OCS Refresher Guide 4 FOG of WAR and Managing Uncertainty | Operational Combat Series

[@WARdROBEPlaysWWII]

Wow, so many “tricks” to help play this game. It’s nice to hear/see these ways to play the game that can add some FOW. Great work again sir.

[@RvTWargames]

I didn't realise it myself until I started combing through the rules.

[@joev8106]

great series! possibly best OCS content on youtube. so glad to see this

[@RvTWargames]

Thanks very much, Joe. Glad you're finding it useful. OCS had the 'bad luck' to predate KZbin so it's footprint on KZbin is a lot smaller than its importance as a major game series deserves. Hopefully some of the new titles in design will be better supported.

[@marknelms8694]

Really loving these videos and very much looking forward to more

[@RvTWargames]

More planned. Next one should be about combat tactics.

[@marknelms8694]

Love these videos. Helping me understand the rules better. Can't wait to see mkre!

[@RvTWargames]

Next up probably something on combat - How to combine units to do what missions and how to exploit the sequence of play. Perhaps next month unless it turns out to be very complex.

[@Hex2Hex]

Well done Dickie!!!

[@RvTWargames]

Cheers, @Hex2Hex. I really appreciate that coming from another excellent KZbinr!

[@michaeloberly6129]

Thanks for these excellent videos.

[@RvTWargames]

You're very welcome Michael. Glad you found them interesting. Next one next month, hopefully.

[@WARdROBEPlaysWWII]

I can understand wanting to create your own website, would the group over at OCS depot be willing to share your files? Man, I don’t mean to make more work for you. But man o man, thank you for the shout out.

[@RvTWargames]

It was a test to see if you watched to the end 😉 I want the (little) website to host my BCS, Rule the Waves and other games stuff. Just one page. But I'll message Chip Saltsman and ask him if he wants to put the scripts up on the OCS Depot too (he already links to the videos). And I love you're work and the easy chat you have with @Hex2Hex and the others. The very spirit of friends enjoying chatting about games and stuff.

[@NiekrytyEdward]

We wait for the 5th episode :D

[@RvTWargames]

@@NiekrytyEdward I'm working on the scripts for 5, 6, and 7 at the moment. Just getting feedback on early drafts.

[@NiekrytyEdward]

@@RvTWargames great 😃 Nice to read that, because that series is great in my opinion!

[@RvTWargames]

You could do worse checking out OCS World while I mess with my animations and make sure my T's are crossed. youtube.com/@ocsworldari?si=MZSYqCdPipRJiHYQ

[@joeperez3520]

I own every game in the OCS series and have understood the brilliance of the game-system since the original Guderian's Blitzkrieg, but no rule from ANY game or game-system rubs me the wrong way as the FOW rules in OCS. I have NEVER played a game in which one or more participants have routinely failed to accurately add up all their combat strengths and/or terrain choice modifiers during combats. At the very least, in games I play in, once combat occurs between opposing hexes, every single combat unit taking part in that combat is revealed.

[@RvTWargames]

That is how I've played too, mainly in the spirit that's it's so easy to make mistake adding things up and forgetting mods (not to mention the eternal 'have you paid for that' combat supply question). But we tried it the other week playing a few turns of Smolensk and it was a small help to the Soviets, so that their weak army in the swamps and forests wasn't a complete open book to the German panzer hip shot and overrun machine. So you might want to try and experiment for some games. Others, like say DAK and its nowhere to hide terrain, it might be less appropriate.

[@joeperez3520]

@@RvTWargames 👍

[@HistoricalConflict]

AMEN

[@chadcannady7532]

Looking forward to the new OCS website that you are creating! Any possibility (maybe at the end of all the refreshers) of going through a full half-turn to bring all these refreshers to life? I, for one, would find it incredibly valuable to see all these concepts put into action in a half (or even full) turn! Cheers!

[@RvTWargames]

Oddly, Chad, you're the second person to suggest this, this week. And yes, a blow by blow 'open game' desecting all the pertinent rules seems an excellent idea. Next up well be how to utilise the sequence of play and unit combinations to get the greatest bang for your buck. Not sure how many videos that will be. But I might well do the extended playthrough after that. Which means probably in the late autumn. I might use the DAK face to face game that I'll be returning to work my friends. Thanks for the suggestion.

[@HistoricalConflict]

As an OCS junkie (sadly my channel has devolved into this OCS learning thing where I make idiotic mistakes constantly) I'll be honest this is the most ridiculous rule in OCS. Partly because it seems meant for tournament people and also because I play solo and forget the stacks half the time anyway. Do we really need these intricate stack peeking instructions jammed into the rulebook?

[@RvTWargames]

I tip my hat at your excellent channel, @GamerHudson. Not to mention your great taste in large-scale operational wargames. Obviously, I hide my idiot play off camera, reserving it for when I play face to face with my friends. Sometime beer is involved. I agree that the whole 4.9 Fog of War rules can be pernickety and a licence for people to be jerks. My gaming friends usually ignore them and play openly because it is so super easy to make unintentional mistakes (beyond the universal "have you paid for that" combat supply question). We had a go at using 4.9 in our last DAK game (to be continued in mid-October). It worked OK, but then it is a tiny front line of a handful of hexes. However, the "good" fog of war parts in OCS, aka chance and uncertainty, all the other stuff aside from 4.9 is much more important, much more interesting and much playable than 4.9 (and most of the video is about that stuff).

[@HistoricalConflict]

@RvTWargames All good points. I am currently trying Time for Trumpets but deep down inside I am waiting for OCS Crimea :)

[@RvTWargames]

Exactly. That's why we're going down the DAK nostalgia path, twiddling our thumbs waiting for OCS Crimea and BCS Valley of Tears.

[@WARdROBEPlaysWWII]

Oh, and how’s your health?

[@RvTWargames]

Doing very well. Back up to 95% me or more. Just need to keep up the regular exercises to complete everything, but barely notice anything. Thanks for asking!

[@pm71241]

Hehe... "don't leave high AR single step units alone"... Have you played Burma?

[@RvTWargames]

Sadly not.