CarpeGuitarrem
2013-11-29, 11:47 AM
I suspect this is an incredibly niche game, but I recently found it at the FLGS, and will soon have all three sets. BoardGameGeek link here (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamefamily/4563/pocket-battles)
In summary: they're sets of tile-based wargames where you first build your armies, deploy them, and then smash them against one another. Troops have various traits and hit chances, and you amalgamate them into Units.
Why I Like It: The customization is awesome. Each Troop (a single tile) has a health value, various dice results that it scores hits on, and possibly a special trait. When you begin combat, you'll roll one or more dice, and every result that matches a result on one of the Troops in your unit triggers a "hit" for each time that result pops up in the unit.
So, you can combine troops to maximize your hit chances (i.e., cover 2-6 on their hit results) or combine them to maximize the damage done (i.e., group together troops that have matching numbers, so that a die rolling that number dishes out 4+ damage.) I love the way that the customization is elegant but powerful; I'll probably spend a good amount of time figuring out strong unit combinations. It's a great, intuitive way to apply "combined arms".
As another aside: the battles are incredibly fast. It's a "filler" wargame with a strong depth that also plays out in a half-hour. And the box is about the size of two decks of standard playing cards, so it's immensely portable.
Anyone else stumbled across this game? I only just started messing with it, via the Orcs vs. Elves set. Played solo to try it out, and they've got one win apiece. (Orcs smashed the first time, then I rebuilt the Elves and they won.)
In summary: they're sets of tile-based wargames where you first build your armies, deploy them, and then smash them against one another. Troops have various traits and hit chances, and you amalgamate them into Units.
Why I Like It: The customization is awesome. Each Troop (a single tile) has a health value, various dice results that it scores hits on, and possibly a special trait. When you begin combat, you'll roll one or more dice, and every result that matches a result on one of the Troops in your unit triggers a "hit" for each time that result pops up in the unit.
So, you can combine troops to maximize your hit chances (i.e., cover 2-6 on their hit results) or combine them to maximize the damage done (i.e., group together troops that have matching numbers, so that a die rolling that number dishes out 4+ damage.) I love the way that the customization is elegant but powerful; I'll probably spend a good amount of time figuring out strong unit combinations. It's a great, intuitive way to apply "combined arms".
As another aside: the battles are incredibly fast. It's a "filler" wargame with a strong depth that also plays out in a half-hour. And the box is about the size of two decks of standard playing cards, so it's immensely portable.
Anyone else stumbled across this game? I only just started messing with it, via the Orcs vs. Elves set. Played solo to try it out, and they've got one win apiece. (Orcs smashed the first time, then I rebuilt the Elves and they won.)