I have played hidden movement with both systems [chits & maps]. Maps give a better sense of "fog of war", since you literally have no idea of what the enemy has or where it is. The disadvantages are : 1) you need a good, fair minded Umpire with an accurate map, who can be assertive if having to deal with complaints [such as "how on earth did those T34s get behind my flank without me hearing them?" despite the players troops being buttoned up in tanks, facing in the opposite direction & firing at an enemy to their front!...] 2) the aesthetic feel can be poor [the literal "empty battlefield"]. Counters/chits are easier to run [& are the only option if you don't have an umpire] but are a) anaesthetic however pretty; b) only partly successful in concealing units, since although some are dummies, some are obviously real units. It is impossible NOT to react to counters on the table, & you can "spot" where the enemy are roughly, which you can't with a map system. It requires a lot of skill to fool players with counters, but it can be done; 3) it can become confusing, & it's easy to make mistakes. I once led a massed T72 attack with a Regimental CO in a UAZ jeep as the point element, which I could have sworn was a BRDM A/car........ I have often thought that in order to combine the aesthetics of figures with the concealment of counters, more "realistic" counters are necessary. I have read about ideas for "multi-purpose Napoleonic inf" where you have a mass of scruffy nondescript figs in greatcoats who could belong to either side, just dump a lot on the flanks of 2 players & watch the fun.....For moderns it's harder, I did once toy with the idea of "inf counters" [20mm plastic figs painted black] & "vehicle counters" [something rough like those "truck-like objects" (TLOs) described previously on the mailer], but these are only marginally more aesthetic than counters. I find the map system more challenging to my generalship, but probably use the counter system more often. Sometimes I find players would rather just plonk the models on table & have done with it, as this is the whole point of the exercise i.e. to play with your laboriously painted toys..... At the end of the day you pay your money & take your choice. Back to Frontline Vol. 1 Iss. 2 Table of Contents Back to Frontline List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Rolfe Hedges This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com