On April 8, 1999, Vern Etzel wrote:

Thank you for your consideration of arguments regarding CGI "limited mobility" and it's departure in the making of Victory!

First, I'll make a recommendation regarding the "limited mobility" option. Please understand, it is by no means the only way to go about it-- just the one I'm leaning toward at the moment. An involved string of "forum" discussions attempting to fix the sequence of play might be a healthier remedy for Victory! than nit-picking at unit values and capabilities.

NEW SEQUENCE OF PLAY (Option 1)
1) Initiative phase-- each player rolls two dice for "Operation Points", which is also the initiative dice roll.

2) Operations phase-- each player, in his turn, may spend 0, 1 or 2 operation points to take 0, 1 or 2 actions after which a single round of combat may be conducted in any/all hexes of the player's choice

(a) Group move-- any/all units in a single hex may move to one or more hexes

(b) Regroup move-- any/all units able to reach a single destination hex may do so

(c) Withdrawl move-- does not cost an OP but does count as a "pass"

(d) Pass-- no move, combat round may occur, if all players pass in turn, go to next turn

(e) Offensive move-- costs 2 OP, may make 2 separate group/regroup moves at same time

Let me try to restate this and see if I understand it correctly:

The initiative roll also gives a player a certain amount of operation points. Let's say Player A rolls (9) and Player B rolls (4). Thus Player A can do (a) or (b) for the cost of one point, (c) or (d) which is free but ends his part of the turn, or (e) which costs two points. (Does combat occur at this point or after Player B goes?) Then Player B does the same, spending points to do something and/or continuing the round. (Once one player is out of points, he can still either retreat or pass, correct?) They continue until both players are either out of points or there are two "Passes" in a row. One round of combat occurs at the end of each "intermediate" round, correct?

3) Production phase-- all planes return to base and a round of production is taken

* Operation points can be purchased during production (added to "free" OPs from dice roll)

Can they be "saved" from turn to turn?

PLANES: All air units are returned to base at the conclusion of EACH combat round (whether or not combat occured)

Does this mean at the conclusion of each "intermediate" round as I have termed it? How does air response occur from the defender? Or is that not used anymore?

SUPPLY: A city can only support 2 blocks (any CV) per PP. This can be traced normally and through friendly ports to units at sea. (Hence, the "quick setup" allows 20 blocks for your starting 10 PP, but additional cadre will require a certain amount of Victory!)

I think on most maps it is 12, but in any case it is a safe bet that this will definitely conserve resources, etc. This seems a little drastic, but again, I have not actually played with this ruleset, so I know not where I speak . . .

STRATEGIC MOVES: These moves can be used in conjunction with normal moves; i.e. a group move could send two units into battle and another two off on strategic moves.

Note: Most battles will result from regroup moves as this is the only real way to call in air support. On the other hand, a group move could be used to send two air units into an existing battle and other troops elsewhere. There are plenty of strategies to consider when using this sort of sequencing system.

Yes, I can feel the wheels turning in my head. If anyone would like to offer some more suggestions on this, please feel free to chime in. Better yet, I would love to hear of someone who has actually played using this or similar rules. We can all surmise what "might" work, but to actually play it is a different story.

Yes, I went with the Rommel-style moves because I've always considered Rommel to be one of CGI's most interesting games-- playable for years (I've owned it since it came out way back when). Another method would be the Front/Bobby Lee strategy, but I couldn't come up with anything for that yet.

Columbia Games should bring Victory! back into it's fold somehow with their tradition of "command" rules. I think the above mentioned rules are relatively simple (and could be simplified further perhaps), but would eliminate the "everyone moves" concept.

I'll be playtesting this system over the Spring and get back to you on playability. I would very much like to hear comments from other concerned Victory! players on your website, perhaps getting this thing rolling into a productive discussion.

Vern

Thank you for taking the time to actually commit these ideas to "paper". I look forward to hearing more from you in the future. Again, if anyone else would like to comment or make suggestions about this "tack" in changing the Victory rules, please let me know. I'll post your ideas here or on my Victory Playtest page.

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