Hidden Movement

The inestimable Mike (That's MISTER Elliot to you lot:) asked how hidden
gaming worked for me.

The answer is: It depends.

Without a ref, you either need:

1) People who are scrupulously honest and trust each other (where only one
side is using hidden movement)
2) To use a counter-and-dummy scheme to give pseudo hidden movement.

I can cite some successful examples of hidden movement I've used (my preferred
variety involves a ref, maps, and players who aren't too retentive about
exactitude):

1) In "Grey Day To Die " at GZG ECC III, the defenders used hidden positions
(although their use of EM to issue commands gave away a couple of these) for
their AA (which proved startlingly beneficial) and for some armoured vehicles
(under camo nets and brush or submerged in small lakes). The attackers used it
to sneak forward to first contact (the humans got anxious, moved a unit
forward to find the enemy, and as a result received a devastating close
assault that decimated that unit) and to sneak their
sniper and a couple of predator-caste warriors close enough to take a
shot
at a wounding/abduction of the human second in command. The Humans
though had two units of mechanics with ARs plus two HAMR teams hidden in the
same
area - and thus the KV plan (which was stunning - Kr'rt saying "the
sniper Wi'Sel fires at the human leader." "What range band?" "Range Band
ONE.") was foiled.

2) In a scenario (whose name I now forget... funny considering I wrote it) run
at Autumn Assault this last fall, two enemy platoons moved onto a board
searching for wreckage and survivors from a crashed enemy recon plane... (both
thought it was an enemy plane). It wasn't until after they'd shot each other
up some that one side blundered into the hidden KV scoutship
crew...
it was a KV ship! That necessitated comms to HQs and a mid-game change
of
mission-orders and victory conditions. It proved a fun scenario for all.

3) A ref-less scenario where a UN SF team with captured War Criminals
was trying to escape a pursuing platoon of local militia... they used dummy
counters until they were finally spotted by their pursuers (half way to the
destination) and the extraction point was through a river with minefields on
either side, both of which had live mines and dummies. It ended up that,
despite the head start, some aggressive moves and good rolls by the militia
player put them on top of half of the SF team (1 unit) and the other SF team
(commanded by me... sigh...) made the bad choice of trying to bail out their
buddies rather than getting the heck out of there. Consequently other elements
of the militia platoon caught up to them. And this is where
quantity proved to be better than quality... the non-wounded survivor
beat feat back across into friendly territory. Only to add insult to injury,
I'd forgotten which mine counter we'd disarmed to make a hole through the
friendly minefield, and was wounded in a CDM attack from the friendly
minefield... which is how the single survivor was eventually picked up by the
friendly forces on patrol along the border. Hidden movement really made this
game what it was.

Make no mistake: Hidden movement can open one up for mistakes (ref saying
"oops, I thought you were going over here...") and it requires more book
keeping and time to resolve observation checks (the bigger the scale, the
longer this is). But it can make for a lot of tension and adds a whole extra
dimension to the game.

If I haven't got a ref, I use counters with dummies. This is fast, and
although it doesn't provide as much tension and it does lead to some
artificial "dodge the counter" moves from the players, it does add a certain
amount to the game.