|
Meine Damen und Herren, Wilkommen in Frankreich. 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 ARE PLAYING ON THE ENTENTE SIDE, TURN BACK NOW AND GO NO FURTHER Here is the German III Corps, formed up for a surprise field inspection by General von Moltke a few days ago.  As you can probably see, we'll be needing a corps commander, two division commanders, and a metric poo poo-ton of brigade commanders. quote:IV Corps 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 Jager Battalion must be attached to a division by the Corps Commander before it can join the battle; and the Corps howitzers and the Corps engineers 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 and who will command the two divisions (aphid-licker expressed interest in this); 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.) 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.) Heil dir im Siegerkranz!
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 22:19
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 17:22 |
|
|
A COLLECTION OF poo poo THAT YOU MIGHT WANT TO READ How to Play Giving Orders Time, Movement, and Spotting Objectives Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 22:09 on Feb 9, 2017 |
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 22:20
|
|
|
UPDATES pending Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 20:13 on Feb 15, 2017 |
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 22:21
|
|
|
I'll volunteer for a Brigade Commander, don't want too high of a responsibility. Do we get to pick our Brigade? If so 14th for me please.
koolkevz666 fucked around with this message at 23:38 on Feb 8, 2017 |
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 22:29
|
|
|
Signing up for a brigade!
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 22:36
|
|
|
I'd also like a Brigade. Also, I took the liberty of going ahead and setting up a Roll20 room. Roll20 is pretty much a chatroom with a map where you can push tokens around, and as such pretty helpful for some spontaneous planning and stuff. You can join here: https://app.roll20.net/join/1997552/GbgsBw
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 22:48
|
|
|
Brigade command for me.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 22:56
|
|
|
I would like to make a request; when you get done discussing things in Roll20, please make sure you come back in here and post a summary of what you've been talking about so everyone, including the observers, can easily follow the discussion and the evolution of your thinking and planning. The whole point of doing this as a Let's Play is so that spectators can follow along in real time with the game and with the reactions to it. edit: also, write loads of graffiti on the map, trust me, it's really funny Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 23:09 on Feb 8, 2017 |
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 22:58
|
|
|
Yeah I'll take 43rd if that's ok. e: joined the Roll20 room too. VVV Habe die Ehre, Exzellenz aphid_licker fucked around with this message at 23:27 on Feb 8, 2017 |
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 23:04
|
|
|
I would gladly take a division. I think in the last game I was a corps commander, but it was structured differently. Also I'm glad there's no river crossing on this map, Figuring out how to move engineers to build pontoons was a huge PITA in the first game. steinrokkan fucked around with this message at 23:13 on Feb 8, 2017 |
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 23:09
|
|
|
With the divisions in good hands i'll gladly take a brigade. Lucky 13th by preference.
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 23:16
|
|
|
brigade me
|
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2017 23:28
|
|
|
I can't find a coat of arms or symbol for 43rd Reserve Division. One of the regiments of the division is from Brunswick and the imo best coat of arms from roughly that area is that of the defunct West German district bearing that name, which is a very happy lion. Do we need a divisional coat of arms? Because I kinda love this guy. e: neutral alternative / map symbol: 
aphid_licker fucked around with this message at 00:56 on Feb 9, 2017 |
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 00:06
|
|
|
Would definitely prefer a Brigade, I'd like a low-key role.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 00:21
|
|
|
Brigade me up. Also, anybody got a link to the Roll20 room that apparently exists?
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 01:19
|
|
|
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. 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 Jager battalion 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 a detailed and up-to-date explanation of how to give orders, see this 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 01:37 on Mar 1, 2017 |
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 01:52
|
|
|
I would like to lead a brigade
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 02:23
|
|
|
Scratch that, found it. ViggyNash fucked around with this message at 04:54 on Feb 9, 2017 |
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 04:51
|
|
|
Edit: Link to roll20 table for second game. I'll take the lucky 15th Brigade. Jaguars! fucked around with this message at 10:46 on Mar 9, 2017 |
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 05:22
|
|
|
I'm a brigadier!
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 05:59
|
|
|
Crazycryodude posted:Brigade me up. Also, anybody got a link to the Roll20 room that apparently exists? There's a link in Perestroika's post.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 09:00
|
|
|
I'll take Brigade Command, exact to be specified when I know how has divisions, so I shall finagle my bitter, preussian heart into the position of most glory. Ah, the brigade! Not too small, not too great, a thrust at the frenchman's heart!
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 10:26
|
|
|
This is probably too much to hope for, but is there any room for conditionals in orders? Something like "Advance to that ridge. If there are any enemies in the valley below, stay there and engage. If not, cross through the valley and up that other ridge." Would that fly, or is that more of a situation for a Change in Orders?
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 10:48
|
|
|
Oh man I'm gonna be terrible at this but I think I get the rules now. That sounds really interesting Trin, looking forward to this. I tentatively want to make a heavy brigade with the heavy guns and some of the light ones, two mediums with some of the light guns, and a light one with the cav and engineers, if the objective we eventually get makes that level of specialization useful that is. Do we have a Corps Commander already? aphid_licker fucked around with this message at 11:54 on Feb 9, 2017 |
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 11:29
|
|
|
Signing up for brigade command. My qualifications are that I once went to a WW1 museum. 
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 12:06
|
|
|
Reporting for duty as a Brigade commander.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 12:23
|
|
|
Ghetto Prince posted:Signing up for brigade command. My qualifications are that I once went to a WW1 museum. That's actually a good point. Do we anyone with experience in leadership, military tactics or even military history? Considering my abilities( obsessive wargame dweeb, but that's it) I think a boy scout leader would be better qualified for corps!
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 12:57
|
|
|
The other side has its corps commander in post. We need a corps commander ASAP. Perestroika posted:This is probably too much to hope for, but is there any room for conditionals in orders? Something like "Advance to that ridge. If there are any enemies in the valley below, stay there and engage. If not, cross through the valley and up that other ridge." Conditionals like this are very strongly encouraged, particularly if you also tell me information like e.g. whether or not you should auto-deploy a Runner if contact is made. The more I don't have to ask you questions because something happened that wasn't covered by your orders, the faster I can run the game. Just make sure that if you're going to have a condition like this, tell me what you want to do after the condition ends, otherwise things could get interesting.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 13:33
|
|
|
We have a lot more people signed up for brigade command positions than we have brigades. Does anyone know these rules well and want to take up the corps command? That may be ideal.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 13:44
|
|
|
There is an argument that corps command is the level that requires the least knowledge of the rules, since you're not physically moving chits around; it's the brigade commanders who have to worry about exact firing and sighting ranges and suchlike.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 13:57
|
|
|
Honestly just read the rules as posted so far and if the corps command bits sound cool and fun to you go for it, don't worry too much about credentials (beyond having a "von" and a sick mustache ofc). Grey posted a battle report in the observer thread that's very informative. https://randombitzontheside.blogspot.de/2016/08/great-war-spearhead-battle-report.html
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 14:07
|
|
|
Trin Tragula posted:There is an argument that corps command is the level that requires the least knowledge of the rules, since you're not physically moving chits around; it's the brigade commanders who have to worry about exact firing and sighting ranges and suchlike. That's a good point, a basic knowledge of tactics and the ability to post here and chat in the roll20 regularly is probably enough to be good at corps command.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 14:43
|
|
|
I have a question, in " Once everyone's come to a stop, you may adjust one-third of your companies per turn, but only if you've Spotted (according to the rules) or been fired on by an enemy unit. " What exactly do you mean by "adjust"? Shift from defense to attack? Move around? Also I remember in Grey's game attacking units couldn't stop moving forward, I assume it's still the case?
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 15:13
|
|
|
If no-one else steps up to the plate, I can take Corps command. Would like to have a Chief of Staff attached in that case, though.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 15:15
|
|
|
I can help out with corps command. I can't make maps or anything like that until I get home from work around 3pm EST but I should be able to post and such pretty regularly.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 16:12
|
|
|
A message arrives from Army Headquarters. FROM: GENERALOBERST KUNO von MOLTKE, SECOND ARMY TO: GENERALLEUTNANT TEVERY BEST, III CORPS Here are your orders for the upcoming battle. First, please see enclosed a full-sized military-scale map of your area of operations. Under no circumstances may your men stray from this area. [That means, no map expansions like we had last time round.]  Here also is the Official Range Ruler.  You are warned that cavalry patrols have reported significant enemy forces located to the south, believed at this stage to be French, and heading in your direction. The whereabouts of Field Marshal French and his contemptible little army are unknown. Your orders are as follows; you will enter the map in the marked area, and then, in descending priority:  1. Make your way to Quatreprouts as quickly as possible and hold it against enemy attack. [Battle End 1] 2. Prevent the enemy from occupying St Croissants. 3. Contain the enemy forces and prevent them from turning our flank. 4. Maintain the integrity of your forces to the best of your ability. [Battle End 2] Some Army-level reinforcements are available should you require them; but it will be strongly to your credit if you can achieve victory without this. With my full faith and comfort, Signed, Kuno Augustus Friedrich Karl Detlev Graf von Moltke, Generaloberst So there you go. You'll be judged after the battle on how well you can balance these competing demands. The battle will end when one side fulfils its end-of-battle criteria: When you occupy Quatreprouts and get a message back to Corps Command, a timer will begin. When the timer runs out, reinforcements will arrive in enough strength to end the battle. They will be irritated should it turn out that Quatreprouts has not, in fact, been renamed Vierfurze when they arrive. If you lose three-quarters of your total forces, including any Army-level reserves provided, General Kuno will consider that the battle is too bloody and will order it stopped. Finally, for better understanding of scale, here is the large map again; first with one brigade of each side on the map, and then with your entire corps on it.   There are more people who've expressed interest than there are brigade commands. Corps Commander needs to provide me with a finalised order of battle ASAP; I do have a list of players by the order in which they expressed interest in playing, if you want to go by seniority. steinrokkan posted:I have a question, in They'll remain on defend orders, but you can have them move at one-half movement speed. For instance; you have 9 companies on defend orders deployed in an east-west line, and your westernmost company spots enemies to its west , like a line of battleships about to cross your T. You may remain on Defend and react by moving up to 3 companies on each turn so that your line will then run north-south to face the enemy, and it does not count as a Change of Orders (although, for the purposes of the firing rules, the companies do count as having moved). This rule replaces the ones about arcs of fire in the rulebook; all companies can shoot/move/spot in any direction at any time. And yes, a company set to Attack must move its full movement speed in the direction it was ordered to move, and hang the consequences.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 17:26
|
|
|
Okay! Here's the roster. Divisions have been handed out in roll20, but brigades are up for grabs in the thread. First come, first served. III Corps - Generalleutnant Tevery Best Chief of Staff: glynnenstein 19th Division - Steinrokkan 13th Brigade 14th Brigade 15th Brigade 16th Brigade and three cavalry companies, one cavalry machine-gun company, one battery of arse hortillery [sic], 12 batteries of 7.7cm field guns, 4 batteries of 10.5cm howitzers, and one engineer This division is, according to current plans (PRONE TO CHANGE), supposed to be our main holding force and anchor. It can expect a lot of action still, but the main push will be performed by the 43rd Division. Keep that in mind while signing up. 43rd Division - aphid_licker 76th Brigade 77th Brigade 78th Brigade 79th Brigade and three cavalry companies, one cavalry machine-gun company, one battery of arse hortillery [sic], 12 batteries of 7.7cm field guns, 4 batteries of 10.5cm howitzers, and one engineer This is the main strike force. Most likely will get the Jaegers and most of our heavy artillery in support. We need strong, brave men for these brigades, not afraid to throw away their lives for victory. In Corps Reserve we also have two engineers, 4 batteries of 15cm howitzers, and the 7th Jager Battalion, with two infantry companies, two MG companies, and two bicycle companies. Specific appointments of Corps assets will be announced later. The rough plan is up for discussion in Roll20, I will outline it here later.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 18:11
|
|
|
I would like to volunteer to lead the men of the 79th Brigade into battle
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 18:19
|
|
|
Willing to take any position available.
|
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 18:21
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 17:22 |
|
|
Requesting command of the 76th Brigade
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2017 18:22
|
|