A Hand of Useless Commands

By Elliphino, in BattleLore

How do y'all feel about command cards in your hand that are unusable, e.g., "Darken the Skies" when you have no archers,"Cavalry Charge" when you have no cavalry, or cards for sections where you have no units, or maybe you wouldn't command the unit in that section like a melee unit sitting on a VP banner?

last week both my opponent and I got to a point where we each had two command cards in our hands that just couldn't be used.

I couldn't find a rule that allows discarding and drawing more commands, did I just miss it? Or is that just another dimension of the game? You just have to manage a diversity of units and placement as best you can to mitigate bad luck drawing command cards?

Reference Book -> Command cards :

Quote

• The active player may choose not to resolve the text on his played command card and instead order one of his units in any section.

That rule is very important, but so is your strategy. In some of my best games, I've used the discard rule long before I was out of options. This left me with a stronger position in the end game.

I don't have the link to it, but if you look in the news articles for BattleLore, there was one called Managing Lady Luck or something like that. In it, a guest writer talks about managing the command cards.

Thanks for the link and rules reference! That Lady Luck article is super helpful. I've had a little better luck than my opponent the last couple games and I was trying to explain the idea of planning ahead with weaker cards first, but wasn't articulating it well or persuading my buddy that would help much, so the article is pretty helpful on those fronts.

The other great idea is spending less valuable cards to get your units into the section where they'll be able to maximize future cards. It's easy to get "section blinders" and forget that you can launch a pretty effective assault from an adjacent section if needed.

Also, just having that rule about ordering one unit is a game changer. I had this nagging feeling I had read a rule somewhere that would help with the situation, but just couldn't find it.

One last thing I just realized is that my opponent and I had been completely forgetting about "Counter Attack" which is also important in balancing out the game if your opponent is getting luckier drawing command cards for the critical section.

Thanks again all!