I'm curious as to what type of victory conditions people like to play. I admit to favoring the "objectives" approach where one side (usually the attacker) has several objectives (capture a town, clear a hill, exit units, kill them and don't die) and victory is determined by how many you achieve. But there are others such as the "points" approach where different actions give you victory points and if you get so many more than the other player you get various levels of victory. Then there are the "Do it or lose" conditions such as controlling a town, etc. where you either win or you lose.
There are certainly historical situations where each of these approaches make sense but what are the scenarios that make for a memorable gaming experience for you?
Objective is best! But in a scenario book you a mix of all them to keep it interesting.
I enjoyed the variance of conditions from different authors.
I can tell you one thing I didn't like Matt. I was never keen on VC's that gave points for killing and points for objectives but left it possible by slaughtering the enemy for enough points to win without any objectives taken.
Have to agree with Vince here, a clear objective, secure or defend line x, is generally more important than kill-points.
Maybe we'll see more of this when PGACW is released in the distant future. Picketts division did indeed seize the ridgeline, but took so many casualties they couldn't hold it. (by the way, I'm not kidding about PGACW..its on a very back burner.)
I prefer points because it avoids a fight of an objective and IMHO opens up more stratege between playings.
Here's a vote pretty much for how you described it, Matt - a mix of objectives. I think it creates interesting decisions.
There are plenty of scenarios that could uses presevation points as well as kill points. I refer you to Desert Rats scenario 41, Vince Hughes vs Nebelwerfer, Oct 19th 2013. Victory is determined by the Axis exiting 10 good order units and not losing more than 8 full strength units. The British player is to prevent this from happening. The result was a massacre of the British force (51 vs 1 steps) and an axis victory. There was no incentive for the Commonwealth player to preserve his force to fight another day. Historically any force of this era other than the IJA would have withdrawn and laagered rather than fought to the last man. At some point preservation should set in and the commanding officer do whatever is necessary to preserve his force.