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ViggyNash posted:Also, the Germans might be hosed given their plan of attack and lack of contingency, but they're sure having fun thinking they aren't. It has been fun watching them almost get it twice, then rapidly back off each time. They're going to look magnificent as they march straight down that road... One of their brigade commanders is sending out cavalry scouts. The look on their faces will be magnificent when they come around the ridge line.
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Feb 12, 2017 22:28
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Loxbourne posted:It has been fun watching them almost get it twice, then rapidly back off each time. They're going to look magnificent as they march straight down that road... I know right! And I'm so excited it almost physically hurts to wait... Dammit Trig, when's the first turn gonna start! 
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Feb 13, 2017 01:23
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Crazycryodude is going to ruin all our fun.
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Feb 13, 2017 03:41
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Splode posted:Crazycryodude is going to ruin all our fun. I can't be mad at him because he's 100% correct, except for the part where he assumes I haven't spent the past three days cackling out loud. Now I understand why the villain never just orders his goons to shoot James Bond in the head! edit: if I were really mean I'd respond to a wholescale German redeployment by offering the French to flank march their reserve brigades to the bottom left corner, but that would be unfair and adversarial umpiring, if incredibly funny edit 2: unless I offered them both a flank march... Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 15:01 on Feb 13, 2017 |
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Feb 13, 2017 14:57
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Trin Tragula posted:I can't be mad at him because he's 100% correct, except for the part where he assumes I haven't spent the past three days cackling out loud. Now I understand why the villain never just orders his goons to shoot James Bond in the head! Evil. He is looking at it from a GM perspective, and one thing I've learned is that if you can come up with an idea, then your players can come up with the same idea - a true surprise is hard to pull off. Even in history, most surprise attacks have had that one guy who knows whats going to happen, but no-one will listen to him.
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Feb 13, 2017 15:15
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Edit: Nope, signups are closed apparently. Sorry! If an opening presents itself on either side I'd be willing though.
Flesnolk fucked around with this message at 17:26 on Feb 13, 2017 |
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Feb 13, 2017 15:17
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Grey Hunter posted:Evil. Japanese aircraft on their way to Pearl Harbor? You must be mad!
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Feb 13, 2017 15:41
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Grey Hunter posted:Evil. The thing that I think might suprise players the most is that French infantry brigades have one machine-gun and no mortar and therefore are at a nasty (and historical) firepower disadvantage. Players might remember from the last game that the Germans get more artillery, but I don't see them anticipating that I'd take their MGs away. EDIT: So here's the balancing act; the French have 210 companies on-board, the Germans 195. The Germans have *much* more firepower, but it's all in stuff that needs to stop to shoot... Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 16:16 on Feb 14, 2017 |
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Feb 13, 2017 17:23
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Right then. Both sides have finalised their Corps orders. Let's review the situation. Here's what they were told to do. French Orders German Orders General Mon Pere was kind enough to quickly sketch out his basic concept after I asked...  The Germans, meanwhile inform me that their philosophy is "Take Gooneville" via this method  after which, depending on circumstances, they will attempt to put into place one of two plans, either steinrokkan's Clemency:  or something called "Scrambled Eggs", which nobody ever posted in the thread and nobody could find it when I asked in Roll20 (and lectured them, again, about posting in the thread), but I am told, direct quote, "yeah its just a straight line from croissants to sunnyside hill". Which surely bodes well for the future. edit: Tevery Best confirms it is this plan 
Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Feb 13, 2017 |
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Feb 13, 2017 22:23
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Reading all these conditional orders has made me think this would make a great grog game. Maybe if this goes well we can start making some simple programs to help Trin until we end up with an actual game of sorts, where every player sees a map that only contains the info they would know, and program their brigades with a simple scripting language. It would be great, and also, terrible.
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Feb 14, 2017 07:37
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someone needs to make a good corps level wwi game, and a computer version of this would be great!
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Feb 14, 2017 08:09
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Robo Rally meets The Great War.
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Feb 15, 2017 00:27
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Oh this oughtta be good. The Germans started to realise they had a big hole in their plan...then, for the third time, brushed it off because clearly the French could not possibly do that. They're sending their spotter plane to totally the wrong place. Of course, when they see precisely zero armed Frenchmen coming up the south road they're bound to work it out eventually. Let the clusterfuck begin!
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Feb 15, 2017 01:47
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I must admit, just the process of setting out playtests and running them through to see what happens has been plenty of fun, even without loving with the heads of nearly 20 goons at once. Speaking of which... The 1913 Army Manoeuvres With the Germans winning 2-0, clearly the final major playtest scenario had to be one which stacked the deck in favour of the French. Two brigades per side again, plus Jaegers for the Germans (since I tested the Cavalry Brigade last time round), but both sides have taken casualties. The French have been pushed back from Saint Croissant and are now defending the approach to Quatreprouts; and critically, they have had time to entrench and put up barbed wire. Here we see what the effect of prepared positions and cover might be. Starting positions:  By turn 3, things had escalated quickly  The rest of the enemy impaled itself on the wire, so I rewound quickly to turn 3 and implemented a sanity clause allowing the infantry to ignore their orders and dodge round it to get in the trench, because I wanted to see what would happen in trench fighting; by turn 5 we had this:  Left brigade is retreating suppressed but right brigade and the Jagers are making progress: by Turn 7 they've routed the French right (and the German left has gone the same way)   This is the German high-water mark and I re-ran what happened next several times to fine-tune my custom trench fighting mechanics (it's almost like I know this war is going to end in trench warfare); I was happiest with the situation where by Turn 11 this had happened:  The furthest they ever made it round before running out of steam was to the left brigade commander, and then I decided the mechanic favoured the attacker too much and rebalanced it  and by turn 14 the last German brigade commander was shot down; his two surviving guns are hopelessly outnumbered; a clear French victory to make the final score after three years of manoeuvres 2-1 to the Germans. Takeaways: The 1912 scenario involved an extensive march to combat and lasted IIRC about 9 turns. In 1913 the two sides started on top of each other and it still took 14 turns to be sure the Germans weren't going to launch a Roy of the Rovers comeback. Making best use of protective cover is going to be absolutely crucial, as is good luck to shoot the enemy down before they can get into your cover and put some stick about. Next time: Getting the keys to the fireworks factory Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 01:57 on Feb 15, 2017 |
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Feb 15, 2017 01:53
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I really want bullets to start flying. I'm staying out of the faction threads until things start up just to see the chaos once everyone's plans go to poo poo.
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Feb 15, 2017 01:55
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Lazyfire posted:I really want bullets to start flying. I'm staying out of the faction threads until things start up just to see the chaos once everyone's plans go to poo poo. Don't worry, it's just a whole lot of order delivery for now. But maaaaan can I not wait for this to begin..
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Feb 15, 2017 04:29
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I have a feeling the Germans are going to come out ahead in the end, simply because their brigade orders are all focused on taking up positions in and around St Croissant, while most of the French orders are getting to various jumping off points scattered across the south and east. The French will end up feeding a couple brigades in piecemeal against a solid line of German defenses, then struggle to adjust since their division headquarters have been left far to the rear and can't relay orders. Also stuff like this is going to result in some prime hilarity:  Guess it will end up being an accurate representation of 1914!
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Feb 15, 2017 06:10
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Really? I feel like the french will do better as they have planned around all possibilities of where they meet the germans, whereas the germans have super comitted to the idea of the french coming from the opposite corner. I expect that results in the germans flanking themselves really hard and then having to rely on runners to unfuck themselves, while the french brigades automatically crush them. -- EDIT NastyToes posted:
lmao (bolding mine) Splode fucked around with this message at 08:01 on Feb 15, 2017 |
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Feb 15, 2017 06:35
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This is going to be interesting, it could go okay for the Germans if first contact gives them enough time/lucky rolls to change their orders. if they fail some key dice rolls, their men are going to be marching on to their doom. Not that the French have planned this amazing maneuver, they are just taking some high ground, and are going to be surprised as hell to crest the ridge and see the German army in all its glory. I'm sure they will react in a happier way though! It is nice to be reading one of these, and being able to skim read most of the orders for a change. Although it is making me itch to hit my mate up for a second 1914 game, then paint one of the two other divisions I have in my cupboard and give a 1915 game a go... (That and I have a crazy idea for a colonization CYOA that I'm mulling over in my head, as I'm a nutter....)
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Feb 15, 2017 09:31
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You're insane grey.
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Feb 15, 2017 12:12
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Splode posted:Really? I feel like the french will do better as they have planned around all possibilities of where they meet the germans, whereas the germans have super comitted to the idea of the french coming from the opposite corner. The German flank is going to get chewed up, no question, but if it gives them time for the other five/six brigades to dig in around Croissant it's going to be a very tough nut to crack. Taking and holding Croissant meets (some) German objectives and prevents the French from reaching theirs, which is what really matters in the end.
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Feb 15, 2017 15:30
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Terrifying Effigies posted:The German flank is going to get chewed up, no question, but if it gives them time for the other five/six brigades to dig in around Croissant it's going to be a very tough nut to crack. Taking and holding Croissant meets (some) German objectives and prevents the French from reaching theirs, which is what really matters in the end. I think it's going to come down to player morale. I'm betting that the Germans panic when they start losing on the Eastern flank, and mess up their coordinated assault on Croissant trying to perform a 90-degree turn with their entire army. But if the Germans can just hold on their plans and spiky hats, I believe they would have the advantage.
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Feb 15, 2017 19:42
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golden bubble posted:I think it's going to come down to player morale. I'm betting that the Germans panic when they start losing on the Eastern flank, and mess up their coordinated assault on Croissant trying to perform a 90-degree turn with their entire army. But if the Germans can just hold on their plans and spiky hats, I believe they would have the advantage.
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Feb 16, 2017 02:52
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I just posted a pre-battle questionnaire in each thread. Y'all can look for the first update at some point tomorrow evening, at a rough guess around 7pm GMT, but that's just a guess. Some more notes on the scenario. It's primarily designed for maximum entertainment purposes without reference to history or geography; but its loose influences do include the battles of Charleroi, Guise, the Ourcq, and First Picardy. This is still very much a war of manoeuvre and, assuming this all goes to plan, I've another scenario in mind for the 1914 rules, prior to the onset of trench warfare, whose influences I shall remain quiet about for now to avoid tipping players off. When I drew the map, I knew I wanted two sides entering from nearby corners and with objectives in their opposite corner, where they were intended to think the enemy will come from, thus pulling them in an X shape. I also knew I wanted a big fat objective in the middle; that created the idea of a crossroads, except a crossroads would make it too easy to get to by road, so I put in a railway line instead. This also has the nice side effect of dividing the map into four rough quarters, which will be useful when deciding how well each side has fulfilled their objective 3 (pin the French in/occupy as much territory as possible). Priority 1, then, was creating four separate-but-equal corners which would be equally convincing as starting and finishing points; they all have a similar number of towns that could be used as HQ locations or objectives, and similar road access. The French corner was deliberately designed with an awkward crossroads to make them think for a few moments about logistics; the Germans were given a slightly more open run down to Saint Croissants, for reasons which I'll go into in a moment. Lob a few more hills in to facilitate spotting, a few woods in to obstruct it and provide cover, a few farms for additional cover and comedy purposes (I always knew I wanted a mechanic to reflect the real-life practice of stealing anything that wasn't nailed down to build fieldworks and compensate for major logistics issues, and letting the engineer confiscate additional barbed wire from farms was an easy leap from there), et voila, one map. It's only ever had the form in which you see it now and was never revised; everything works just about as intended. On the balance of forces, it's designed to reflect reality while also being playable; the balance is somewhat asymmetric. French infantry brigades have only one MG (and fewer guns in total backing them up), but if they can close to contact, bayonet charges are very powerful and cavalry charges are absolutely beastly (except nobody wants to launch one, which is predictable but irritating). The issue, like in the real war, is not that a cavalry or bayonet charge is ineffective on the Western Front (there was a successful cavalry charge at High Wood in mid-1916, for God's sake); it's that they may have to dodge a shitload of fire on their way to contact and might never make it. If they can close to contact, they'll wreck poo poo very quickly. This asymmetric balance is also reflected in the special brigade I've given to each side. The French have a cavalry brigade; it's about speed and mobility. The Germans have a super-durable super-infantry battalion that should not rout and which if I were using it would be held out of the initial fighting but not sent off on scouting duty; it'd wait just behind the line and then be committed either to follow up success or reverse failure. So the Germans get more pure firepower; they get more field guns and more howitzers and more MGs and bonus mortars, but it's all less mobile than what the French have got. They also have fewer infantry companies and fewer companies in general. They have a force that should win despite the numerical disparity as long as all its parts are in place and not moving and, critically, all the artillery is unlimbered before the French arrive. If the French charge even stationary German positions with no fieldworks, I expect them to get mullered and this is going to be Charleroi. If the French charge before the Germans can get their MGs and field guns in place, this might just be the Ourcq instead.
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Feb 16, 2017 03:51
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I have to hand it to you, Trin, you've put a lot of thought and effort into this. Looking forward to seeing how it all pans out!
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Feb 16, 2017 05:14
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The game has begun and the Germans have had the better of the first exchange. Germans French Laugh? I nearly cried. Time for bed. Analysis and everything-switched-on maps coming tomorrow. This took far too long, but most of it was my fault taking a short cut to mushrooms instead of following my plan to keep track of what everything was doing..
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Feb 17, 2017 03:32
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Yep, this is starting off right.
Patrick Spens fucked around with this message at 04:14 on Feb 17, 2017 |
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Feb 17, 2017 03:56
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Glad to see that both sides think that they have the upper hand.
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Feb 17, 2017 03:58
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Great so far! Looks like the French side planned a bit better for this outcome, even though they didn't think it likely.
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Feb 17, 2017 04:53
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Trin Tragula posted:The rest of the enemy impaled itself on the wire, so... I was just looking at that French line and thinking "who the hell would attack into that ?" And then names started popping into my head. drat there were some bad generals in WW1.
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Feb 17, 2017 07:30
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And now, the bloodbath! I'm a bit concerned the Germans will just bolt for their objectives and end the game before things get ugly though.
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Feb 17, 2017 07:43
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Neither side in in blind panic yet, but then then the shooting hasn't started yet - its the next turn when the artillery gets set up that we will see the losses coming in. neither side's assaulting force has a halt planned into the move, so shooting should be pretty even unless the Germans reach the objective first, or their cavalry in the town really slows the French down with their shooting. This was the bloodiest period of the war, day for day, and its about to show!
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Feb 17, 2017 09:02
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 Are both sides supposed to see everything? (Due to the hills, I presume.) Or is it it a mistake?
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Feb 17, 2017 10:02
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markus_cz posted:
The positions on La Cote and Pasteur Ridge offer almost perfect spotting for where everyone is at the moment; but it's perfect spotting for units which are still moving, so everyone can both see and be seen. If the units up there stop, their "can be spotted at" range goes back down to 12".
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Feb 17, 2017 13:00
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The French:Hunt11 posted:I have just had it pointed out to me that I used the wrong picture for my preferred battle deployment. Is there any point in me posting what I actually meant? my dad posted:For the observer thread, yes.  Let the chaos begin!
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Feb 17, 2017 19:11
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Just completed reading through all three threads. This is fantastic, it's nail-bitingly exciting and completely hilarious already and the real battle hasn't even begun yet! Thanks for the effort, Trin  e: live feed from German HQ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qXmxVySMzw System Metternich fucked around with this message at 21:06 on Feb 17, 2017 |
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Feb 17, 2017 20:01
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 is there any way the Germans can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat by sneaking a task force around to capture quadrepouts while the French don't notice? E: I see the Germans came up with that idea around the same time I did Elyv fucked around with this message at 21:26 on Feb 17, 2017 |
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Feb 17, 2017 21:20
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Its bad, but they have a strong force to the north of the town. They still have time to put up a line and have the french run into their lines, stationary troops have a massive advantage in firing first. if they keep on attacking, then they are done for.
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Feb 17, 2017 21:27
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The French are just blasting the Germans off the road. It's a bloodbath.
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Feb 17, 2017 21:31
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They seem to realize that they need to resist the urge to charge forth, at least.
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Feb 17, 2017 21:32
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