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Grey Hunter
Oct 17, 2007

Hero of the soviet union.
Accidental destroyer of planets



The Game is live!
German Thread

Allied Thread


1914, and Europe is at war. This is the war that will see the armies go from cavalry lead infantry units through the death of the trenches, the use of Gas and the rise of the heavy gun as god of the battlefield. By 1918 the armies that went into war on horses will be following tanks into battle, while fighter and bomber aircraft, unknown a few years before, rule the skies above them.

This will be a story of this war, but not in a way you think.

You all know I like to do stupid things when I LP, I run day by day wars, let two sides fight each other out and let the computer sort them out. This time, I’m going to be doing something a bit different - I’m exchanging the computer for a rule book.

The plan is simple (if a little crazy) - using the Spearhead Great war rules devised for tabletop miniature games, we will re fight a version of the Great War. with each side generalled by a group of you lot.


The System

How will this work you ask? Well, many of you, when you think of Tabletop games think of two things, either 40K and its competitors, or dry old men refighting waterloo for the 200th time. (But this year is the anniversary!) - Historical wargaming may well be grounded in the great battles of the past, but there is plenty of scope for Ahistorical battles with historical units.

I’ve not Chosen Spearhead lightly either - its actually designed to be played with a level of fog of war - units are placed on the battlefield, but in some cases, their state is not known until contact is made - did that five day barrage wipe out the enemy? Or are they still waiting in their trenches, machine guns at the ready? The other player has a sheet of paper with the battlefield on it on which he keeps track of casualties and movements. With a referee (i/e me), its possible to have units moving around a battlefield with no idea that there is another unit on the other side of those woods.



Here is an image I stole from the internet of a large game that was played out at Warfare in 2011, but it gives you an idea at what can be done in 6mm scale. of course, I don’t have to worry about the size of the board so much….

Its also designed as a corps/division level game - each company (about 200 men at the time) is represented by a 30mm square base, and twelve or so of these make up a Regiment. four regiments make up a Division and two divisions make up a Corps. Then you get your Machine guns, cavalry, sappers and artillery. The key thing is that units are given orders, and then may not be given fresh orders unless they roll a certain value on a D6 - this means commanders of green regiments must plan their attacks in advance, and hope that nothing goes wrong. turns represent about 30mins of fighting, and the ground scale is 80 yards to the inch. (Yes, I know this is a mix of scales, but wargames do this all the time. Bases tend to be metric, while moves are imperial. dont’ ask me, I just work here.)

The system also has data for every year of the war, from the war of maneuver in 1914 right through the worst of the trench fighting to the strong points of 1918. there are systems for gas, tanks, pre planned bombardments and trenches.

Morale is a simple check, which must be taken at ⅔ casualties for veterans, ½ & ⅔ for regulars, and 1/4, ½ and ⅔ losses for green units. fail a check and the whole unit melts away for the battle!

Greys Insane plan

I have created a map of France - its not the real France, for three reasons - the first is that I don’t want to be criticized for getting some town 2 miles too far south, or adding a road that wasn't built until 1919 or something like that. The second is that the scale we are running at is going to be a abstraction. We’re not doing the whole of the war, just a section of it. The third is that I prefer to see how people react to different situations, rather than the old wargamer thing of doing what they KNOW their historical counterparts should have done.



I know she’s not the prettiest, but she’s functional. and as she’s built of layers, I can edit her easily. As a scale, I’ve got for 40 pixels = 1 inch, and 50 pixels for base size - small enough to fit a lot on screen, but still be viewable at large scales.



Here, in a zoomed in version of the map, we can see a British regiment holding a hillside. the faded circle is the 16” command circle that allows me to easily check range from commander. For anyone interested, this is the equivalent of a 18x12 foot table - or nine times the normal playing area.

We will split into two teams, German and Allies. Both sides will get their own thread, and then will place their troops. We will then fight a battle using the TOE from 1914 for both sides. This will be the war of maneuver, where I expect the largest changes to occur. As necessary, I shall expand the map as we go.

Once both sides decide they can’t advance any further, we shall call this the end of 1914. I will then draw in the trenches along the current front lines. Then we will move on to early 1915. Both sides can then decide if they will attack or not, and formulate their plans. Commanders will have to decide if they want to attack or not, and where on the line to attack - artillery will be in too short a supply for a general advance. We may see one side attack at point A, while the other attacks at B, or maybe both will see A as the main point and we’ll see mutual obliteration.

As we move through the war, new options will open up, Gas first for the Germans, tanks first for the British - and who knows, the Americans may even make a showing. (Late for every war of course.)

I hope this will allow us to see the changes in tactics that occurred throughout the war. And we should see a battlefield that changes as we go - front lines will move, salients will be attacked and defended, both sides try and adapt to new technologies with me not properly explaining the rules.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that didn’t I - I’m not going to get too bogged down in the rules of the game - I’ll give an overview of how things work, but I’m not going to go into detail, and I’m not going to show my dice rolls. Partly to make it feel a bit more “real” and partly because no one wants to read three pages of “You rolled three sixes, nine fives, two twos and a one…..” and it will take more time for me to report it than it’s worth. instead you should get “1st Regiment loses three companies to counter battery fire.”

Orders.

GWSHII uses a hidden movement scheme, which works very well with a referee. What you need to know is simple. There are two order states for a Corps/Division/Regiment - Attack or Defend. Attacking units MUST move during their turn, Defending units MAY NOT move. Both units will still open fire as normal, but with great war command structures being as they were, it was often hard to stop a regiment of 2,000 men from attacking, or get them moving from their trenches if they expected to be holding ground.

Interestingly, these orders need to trickle down the ranks. So, if Army commander Goon decides he wants his 3rd Corps to switch from holding a hill to exploiting a gap that has opened in the lines. He sends the order to 3rd Corps to change to Attack stance, and they pass the dice roll, then the two divisions in 3rd roll, one passes, the other fails. Oh dear - then it gets worse, three of the four regiments in 1st Division also fail, and 1st Regiment begins their attack the next turn, but the other regiments have to wait until they pass their own rolls!

Actually placing orders is simple. You know that map of the battlefield? just draw a line on it where you want your men to advance! the HQ for that regiment MUST follow that line, although the companies under its command may stray up to 16” from him. They must move a minimum distance, unless engaged by the enemy.



Here we see the same unit ordered to advance down the road and across the river. you can of course tell me what formation you want your men in, as long as its within the command range of the unit.

There is also the pre-planned orders. which are going to be key. This is basically a plan that says “Advance to hill 1 by turn 3, hold for two turns, then advance on hill 2 beginning turn 6…” with the arrows drawn on. This plan can be interrupted with a dice roll, but otherwise will continue as planned - if the unit gets involved in a fight, then it will pause these orders until it has dealt with the unit it is engaged with.

This will force the commanders to come up with plans ahead of time, then hope they can get rolls they need to change them when it all goes wrong. This should lead to some nice periods of you lot coming up with elaborate plans to win the war, then panicking when they realise they just ordered their division to march into a wall of death.

Finally, there is a third state for units - in reserve. These units are off the map, and can be brought on at any point with a new battle plan. Found a gap in the line? The enemy hitting you hard somewhere you didn’t expect? activate your reserve and move them on with an elaborate battle plan written up half way through the battle!

Command

As there is not much for individual regiments to do, I think the best level will be Divisional, with a few Corps commanders. A Overall commander may be elected, but most of these games tend to end up with a fairly communal plans anyway. The idea is that the higher commanders give the broad plan, and the Divisional guys try and make it work. with a large battlefield like this, I doubt that the army commander will have time to worry about the placement of a few pillboxes.

Timing

This is a IGOUGO system, so there will be some downtime between your turns, while I do those of the enemy. That said, you can use that to plot what you are going to do, so I’m hoping to have the orders for one side pretty much ready to go by the time the next turn comes out.

Something like this - (although the exact timings will vary of course!) :
Day 1 - German turn 1 is posted - 48 hours to next German turn.
Day 2 - Allied turn 1 is posted - 48 hours to the next Allied turn, Germans have 24 hours to edit their plans based on what the allies have done.
Day 3 - German turn 2 - Allies have 24 hours to respond, Germans have 48 to plan.

As you can see, depending on how long it takes me to run a turn, we should have a decent rate of updates - you can’t do anything on the enemies turn, but you can start your own plans.


Right, thats a long enough OP, next up, I’ll post a turn example to give people a better idea. for now, please head to this spreadsheet to to register your interest. remember this will be a long term prospect, but I will be willing to let people in after each battle phase, as knowledge of what just happened shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Don’t worry if you have no idea whats going on - neither did the real generals - I fully expect 1914 to be flailing around like madmen (Ending when both sides have destroyed their armies), 1915 to be bloody rushes at trenches getting thousands killed for no real gain, but by 1918 you should be good at your jobs.

Now, lets see how this plays out - it could be a disaster, or we could be about to set some form of gold standard for wargaming….

I’m betting the former.

Feel free to add any comment and suggestions, once we have some enough people for each side, we’ll split the threads and I’ll give you more information.

Grey Hunter fucked around with this message at 18:35 on Mar 8, 2015

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Generation Internet
Jan 18, 2009

Where angels and generals fear to tread.
Oh poo poo

I've spent the last semester extensively studying the Canadian Corps in WWI and I am so loving pumped to participate in this. Of course, this 100% qualifies me for the highest level of command and I am completely incapable of mistakes.



I'll make you proud, old man.

Veloxyll
May 3, 2011

Fuck you say?!

Sign me up!

Preferably lower ranks. I will lead my surfacemench to glorious Kraut themed victory.
we will be a...HUNSTOPPABLE FORCE.

tatankatonk
Nov 4, 2011

Pitching is the art of instilling fear.
This sounds great! I'll take an Allied divisional command.

ThatBasqueGuy
Feb 14, 2013

someone introduce jojo to lazyb


I'll fight for the Germans. The moral debates when gas unlocks should be fun.

JosefStalinator
Oct 9, 2007

Come Tbilisi if you want to live.




Grimey Drawer
Recalled from Africa to serve Germany in France,



Field Marshall Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck reporting for duty!

Alternatively, if we are using real European theatre dudes exclusively, I'll take A German Field Marshall to be named later

EDIT: Editted to reflect the spreadsheet

JosefStalinator fucked around with this message at 08:36 on Mar 7, 2015

JcDent
May 13, 2013

Give me a rifle, one round, and point me at Berlin!
I wrote myself up as divisional command. Probably won't do too much damage there.

Probably!

Trin Tragula
Apr 22, 2005

Hello, I'm just a guy with far too many World War I books, and for the last six months I've been running a day-by-day blog of the war. I volunteer as an Allied corps commander, and look forward to attempting to discredit the Chief at every turn with poison pen letters to the King loyally serving the Empire.

(Incidentally, if anyone is wondering why there's all these mechanics to determine whether you get to give orders or not, on the blog we're three days out from the start of the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, for which I plan to go into buttock-numbing detail about how bloody hard it was to exercise any sort of command and control.)

Bacarruda
Mar 30, 2011

Mutiny!?! More like "reinterpreted orders"
General der Infanterie Heniz Bacarruda reporting for duty!

I will commanding one of the German Corps. I expect to be in Paris by Christmas.

Grey Hunter
Oct 17, 2007

Hero of the soviet union.
Accidental destroyer of planets
Also! One thing I just thought off, Goons like to name maps, but it gets really confusing when both sides use their own names - so lets name the towns (the grey areas), rivers and hills now, so we get a better idea of this version of France.

tatankatonk
Nov 4, 2011

Pitching is the art of instilling fear.
Will the divisions/regiments be named and persistent? It would be cool to keep track of various regiments over the duration of the war.

Grey Hunter
Oct 17, 2007

Hero of the soviet union.
Accidental destroyer of planets

tatankatonk posted:

Will the divisions/regiments be named and persistent? It would be cool to keep track of various regiments over the duration of the war.

Yeah, I can go with that.

HOTLANTA MAN
Jul 4, 2010

by Hand Knit
Lipstick Apathy
I'll take an Allied Corps command. I've played Strategic troop movement games (drunk) and I'm really excited!

Requesting that my Corp be named HOTLANTA CORPS and the men under my command the HOTLANTA MEN

HOTLANTA MAN fucked around with this message at 09:54 on Mar 7, 2015

JosefStalinator
Oct 9, 2007

Come Tbilisi if you want to live.




Grimey Drawer
As a field marshall, could I give out medals and awards to my subordinates who demonstrated particular skill/got lucky rolls and kicked allied butt? Or is that for you/German command to decide?

I've already got some good war plans brewing. Is this going to be a East-West, North-South, or some more complicated orientation, in terms of where the forces will enter from?

Ballbot5000
Dec 13, 2008

Fabricati diem, pvnc.
Hell yes! Glad to see the new PC is being put to good use. Sign me up for God, the king, country, tanks, moustaches and staggering casualties. :britain:

anilEhilated
Feb 17, 2014

But I say fuck the rain.

Grimey Drawer
You are insane.
I mean, we all knew that given the whole war in the pacific thing, but...
You are insane. Gonna love watching this unfold.

Comstar
Apr 20, 2007

Are you happy now?
Signed up for an Allied Division commander.

I note the map does not appear to include Railway lines, which seems surprising, as they were a big reason why reinforcements could arrive at a battle quicker than the attackers could cross no mans land (or so WW1 Day by Day tells me a lot. I'm leaving a lot from it). Or are we at too low a level to worry about that?

Grey Hunter
Oct 17, 2007

Hero of the soviet union.
Accidental destroyer of planets

Comstar posted:

Signed up for an Allied Division commander.

I note the map does not appear to include Railway lines, which seems surprising, as they were a big reason why reinforcements could arrive at a battle quicker than the attackers could cross no mans land (or so WW1 Day by Day tells me a lot. I'm leaving a lot from it). Or are we at too low a level to worry about that?

I thought too low a level. The whole map at scale is 17 x 11km, or there about.

If you are board, I also typed up a game of Field of Glory: Napoleonic on the blog I always forget to use.

Part 1 - Army Selection.
Part 2 - Battlefield Generation.
Part 3 - Deployment.
Part 4 - The battle begins.
Part 5 - The chaos of battle.

Its a little wordy, as I was thinking things through, and if you are only interested in the battle, skip to part 4.

Grey Hunter fucked around with this message at 13:35 on Mar 7, 2015

JosefStalinator
Oct 9, 2007

Come Tbilisi if you want to live.




Grimey Drawer

Grey Hunter posted:

I thought too low a level. The whole map at scale is 17 x 11km, or there about.

If you are board, I also typed up a game of Field of Glory: Napoleonic on the blog I always forget to use.

Part 1 - Army Selection.
Part 2 - Battlefield Generation.
Part 3 - Deployment.
Part 4 - The battle begins.
Part 5 - The chaos of battle.

Its a little wordy, as I was thinking things through, and if you are only interested in the battle, skip to part 4.

I tried to check these out, but it said I didn't have permission. Am I missing something here?

Tevery Best
Oct 11, 2013

Hewlo Furriend
Can I get a Corps command, either side, preferably Allied?

Jesenjin
Nov 12, 2011

Grey Hunter posted:

I thought too low a level. The whole map at scale is 17 x 11km, or there about.

If you are board, I also typed up a game of Field of Glory: Napoleonic on the blog I always forget to use.

Part 1 - Army Selection.
Part 2 - Battlefield Generation.
Part 3 - Deployment.
Part 4 - The battle begins.
Part 5 - The chaos of battle.

Its a little wordy, as I was thinking things through, and if you are only interested in the battle, skip to part 4.

Don't have permission as well.

Also I would like to sign up as lower echelon German officer for the game.

Grey Hunter
Oct 17, 2007

Hero of the soviet union.
Accidental destroyer of planets
Damnit! I had to go to Google+ (shudder) to get a usable link. It should work now

Part 1 - Army Selection.
Part 2 - Battlefield Generation.
Part 3 - Deployment.
Part 4 - The battle begins.
Part 5 - The chaos of battle.

Its a little wordy, as I was thinking things through, and if you are only interested in the battle, skip to part 4.

Ilanin
May 31, 2009

Smarter than the average Blair.
That French plan appeared to boil down to "Let's charge an enemy on a hill who outnumbered us and has more firepower than we do, without waiting for our flanking movement to come up in support." I think you mistakenly picked a French commander from 1871 instead of 1812. He does appear to have been exceptional, but not quite in the way the rules suggest.

warhammer651
Jul 21, 2012
SIgned up as a German divisional commander. I'd prefer to have the comfier trenches.

gradenko_2000
Oct 5, 2010

HELL SERPENT
Lipstick Apathy
Grey, you fantastic bastard.

Signed-up for a German Divisional Command, because of course my Combat Mission alter-ego would have a dad that served under Bacarruda in the Great War.

Generation Internet
Jan 18, 2009

Where angels and generals fear to tread.

JosefStalinator posted:

I've already got some good war plans brewing. Is this going to be a East-West, North-South, or some more complicated orientation, in terms of where the forces will enter from?

Please, share them here! This is a gentleman's war, after all :)

LLSix
Jan 20, 2010

The real power behind countless overlords

Marshal LLSix Foch reporting French Corps XX is ready for battle! Let's all hide in our holes until we get kilt. If we're full up on corps I'll take a division.

LLSix fucked around with this message at 19:10 on Mar 7, 2015

Kodos666
Dec 17, 2013
I hereby present myself as a loyal colonel for one of his (British) Majesties infantry regiments.

EDIT: Or as it seems to be, that there is no one interested in a proper gentleman's way of warfare: I take the corps artillery formation.

Kodos666 fucked around with this message at 19:01 on Mar 7, 2015

Trin Tragula
Apr 22, 2005

I have a question. Are there any objectives in the game mechanics beyond "win" or "push the enemy off the battlefield" or "kill them all"?

Grey Hunter
Oct 17, 2007

Hero of the soviet union.
Accidental destroyer of planets

Trin Tragula posted:

I have a question. Are there any objectives in the game mechanics beyond "win" or "push the enemy off the battlefield" or "kill them all"?

Not really, as a game mechanic there are Victory locations, but I'm not using them as it would clutter the map.

Trin Tragula
Apr 22, 2005

Cool. Do you mind a couple more? How exactly does bringing up reserves work? And, in terms of reading the map: it looks pretty clear that grey is roads and towns, lighter shades of green are hills, dark green is woods, blue is water, but what are those sickly greeny-yellow often-triangular blobs?

V. Illych L.
Apr 11, 2008

ASK ME ABOUT LUMBER

Vive la France! I'll have an allied division SVP

Grey Hunter
Oct 17, 2007

Hero of the soviet union.
Accidental destroyer of planets

Trin Tragula posted:

Cool. Do you mind a couple more? How exactly does bringing up reserves work? And, in terms of reading the map: it looks pretty clear that grey is roads and towns, lighter shades of green are hills, dark green is woods, blue is water, but what are those sickly greeny-yellow often-triangular blobs?

Wheat fields. I may need to work on them some more.

Kangra
May 7, 2012

A few ideas for place names:



What's the actual scale of the map? You mention the table size but I don't know what the standard conversion for that would be. (The 'buildings' I used as labels are more intended to be prominent ones in the area, but that doesn't work if these are supposed to be largish towns and cities).

Pvt.Scott
Feb 16, 2007

What God wants, God gets, God help us all
Private Scott reporting for the Allies! I hope that the mix-up with me not being commissioned as an officer yet will soon be sorted.

E: hmm, I'll have to sign up on the spreadsheet later. My iPad doesn't like it.

Pvt.Scott fucked around with this message at 20:02 on Mar 7, 2015

steinrokkan
Apr 2, 2011



Soiled Meat
There was only one German corps commander, so I signed up alongside Bacarruda. May my hubris be the downfall of the Empire.

V. Illych L.
Apr 11, 2008

ASK ME ABOUT LUMBER

Kangra posted:

A few ideas for place names:



What's the actual scale of the map? You mention the table size but I don't know what the standard conversion for that would be. (The 'buildings' I used as labels are more intended to be prominent ones in the area, but that doesn't work if these are supposed to be largish towns and cities).

there should be a "Decorum Ouest" west of "Decorum Est" imo, maybe with hyphens

Pvt.Scott
Feb 16, 2007

What God wants, God gets, God help us all
The town in the middle by the three large farms should be called Clustér d'Fuch

Trin Tragula
Apr 22, 2005

Kangra posted:

A few ideas for place names:

Enjoying all of these. Have a few suggestions of my own.



edit: oh and for historical accuracy it should be



Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 20:22 on Mar 7, 2015

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Kangra
May 7, 2012

V. Illych L. posted:

there should be a "Decorum Ouest" west of "Decorum Est" imo, maybe with hyphens

I was trying to find a place to put it that would still be close to Dulce, but couldn't. I imagine that it's off the map to the southwest. I also wasn't sure about introducing that sort of potential confusion of names, but then again that might be exactly what we want.

Another idea is to put Dulce in the center top, south of the Sombre, and the two Decorums on the same road, on opposite sides.

If we're naming roads, there ought to be a Norman Angell Lane somewhere (unless that road is just an illusion).

Kangra fucked around with this message at 20:54 on Mar 7, 2015

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