(One of the topics I would like to discuss regularly in the PKD is the structure of the card deck. Brent Oman recently posted on the Internet an account of a game that demonstrates a subtlety in card deck creation that only a master such as Bob can bring to the game: Ed.)

When is an ambush NOT an ambush?

Just thought I'd relate one of the funniest occurrences in our many Piquet games. We were gathering at Bob Jones' house for a rousing French & Indian War game. I was playing the French along with another player; Bob had the British and one other player. The British were to march the length of the table along a road (through a Class III forest) to relieve and re-supply a semi-besieged British fort (a MARVELOUS fort that Herb Gundt had built for Bob). We French huddled in the Class III woods with our Indian allies and planned our assault - we would wait until the British column had passed, then attack the head and rear of the column simultaneously so that we could bag the whole lot.

The plan worked to perfection - the British had the initial luck on the initiative rolls and marched into our trap. The initiative swung to our side and we pounced! Units poured out of the woods (into the OPEN) to assault the British column.

Somehow our attack stalled. The British faced our units and volley after volley poured forth (lots of initiative wins for the British). A couple of our units that were engaged were eliminated before we could initiate melee. We had played through the deck about 4 times when I suddenly (?) noticed that we hadn't had a single Melee Resolution card.

A quick check of the deck confirmed that Bob had left the Melee Resolution cards out of the French deck! Being the brave and resolute Frenchmen that we are, we declared that we would still carry the day in spite of the unfair actions of the Gods of War. The 2 melee resolution cards were added to the deck. The game play proceeded.

After another couple of turns (another 45 minutes or so - we had already played 3 hours or so), I suddenly (?) noticed that we never seemed to move after we ran screaming and yelling from the woods (Class III). HEY - WAIT A MINUTE! WE DON'T HAVE ANY INFANTRY MOVE IN THE OPEN CARDS! Suddenly it all made sense - no wonder we only made it a short distance out of the Class III woods! This was a truly uninspired, pathetic French force - we couldn't move in the open, and if the British did stray to close to the woods, we couldn't melee them!! Bob claimed to be innocent ("Who wrote these rules?") - needless to say, I ALWAYS check my deck when playing at Bob's house!

The really odd thing about the card deck mishap is that the game still played GREAT with the card mix-up. We had inadvertently created a scenario that gave the initial advantage to the British and penalized the French as a hesitant, stumbling force. We did eventually add the proper cards to the deck and the French managed to hold off the relieving column. ALSO, a game I will NEVER forget!

(The only real question I have is that with all that finesse in the card deck, how did the English fail to win??? Ed.)