Having been a GW player for a great number of years I picked up this game, and Dust tactics, recently and had my first game of Warfare yesterday.

I was surprised how quick the game is to pick up and play, having read the rules through twice we were fully into the swing of things by turn 3. Learning points for me over my old game is that suppression is vital, being a new mechanic it wasn't evident how important until my jump infantry were left hanging in no mans land unable to react to get shot to piece's. Also it's not a one shot kill type game that the games of Dust tactics I had played seemed to be. Cover saves seemed, on reading through the rule book, to be alomost a waste of time only giving you one or two additional saves but in play they really made a big difference.

And last but not least don't let the gorillla's near your level 2 infantry,

Very much enjoyed the first game and looking forward to my next.

Welcome! Trust me, it only gets better!

Im glad the games look simple… I eagerly await my first games!

I played my first game today and I too was surprised at what the mechanics brought to the table. Suppression and reaction add a lot to consider when planning you tactics. When I rolled more hits for the command phase it was nice but then at the same time a little concerning because I necessarily didn't want to activate as many units as I could so that I could have more options in other phases. It adds a lot of things to consider when moving and attacking with your units.

Pael said:

You don't have to use all the orders you rolled in the command phase, just a minimum of one needs to be used.

blkdymnd said:

Actually, you need not issue any orders at all in the Command Phase if you wish. You may declare you are not issuing any orders and pass the phase.

Shadow4ce said:

Can you tell me where that is? Page 30 says, "each player may issue a number of orders equal to the numbe of (+) he rolled in the initiative phase (with a minimum of one)."

The minimum of one is not a requirement to issue orders, it refers back to page 28 where it states that a player will receive a minimum of one order even if he rolls all misses.

DoomOnYou72 said:

Reads the same way to me, we've always read it as you also have to issue a minimum of one. There isn't anything I can see that states you can pass the command phase, so that still seems valid to have to issue one order. I'm not the normal gamer who is saying is right no matter what (and thankfully neither are you guys) that's just how we as a group read it.

blkdymnd said:

I can see where you made the interpretation you did, but I'm quite confident the parenthetical statement is referencing the fact that even if you rolled zero hits in the initiative phase, you may still take one order in the Command Phase, otherwise why make it parenthetical? Typically, parenthesis are used to clarify the last phrase prior to the statement contained within, not the entire sentence, and certainly not an entire paragraph.

The phrasing that seals it for me is a specific word (bolded and italicized by me for emphasis) in the first part of the page 30 rule you quoted…

"Each player may issue a number of Orders equal to the number of hits he rolled in the Initiative phase (with a minimum of one)."

If it were otherwise, it would have to read something like: "Each player must issue a number of Orders with a minimum of one, and a maximum of up to equal to the number of ? he rolled in the Initiative phase.

I agree with Shadow4ce. The rules say "Each player may issue…", not "Each player issues…" nor "Each player must issue…" If you want to pass on your command phase, you can. Otherwise it'd be like saying that each player must make sure that one unit per turn cannot react in the unit phase.

Also, Bogend and Pael, welcome to the game! Your first games are only the tip of the iceberg.

Agreed, don't need to issue orders if you don't want to.

My first order is open a beer and have a drink. That is my mandatory first command order for Dust!

To the new players, Welcome to the community, and enjoy this dynamic tabletop war game.

So nice to get feedback from someone who's played the game instead of someones who's only read the book. Kudos!

Cannor said:

Just to clarify I WASN'T using all of my orders. When I read the rules I thought using all of the orders would be a given, why wouldn't you want to use them all? Then as the game played out I needed to save some of my units for the unit phase so they could move and shoot or sustained shoot to get the re-roll. Which kinda threw my thinking a curve ball.

What was nice about the command phase was the option to shoot with an order and then shoot again in the unit phase. This has a lot of people at my flgs up in arms. I think it is awesome for a few reasons. It allows you to actually establish lanes of fire and cross fire. If you have a unit that your opponent knows will be shooting twice it causes him to keep his minis "heads down." It also lets players maximize their shoots at the cost of accuracy, not with every unit mind you but with a select few.