No and no. I think the game would be very boring without initiative differences and devolve into a simple dice fest and everyone would play with tanks that had the biggest gun and heaviest armor.

Studies on armored combat show that the victor in an armored engagement was usually the one who spotted the enemy first and shot first. This is reflected in the game with high initiative numbers, both from tank design and better-trained crew. The ability for a stationary tank to reroll attack dice also helps model this, since the defender in a tank engagement often has the advantage of position and cover and thus, will end up seeing the target first and shooting first (not always though).

For example, in a game I played last night, my opponent split up his force and I used my high initiative and fast speed to concentrate my force of 3 Cromwells and a Challenger against a Panzer IV and a Jagdpanther. The first exchange went well for the stationary Germans, but eventually the Jagdpanther succumbed to the close range fire of the Cromwells, who used high initiative to flank the assault gun and avoid return fire. The German lost both vehicles, but it cost the British a Cromwell and another Cromwell had one hit left. It seemed a reasonable result. The 3 remaining Brits took off to take on the 2 remaining Germans, a Stug and a Panther, who were covering the objective. Bad luck intervened though and the Challenger, despite shooting first, died in a hail of lucky hits after shooting first and giving 4 hits to the Stug. The final 2 Cromwells used their initiative to bail out and kill the Stug next turn before it could shoot back, while positioning themselves to avoid return fire from the Panther (lower initiative). However, with a healthy Panther left and time running out, the German held the objective and won the game.

In a straight up comparison of armor and firepower, the mission of taking the objective looked nigh impossible for the British force. The German force had 19 Attack dice and 6 defense dice, the British only had 17 attack dice and 4 defense dice. The German player had the edge in getting half the board to deploy on. The fast key word, along with high initiative, gave the British force a fighting chance...even against a pair of big cats.

Oh....also....don't forget your national ability in the game! I reminded my opponent about his blitzkrieg moves every turn. No one reminded me about my semi-indirect fire ability and I never used it. It might have sped up the Jagdpanther's demise! Similarly, the first time I played Russians, I didn't use the coordinated fire rule at all. The second time, I remembered and ny fast horde of T-34's sliced through the opposition....despite being low initiative.

Edited by user Monday, November 7, 2016 4:17:14 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified