chooses his angle of attack. The fact that the defender can place his units in ambush, etc. is supposed to alleviate the attacker's ability to enter from his chosen edge.

[Happy Wanderer]

Thanks Grimjack

That makes sense and how we played it but it can be read the other way, with the attacker choosing a side, then the defender putting down his village in his half of the table i.e. the half the attacker has just told him is his!....yeah..confusing.

If there is one thing I'd say to Chris P regards the second edition is take a leaf out of the flames of war crowd and use pictures to clearly show how the scenarios work..and do not reference previous scenarios for deployment information in other scenarios...just make each self contained.

Hope the next version is more expansive and explanatory where needed, but they are in pretty good shape as they are.

Cheers

Happy W

[Leigh Metford]

How does the defender know which half is 'his' until the attacker defines it for him by selecting an opposing edge?

I know his wording can be imprecise, but Peers rules share a lot of commonalities, and in his others any tricks such as flank attacks - which coming on from a 'side' edge would essentially amount to - and the like are usually clearly spelled out as specific options in particular scenarios.

[Grimjack]

Chris is only loosely involved in the 2nd edition, although I believe there will be extra material. Overall, it's a much slicker book, to be published by North Star, which will no longer contain quite so many confusing aspects and have clear examples embedded.

[Happy Wanderer]

Nice to know that Grimjack.

If you see my review (posted today) detailing some aspects of the presentation of the rules being my only gripe... only a minor gripe mind you. I think if this side of the game is focused on for improvement then it'll be a popular second edition seller.

Hope Northstar give it the treatment  

Cheers

Happy W

[Belisarius]

Hi , HW.  My reading of this is : 1/  Defender deploys his 75% of Attackers points In His Half of the table. 2/ Attacker chooses long / short side In His Half of the table  3/ Def. deploys camp / village & remainder of his figures In His Half  4/ Attacker places half his units within 6" of his chosen table edge and dices for the remainder.   Hope this helps , l,m looking forward to the revised rules but hope they,re not in the £30 bracket , Osprey seem to have got their pricing right at about £12.  Your QRS sheet is marvellous btw.

[Happy Wanderer]

My reading of this is : 1/  Defender deploys his 75% of Attackers points In His Half of the table. 2/ Attacker chooses long / short side In His Half of the table  3/ Def. deploys camp / village & remainder of his figures In His Half  4/ Attacker places half his units within 6" of his chosen table edge and dices for the remainder.  

Actually the defender in this scenario gets access to all his points (300) but can only deploy a third of his units. IMO you're confusing defender's points allowed in the Planned Attack scenario with how the units are deployed...it's the deployment that's the same...not the points....sigh.

Barker-ese description at its best

...it's clear that the author knew exactly what he meant but trying to interpret these thoughts by mixing the description of two scenarios to describe set up was totally the wrong call. Not a big deal but this is exactly what I'm talking about...each scenario needs absolute clarity and autonomy in its description from any other scenario...something I hope will clarified in version 2  

 I think it's pretty clear that it's not clear  


Your QRS sheet is marvellous btw.

Your welcome! I can assure you it will make play smoother