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The BEF 2nd Brigade is a veteran formation with 15 infantry companies, one machine-gun company, one engineer, and one battery of 18-pounder field guns. (Their calibre is 84mm, and they may not be manhandled.) It must be assigned to a French DHQ for boring crunch reasons. edit: they will not, I carry messages between threads, although I can certainly attribute it Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 02:56 on Feb 24, 2017 |
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Feb 24, 2017 02:50
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Loel posted:edit: Apparently I got some new cannon? How many/what type made it back? The two 75mm batteries that you didn't put in that first image have returned to you and will appear on the map, unlimbered and ready to fire, at any location within 16" of your Brigade HQ that you nominate. The 155s...you'll see about those.
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Feb 24, 2017 13:32
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sullat posted:I will put orders up this evening, GMT-08. Once again, though, lowest priority for runners since I'm just sending a company to hide in Baguende. General Tebeka, any recommendations for a restaurant in the town? Since it has been free of the rampaging Hun, perhaps we will have a proper meal today. The patron of the local inn is a genial old boy who's extremely salty about Alsace and Lorraine and has been gladly serving up food, wine, and cigarettes to anyone who's had more than a minute to stop and defend him from the enemy's menace.
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Feb 24, 2017 19:56
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 The adjudication begins...edit: adjudication complete, results post pending Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 22:27 on Feb 25, 2017 |
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Feb 25, 2017 18:53
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEek098QcrU Turn 18: 1530 French initiative Both your marooned regular brigades in the East change their orders and get moving. The 120th fails to change; the 55th's orders are invalid. Either all infantry companies must move when changing stance, or nobody moves.  A right royal clusterfuck ensues on Dejeuner Ridge; again, the 97th fails to change orders. Instead, winning initiative, General Hunt11 draws his sword, and those infantry companies who are still eligible charge their German opponents! Your cavalry company, always just slightly out of rifle range, now saddles up and charges the Germans coming over the top of La Oeuf! The other end of the line is rapidly caving in as your enemies bravely charge your machine guns.  Everyone opens fire at once; the German chargers are all thrown back and killed, while Hunt11's sword personally accounts for two of their companies across the line! All your guns and one MG company are taken out. The 97th makes a morale check...  ...and succeeds! Buoyed by the success, it receives new orders and prepares to withdraw to Graisse...  Crucially, many of the companies who were forced to retreat suppressed rally from suppression. The 6th Cavalry is now eligible to attempt to change its orders. Turn 19: 1600 French initiative 22nd Division's return to Clemenceau goes smoothly, and as they go, they see something. The British are coming! The British are coming! The British! The British are coming! And, not only that, but they appear to have found something that belongs to you...  Such jollity aside, the 120th gets underway as the eastern redeployment continues.  The 97th and 6th Cavalry both converge on Graisse and rush to set up defensive positions in the town.  You are not pursued. The Germans, it seems, have better things to do. This is the first turn in a long time with nobody opening fire.  Turn 20: 1630 French initiative Go West, life isn't peaceful there.  The BEF continues its approach march as the men in Graisse hunker down and their MGs open fire at a forming enemy formation on the hillside.  Two suppressions, but no kills going into the rally phase.  The punishing heat dies down a little as the summer sun begins the long, slow process of setting over the battlefield. Night falls, don't forget, at the end of Turn 27.  Turn 21: 1700 German initiative The BEF, pushing hard, is nearly within sight of Faibleimpot.  Your machine-guns open up again; one kill, one suppression this time.  That forces a crucial morale check for the Germans...and they pass!  How many more times can they rally? How long can the 97th hold out? How long until the 6th Division arrives? Find out next time... You have lost 124 companies; the enemy has lost 135. Next soft deadline is 5pm GMT, Monday 27 February.(Now tell me what I forgot.)
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Feb 25, 2017 23:47
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Your Intelligence department intercepts a telegram from Generalleutenant Tevery Spitzehut Unhofflichmann Beste von Polieren to General Kuno von Moltke, who you believe is his army commander.code:Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 00:17 on Feb 26, 2017 |
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Feb 26, 2017 00:12
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General Lyautey sounds rather harrassed when you speak with him. He tells you tersely that it will arrive approximately one hour before nightfall and then hangs up on you. Would you like it to be infantry-focused, artillery-focused, or cavalry?
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Feb 26, 2017 02:02
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It has ten cavalry companies, a commander, one cavalry machine-gun, and one arse hortillery battery. It requires a commanding officer, and it must be assigned to a division. Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 02:14 on Feb 26, 2017 |
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Feb 26, 2017 02:12
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzRmp-O496Y
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Feb 26, 2017 02:18
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The following rules are relevant to night operations. One hour before total darkness, at 1930, the hill spotting rules will be suspended and spotting will only be possible at a maximum of 12" for any unit that does not fire. At 2030, all units will spot only at 4" unless opening fire. The rule which does not allow close combat between unspotted units will be suspended; if units bump each other in the night, there will be close combat. It is significantly harder to get a change of orders through at night, and there is a chance that units will lose their way and not move entirely as intended. The game will advance at double speed after 2030 in eight-turn updates and halved deadlines where my schedule allows. Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 11:19 on Feb 26, 2017 |
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Feb 26, 2017 11:16
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e;f,dp
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Feb 26, 2017 11:16
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The adjudication begins...
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Feb 27, 2017 20:01
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh_pAII16pw Turn 22: 1730 The first thing that happens this half-hour is dull and humdrum; a German company suddenly makes a dash for the Bois de Baguette, and your guns, caught by surprise, miss as they attempt to fire on it.  Your Eastern brigades attempt to re-deploy, with varying amounts of success.  Baguende is re-occupied.  Right. That's the end of sensible for the time being. Let us now join Crazytown, aka Dejeuner Ridge, twinned with Insanity and Elan.  The situation looks exceptionally grim as xthetenth gathers up his men for one last poo poo-or-bust charge up Dejeuner Ridge. They'll have to do it without MG cover, too, as their MG support is busy moving into the Outskirts. Manly embraces are exchanged as they mount their horses and prepare to die. But then some things become apparent. For one, the German 10cm howitzers are in the process of unlimbering, and can't fire. The 15cm howitzers are still trundling gently into place. For another, the utterly selfless charge of the 97th Infantry Brigade has put them close enough to the German machine guns to draw the MGs' fire. And third, the positioning of the German infantry is such that everyone's screening each other from the horses. The only companies with clear shots are ones who moved first, with initiative, and who consequently moved 8", seeing no targets, and made themselves ineligible to use rifle fire. What this means, in short, is that the cavalry charge succeeds unopposed and there will be a close combat phase. But first. The German MGs open fire. It is said that greater love hath no man than this; that he should lay down his life for his friends. Well, that's the 79th's job, and they do it well enough. They then make a morale check and fail; next turn they will begin retreating suppressed in the direction of Graisse.  Now xthetenth's comrades draw sabres and charge the gunners, caught unlimbering.  Two howitzer batteries are ruined and another bravely runs away, retreating suppressed. The General follows suit. And how! And how! There'll be medals all round for this hour's work, if any are left alive to be decorated with them!  He scorns the bombs of a single mortar battery, brushes off the fire from an enemy brigade commander, and scatters the 15cm howitzers as his comrades did their 10cm friends.  And there's still three more turns to go, for God's sake. This is just utterly ludicrous. Surely they can't survive the six o'clock hour. Turn 23: 1800 French initiative Some people that none of you care about any more move in ways nobody can be bothered with any more.  The cavalry continues to boldly go, and as they wheel about to charge again, they spot (as depicted by the red marker chit) a German runner heading in the general direction of Saint Croissant!  On the back side of the hill, the 175th has emerged from its trenches and now finds itself in an ideal position to sweep up the fleeing howitzers!  Many of them had to take their full movement to get into range, but a few rifle companies open fire, and they make their shots count.  xthetenth's comrades meet their end at the hands of the German machine guns as the BEF charges forward at the German FKs, again catching them unlimbering!  Their comrades' rifle fire proves telling, with an MG suppression; and from behind them, a French 155cm howitzer roars into life, dwarfing all the other gun reports, and suppressing a German FK with the greatest of ease.  xthetenth sends three more enemy companies fleeing before him and then falls on the FK; one BEF company is repelled by supporting rifle fire, and then the one that closes to contact fails to have any effect on the German guns!  At this point I swear very loudly, having noticed that somehow one of the three remaining 6th cav companies got accidentally switched off and didn't get switched on again when I came to run Turn 22. I quickly retrace the path it would have taken and am pretty sure no German would ever have had a shot at it (or if they did, they would have rolled badly anyway), so drop it into place charging the FKs.  And once again that gun battery resists an enemy charge unharmed in a stunning display of  What more can possibly happen? Turn 24: 1830 German initiative More things you've ceased to care about.  The 97th retreats to the Bois de Graisse and attempts to un-gently caress itself.  North of Dejeuner, the 175th drops its guns for a split second to dispatch the 15cm howitzer battery; on the south slopes, the FKs open fire in self-defence, but there are now too many enemies bearing down on them to avoid close combat!  German machine guns open up on the BEF from Quatreprouts and cause casualties; the BEF's MG responds.   One BEF company has somehow managed to survive the fire of two machine guns and two German rifle companies and drills right through the MGs with the bayonet, killing one and forcing another to retreat suppressed!  xthetenth's companions are suppressed, but the General requires no friends as he zips across the field, operating in ideal conditions for cavalry, and drills mercilessly through the remaining German infantry.  Who would have thought, analysing the situation as it appeared yesterday, that it would end up like this? Who knows? Not me, though I never lost control.  xthetenth was face, to face, with the man who sold the world. (And then he sliced his chest open with a sword.) [Note: Here is what you saw when the MGs in Quatreprouts opened fire.]  Turn 25: 1900 German initiative In the last proper light of the day, some more things happen in the East.   The 97th begins to rally in Graisse.  German arse hortillery has unwisely ridden into Fraisechamps and pays the price.  The newly-arrived German cavalry, inspired by your example, attempts to charge the green reservists of the 175th!  The 175th's unlimbered guns do most of the work; the MG finishes it, although one rifle company is killed by a German weapon. Atop Dejeuner, xthetenth and the British brigadier attempt to gather their men and figure out what the hell they can possibly do to top this evening's work; just to the south, the German MGs in Quatreprouts conduct some light target practice.  And so, amazingly, incredibly, improbably, with the last shaft of true daylight before the battlefield begins to recede into the gloom of night, this, this is what you can see.  You have removed 154 enemy companies from the board and lost 131. Owing to my schedule, the next soft deadline is Thursday March 2nd, 9am GMT. I believe that there is, by way of compensation, plenty to discuss.
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Feb 28, 2017 03:54
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The 155s currently consider themselves part of the BEF and will do until the quartermaster runs out of warm beer and Woodbines, which doesn't look to be any time soon.
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Feb 28, 2017 15:27
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Your flyers have many demands on their time and will not be available to the Corps Commander again until tomorrow.
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Feb 28, 2017 20:13
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Hunt11 posted:Are my calculations correct in regard to total number of chits deployed? I'm afraid this falls under the "I'm not your mum" clause; teams are responsible for their own bookkeeping.
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Feb 28, 2017 20:24
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The adjudication begins...
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Mar 2, 2017 13:02
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Turn 26: 1930 French initiative The 99th Brigade's engineer appears on-board and gets to work.  The 175th is charged again, and makes quick work of the remaining cavalry.  The BEF re-forms and prepares to march on Quatreprouts.  And the battlefield receives an addition of tone and dignity as General Mon Pere leads his horsemen onto the field.  Until the end of the battle, you will take severe penalties when attempting to change orders.There are no living Germans in sight.  Turn 27: 2000 French initiative The 97th successfully changes orders, and its rallied companies begin making their way back to Clemenceau.  The Hero of Dejeuner trots boldly out into the great unknown.  Atop Dejeuner, the 175th trips over the dead while trying to advance.  Mon Pere cannot move past the guns without fouling them with his formation.  The BEF advances, and is hit by machine guns firing out of Quatreprouts.   It is just out of range to retaliate. Night falls. This is the last battlefield overview you will see until morning.  Turn 28: 2030 German initiative The 175th tries to find its way to its assigned positions.  xthetenth moves past the northern edge of the 175th's old trench.  Mon Pere moves past the guns and prepares to charge.  The BEF goes in, and takes casualties from a nearby mortar and a howitzer out behind the Bois de Bacon.  The Germans repel the first charge, but not without taking heavy losses of their own as your 155s and MG find the range easily.  Here's that rotten howitzer.  Turn 29: 2100 German initiative The 6th Cavalry is, er, somewhere north of those trenches.  The 52nd has found its way to the Bois de Baguette, and then ends up describing a large circle.  Things aren't much better for the 175th.  Mon Pere stands up in the saddle, and boldly leads the charge on!  His men send two MGs, an infantry company, and the brigade commander fleeing west, and slaughter the others with ease. Then he rallies.  That dratted 15cm is still up there, though. It is now night. The next soft deadline is TOMORROW, Friday 3rd March, at 5pm. The next update will be 8 turns long.
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Mar 2, 2017 18:51
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The adjudication begins...
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Mar 3, 2017 18:17
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bag1gUxuU0g Turn 30: 2130 French initiative The 6th Cavalry continues trying to find Faibleimpot.  The 52nd continues trying to find its way through the Bois de Baguette.  The 97th continues trying to find Dejeuner Ridge.  Mon Pere's 1st Cavalry continues trying to find the Germans who fled Quatreprouts, and tracks them down with ease. They're still suppressed and all are automatically killed without being able to fight back. The howitzer up on the hill fires again.  The BEF forms up again and about-turns to head to the crossroads south of Saint Croissant.  Turn 31: 2200 German initiative The 175th is finally beginning to find its bearings up on Dejeuner.  The BEF marches.  The surviving men of the 6th Cavalry make a joint pact to mention none of the details of what happened this night, so long as they find Faibleimpot in the end.  Mon Pere gathers his men and follows the BEF. The howitzer falls silent.  The 97th is still trying to find its way.  Good news: The 52nd has finally managed to sort out which way is west, and takes up position.  Bad news: This requires it to move more than 4". When they arrive at their positions, they soon see four German companies heading south-west. Then they see German guns opening fire on them.  Then they see German machine guns opening fire on them from the road opposite.  Then they are reduced to their auto-breakoff point and will retreat next turn, if they're able. As a consolation, the survivors don't take any rifle fire, nor do they have targets within range to fire at.  Only one of your guns was close enough to receive the spotting news in time to fire on this turn. If any of them have visible targets next turn... Turn 32: 2230 German initiative The 6th Cav finds Faibleimpot and dispatches its runner.  The 52nd flees to find a better hole.  The 97th, er...the 97th now knows where it is!  The BEF is not down'earted yet.  Neither is Mon Pere.  Turn 33: 2300 French initiative The 52nd takes shelter in the Bois de Tigre.  The BEF is still not down'earted.  The 6th Cavalry settles into defensive positions and starts getting its story straight.  The 97th and the 175th have nearly just about sorted themselves out on Dejeuner Ridge.  Mon Pere forms up his men for the next charge.  Morale here, at least, is sky high. Turn 34: 2330 French initiative The only thing that happens on this turn is that the BEF wish their allies "Bone chance, mongsewer!" as the cavalry trots off into the night, looking for trouble.  Turn 35: MIDNIGHT French initiative Your runner picks his way across Dejeuner Ridge.  Mon Pere runs into a single German company guarding the road and sweeps it aside; it retreats suppressed.  New day. New tune. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB2Ad04mukI Turn 36: 0030 French initiative Mon Pere spurs his horse on, attempting to run down the tripwire, galloping towards Saint Croissant.  And this is what they see.  The artillery opens fire, and horses and men go tumbling down to join them. Then the machine guns take their turn.  Only Mon Pere is left. But he's still there, and he rides on into the night. Turn 37: 0100 French initiative The battlefield falls silent again. There is no news of Mon Pere. The next deadline is TOMORROW, Saturday March 4th, at 7pm GMT.Your runner will arrive at Clemenceau on Turn 38; when the divisional commanders telephone to General Lyautey, it will take some time to be connected. He will then inform you that the 75% casualty limit has been lifted, but that you must now act as you see fit. The battle will end in 24 turns, reckoned from the start of Turn 39 (that's Turn 63). You are now limited to having one brigade attempt to change its orders every 4 turns, and it will do so with severe penalties. vvv Dawn is at 0700 vvv Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 23:35 on Mar 3, 2017 |
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Mar 3, 2017 23:12
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The adjudication begins...
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Mar 4, 2017 20:29
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Turn 38: 0130 French initiative 55th Brigade attempts to change its orders, and fails. The night is quiet. Turn 39: 0200 French initiative The battle will end in 24 turns No news, other than that everyone who is currently digging has either finished their trenches, or will do very soon. Turn 40: 0230 French initiative The battle will end in 23 turns No news. Turn 41: 0300 German initiative The battle will end in 22 turns No news. Turn 42: 0330 German initiative The battle will end in 21 turns 55th Division finally gets on the move.  Turn 43: 0400 French initiative The battle will end in 20 turns The gun line gropes its way up onto Pasteur Ridge.  Turn 44: 0430 French initiative The battle will end in 19 turns The gun line settles down into something resembling its assigned position. The infantry peers into the trenches atop Pasteur, and find at least the first inch or so of them to be empty.  Turn 45: 0500 The battle will end in 18 turns The night is quiet once more. The next soft deadline is TOMORROW, 5th March, at 7pm GMT.
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Mar 4, 2017 22:14
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Special Update, By Agreement Of Both Sides Turn 51: 0800 German initiative The German end-of-battle timer runs out on this turn. This is the final position of each side's forces.  You began the battle with 210 companies and added 46 for a total of 256 companies. You had 106 remaining on Turn 51, losing 150 casualties. The enemy began with 195 companies and added 52 for a total of 247 companies. They had 79 remaining on Turn 51, losing 168 casualties. Very shortly thereafter, two entire reinforcement German corps arrive and the forces they've committed to the battle so far are withdrawn. They are slightly annoyed to find the French cavalry in Faibleimpot and are forced to proceed cautiously. You conduct a valiant defence, and mere moments before being pushed off the map completely, your own reinforcements arrive at 1300 and redress the balance. The force of the German assault is considerably blunted. Both sides' commanders quickly conclude that this battle is unlikely to result in a decisive victory and the fighting flows off the map, heading inexorably North as part of what will become known as the incredibly-inaccurately-named Race to the Sea. Another battle will be fought here in 1915 along the following approximate trench line.  General Lyautey assesses your performance after the battle as follows: 1). Although you prevented the Germans from advancing much further, you failed to drive them out of St Croissant, your primary objective. 2). You succeeded in occupying Faibleimpot. Although this was with a small force and after the Germans occupied Quatreprouts, it still forced the enemy to use his reinforcements cautiously, and made it possible for our reinforcements to reverse the situation after your work was done. 3). You failed to liberate as much of the occupied national territory as you might. However, this was a reasonable course of action, considering the circumstances. 4). You preserved your forces reasonably well; it seems that high casualties are unavoidable during this war, and for the most part you did not spend men unwisely. (He refuses to elaborate, not wishing to speak ill of the dead.) You also inflicted more casualties than you sustained. He considers the result of the battle to be a minor French defeat, but also considers that it would have been very difficult to achieve any better result, and tells you warmly not to lose too much heart. We'll get them yet, he says. He also decorates General xthetenth with the Croix de Guerre, for obvious reasons, and tells him that if he carries on like this he'll either end up dead in a ditch or a Marshal of France - or possibly both. 100 years later, the encounter at St Croissant is not a very well-studied battle among historians. Those who do take notice of it either rate it as a minor French defeat or as a stalemate, according to their preferences and biases. The battle killed or wounded some 30,000 French soldiers and 33,600 German soldiers, a total of 63,600 casualties. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIIOGka3LKI Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 23:50 on Mar 4, 2017 |
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Mar 4, 2017 23:33
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The observer thread is now open to all players.
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Mar 4, 2017 23:38
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1914 PART 2 BEGINS HERE: IT IS NOW TIME TO CHOOSE YOUR SIDE It is October 1914 and the situation is grim. After the Miracle of the Marne, the Germans have parlayed a series of incremental victories and stalemates into a serious chance to advance on the Channel Ports and cut the British Expeditionary Force off for good from its critical resupply bases in northern France, and the attendant short supply lines across the Channel from Dover and nearby ports to Calais and nearby ports. As a precautionary measure, all British shipping is now departing from Portsmouth, Bristol, and Liverpool, to St Nazaire and Brest. Continued BEF participation in the war is absolutely vital, and it will be extremely difficult, if not outright impossible, if they cannot hold the Channel Ports. We have already lost access to Antwerp, Zeebrugge, Ostende, Westende, Nieuport. We cannot afford to lose any more ports to the enemy. Effyaders is the keystone of the last possible defensive positions in front of the Channel Ports, along the canal. If you choose to play on the Entente side, it will be your job to defend Effyaders as best you can. The battle is due to begin in one week's time, with a provisional soft deadline of 5pm GMT on Monday 13 March. IT IS NOW TIME TO CHOOSE YOUR SIDE. DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER UNLESS YOU WISH TO FIGHT ON THIS SIDE. IF YOU READ ANY FURTHER, YOU MUST EITHER FIGHT FOR THIS SIDE, OR SIT OUT THE ROUND AS AN OBSERVER, FOR YOU WILL KNOW INFORMATION ABOUT THE ENEMY THAT YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO KNOW. SERIOUSLY, poo poo OR GET OFF THE POT ALREADY AND LIGHT A MATCH -ends
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Mar 6, 2017 15:23
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TOP SECRET INFORMATION BEGINS HERE So, you're here, you've committed to playing. What you need to do now is decide which level of command suits you best. Corps Command This is a Corps-level game, and so the High Chief Poobah is the Corps Commander. The Corps Commander has overall responsibility for the direction of the battle, devises the strategy for fighting it, gives orders for its implementation to the Divisional Commanders, and provides oversight to ensure that they are co-operating effectively. There is only one corps commander on the board at a time. Division Command At the intermediate level of command we find Divisional Commanders. Divisional Commanders are responsible for taking the strategic direction set for them by the Corps Commander, and turning it into sets of more specific actions which are then carried out by their Brigade Commanders. This is, counter-intuitively, probably a good role for someone who wants to play the game, but who either is worried that they don't fully understand the rules, or simply doesn't care to digest them properly (which is fair enough, I can barely stand the things and I wrote them). There will be at least two division commands available, and probably many more. Brigade Command And then, at the sharp end, there are a large number of Brigade Commanders (the last game required about 13 or so, this one may well need more, and it really is a case of "the more, the merrier"). Brigade Commanders have all the fun of pushing chits around the board and personally leading offensives, but this comes at the cost of having a lesser input into strategy, and you don't get to give orders to other players, you only take them. For this round, I'm also adding a couple of special additional roles; they can be given to a player as their sole duty, or doubled with a player already in the game. Artillery Command Artillery in this round will function as autonomous brigades (more on what that means later) under the control of Division Commanders. Artillery Commanders will be responsible for moving and emplacing your artillery, and will also plan how you will use indirect fire. Yes, unlike the last round, your guns will be able to use indirect fire! There will be at least one Artillery Commander per division; and if you can't find anyone to fill the role, or don't want to make it a separate role, Division Commanders may act as their own Artillery Commander. Engineer Command Again, engineers in this round will function as autonomous brigades under the control of the Corps Commander. Engineer commanders will be responsible for digging trenches, laying out barbed wire, building and destroying bridges, and all manner of other fun things. There will be at least one Engineer Commander, or the Corps Commander may choose to act as their own Engineer Commander. The non-playing advisor (Staff Officer) Finally, you are more than welcome to restrict yourself to one thread, and offer your advice and suggestions without commanding any men, in which case you are a staff officer. PS: I strongly advise that while hats may be thrown into the ring with abandon, nobody should get too attached to any particular role until tomorrow, Tuesday; let's give the Americans a chance to wake up and sign up as well. Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 16:32 on Mar 6, 2017 |
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Mar 6, 2017 16:25
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If you intend to play for the Germans, and you are still reading, then you are a horrible cheaty cheat and none of us want anything to do with you. ORDERS From: Lieutenant-General Sir James Moncrieff Grierson, KCB, CMG, CVO, ADC(P): General Officer Commanding, III Corps, British Expeditionary Force To: Major-General [TO BE DECIDED], my replacement My dear fellow, I am, unfortunately, forced to remain in England. It seems that my health denies me the opportunity to go to France for the big show, and so I will not be taking up my post on doctor's orders. They tell me that if I subject myself to the stresses of active service, I will surely have a heart attack within two weeks. Fortunately, I still retain my influence, and I have at least ensured that command of my corps will not fall in my stead to that useless oaf Pulteney. I am putting my reputation, such as it is, at stake here. Do not let me down. You are of course aware of the general situation. It is absolutely imperative that we hold Effyaders at all costs. Here is a small version of the map.  I now enclose a direct copy of the orders given to me by Sir John French last week. They set a series of objectives, and they are displayed in ascending order of importance. Therefore, the first-listed objective is very much in the nature of a stretch goal, a "nice to have"; and the final objective must be held, whatever the cost. 1). As a general principle, you must at all times defend as far forward as possible. There will come a time in this war when we will be on the offensive. When that time comes, every yard of ground that we do not have to recapture from the enemy will be of vital importance in conserving the lives of our men and the expenditure of our munitions. 2). If at all possible, you must attempt to prevent the enemy from crossing the river and operating west of La Dand. 3). You should, at the very least, force the enemy to fight if he is to occupy the Chemin Creux and Stethoscope. If we can dig in along the sunken road, we will have an exceptionally strong defensive position that will take significant effort to crack. 4). You must make every opportunity to prevent the enemy from establishing a presence west of the fords at the halfway point of the map and threatening the Bois de Blob and the Foret d'Effyaders. 5). You must prevent the enemy from entering Saucisson Vallee and Trois Freres. 6). Under no circumstances shall the enemy be allowed to cross the canal before Effyaders. 7). You shall fight until the last man is dead and the last round of ammunition is expended in the defence of Effyaders. The King intends to visit the front next month. Succeed in your defence, and you will be presented to His Majesty as a hero of the Empire, on par with Baden-Powell. Fail, and the King will be unable to visit, because there will be no front for His Majesty to visit. YOUR FORCES We are hurrying all available men north to your position as quickly as possible. The 3rd Cavalry Division - and some very interesting toys - will be available to you from the outset. (More details to follow.) The first elements of the 7th Infantry Division should be with you in about 36 hours. Further men and guns will be sent to you as soon as possible, as soon as they become available. Your forces may enter from any point in the map which is marked in red. Be aware that this deployment zone may be constricted if the Germans advance. INTELLIGENCE No German has yet been seen west of La Dand and we are quite certain that they will be unable to enter the map from west of the river. We believe that a German cavalry brigade is roughly equivalent to one of ours, except that they have more machine guns available to them. As regards infantry, we are concerned at the Germans' numerical superiority in machine guns, and their new short-range mortars, but we are confident that our men are far superior to theirs. Good luck, old chap. Do me proud out there. Bring me home some of those funny pointy hats they wear. Yours, etc etc "Monkey" (Rules-focused post to follow. Beware of prior knowledge if you happen to own a rulebook!)
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Mar 6, 2017 19:40
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ALL THE CRUNCH Right then. Last post was the fluff. Here's some crunchy rules to get your teeth into. TIME OF DAY Daytime updates will be 8 turns in duration. Nighttime updates will be 16 turns. Each turn represents, as before, half an hour of real time. The battle begins with Turn 1 at 8am, full daylight. Twilight is at 7pm, nightfall at 8pm, pre-dawn at 7am. Where possible, please refer to turn numbers, not time of day. ARRIVAL OF YOUR FORCES The Armoured Car Brigade (more on that in a moment) enters the field on Turn 1. One cavalry brigade arrives on Turn 4, and a second on Turn 10. They may enter at any point on the relevant map edge. NEW RULES: Brigades A Fully-Autonomous Brigade has no brigade command chit, and is not subject to the restrictions on Battle Order/Marching Order or Attack/Defend stance. They may attempt to change orders at any time, but must make a roll. A Semi-Autonomous Brigade has no brigade command chit, and is not subject to the restrictions on Battle Order/Marching Order or Attack/Defend stance. However, to change orders, they must be near an existing HQ chit. A brigade with a company within 8" of a HQ changes orders on the turn the order change succeeds; within 16", after a one-turn delay; within 24", a two-turn delay, and so on. Autonomous Brigades have their own individual sets of Standing Orders - look out for those in a few days, once you get to the point of giving brigade orders. Armoured Cars  This is an armoured car. Mechanically, it's a turbocharged MG chit. The Armoured Car Brigade is an elite Fully-Autonomous Brigade with ten armoured car chits. An armoured car moves at 24" while on a road, 4" while off-road, and may not self-entrench. In all other regards, it functions like a cavalry MG chit; it has 16" of vision, firing range of 12", it can fire through friendly units, and it can only open fire if it does not move at all during a turn. There are ten companies in the Armoured Car Brigade; here they are, in their "Rugger Ball" formation.  Artillery and Engineering Brigades Artillery and Engineers will, when they arrive, be organised into their own Semi-Autonomous Brigades, not attached to existing infantry brigades as in the previous round. (See below for details on what they can do.) They cannot rout after failing a morale check, but they can be forced to retreat suppressed. Cavalry Brigades Here is a British cavalry brigade, in its somewhat off-colour formation. A message to the Germans, I suppose. It has a brigade commander and functions as a normal brigade.  Infantry Brigades Here is a British infantry brigade, in the British standard "Teacup" marching formation.  Unless otherwise mentioned, British infantry brigades are all Veteran units. You will also notice that they have five additional infantry companies compared to a French brigade. NEW RULES: Fatigue The fatigue day begins and ends at 0800. Any brigade which has one of its companies either open fire or is fired on gains a point of fatigue the next time 0800 rolls around; a brigade can only gain or lose one point of fatigue per day. A brigade loses a point of fatigue if it neither opens fire nor is fired on during a fatigue day. A brigade with 2 or more points of fatigue is easier to hit, and is less likely to hit the enemy. Fatigue rules do not apply to Autonomous Brigades. NEW RULES: Terrain There are five new types of terrain introduced in this round; water, bridges, fords, the depression, and the sunken road. Water Water is impassable at all times to all units. A chit may only cross water at a designated crossing point. Bridges Companies may cross a bridge without a movement penalty, but must do so in single file. Bridges may be built or demolished by Engineers (see below), and may not be damaged in any other way. If a bridge is demolished while a company is on the bridge, that company is killed. Fords Companies may cross a ford which is also part of a road without penalty, but must do so in single file. If the ford is not part of a road, the company stops immediately on reaching the edge of the ford and loses the rest of its movement for that turn; it may proceed across the ford on the following turn. Fords may not be demolished. The depression On the left of the map is a large depression, the Saucisson Vallee. The depression has a 4" zone around it. All companies inside the depression are invisible to companies outside the depression. All companies outside the depression are invisible to companies inside the depression. A company inside the 4" zone spots into the depression, and be spotted by companies inside the depression, at normal unmodified range. The sunken road On the right of the map is the Chemin Creux, a sunken road. A company located on the Chemin Creux has spotting and protective cover. If an Entrenchment is dug inside the Chemin Creux, it gives additional protection, and blocks other units from moving along the road at their usual movement rate. NEW RULES: Indirect Fire Right, here's a big one. Let's do the exception first: arse hortillery may not use indirect fire under any circumstances. For everyone else. All artillery pieces are organised into Semi-Autonomous Brigades. Your artillery may still use direct fire according to the rules, and is still subject to the rules about limbering and unlimbering. However, it may also use indirect fire when directed to do so. Indirect fire range is currently 40". All guns in a brigade must fire at once, and target an area equivalent to the number of chits in the brigade. (So, a brigade with one gun targets a 50px single-chit sized square; a brigade with four guns can arrange four 50px target squares however it likes; a brigade with eight guns can arrange eight squares, and so on.) Friendly fire is possible when using Indirect Fire. If units from opposing sides are within 2" of the target, I will determine who, if anyone, gets hit by the fire. Guns using Indirect Fire must still have 2" of clearance in order to fire over the head of friendly units. Ordered Fire An artillery brigade may use Ordered Fire on any turn when it is unlimbered. The relevant Artillery Commander selects a point to be targeted (subject to a Change of Orders roll if required) and the turn on which the guns should fire, and as long as the orders get through, the guns will open fire on that point. Supporting Fire An artillery brigade may be set to Supporting Fire by its commander. When another brigade spots the enemy, they will send a message to the artillery, and the artillery may then target and use Indirect Fire against the enemy companies. This is subject to the same 8"/16"/24" (and etc.) time lag as for a Change of Orders. The closer you put your guns to the infantry, the quicker they respond, but the more likely they are to be overrun by an enemy breakthrough... Limited Ammunition Owing to the difficulty of supply, the shortfall in munitions manufacture, and the prolific use of shells already in the war, your artillery brigades are limited to no more than 12 indirect fire missions per day. There is, at present, no limit on the number of Direct Fire missions you may use. Your ammunition comes up at 0800 each day. Standing Orders Artillery brigades will have their own set of Standing Orders, which I'll figure out before you start giving brigade-level orders. ALTERED RULES: Engineers and Entrenching The soil on this map is much less favourable to digging than on the previous map. Therefore, it now takes 10 turns for a brigade to self-entrench, 8 turns for an Engineer to dig a trench, 6 turns for the Engineer to put up 3" of barbed wire, and 4 turns to build a Roadblock. It takes 12 turns to wire a bridge for demolition and 14 turns to build a temporary bridge. Engineers are organised into a Semi-Autonomous Brigade; you will see mounted engineers, who move about the map as cavalry, as well as foot engineers. They now carry 9" of wire (their total carrying capacity) onto the field with them, may still requisition wire from Farms, and receive 3" of extra wire from the rear at 0800 each day. Two mounted engineers will enter the field on Turn 4; and two foot engineers will enter on Turn 16. ALTERED RULES: Hill Spotting The only high ground on the map is in the far east; units on the high ground have a spotting range of 24", as long as they are within unmodified spotting range of the edge of the hill. That's all for now. I'm sure there's other things that should go here, but I can't think of them just at the moment. Questions welcome. Remember to post in here and not hide in Roll20. Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 00:20 on Mar 7, 2017 |
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Mar 6, 2017 23:58
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Slim Jim Pickens posted:Unformatted list of questions for Trin: No. quote:Do the road crossings in the middle river count as bridges or fords (Just wanted the answer in the thread) THEY ARE ALL FORDS, ALL OF THEM, EVEN THE ONES WITH A ROAD LEADING UP TO THEM, THEY ARE FORDS, THEY ARE FORDSquote:How does our deployment zone change if the Germans get close to it? This is above your pay grade; all you know is that it will shrink if your boss thinks it's too dangerous to deploy men there. quote:Can we control the chits of a fully-autonomous brigade even if they're spread all over the map? Yes. That's part of the point of making them fully autonomous. quote:If an armoured car brigade wants to use a road, how many chits wide can that formation be? The Rugger Ball formation is just my little joke; if they all want to use the same bit of road together, they advance in single file, 1x10. quote:If you dig trenches on roads, does that gently caress up the qualities of the road or the qualities of the trench? An excellent and cromulent question; it fucks up the road, not the trench. Since you are carrying the necessary equipment for entrenching in crappy wet soil (no, proximity to water does not matter), it is assumed that you build a breastwork on top of it. ViggyNash posted:Are units in the sunken road visible while firing? While not firing? They have both spotting and protective cover and obey the usual rules for a unit in cover.
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Mar 7, 2017 14:55
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professor_curly posted:Can you move in marching order over a bridge/do bridges count as roads, or is it a thing you have to advance over more slowly? Similarly, if crossing a road-ford, does the road part take priority as far as moving with marching order? If you get fired on, you cross individually in single file; otherwise you can just stroll over as though they were roads.
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Mar 7, 2017 15:18
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Some Useful Advice from the Umpire Hi folks. Here are some observations that I would like to make. This advice is being presented in identical form to both sides. On the utility of Roll20 If you read nothing else in this post, read this. Roll20 is transient. The thread is forever. I often tell Roll20 chat to post ITT. This is partly for the benefit of spectators, so they don't have to go trawling chatlogs to find out what's going on. However, there is another very important reason why you should post ITT as often as possible. Discussion in the thread is easily referenced. Discussion in Roll20 quickly disappears into the gargantuan chat archive. Experience from last round shows that if you only talk about something in Roll20, then an hour after you've stopped, it might as well never have happened. Modern British Army officer training tells wannabe subalterns not to rely on their memory; if they don't write things down, things get forgotten. If y'all don't post things in here, they will also get forgotten. It's fun to hang out in chat and hash out the details of something in real time, but if you want anyone to remember anything about your Good Idea five minutes after you stop talking about it, post ITT. On the introduction of forces This battle does not work like the last one, where I dumped 400 chits on the table at once, and devil take the hindmost. Your forces are going to be gradually introduced to the battle over an extended period of time. There are many reasons for this. One of them is that I want to give new players a chance to see in real-time things like "how exactly does firing resolve itself?" and "what kind of control can I really expect to have over my forces once the heat of battle is on?", before they are required to be in command of potentially-vital forces. That's not to say that new commanders should be automatically discouraged from taking a command on the first day; but you absolutely don't need to worry about missing all the fun if you're not directly involved from the off. Again, the previous battle was designed as a short, sharp shock. I don't think it's giving too much away to mention that this battle is intended to take up much more game time and, by the end, have brought more brigades on-board than the last battle. On the question of time zones (AMERICANS PAY ATTENTION) Last time round we saw both teams have trouble getting their orders in before deadline. Barring exceptional circumstances, I will always give you at least 48 hours between updates. Deadlines are designed to fit in with my schedule and are all based around GMT. They are soft, in that I will accept orders issued after deadline but before I begin running the update, but don't rely on them being as soft as you might want; sometimes the shutters come down 15 minutes after deadline, sometimes you'll get a few extra hours. What does this mean? Simple. If you are a brigade commander in a US or similar time zone, I strongly recommend that you post your orders the night before the deadline. My deadlines usually work out at about noon Eastern time. If you work 9-5 and wait until the day of the deadline to post orders, you're hosed. Several brigades got caught out last time by this. It's one thing for an army's plans to get screwed up because they gave bad or inadvisable orders; it's another if they get screwed up by no orders being posted at all. (The corollary to this is that if you know you won't make a deadline because of real life, tell someone ASAP so they can arrange emergency orders, or a substitute.) This also has implications further up the chain of command. Division commanders need to know the time zones of everyone they are working with, and ensure that they give instructions early enough that all brigade commanders who need to do so have plenty of time to write new orders. In turn, the Corps Commander needs to ensure that their division commanders have their own instructions in enough time to allow them time to work. I will be posting again, nearer the weekend, with some advice aimed specifically at helping brigadiers to write...well, not good orders, but orders that I can easily understand and execute. (Answers for specific rule questions to follow.)
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Mar 7, 2017 19:21
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(Even More) Rules: Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold By popular demand, a few more things that you might want to know. At some point I'm going to go re-collate all my rules posts and stick links to them at the start of the thread. Firstly, and most importantly, let's talk about erections... Trenches Let's talk about spotting and movement and trenches. A company in a trench has both protective and spotting cover. Two opposing companies in trenches have cover from each other; if they're 5" apart, they don't see each other unless one of them fires, and the fired-upon unit has protective cover against being shot. A company in a trench moves at half speed; and companies in trenches cannot pass through friendly infantry companies, unless the company in question is suppressed. You've seen close combat in the open: the rules for close combat in the open are unchanged and just as deadly as before. Close combat in a trench works differently - it's a much more dicey affair and there is a non-zero chance that it might backfire on the company that initiates close combat. (It is, however, still better to charge than to be charged.) I often refer to entrenchments which are inhabited by artillery companies as "gun-pits", but they have the same mechanical effect as a trench. Artillery can locate itself in any trench and fire out of any trench. The Sunken Road The sunken road offers the same protective cover as a trench; however, companies in the sunken road can spot other companies in the sunken road at unmodified spotting distance. A trench in the sunken road is more protective than a trench anywhere else, and you're back to trench spotting. Trenches and Roads If a trench is dug over or through a road, companies can still pass through, but they drop to half speed while they go through the entrenched section. Brigades in Marching Order do not have to leave Marching Order. Wheeled companies (like your armoured cars) treat it as a roadblock. Barbed Wire Companies may always pass through their own barbed wire without penalty. A company that comes into contact with enemy barbed wire stops and loses its movement. It then takes the whole of the next turn to cross to the other side of the wire, and then proceeds on the turn after that. During the middle turn of its movement through the wire, it may not charge nor use rifle fire. Roadblocks Roadblocks may be constructed on roads only. A company that encounters a roadblock loses half its movement for that turn and then continues if it still has movement left. A wheeled company loses all its movement for that turn. Barricades An engineer can build a 60x60 Barricade inside a trench; it takes the same amount of time, 4 turns, as it does to build a roadblock. Barricades are impassable to all units, but do not block LOS and may be fired through. A company that encounters a Barricade will attempt to go around it, leaving the trench if necessary in order to do so. Sighting Enemy Erections All erections are invisible until they are completed. You do not become aware of enemy erections unless you spot them, and your men are not self-aware enough to avoid them on their own initiative. If you draw me an arrow that just so happens to go through the enemy's wire, your men are going to go through that wire. I will not accept conditional orders to the effect of "Avoid any obstacles you see on the way". That would unacceptably nerf the power of erections; and I am expecting to see plenty of erections this round. Destroying Erections An erection may be removed by an engineer in half the time it took to build; or by a non-engineer in the same time that it took to build. Companies will never automatically remove erections; they must have a specific order to remove a specific erection and again, I will not accept generalised conditionals to the effect of "Remove all erections spotted". If indirect fire hits an erection, there is a chance that it may be destroyed. Just so we're clear on this: Istvun posted:Also, will you accept an order to the effect of "they probably have an erection here. Remove it."? I will accept no conditionals of any kind that attempt to react in any way to any erections that have not been spotted at the time you are writing the orders. Trenches may not be destroyed or removed; once they are on the board, they are on the board. Telephone lines cannot be cut by indirect fire. Telephones Without Towns You may have noticed that there are relatively few towns on this map compared to the last one. Roads still carry telephone lines; a Divisional HQ which is entrenched and within 8" of a road will automatically hook its field telephone into the telephone network. Engineers may now repair telephone lines; the company must first travel down the road, inspecting the telephone line as it goes, until it finds a break. It then stops and takes 2 full turns to repair the break. Both DHQ and the engineer are immediately aware when telephone contact has been restored. The Spotter Plane Every morning at 0800, the Corps Commander will receive one Spotter Plane mission to use at their discretion. As before, the Spotter Plane will attempt to spot everything within 24" of a marked location; there is no mechanic to reflect it flying out and back. If the Spotter Plane is not used that day, its mission is lost; you cannot bank unused Spotter Plane flights. Fords All the crossings of that little middle river are fords. You may certainly attempt to build your own bridges. Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Mar 8, 2017 |
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Mar 8, 2017 01:19
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I remind players that there will be many more brigades coming on-board over the course of the battle - these are far from the only two divisions that will ever take part in it.
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Mar 8, 2017 03:22
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Loel posted:If a line officer hasn't submitted orders within 4 hours of the deadline, Staff are authorized to make ad hoc orders in their place. This has been noted here at Umpire HQ; however, please be aware that any orders posted in the thread by the responsible commander that have not been clearly and specifically revoked will take precedence over emergency orders. Using words such as "Draft" or "Preliminary" do not count as a revocation.
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Mar 8, 2017 03:38
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Loel posted:Could you provide an example? These orders have been adequately revoked, but it would have been better to put a
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Mar 8, 2017 03:49
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Critically important point, just in order to get y'all into the proper roleplaying mindset:thatbastardken posted:
The Army is not Royal. The Navy is Royal. English naval assets were historically the personal train set of the monarch, so the Navy is collectively Royal. The Army traces its history back far enough to remember things like the Unpleasantness with that dreadful oik Cromwell, and is still pleased to think of itself as a collection of various geographically-raised regiments and specialist corps, so although some of the units within it are Royal (or things like "The King's Own", or "Loyal"), the British Army collectively is not Royal and you will certainly point this out at great length to anyone who makes the mistake of suggesting it is. "Who do you think we are, the bloody Navy???" (The proper designation would be 7th Division, British Expeditionary Force.) Your brigades, by the way, are the 20th, 21st, and 22nd. The 3rd Cavalry Division consists of the 6th and 7th Cavalry Brigades, and the RNAS Armoured Cars. (The latter is in fact Royal, being part of the Royal Naval Air Service, because everything's made up and the points don't matter.) edit: 20th Bde: 1st Grenadier Guards, 2nd Scots Guards, 2nd Borderers, 2nd Highlanders 21st Bde: 2nd Bedfordshires, 2nd Yorkshires, 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers, 2nd Wiltshires 22nd Bde: 1st Royal Welch Fusiliers, 2nd Royal Warwickshires, 2nd Queen's, 1st South Staffs 6th Cav: 1st (Royal) Dragoons, 10th (Prince of Wales's Own Royal) Hussars, 3rd (Prince of Wales's) Dragoon Guards, C Battery RAH 7th Cav: 1st Life Guards, 2nd Life Guards, Royal Gorse Hards, K Battery RAH No. 3 (Eastchurch) Squadron, Royal Naval Air Service Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 15:30 on Mar 8, 2017 |
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Mar 8, 2017 14:59
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THE Anyone who disobeys this order will face a strong dose of Field Punishment Number One. edit: to follow tonight, some details about emergency reinforcements, just in case you make a huge bollocks of the first eight hours of battle Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 16:39 on Mar 8, 2017 |
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Mar 8, 2017 16:17
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Special Disciplinary Update (Your intelligence department discovers the following message in a bundle of papers taken from a captured enemy officer.) Attention all commanders. At an informal meeting of the special military tribunal, General [REDACTED] denied a charge of desertion (in that he intentionally accessed the enemy's Roll20 chat room with the intent of gaining an unfair advantage), but fully and frankly admitted an alternative charge of being absent without leave (in that he inadvertently accessed the enemy's Roll20 chat room while it was out of bounds). The violation was proactively self-reported, the player immediately closed the window when realising the error, and the player offered without prompting to withdraw entirely from the current round. This matter will therefore be settled without recourse to a full court-martial. You are required to immediately nominate another commander for the brigade that General [REDACTED] was due to command. The player may continue reading [his own thread and Roll20], but may not contribute in any way whatsoever to the discussion of any military matters until Turn 24 of the battle, by which point any information he may have gained access to will be of no use. The player may not at any time make any reference to anything seen in the enemy's Roll20. The player may then take command of an infantry brigade, and is commended for personal integrity in immediately reporting the violation. He is also to be confined to quarters for 21 days and deprived of his beer and wurst rations for that time. All commanders are reminded that it is their personal responsibility to avoid such mistakes. All commanders are also cautioned most strongly that on active service, desertion and/or repeatedly going absent without leave will result in execution by firing squad. That is all. (Message ends. You are reminded that similar disciplinary measures exist in your own army.) Telephone Map Here is your starting telephone map. Please do not confuse it with the points at which you may deploy your forces.  The telephone map will expand and contract as you advance and retreat. Divisional HQ Please note that Divisional HQ will enter the map at the same time as its lead elements enter the map, and at the same location. Emergency Reinforcements The following emergency reinforcements will be granted to you at my absolute discretion. Appeals will be disregarded. Excessive appeals will forfeit the reinforcements. A brigade of Belgian infantry will enter the map in the region of Trois Freres if: the enemy enters Saucisson Vallee or the Foret d'Effyaders on Day 1; or the enemy crosses the western north-south road on a subsequent day. A brigade of French marines will enter the map amphibiously down the Effyaders Canal if the enemy crosses the canal or seems likely to do so. The local government might, in extreme circumstances, be persuaded to flood the northern part of the map, so that the battle is constricted to an area approximately 25" from the southern border of the map, in order to facilitate some kind of daring last stand. You are unaware of the precise requirements for triggering this last possibility.
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Mar 8, 2017 21:20
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The enemy GOC has, so far, decided to keep his own counsel.
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Mar 9, 2017 16:52
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Helpful Advice for Brigadiers who are Writing Orders Here is a link to my advice post for brigadiers who will be writing orders. Please read it. In addition to this, I want to make or emphasise a few points. First, and most importantly: collecting everyone's orders is both time-consuming and boring, and I reserve the right to be pig-headed, overly literal, and to deliberately not interpret orders in your favour while adjudicating them, if it took a million years to work out what you wanted to do in the first place. Meet me halfway and I will do the same thing for you when well-meaning orders run into an unforeseeable little snag during the adjudication, as they often do. Standing Orders You may not vary or alter the Standing Orders; you must use the options and permutations available to you. If you want your brigade to react in fashion X when encountering situation Y, that is a conditional order. If you include conditional orders in the same part of your post as Standing Orders, they will very likely go astray because I keep track of conditionals and Standing Orders in a completely different way. Likewise, if you dribble your Standing Orders throughout your orders, I will get very irritated; keep them in a separate group, it's much easier for my bookkeeping. When setting your standing orders, I very strongly recommend that you use the exact form of words that I used. If you write "Break off automatically: No surrender!", I will probably understand what you mean, but I have to take a bit longer to translate that into the form of words that I use. It is much, much, much better to say "Fight to the last man", since that is the exact form of words and that is what I am expecting to see. If you do not set a Standing Order, the default is used; but once you have set a Standing Order, it remains set until you explicitly tell me to change it. (I will take suggestions for additional and alternative Standing Orders, but they will only be added if I think it's likely that they will see significant use on both sides of the battle.) Please note that Autonomous Brigades will have different Standing Orders, appropriate to their roles, to the ones listed in that post. I will provide the Standing Orders for Autonomous Brigades before the first such brigade enters the field. Again, if you will be in charge of an autonomous brigade, let me know what Standing Orders you think might be useful and I'll see what I can do. How Not To Miss The Deadline Deadlines are usually 5pm GMT. Once again, this means that if you are in an American or similar time zone, you will struggle to get orders in on deadline day itself, and should always get them in on the night before the deadline. If you can't, go have a pop at higher command and tell them to decide faster. Barring exceptional circumstances, you will always have at least 48 hours between updates; one day for your bosses to decide what to do, one day for you to decide how to do it. Look to your front! Get your own poo poo straight before you go jumping into other people's ponds with well-meaning advice. Model Orders I liked the orders contained in this post very much, and I encourage you to write your own orders in a similar fashion.
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Mar 9, 2017 22:39
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