Here is a brief review and game report.
My son and I played our first game tonight after receiving a copy of DoD yesterday (plus one leader for each side). We played the first mission, First Contact and used the starting 4 soldiers plus the extra figures as a private.
I have read through the rules several times thanks to them being post here. This was a great help. I also viewed all the videos and read a lot of the forum threads. My first impressions last night when I opened the box was the quality of the products. The board and cards are very nice and I like the fact they are "spill" proof. I like the graphics on the board pieces and am fine with the cards. They do seem to fit the overall "theme" of the game. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the miniatures. Overall, a good gaming level on the paint job. Yes, I could do better but it took about 30 secs to open the box and wrapping around the miniatures. It would take me several weeks to get the same level of paint job if I did them.
Several things I like about the game. The first being the short amount of time to set up. I used a corner of our dining room table... Santa, candles, and holly had the rest of the table occupied. About the time I got everything set up, my son (11 yrs old) said, hey dad what that you are doing. I took about 5 minutes to show him the basics of the cards and we started to play. Half way through the first turn, he had the basics down. Good enough that he somehow managed to totally defeat me. 4 soldiers kill and 1 taken prisoner while I manage to only inflict one wound... wow. We plan on playing again in the morning.
A couple of the draw backs. First the rule book... my impression is they tried to make it too short and simple. A few more pages with examples would have been great. This however is where BGG has excelled. One of the must downloads for this game is the Player Aid by "atsgamer". Very helpful. Also the examples by twthomas are outstanding and something like this should be included in the rulebook. Also, there are several great threads/discussions on the rules. Second... the price. While I was very happy when I hoped the box, I still thought the price tag was on the high side.
Okay, my son and I loved the game. And being able to start playing within 24 hrs of getting a miniatures game is outstanding. I will be ordering more tonight. I see us playing through the scenario by Christmas.
Here is a short game report
U.S. force:
Sgt Harrison - 7 VP
PFC Fielding - 4 VP
Pvt Fields - 4 VP
Pvt Sandy - 4 VP
Pvt Berg - 4 VP
German force:
UNT Dreher - 6 VP
Soldat Vogt - 3 VP
Gefr Fischer - 3 VP
Gefr Propst - 3 VP
Geft Maier - 3 VP
Both groups had the same orders - Skirmish/Prisoners
The game start with the U.S. forces moving rapidly across the board, closing the gap between the two forces by the 2nd phase of turn 2. The Germans were more cautious, staying in the woods and trying to get some shots off. Due to the poor light, the Germans were unable to place any shots on target. By the 3rd turn, the Americans had closed to hand-to-hand. Fielding was able to capture Propst. Fischer was taken down with 2 wounds. Dreher was able to capture Berg but the start of turn 4 began as Sandy was able to knockout Dreher and free Berg. Maier was then taken out by Harrison with close range fire. Maier failed to hit a target the turn prior.
In the end, Propst was capture and the other 4 Germans were left lying on the ground. Only Fields having one wound. This was U.S. domination. Winning 20 VP to 5 VP. The rematch is one.
Here is the finally shot of the game:
