Undaunted Normandy Strategies

On why to Hunker Down - some views from the BoardGameGeek blog

Hunkering Down aggressively has helped me to implement some very specific strategies and to concentrate on the task I want to do right now.

I like that Undaunted can be a very dynamic and fluid deck builder: you can rotate cards in and out very fast, depending on your needs. For instance in Scenario 2, as the US, I once tried the following strategy, made possible by Hunkering Down:

• have a deck made only of Scouts and officers
• scout all you need to scout
• eliminate the opponent’s Scouts
• spam the German deck with Fogs of War
• rotate out the Scouts you have left
• bolster one squad of Riflemen and proceed to victory...

Of course it doesn’t always work as planned but that’s what makes the game interesting.

Also note that the leaner your deck is, the more you can play not only your immediately useful cards but also your Platoon Sergeant. With a deck of 6 cards (for instance Platoon Sergeant + 3 Scouts + 1 Squad Leader + 1 Rifleman) you can play your Sergeant and all of your deck 2 turns out of 3!

And also be aware that when you have a small deck it’s easy to Bolster again what you need because you see your Sergeant so often.

From Christian @Kris [Some minor grammar and spelling changes to text.]

 

On why not to Hunker Down

I'm [Hunkering Down] even less now, as a Squad Leader (7) is a good option to keep for an Initiative card.

From Alan Eshelman @Alan Eshelman

 

More pros of Hunkering Down

Each Squad (A,B,C) usually comes with a high initiative Squad Leader card that can Bolster or Inspire cards from the same squad. Also, Squad Leader cards cannot be shot out of your hand, which makes them useful in some situations when your opponent has the initiative. On the other hand, as Squad Leaders are squad-specific, this can complicate things a bit (as you require two cards of the same squad on your hand; but then you can still use the Squad Leader for his initiative).

Hunkering Down can also be a way to protect cards. Cards that are not in play (deck / hand / discard) cannot be targeted/killed/destroyed, so by Hunkering Down, you protect those cards. The big caveat is that if your unit gets hit and you have no card in play, the Combat Counter is removed and needs to re-spawn at the re-spawn point. This loss of ground/progress usually makes Hunkering Down a bad tactic. But in some cases it can be useful.

For example, take Scenario 4 as the Germans. Of course you could take a low chance pot shot with Rifleman A, but I find it better to Hunker him Down for several reasons:

1. You make your deck smaller, so that you can better concentrate on group B (your opponent might intentionally not shoot your "ineffective" cards, in order to slow you down).
2. The enemy Sniper has a really easy time shooting your Rifleman if he wants to, so why not protect the card?
3. If you lose the unit Combat Counter, nothing is lost, because it hasn't moved from its re-spawn field anyway. You don't lose any ground/progress.

In fact I like the idea of Hunkering Down quite a lot. For me it signifies "taking very good cover", keeping one's head down. Cards that are in play, by contrast, are active in some way and can be targeted by the opponent. I find the idea of "not exposing/risking cards that are in a vulnerable position on the battlefield" quite intriguing.

From W. W. @WenzelVonTurteltaub [Some minor grammar and spelling changes to text.]