Sword and Spear

[Nosher]

Just picked these up from Northstar on the recommendation of a friend as the command system looks really promising for solo play.

Anybody playing this at all? How are people finding how they play?

[Bodvoc]

I played Sword and Spear several times this time last year. They play really well, both as a group game but also solo. The only thing that stalled our enthusiasm for them is that missile fire seemed over powered. Our Greeks could never close on the Persians without being shot to pieces.
We enjoyed a short campaign with the Persians winning all 4 main battles by just staying put and letting the Greeks advance into all their arrows.
Most of the rules work well, especially pulling the dice from a bag to activate your units. Eventually though we went back to Impetus.

[SerialLoser]

I've played a few solo games with it, I liked the command & control system (pulling dice from the bag), but I just couldn't get my head round the combat system. Comparing dice was easy enough but it was the modifiers for armour, impetus etc that just wouldn't stay in my head.
Probably just me as I've got fellow gamers that loved it for a quick game or two in an evening.

[Leman]

I played it once, but my opponent (who owned the rules) said it was a good game, but not a wargame as such because it led to players making decisions that ancient and medieval commanders would not have been in a position to make.

[Nosher]

Played a solo game this morning and also found the combat rules confusing...

Im playing again next Friday against a friend whose played a few games now so hopefully I will be able to pick it up as we go along.

[Zippee]

Played it a few times, seems to be popular with many but for my taste whilst a fun game it lacks historical teeth.

In particular the army lists failed to impress and some had me spitting coffee in disbelief over classifications.  

Of course that's all subjective and alterable but I found the actual gameplay a bit too intrusive and , well gamey and fiddly.

I think it needs streamlining, it's a nice C&C system bolted onto dodgy and creaky combat mechanics (there seem to be a few of them about recently).

I'll play but I far prefer Impetus.