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Trin Tragula
Apr 22, 2005

Madames et messieurs, bienvenue a France.

It is August 1914, less than a month since the world went mad, Europe was plunged into war, and it fell to you to fight it. This is us.

(If you don't know what's going on here, here's the observer thread.)

:siren: IF YOU ARE PLAYING ON THE GERMAN SIDE, TURN BACK NOW AND GO NO FURTHER :siren:

This is the French IV Corps, as it formed up for inspection on the parade ground last week.



Here is its order of battle; we need a corps commander, two division commanders, and a whole crap-ton of brigade commanders.

quote:

IV Corps

6th Division

52nd Brigade
53rd Brigade
54th Brigade
55th Brigade

and one unit of divisional cavalry, one divisional engineer, and nine 75mm gun batteries

22nd Division

96th Brigade
97th Brigade
98th Brigade
99th Brigade

and one unit of divisional cavalry, one divisional engineer, and nine 75mm gun batteries

Currently in Corps Reserve we also have

119th (Reserve) Brigade
120th (Reserve) Brigade

6th Cavalry Brigade, comprising 4 cavalry companies, one cavalry machine-gun company, and three batteries of arse hortillery [sic]

12 75mm gun batteries, and 2 155mm howitzer batteries.

There is no Corps HQ chit; the Corps HQ is located off the map in this battle.

The Corps Commander gives orders to the two divisional commanders; they may not give orders to brigade commanders or individual companies. Each divisional commander reports to the Corps Commander and gives orders to the brigade commanders under them; they may not directly order any companies to move and may not give orders to brigades attached to the other division. Brigade commanders do get to give orders to companies and move chits around the battlefield, at the cost of being at the bottom of the chain of command.

Each division's cavalry, engineers, and artillery must be assigned by the Divisional Commander to a subordinate brigade, or it will remain off the board in divisional reserve until attached. The only chit that Divisional Commanders may directly move is their own HQ, of which more later. Likewise, the two reserve brigades and the cavalry brigade must be attached to a Division by the Corps Commander before it can join the battle; and the poo poo-ton of Corps artillery and the Corps engineer must be attached to a brigade by the Corps Commander. Divisional and Corps commanders need not commit all their assets immediately and may, if they want, keep units off the board, safe in reserve, and introduce them after the start of the battle.

What the hell do we do now?

First, sort out who will be the Corps Commander (I recall forums poster my dad expressing active interest in this) and who will command the two divisions; everyone else will be either brigade commanders or non-participating staff officers. Once we have a corps commander confirmed in post, the Army Commander will send him his orders and you can start planning the battle; I'll also be making a long post later on how exactly one gives orders. (There is an extensive house rule involved.)

Where's the BEF?

If the battle goes badly for you, Sir John French might be convinced to send a few units to your aid. Or maybe not. Who can say what the perfidious English will choose to do? Perhaps they might show up in force later in 1914.

Can I see the map again?

Sure.



I'll include a full-size map once the Army Commander has his orders. (For reference, we're playing to Grey's scale: 40 pixels to the inch, chits are 50px by 50px, each "inch" represents 80 yards of ground, and the map is 4500px by 3000px, which is slightly more than five miles wide.) Merci, bonne chance, and Vive la France.

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Trin Tragula
Apr 22, 2005

A COLLECTION OF poo poo THAT YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW

How to Play

Giving Orders
Time, Movement, and Spotting


Objectives

Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 22:21 on Feb 9, 2017

Trin Tragula
Apr 22, 2005

List of updates

PENDING

Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 15:32 on Feb 14, 2017

my dad
Oct 17, 2012

this shall be humorous
Reporting for the position of corps(e) commander. Vive la France!

Hunt11
Jul 24, 2013

Grimey Drawer
To ensure that the British get the tea break that they need I volunteer to be a bridge commander. I feel a good dose of British stubbornness will help break the vile Huns.

my dad
Oct 17, 2012

this shall be humorous
I'm so grateful for the lack of rivers. They caused so much ridiculous busywork last game, and severely limited the options for battlelines.

sullat
Jan 9, 2012
En avante, mon amis! I look forward to sending my brigade into battle with their superior elan.

AbortRetryFail
Jan 17, 2007

No more Mr. Nice Gaius

I would like to be a grossly incompetent 98th Standard Brigade Commander. I do not know how horses work nor do I trust them, so any brigade will do as long as it isn't the Cavalry brigade.

AbortRetryFail fucked around with this message at 02:52 on Feb 9, 2017

Tehan
Jan 19, 2011
I, too, would like to donate my incompetence by commanding a brigade.

Sixkiller
Mar 2, 2015

Sanguine Sanguinary


With my trustiest flag in hand, I am ready to lead a brigade to rid Europe of the Teutonic menace.

Sixkiller fucked around with this message at 23:35 on Feb 8, 2017

Hephasto
Oct 11, 2007
I agree, I agree, it's all about that skreee.
If there are spots left, I'd gladly take command of a brigade pour la patrie.

Loel
Jun 4, 2012

"For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.



Give me the lucky 99

thatbastardken
Apr 23, 2010

A contract signed by a minor is not binding!
I'll lead the glorious 6th division into glorious combat. Gloriously.



thatbastardken fucked around with this message at 03:04 on Feb 9, 2017

xthetenth
Dec 30, 2012

Mario wasn't sure if this Jeb guy was a good influence on Yoshi.

I will take the glorious 6th cavalry brigade into glorious combat. I will no doubt misplace them but I will do it with panache and flair.

xthetenth fucked around with this message at 03:03 on Feb 9, 2017

Trin Tragula
Apr 22, 2005

GIVING ORDERS (or, How Do I Make Things Happen?)

Right then. Let's talk about orders, how they're going to work, and how to make sure I know what your orders mean. This is how you get your blokes to move around, so pay attention, 007.

:siren: The first thing of all that I want to say is that while this is a rules-heavy grognard wargame, please don't be intimidated by that. Other players can help you understand enough rules to give effective orders if you're a brigade commander. Alternatively, you could opt for Division or Corps command and not be charged with shuffling chits around!

This advice is being given in identical form to both sides.

CORPS COMMANDER: PRE-BATTLE

Here is what you must do according to the rules, before the battle. You must decide who, if anyone, is going to get those big howitzers and engineers (we'll talk about engineers and some combat rules later), and which division the Cavalry Brigade should be assigned to. And you must deal with the "spotter plane" house rule I've come up with, which I'll also explain later. Of course, there's much more to commanding a corps than that, but that's not for me to tell you about...

DIVISION COMMANDERS: PRE-BATTLE

Like the corps commander, there are few things you must do, by the rules. Hand out the division assets, and give me orders for where you want to set up your Divisional HQ. More to follow on that subject. And then you have to be part of the chain of command, of course.

BRIGADE COMMANDERS: PRE-BATTLE

Now we get to the sharp end. What you need to do is turn your bosses' good wishes and highfalutin' thoughts into action. Here are the rules that you need to understand in order to give effective orders before the battle starts.

Your unit will start the game off the board and enter across a nominated map edge when there is room for it. (There's not going to be a huge traffic jam on turn 1, we'll get everyone on, mostly.) It will then move according to a pre-written sequence of orders that you give it. Once the battle begins, any orders you give to your companies are subject to the possibility that the orders will not reach them. Pre-battle orders do not have this problem; you have plenty of time to explain your intentions to the men.

For more detail on giving orders, see this updated post downthread.

DURING THE BATTLE: BRIGADE COMMANDERS

During a turn, a brigade is in one of two states: Attack or Defend. If you want your blokes to move, they must be set to Attack. When a Brigade is set to Attack, all companies must move their maximum speed, except that units who need to be stationary to fire will come to a stop on sighting an enemy and (if necessary) begin unlimbering. This is part of the reason why I must have an arrow with your orders; your brigade moves according to the direction of its arrow.

By the same token, if you want your blokes to hold in place (and the rules about how firing resolves give an advantage to stationary units over moving ones), their Brigade must be set to Defend; they will then come to a stop. This is the other part of why the orders you give me must have an arrow on them; the end of the arrow indicates where the brigade is to stop. You can also give me orders that say things like "move to point X, Defend for 4 turns, return to Attack, move to point Y."

A Change of Orders is when you attempt to alter what your men are doing. This is not a game where I come back to you after every turn to ask if you're sure you still want to keep advancing towards the town. Those men are going to advance until there's a good reason for them not to. Likewise, if they're stopped, they're going to stay stopped until there's a reason to move. You deal with immediate tactical concerns by setting Standing Orders, automatic responses to common situations.

CHANGE OF ORDERS

When you issue new orders, you do it in the same way as you did pre-battle; draw a map with an arrow, explain what it means. If you want to alter a Standing Order, you can also do that.

THE COMMAND RADIUS

You have a double Command Radius surrounding your BHQ chit. If a company is within 8" of BHQ, it receives a successful Change of Orders attempt on the same turn it was issued. If it is more than 8" away but is within 16", it is less likely to receive the change, and there is a delay of one turn while someone goes to find them and tell them about the Change of Orders. If it's outside 16", you cannot control it and it will continue doing what it was doing until and unless you can catch it up again. There are other things can screw up your attempted order change; being fired on, for instance.

So that's how Brigade commanders interact with their companies. But how do they interact with their boss?

DURING THE BATTLE - CORPS AND DIVISION COMMAND

Brigadiers are at a major advantage to their real-life counterparts; where a brigadier in the real war was only aware of the immediate doings of his own brigade (and often not particularly aware even of that), a brigade commander in the Great Goon War is aware of what everyone on their own team is planning and doing. They are therefore able to act on player knowledge of things they should not, in fact, have any knowledge of; Westmost Brigade can break off a planned attack and head across country to assist the beleagured Eastmost Brigade.

Additionally, we need a method of simulating the real-life fact that it was extremely difficult for commanders in the First World War to adapt and change their orders to meet a developing situation. So, in order to issue a Change of Orders, Brigade commanders have to jump through a series of hoops first. The underlying principle is that since everyone knows information that only the Corps Commander should know, all attempts to change one's orders must clear through Corps Commmand.

If a brigade attempts to change its orders, it must succeed on a dice roll. For a brigade located near its divisional commander, who in turn is in direct telephone contact with its corps commander, this is relatively easy. For a brigade located halfway across the map, nowhere near a road, far from its divisional commander, and locked in heavy combat, this is relatively difficult. If the roll succeeds, your brigade starts putting its new orders into effect. If not, it continues with its old orders, and may attempt to change orders again on subsequent turns.

Divisional command can assist with helping its brigades change orders by remaining in telephone contact with Corps HQ, which it does by being in a town with a road link back to your side's nominated edge of the map; if DHQ moves, or the telephone wires are cut, its brigades' ability to change orders decreases significantly. It also has a 30" aura around it; if a brigade leaves the 30" zone, it becomes harder to change orders. Brigades can also make it easier to change orders by being within 8" of a road. (This is so that the abstracted message-carrying runners can move between HQs as quickly as possible.)

There's a tradeoff to be made here for Divisional commanders. What do you value more - safety behind the lines at the cost of being further from your men, or closeness to your men, while being very distant from your boss and risking being cut off by the enemy? It'll depend on your plan.

THE RUNNER

There is also a special chit called the Runner, who appears to convey certain critical messages from Brigades who fulfil an objective in their orders.

The Runner moves by the quickest route known to it towards the last known or expected location of the HQ it's heading to. All well and good when it's heading for a Divisional HQ that hasn't moved in years; but when it's going to a HQ in the field, which could be God knows where? And then, if enemies unexpectedly appear and force Divisional HQ to move, and the Runner doesn't know about it, or if the Runner is simply unlucky while moving, they can be killed or captured, and their information will be available to the enemy...

Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 02:06 on Mar 1, 2017

Tehan
Jan 19, 2011
Can BHQs use their runners to communicate with other brigades, or is it solely for communicating with their DHQ?

my dad
Oct 17, 2012

this shall be humorous
I'd like to formally nominate myself as the Corps Commander. Is everyone OK with this?

AbortRetryFail
Jan 17, 2007

No more Mr. Nice Gaius

I would love for you to be Corps Commander.

thatbastardken
Apr 23, 2010

A contract signed by a minor is not binding!

my dad posted:

I'd like to formally nominate myself as the Corps Commander. Is everyone OK with this?

quote:

this shall be humorous

AbortRetryFail
Jan 17, 2007

No more Mr. Nice Gaius

Nominating myself for Division Command if no one else wants the responsibility.

Edit: Both divisions picked up so I guess I return to 98th Standard Brigade Command

AbortRetryFail fucked around with this message at 02:52 on Feb 9, 2017

Hunt11
Jul 24, 2013

Grimey Drawer
I second that vote.

Bacarruda
Mar 30, 2011

Mutiny!?! More like "reinterpreted orders"
I'll take the 22nd Division.

Tehan
Jan 19, 2011
I have no objection to notable forums poster 'my dad' commanding our glorious corps.

thatbastardken
Apr 23, 2010

A contract signed by a minor is not binding!
I'll note that I did call command of 6th Division earlier, and any attempt to usurp my position will need to contend with my pointed asides and poorly disguised contempt.

AbortRetryFail
Jan 17, 2007

No more Mr. Nice Gaius

I didn't see anyone calling for division command because you didn't bold it :argh:

Hunt11
Jul 24, 2013

Grimey Drawer
Whoever commands the 22nd Division then I will command the 97th brigade for you.

Hunt11 fucked around with this message at 03:42 on Feb 9, 2017

thatbastardken
Apr 23, 2010

A contract signed by a minor is not binding!
if you had the tactical sense god granted a spaniard you wouldn't need to have things pointed out in bold :smug:

Tehan
Jan 19, 2011
If brigades are being selected rather than distributed, I would be honoured to take command of the glorious 96th brigade.

AbortRetryFail
Jan 17, 2007

No more Mr. Nice Gaius

thatbastardken posted:

if you had the tactical sense god granted a spaniard you wouldn't need to have things pointed out in bold :smug:

Ouch :(

And yeah if I'm allowed to choose brigades I've edited my posts to 98th.

Tehan
Jan 19, 2011
Then that's the 22nd sewn up:

22nd Division HQ: Barracuda

96th: Tehan
97th: Hunt11
98th: AbortRetryFail
99th: Loel

With sullat, sixkiller and hephasto not having selected a specific brigade, xthetenth selecting the cavalry in reserves, and thatbastardken in command of the 6th Division.

E: And, of course, my dad in charge of the entire corps

Nine of Eight
Apr 28, 2011


LICK IT OFF, AND PUT IT BACK IN
Dinosaur Gum

Sous-Lieutenant Honoré Lalance reporting as a Staff Officer
I am proud to tell you that the Lalance family have been soldiers since the time of Saint Louis, and I will try to uphold my heritage in providing you with sensible advice.

Nine of Eight fucked around with this message at 03:03 on Feb 9, 2017

Tehan
Jan 19, 2011
Two command positions left, by my count.

thatbastardken
Apr 23, 2010

A contract signed by a minor is not binding!

Hunt11 posted:

To ensure that the British get the tea break that they need I volunteer to be a bridge commander.

?

my dad
Oct 17, 2012

this shall be humorous


Our offensives shall be unstoppable, our victories swift, and our mustaches unmatched. En avant!

thatbastardken
Apr 23, 2010

A contract signed by a minor is not binding!


What do you mean 1914 is too early for a gas attack?

xthetenth
Dec 30, 2012

Mario wasn't sure if this Jeb guy was a good influence on Yoshi.

Out of cuirassity, what are my horsey dudes equipped with? Is it one fast MG unit, three batteries of guns and then guys with cuirasses that I'm going to spend the game pleading to use as surrogate runners, or more a dragoon type setup?

my dad
Oct 17, 2012

this shall be humorous

xthetenth posted:

I'm going to spend the game pleading to use as surrogate runners



Oh, no no no no. I have very special plans for your cavalry. :) Very special plans, indeed.

Tehan
Jan 19, 2011

xthetenth posted:

cuirassity

Did you ask that question purely as an excuse to use that pun?

Nine of Eight
Apr 28, 2011


LICK IT OFF, AND PUT IT BACK IN
Dinosaur Gum

my dad posted:



Oh, no no no no. I have very special plans for your cavalry. :) Very special plans, indeed.


My great-great-great grandfather Loup "Face de Cul" Lalance was a proud survivor of the victory at Agincourt, whereupon our glorious cavalry smashed through the cowardly Italian crossbowmen. With enough Élan our Cuirassiers will overcome the Boche!

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xthetenth
Dec 30, 2012

Mario wasn't sure if this Jeb guy was a good influence on Yoshi.

Tehan posted:

Did you ask that question purely as an excuse to use that pun?

Maaaaaaaybe?


my dad posted:

Oh, no no no no. I have very special plans for your cavalry. :) Very special plans, indeed.

I'm actually more expecting something along the lines of scouting and picketing and dying while getting the mobile firepower into important positions. Is that more accurate?

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