OCS certainly seems like a complex game for those of us with limited gaming time. And in a way it is. But like other games, the core rules that govern it are rather simple. So the trick is to find the core rules. Get those down, then the rest fall in line. I found that my military experience actually helped me in this system. Some games I think are counter to actual military operations; OCS is not.

Rick (left) and Roger (right) getting down and dirty with OCS.

"Shoot Move and Communicate" was what I was taught as a 2LT by my first CO. I took his words to heart since he had served in Vietnam as a platoon leader and a CO. And as I reflect on the game, those same principles hold true. Focus on the rules about combat (Shoot), movement (Move) and supply (a broad interpretation of Communicate). Those rules are covered in the Version 3.0 Series rules numbered: 6.0 Ground Movement, 8.0 Overrun, 9.0 Combat, and 12.0 Supply. These rules are the core around which all others work.

Now all I needed to do was get into a game and start playing. Lots of folks told me that Tunisia or Sicily would be the best games to learn with. But my gaming budget was rather tight, and at the time I had only GB and Burma. Also my learning project started right about the time Version 3.0 of the rules were about to hit the street. So when I asked on the gamers-I email list about learning OCS with my old GB game, most folks said, "Don't use the old rules!"

So what was I to do? HomerCon 2001! For years I had been trying to get to this event and that thing called a job had thwarted me each time. But this was going to be the year. I had even gone to the extent to change jobs so that I could have a bit more flexibility in my schedule and take vacation when I wanted too. (My wife just thinks I changed so I didn't have to travel as much.)

And I could not have been more fortunate. I lined up to play Sicily with David Demko and Roger Hyman. As most of you know, David is not only the editor of this fine magazine, but also the guy who did much of the preliminary work on the Sicily game and wrote the index for the series rules. Roger did extensive editing on the latest version of the OCS rules. And both were extremely patient with me in explaining how the system worked. Roger had me play the British while David played the evil Nazis with their Italian sidekicks. See Roger's article for the gritty details of how the game went.

The British were in some really awful terrain. It's pretty easy to see why the US had the run of most of the island and the Brits were slogging their way up the eastern coast. The west part of the island is really ready made for a fast moving force. As I moved ever so slowly kicking the Italians who had not surrendered out of the little towns and ports, the US forces were having a field day just pushing everything out of their way. True to history I was complaining that I wasn't getting necessary supplies and that the US were not helping me at all. This made David, Roger, Dean and others chuckle from time to time.

"Amateurs talk about tactics, professionals talk about logistics." This was another saying that I had come to know in my time as an Infantry officer in the Army. I suspect the Quartermasters popularized it, but it is extremely true. And in no other game system have I seen logistics done so simply and so effectively. Being a longtime player of SCS did help me learn OCS. In both games supply is not something to be ignored. I've won more than one Ardennes game because the German player didn't factor in his ponderously slow moving supply units correctly. But in OCS the supply system is moved up a notch.

Being out of supply is bad, but in OCS just being in supply isn't enough. If you don't have supply points available you might not be able to do anything. I learned to keep internal stocks up. During one attack I had to burn internals to finish the attack (those darn Americans had hoarded all the supplies). And it took me 2-3 turns before I had all of the units back up to full stocks. Word to the wise: be very cautious about using internals.

And while we are talking about supply, I found out why railroads are important. Railroads in most other games are an interesting terrain feature, but many times they add little to the game, being just another "road like feature." But in OCS they are your lifeblood. Roger was busy capturing RR hexes and I was wondering what the heck he is doing.

Now part of the reason that I didn't think it was important was that my AO was very small compared to his. But really I didn't understand that this is the main supply line for my units. Suddenly, as I started to gain some space, I understood why I needed those rail lines!

When I was a heavy motor platoon leader, I once had my 5 trucks and a jeep nearly out of fuel late in the night far from any refuel point, which is counter to how many games work. Most games would have you believe that every jeep, motorcycle, truck, prime mover, halftrack, and tank in a given AO always has all the gas and oil it needs to move around. OCS doesn't do this; I think it reflects reality. Fueling up a division, or a single unit, costs supply. Even if you have one of those way-cool-fast-moving-hard- hitting armor units, if you don't fuel up, they aren't moving. And you can't even move these guys the "one hex" movement. No fuel, no move.

Leg units (uncool as they may seem) are certainly able to move along. They just engage the LPCs (Leather Personal Carriers, or boots) and move out. If it weren't for this, I wouldn't have made it anywhere the first few turns of the Sicily game. Since the bloody Americans were getting all the supplies! And I found that a Leg HQ is one of the coolest things to have. Yes, they can't throw as far and can't move as fast, but they can move with out fueling and sometimes that is all you need.

So what can I tell you that can help you learn OCS? I suggest a few things.

1) Learn SCS. These games are simple, not easy. They give you the "feel" for an OCS game. Ardennes is a good one because the Germans especially are very supply bound.

2) Get Sicily, and maybe Tunisia too. I haven't played Tunisia yet so I can't say, but everyone says that is a good learning game.

3) Remember "Shoot, Move and Communicate."

4) Dive in and play, really the water is fine!

So how did the Sicily game go?

Roger's article has most of the details, but I have to tell you about my final assault, across the Malati Bridge. This was hitting some pretty topnotch FJ troops. I managed to get enough supply to hit them with a pretty good barrage which did DG them. (My constant whining had finally paid off.) David managed to DG one of my attacking stacks in the Reaction Phase. Then I launched the ground assault. So I rolled on the surprise table, and I rolled snake eyes! And just to make it worse I rolled a 6 on the shift! OK, so now I go from the 6:1 in Close terrain to the second worst column on the Combat Table. Then I rolled the combat results, and I rolled snake eyes again! This was unreal. David, being the nice guy he is, said, "Roll that again and we'll ignore the surprise roll." So I rolled again. You wouldn't believe this but I rolled snake eyes again! Everyone suddenly moved away from me.

I didn't bring those dice home.

And just to make things even more mysterious, I purchased a copy of Sicily while I was at HomerCon. When I got home and opened the box, sitting on top of everything else in the box were the dice-with snake eyes showing.

[Ed. note: The odds of rolling snake eyes three times in a row are 1 in 46,656. The odds of doing so and then having snake eyes facing up in the box is 1 in 1,679,616.