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 The year is 2015. Let's Play legend Grey Hunter one of his many magnificent, ridiculous ideas: a massive re-enactment of the First World War using Great War: Spearhead tabletop gaming rules. The smallest chit size in that game is a company; so Grey, being Grey, decided to play it with Army-sized formations. It was so big, he managed to break the rules entirely. It was magnificent, and ridiculous, and far too soon it fell over under its own weight. In 2017 I revived the idea and ran another couple of rounds, with extensive house-ruling to make it GM-able by a normal human. Still too big, still too ridiculous. But I think I've cracked it this time! The System Spearhead is an IGOUGO system, designed so it could be played with hidden movement and the fog of war concealing the battlefield. Individual commanders pass orders to an umpire, the umpire resolves them, and all the commanders get told is what their men can physically see happen, groping blindly for command and control. An excellent way of simulating the First World War, a war in which generals were forced to wait miles behind the lines, acting on information that was often out of date when they received it, sending back orders that usually bore no resemblance to the situation on the ground when they arrived. Can we do better than history? Or worse? Or about the same? The game is designed for play with corps and division-sized formations. Individual miniatures represent companies of cavalry and infantry, machine-guns, artillery batteries, and so on. Commanders produce a pre-battle plan, watch it all go horribly wrong, and then must succeed on a dice roll before they can put things right. The system also is flexible enough to cover the vast advances in technology and tactics; from a fast-moving open war of manouevre in 1914, through the worst of the trench slog in 1916, the rise of tanks and artillery, stormtroopers, defence in depth, to the eventual maturity of combined arms in 1918. Last time I managed to run two rounds set in 1914, at the tail end of an all-too-brief mobile war. Now we're in 1915. The Western Front has settled into stalemate. The first round of 1915 will be on our old battlefield around Saint Croissant; when the 1914 battle ended, it looked something like this:  But that doesn't show half of the story of what it might look like to play the game. Here is what it might be like to be a commander on the French side during a battle, as they defend Clemenceau Ridge from the perfidious Boche.  The map is made of layers upon layers in Photoshop. It's large enough that IRL the map would be spread over rows and rows of tables, big enough to fill a hotel conference room all by itself. We see the noble Frenchmen in their red trousers defending the ridge; it all looks good for them. But, at the same time, here is what the German commander sees!  Suddenly, to them it looks like curtains for the French. The German commander too is unaware of exactly what awaits, his vision blocked by the wood.  And that's what the umpire and the schadenfreude-lovers in the observer thread see. Now it seems that it could go either way when the Germans advance! There will be two teams; Entente vs Germans, each playing in their own thread, preparing their troops, laying their plans, groping through the fog, and we'll fight a battle. And then we'll bury our dead, and the enemy will bury theirs; and then it'll start all over again. We'll be able to see the war ebb and flow over this little corner of France as the years go by. We've seen 1914 already, but who knows what's to come Everything anyone needs to know to play will be posted in the team threads once we've had a few signups; there's a big complicated rulebook, but we'll be making this as simple as possible, and I'm also introducing plenty of house rules and tweaks to spice things up a bit and hopefully solve the problems we ran into in Grey's game. We'll be playing at corps level, and what I'm hoping to do is get to a situation in which divisional and corps commanders have to build up a picture of the battle for themselves, based solely on interpreting reports from their brigadiers, who will be the ones at the sharp end ordering individual chits around. How to Play As soon as this thread posts, I'll be off to create a German-only thread and an Entente-only thread. In the first round of 1915, the French Army will attack, and the German Army will defend. If you want to play, you must decide now whether to play for France or Germany, enter only that thread, and register by posting in the thread. You can play in one of four roles. Each side will have one corps commander, the Grand High Poobah who decides overall strategy. Each side will have more than one divisional commander, who takes the Poobah's strategy and turns it into realistic actions. Then there are the brigade commanders, whose job it is to actually move individual companies of men around the battlefield. Finally, the staff officers; they don't control any units, but stick to one side of the battle, offering advice to the active players, and possibly waiting for their chance to enter the game during the battle, in command of reinforcements. This is a rules-heavy grognard game, but there are plenty of ways for people unfamiliar with the rules to make a solid contribution. You can jump right in, hang back as a staff officer, or watch this round from the comfort of the observer thread, seeing both sides. Timing I've now settled on a good pace for the game. If all goes well, the battle should start on or around next Monday, 27th November, take three weeks to play through, and finish just before Christmas. Don't worry if all this seems overwhelming; it did to the real generals at the time. That's the challenge! Who can get there firstest with the mostest? Who can gently caress up the littlest and the leastest? Who'll get lucky, and who'll stand on the rake? Sign up below! King and Country! Kaiser und Vaterland! Volontaire pour Legion (Join the French) Die Wacht am Rhein (Join the Germans) 
Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 23:33 on Nov 20, 2017 |
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Nov 20, 2017 21:54
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gently caress yes I'm in!
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Nov 20, 2017 22:00
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Interesting. I look forward to seeing how this one plays out.
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Nov 20, 2017 22:05
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Wait, did the second round ever end? If so why did I not notice it ever happening?
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Nov 20, 2017 22:07
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Oh, this will be a complete mess. The great thing about it is that no matter what happens it'll be completely true.
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Nov 20, 2017 22:08
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and we're back! i love when patience is rewarded in this subforum. the german thread got, perhaps, a bit, um, dysfunctional last time but I'm in it till the dolchstoßlegende e: by the hundredth anniversary of armistice day i feel like the tale of our community's attempts to wargame this front of the war will, viewed with the benefit of hindsight, have a similar trajectory to the story of the development of command and control techniques in the real thing. im not sure if that's optimistic or pessimistic oystertoadfish fucked around with this message at 22:25 on Nov 20, 2017 |
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Nov 20, 2017 22:17
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herp de derp, i'm a german
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Nov 20, 2017 22:24
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It's back!  I hate playing in these types of games but I loving love watching goons try and make super complicated plans and then mash them into one another.
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Nov 20, 2017 22:28
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la guerre sera fini par noel vive la france
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Nov 20, 2017 22:32
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I'm interested. I like how there's layers to commanding things.
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Nov 20, 2017 22:33
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gently caress yes I'm in.
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Nov 20, 2017 22:41
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Gott mit uns!
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Nov 20, 2017 22:43
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Bad of an idea as it is I will finish what I started
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Nov 20, 2017 22:44
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This was awesome and terrifying and hilarious and nerve-wracking last time and Trin made it truly fuckin magical and it was nuts how clever and atmospheric his house-ruled system was and you, the reader, should definitely join this game. We ended up with a basically historical rate of senior officer nervous breakdowns. I think I had about twelve. Pour one out for 43rd Brunswick and 4th Saxon IDs never 4get aphid_licker fucked around with this message at 22:58 on Nov 20, 2017 |
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Nov 20, 2017 22:46
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I never did read the allied thread, were they blowing the gently caress up all the time like we were? but yeah that's all well said it was really cool to be a part of, and I'm not really a usual participant in this sort of lp I wouldn't say, so if you aren't either don't hesitate to join, specifically with the Germans, because I got the sense it was a little easier to recruit for the allies in this anglosphere forum oystertoadfish fucked around with this message at 22:53 on Nov 20, 2017 |
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Nov 20, 2017 22:50
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Oh you know I'm in on this.
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Nov 20, 2017 22:58
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I'm quite interested in partaking in this.
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Nov 20, 2017 23:04
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Excellent, I'll be back. Viva l'France!
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Nov 20, 2017 23:04
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Definitely interested.
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Nov 20, 2017 23:05
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I am excite. I'm one for the schadenfreude thread though.
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Nov 20, 2017 23:08
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Yes, it's like a lava lamp.
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I shouldn't because I get panicky when I make plans, but the temptation is too strong. Let's see how the teams shake out, and then I'll see who needs more people.
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Nov 20, 2017 23:08
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I'll happily take a brigade somewhere.
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Nov 20, 2017 23:12
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I guess it's about time I actually waded into the chaos and horror that is these LPs.
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Nov 20, 2017 23:17
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I am so in. Bagsy something Entente flavored.
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Nov 20, 2017 23:24
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I've read along with all of these as a smug observer, I think it's high time I had a go. I'll wait and see which team needs recruits more before I sign up
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Nov 20, 2017 23:25
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I would enjoy being a part of this ridiculous endeavor as well.
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Nov 20, 2017 23:26
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I will chuck my hat into the ring as well.
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Nov 20, 2017 23:28
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Signups are now open. Full rulesposts are being edited into the reserved spaces. Volontaire pour Legion (Join the French) Die Wacht am Rhein (Join the Germans) This thread remains open to both sides until it is announced closed with sirens. Members of the peanut gallery will remain in the bar and will refrain from posting spoilery information until that time. Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 23:51 on Nov 20, 2017 |
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Nov 20, 2017 23:32
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I'm going to follow this avidly but I doubt I've got the regularity to be a commander.
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Nov 20, 2017 23:35
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Oui Oui hon hon hon!
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Nov 20, 2017 23:36
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Bless you, Trin. Good to see this back again, and best of luck to both sides!
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Nov 20, 2017 23:37
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One thing I will mention from the last games is that even if you don't want to move chits around on a map and get orders in by a deadline, you can still pick a side and join them as an advisor or something. That way 1) you can still participate even if you don't have a command and b) can act as a spare if people drop out or need someone to command reinforcements. Granted, that does keep you from knowing what's happening on both sides, but it can be fun as well.
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Nov 21, 2017 00:23
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last time around, I observed both sides the first battle then took the staff officer role described above for the second. personally I enjoyed the second role more
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Nov 21, 2017 00:29
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A backup without a command is damned near essential in my opinion. You need someone forbouncing ideas off and backup order writing.
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Nov 21, 2017 00:31
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I'm in.
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Nov 21, 2017 00:55
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Am I allowed to join this go at it? I seem to remember as soon as I left last time my team instantly started doing better. It seems like all the roles are filling up by now, but I'll think on what side I'd like to be on and if there's space I'll join, if not I'll observe until next round.
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Nov 21, 2017 01:33
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I think you should come back if you wanna. you didn't do anything really wrong, you just found yourself in an insane job and events proceeded apace I know this is gonna sound sarcastic over the internet but I honestly enjoyed your tenure as commander. how many people end up getting roleplaying-shot by their subordinates when they attempt to surrender in the middle of the battle (iirc)? it was one of the highlights but seriously I'm not trying to be snide, come on back man
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Nov 21, 2017 01:47
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Is there a variation of the rules for WWIII Warsaw Pact vs. NATO? That would be cool one day.
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Nov 21, 2017 02:12
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That rulebook is one sentence long. "Set the table on fire."
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Nov 21, 2017 02:48
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Flesnolk posted:That rulebook is one sentence long. "Set the table on fire." There was a classic SPI war-game that used that as the nuclear weapons rules.
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Nov 21, 2017 03:54
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