Orders Sheet

We have found it easier to have complete order information ( order status, arrival, etc and the actual order text ) in one place on a single sheet.

Explanations of abbreviations:

ArvTme= arrival time of the order
Sendr= Sender of the order
Recvr= Receiver of the order
Mtd= Method (IPV, AO, AW)
T= Type (Complex or Simple)
F= Force (F-O, F- 1, F-2)
Val= the acceptance table value
0rdtype= 0rder type (div goal, corps order, initiative, etc)
ORDER = text of the order
Status = status of the order (accepted at 1200, etc; D 1 or D2, etc)

Play Aid Tips

Combat Resolution -- We roll all 6 dice to resolve a combat at one time to cut down on the time required to pick up dice, roll them, etc. This is done by placing 6 different colored dice in a plastic cup or "backgammon-type" roller and rolling all 6 at once. Our system is as follows:

2 Red dice= Combat table dice #
1 Green die="rounder" or kicker to round the 1/2 results
1 Yellow die= Straggler table die #
1 white, 1 brown= Morale check dice #

Should a leader be present and casualties taken, re-roll the red dice to check if they are killed/wounded, before checking the morale. (2 additional dice, coded by size or color could be added and roll 8, for this purpose). We resolve Close Combats by having the DEFENDER roll first, with the morale results applied after the ATTACKER rolls his attack. The ATTACKER then rolls for his fire portion, with the morale check on the DEFENDER applied ONLY if the attacker had "passed" his morale check. This little system saves some time and makes combat resoludon easier.

[Ed. Note: In using the above system, I was at first confused between the "kicker" and straggler dice -- insisting to use the wrong die for the wrong thing. I found that substitunng a very small red die for the green one made it simpler and harder to confuse.]

Coded Strength / Point Markers

To save on having to pick up stacks to examine the full strength of a unit or check exactly how many gun points are under that artillery unit, we "code" our numbers with different colored blank markers.

For fire strength, we use white markers to represent B fire levels, black or green or any color really to represent C fire level. No marker at all is placed for an A level. Further, at most we place only a single strength marker under each brigade (representing that brigade's maximum fire level out of that hex).

Thus, an AB level brigade would have no marker under it. The Loss Sheet shows the actual strength level, the on board marker the max fire level, extending line is done by adding another appropriate marker under the extended line marker. Not only does this reduce stack sizes, it prevents brigade strength on the board from being immediately discerned (or at least reasonably estimated).

For gun and supply points we use 4 different colored blank markers to represent the numbers:

orange = 4
yellow = 3
pink = 2
white =1
(gradually "paling" out)
No marker means full strength of 5.

This coding system has made the "manual process" of playing the game much easier, since you can peek at the color marker to identify proper fire strength, and don't have to lift stacks while going "down the fire line".

These simple little things have made the CWB easier for us to play and served to make a really great game even more so.