I thought I would take this opportunity, with the flanking thread going strong, to expand on one of the points that forumers are touching on.

I kept reading about "moving up to just out of archer range" and other such stuff. I wondered, "What's archer range?" There's no grid on the map; how do I know when to stop?"

The flanking thread is debating the boundaries of a "flank." Is it at 90 degrees from the face? 120 degrees?

And, how many cups of sake does it take to impair the accuracy of a Samurai Archer?

The beauty of this game is that these boundaries are no clearer to us than to a general in a real situation.

My friend annoyed me when I played against him in hex board wargames. He annoyed me because he was super-methodical. He counted out all of the hexes. He could calculate where any unit would be many moves ahead. He won the game before we started because I am a seat-of-the-pants player (play by intuition). My units would come one hex short of reaching one of his flanks at a critical moment. I am not blaming him for being so methodical; I was annoyed because I am not as good as he at that kind of logic. Hex board games reward that style of thought.

I think that level of calculation of details with hex games is unrealistic, especially in medieval warfare. It involves decisions based on a kind of mathematical accuracy that doesn't apply to real life situations.

So, until we find out that Sekigahara had a hex grid system painted on the ground, and the taisho could walk around the field counting how far each unit could move in three turns, and could determine the attack factor of a very tired cavalry unit charging downhill, I will enjoy the added realism that computerized wargames, and Shogun: TW in particular, provide.

So, don't worry about the exact numbers of the game. Learn to command by intuition, as the real generals did. We only need to be concerned with the numbers if something seems wrong and needs to be changed to better reflect real situations or provide better game balance.

Hey, I think this is my first Sword Dojo thread! Can I be a "Samurai Hero" yet?

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A murky puddle becomes clear when it is still.