SCGT - Innovative Players Pack

Over the weekend the South Coast GT was held in the UK. This is the UK's largest event and attracted 190 people. You can check out the Players Pack here


I'm sure that we will here a mountain of feedback on forums and UK podcasts as to how people performed. There will be tales of woe and tales of awesomeness I'm sure. However that is not my key interest.


I think that this is one of the most innovative Players Packs I've seen. The writers have made both comp and the scenarios mean something as well as put restrictions on what you face across the table.


First, the scoring system:

• 4 TPs for maintaining your Fortitude
• 4 TPs for breaking your opponent's Fortitude
• 4 TPs for achieving your secret mission
• 4 TPs for denying your opponent his secret mission
• 4 TPs by scoring more than 200 VPs more than your opponent (shared if neither does)

Those give you your 20 Battle Points per game. It is zero sum in that there is only 20 points on offer so if you score 16 then your opponent gets 4 (all good).


The six secret missions are as follows:

• Kill enemy general
• Capture more standards
• Destroy more Special/Rare units
• Capture more buildings
• Table quarters
• Capture more hills

All this is reasonably straightforward and not too unorthodox but the beauty comes in how it interacts with the Comp System.


Each army has a Pool System with a Power Pool and a Soft Pool. All armies start with a comp of 5. For each Power choice you take your score is reduced by 1, every Soft choice increases it by 1. There is a floor at 0 and a cap at 10 (and you may take a maximum of five of each choice).


Your Comp Score is important in the following ways:

• If your comp score is less than or equal to your opponent you must play with your Secret Mission revealed
• If your comp score is higher than your opponent you get +1 to scenario dice rolls
• If your comp score is more than double your opponent then you get +2 to scenario dice rolls

The Scenario Dice Rolls are:

• Deployment - Winner choose whether deployment is Battleline, Meeting Engagement or Battle for the Pass
• Sides - Winner decides which side they will choose
• Order - Winner decides who deploys the first unit
• First Turn - Winner decides who goes first

So your Comp Score influences four important rolls as well as whether your secret mission is revealed. I think this is an absolute masterstroke and adds a level of thinking/planning to the game absent in most players' packs.


I was giving this a lot of thought over the weekend wondering where I would want to pitch my army if I was going to this. I suspect the "golden" scores are "4" or "7". With "7" you double all the 0-3 lists where with "4" you are only doubled by the 9-10 lists. I'll be very keen to see how things pan out. Certainly I'll be watching the feedback with interest.


I would absolutely love to try this pack and if there was sufficient interest locally would be keen to run a "Homecon" to try it out.