OBA: Threat or Menace?

[Pitman]

What is your attitude towards OBA in ASL? Do you like it okay? Wish it were tweaked? Don't like it at all?

What is your attitude towards scenarios with OBA (see poll)? Is it a factor in choosing a scenario?

[Tork]

Interesting question--wish the poll could have been multiple choice.

OBA is a high risk, high reward activity. _IF_ everything goes right and you manage to get one or more FFEs down on the target, then life is great. But getting to that point has a lot of potential failure sources.

I like SSRs where the attacker automatically starts off with contact and battery access. After all, the attack was supposed to wait until the artillery support had started, right?

[JR Brackin]

Interesting question--wish the poll could have been multiple choice.

I like SSRs where the attacker automatically starts off with contact and battery access. After all, the attack was supposed to wait until the artillery support had started, right?

I agree with Tork. I like when you are given an automatic black chit for the first mission. This seems to aid the balance. There is nothing worse than expecting SMOKE or a mission and getting a pair of red chits.

[WaterRabbit]

To me, OBA is a great asset that should be in most any scenario. It forces play that is more realistic. It prevents someone from stacking 3 HMGs / 3 Squads / Best leader in one Location, because it will likely be blown to smithereens.

It forces maneuver over sit and shoot tactics.

I mostly think that scenario designers do not spend enough effort on balancing the effects of OBA. Almost all use of OBA should have SSRs that highlight the influence OBA should have. Limiting the rate of fire missions, making them automatically available, providing some protection against two red draws or breaking the radio/phone out of the gate, etc. these are the areas that create the most problems for OBA use. In many ways an off-board observer with a pre-registered hex mitigates this, since the contact is always automatic.

[DaveStory]

With all the discussion about balance recently, OBA has got to be the greatest potential 'unbalancer'. How many scenarios' balances are predicated on a side getting a few good FFEs on board?

However I have had fun with OBA in the past more often than not (when I get Battery Access), so I think it is a good feature of the game and would not hesitate playing a scenario with it.

[Beardo1976]

I've never tried OBA but am looking forward to doing so.





Jason

[Legion]

OBA can be an absolute winner (as in the current game of 'Gavin's Gamble' that i am playing the moment) or it can fail spectacularily (4 red chits in 5 draws during the climatic end of game CGS's of B:RV). Either way it's effect is something no ASL-er can fail to pay attention to.

I love playing games with OBA and am prone to choosing OBA games over non-OBA games.

Also, any player who restricts himswlf to not playing with OBA (or Night, Air Support, Armour etc, etc) also restricts themself from playing CGs, and that is a huge loss.

[ScoobySnacks]

Artillery was huge but did come at a price. Is there any scenario where the attacker has to deal with friendly fire to randomly alter the strategy after setup? Friendly fire happened quite often in reality but I am not really aware of scenarios that re-create that side of the war? Not sure how balanced the effects would make a scenario, but it would randomise and individualize each playing.

[Doug Kirk]

At home or when playing for fun, I am all for arty. It may even increase my chances of playing a scenario. I love toys in a scenario.

Arty only affects my scenario selection process at a tourney. But even then, I don't absolutely rule out OBA scenario. At the Open in 2005, I drew 4 straight red cards in Death at Carentan vs Dave Ramirez and Acts of Defiance vs Wild Bill. I won both games without any OBA, but I don't want to try that again! Still, at tourneys I shy away from OBA scenarios.

[tekay44]

Played my first scenario, Danger Close, with oba. Wasn't as daunting as the rule book makes it out to be. 'Course, it helps when your opponent walks you through it. I can see how it could have a major impact( no pun intended) on the outcome of a game.