Undaunted Reinforcements introduced several new elements to the two existing Undaunted games. One of which is a set of cards that describe the AI/Bot logic for solo play. I’ve played through the first five scenarios from Undaunted Normandy using these rules. The setup differs slightly from the original game: there can be some scenario modifications and the bot player’s cards are organised a little differently. The game rules are mostly the same.

I’ve played through these five scenarios with the default difficulty (i.e. number of cards in the Bot’s hand) recommended by the rules and I’ve won all five games easily… very easily… actually probably too easily. It’s been nice to get the game on the table, but if I’m going to continue with this solo mode I’ll need to ratchet up the difficulty. The AI cards for the Normandy units seem more generic (and are less numerous) than those for North Africa. Maybe the Bot logic is more attuned to those scenarios – this would make sense as the North Africa game is a little more asymmetrical, both in scenario objectives and troop types.

I haven’t looked into the other components of Reinforcements, other than to note the marked colour difference between the backs of the new cards and the originals (particularly for the Normandy ones). There does not seem to be a Machine Gunner bot card for Scenario 2. The single Machine Gunner card is for scenarios “3, 4, 6-12” on one side (7A) and “5” on the other (7B). I just used the more numerous side. Other bot cards are marked for scenarios they’re not available for. These seem like small details, but they’re sloppy errors and the one thing that most programs (which the Bot logic is!) are unforgiving of errors. Hopefully they’re all the mistakes there are, though the German Scouts behaved very strangely in Scenario 2. That said, it could have been down to me learning how the solo rules work…

Until next time,

Owen