ORIGINAL OPORD 22-351 ~ LIVESTREAM ARCHIVE ~ AAR
Armchair Dragoons, Operations Order 22-351
Distribution restriction: No restriction; unlimited distribution is authorized
Situation
- Weather – Hey look, between an unstable jetstream and an atmospheric river, it’s a great time to stay inside and game
- Enemy Forces –
Those bastards at The Player’s Aidno, really, there aren’t any true enemy forces - Friendly Forces – Friendly forces for this mission include (so far) Moe’s Game Table, Ardwulf’s Lair, Lock ‘n Load Publishing, Invicta Rex, Catastrophe Games, and others. Other friendly forces may join at a later date.
- Attachments & Detachments – None at the present
Mission
The Armchair Dragoons and other friendly forces conduct online/virtual game convention operations beginning with registration (approx 15 December 2022) and culminating with the execution of the Armchair Dragoons Digital Convention (The ACDC), from 13-15 January 2023, at a cost of $5 to attend.
Registration and scheduling are handled by Tabletop.Events here
Operations
- Commander’s Intent
The Armchair Dragoons have now planned & executed over a half dozen different digital convention / conference events, and have decided to set MLK holiday weekend as our annual ACDC. This gives wargamers a mid-January convention to look forward to coming out of the holiday season, and gives players an opportunity to meet, play, and congregate in another online/virtual convention.
The Armchair Dragoons intend to offer a mixture of larger events, quick/casual games, opportunities to learn from/play with designers, a robust seminar program, and a variety of industry-focused talk shows.
- Concept of the Operation
The ACDC will focus on the following 3 features:
- Wargaming Events: the primary activity will be wargames played through virtual tabletop systems like VASSAL, Tabletop Simulator, and Tabletopia. Registered players may play in any number of non-overlapping events for their $5 registration cost. The GMs will ensure the appropriate game-specific modules are available for the players joining the game. (Sync Matrix below)
- Topical Seminars: Both wargame-related and more general military history seminars are planned, including formal presentations, industry interviews, and talk shows.
- The Convention ‘Community’: There will be additional channels opened up on the Discord server to creat virtual ‘meeting places’ for attendees to congregate between games, whether to discuss past/upcoming events, arrange future games, or kibitz about wargaming.
The ACDC will also include several “pick-up game” voice/chat channels for use by players who decide to join in any impromptu or unscheduled games they organize between themselves. Note that these pick-up games are not official ACDC events, and will not appear in our schedule nor will tickets to those events be required (though you will still need a badge for the show for access to the channels on the Discord server).
- Subordinate Tasks
Specific members of the Armchair Dragoons have the following tasks
- Organizing Committee – Update/create relevant SOPs in advance of detailed planning for this ACDC, to include participant help guides
- GMs – prepare, present & supervise games played during the convention,
- Players – Ensure you have the correct platform software (VASSAL, TTS, etc) loaded and functional before registering for any games
- Seminar Speakers – Prepare & present content for online audience, including participant Q&A.
- Editorial Team – ensure content is captured during the event to most accurately capture the convention for follow-up articles.
- Coordinating Instructions
- The ACDC has a cost of $5/attendee for a weekend badge.
- Only ticketed attendees will be given access to the ACDC Discord server.
- Event schedule will be posted here, for you to recon before registration opens.
- All times for events are listed here in US/Eastern time, but the Tabletop.events registration site converts to your local time zone.
- Individual event tickets are needed to play in the games, but not to watch. While we hope to stream many of the games through YouTube, many of them may only be made available to registered participants through the screen streaming function on Discord.
- All GMs will make every effort to stream their games through the Discord screen sharing, and through publicly-viewable channels (YouTube, Twitch, etc) when possible.
- YouTube streaming, including (especially!) seminars & talk shows, will be through unlisted Youtube links, with URLs provided to attendees. This will allow us to still leverage YouTube chat during the livestreams while still limiting the audience to registered attendees. Streams will be made public after the convention is finished.
- ACDC Merchandise (and some new Dragoons swag!) will be available
- There is an option to print your badge, if you want it as a keepsake. Obviously, we don’t need no stinkin’ badges for an online convention.
Service Support
- Technical Support
- Armchair Dragoons can offer limited technical support for the registration / scheduling software through the tabletop.events platform
- Armchair Dragoons makes no promises, guarantees, warranties, or assurances that the platforms used for this convention (such as TTS, or VASSAL) will load and function correctly on your individual machine. In short: it is your responsibility to make sure your computer works with the platform for the game(s) you want to play this weekend.
- Armchair Dragoons will be publishing a few “tips & tricks” guides for specific platforms, but these are in no way intended as any sort of guarantee of success nor an implied offer of universal tech support.
- Personnel
- Anyone wishing to volunteer as a GM is instructed to submit the event through this link
- Anyone wishing to volunteer as a seminar speaker is instructed to contact the convention team at armchairdragoonsevents – (AT) – that ‘gmail’ thingee. Please include a draft outline of the content to be covered and include at least 2 options for times at which you can present. Note that whenever possible, we will try not to schedule multiple seminars at the same time.
- Promotions
- A bank of images is available to freely share here: banner ad (728×90) ; social media box (500×500); large banner (728×250)
- Everyone registering for/attending the ACDC is asked to share information about the convention through their social networks; the more, the merrier!
Command & Signal
- Command
- Armchair Dragoons will lead the effort, with assistance from other organizations as needed
- Questions or concerns should be communicated to armchairdragoonsevents – (AT) – that ‘gmail’ thingee
- Signal
- We will use online comms for site administration and other coordination
- All games are played online through virtual platforms like Tabletop Simulator, VASSAL, and Tabletopia. It is the player’s responsibility to ensure the appropriate software is working on his/her own computer.
- Games will operate with online voice channels, such as Steam Chat or a Discord server. The GM will communicate to the players which channel is being used, but it is the player’s responsibility to ensure the audio is appropriate for the game.
- While some GMs prefer Steam Chat for their voice comms, the priority will be the dedicated Discord Server available for that weekend for both voice and text chat
Sync Matrix
More events are coming as the GMs submit them, so check back regularly
| Event Name | Event Type | Max Tickets | Starts | Duration (minutes) | Event Platform |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Squadron Strike: Newton's Cradle Teaching Game | Game Session | 3 | Friday at 10:00 | 180 | ASCBI.net |
| Squadron Strike: Romance of the Seven Realms Teaching Game | Game Session | 3 | Friday at 16:00 | 180 | ASCBI.net |
| Boardgame Bootcamp - Learn to Use Discord, VASSAL, TTS | Game Session | 6 | Friday at 16:00 | 180 | Discord |
| World At War: Blood & Fury | Game Session | 4 | Friday at 17:00 | 240 | Tabletop Simulator |
| Judean Hammer | Game Session | 4 | Friday at 18:00 | 120 | Tabletop Simulator |
| Song for War: Mediterranean Theater | Game Session | 4 | Friday at 18:00 | 240 | Tabletopia |
| Blucher "Battle of the Mincio River" | Game Session | 4 | Friday at 19:00 | 180 | Tabletop Simulator |
| Welcome Happy Hour | Seminar | 500 | Friday at 19:00 | 90 | YouTube |
| Ginormopod 2050 AD | Game Session | 2 | Friday at 20:00 | 120 | VASSAL |
| Professional Wargaming with the Center for Naval Analysis | Seminar | 500 | Friday at 21:00 | 120 | YouTube |
| Introduction to Kriegsspiel with the IKS | Game Session | 7 | Saturday at 08:00 | 240 | Discord |
| Learn to Play Great Campaigns of the American Civil War | Game Session | 4 | Saturday at 09:00 | 240 | VASSAL |
| Wake Up With The Dragoons | Seminar | 500 | Saturday at 09:00 | 120 | Discord |
| Point Blank: V Is For Victory | Game Session | 4 | Saturday at 10:00 | 180 | Tabletop Simulator |
| Twilight: 2000, Roleplaying in the Future That Never Was | Game Session | 4 | Saturday at 10:00 | 240 | Discord |
| Squadron Strike: Newton's Cradle Teaching Game | Game Session | 3 | Saturday at 10:00 | 180 | ASCBI.net |
| Boardgame Bootcamp - Learn to Use Discord, VASSAL, TTS | Game Session | 6 | Saturday at 10:00 | 180 | Discord |
| Campaign: Fall Blau | Game Session | 4 | Saturday at 11:00 | 120 | Tabletop Simulator |
| Sebastian Bae & the Littoral Commander Wargame | Seminar | 500 | Saturday at 11:00 | 120 | YouTube |
| Memoir '44 Operation Market Garden | Game Session | 6 | Saturday at 13:00 | 240 | Tabletop Simulator |
| Introduction to Combat Commander | Game Session | 12 | Saturday at 13:00 | 120 | VASSAL |
| Robotech: Reconstruction | Game Session | 4 | Saturday at 14:00 | 180 | Tabletop Simulator |
| Bruce Maxwell and Air & Armor | Seminar | 500 | Saturday at 15:00 | 120 | YouTube |
| Littoral Commander | Game Session | 4 | Saturday at 15:00 | 180 | VASSAL |
| Introduction to Commands & Colors: Ancients | Game Session | 12 | Saturday at 16:00 | 90 | VASSAL |
| Lonely Cairn | Game Session | 2 | Saturday at 17:00 | 120 | Tabletop Simulator |
| Pushing Cardboard Interviews Harold Buchanan | Seminar | 500 | Saturday at 17:00 | 120 | YouTube |
| Land and Freedom: The Spanish Revolution and Civil War | Game Session | 3 | Saturday at 19:00 | 120 | Tabletop Simulator |
| Barkmann's Corner Overdrive for "What A Tanker!" | Game Session | 4 | Saturday at 20:00 | 240 | Tabletop Simulator |
| Wake Up With The Dragoons | Seminar | 500 | Sunday at 09:00 | 120 | Discord |
| Jutland - Run To The South | Game Session | 8 | Sunday at 10:00 | 240 | Discord |
| Washington Naval Treaty 100th Anniversary | Seminar | 500 | Sunday at 11:00 | 60 | YouTube |
| Land and Freedom: The Spanish Revolution and Civil War | Game Session | 3 | Sunday at 12:00 | 120 | Tabletop Simulator |
| The Inchon Invasion | Seminar | 500 | Sunday at 12:00 | 60 | YouTube |
| Sinking of USS Scorpion: History, Fact, and Fiction | Seminar | 500 | Sunday at 13:00 | 60 | YouTube |
| Robotech: Reconstruction | Game Session | 4 | Sunday at 13:00 | 180 | Tabletop Simulator |
| Air & Armor Detailed Turn Demo | Game Session | 12 | Sunday at 13:00 | 120 | Discord |
| Ginormopod 2050 AD | Game Session | 2 | Sunday at 14:00 | 120 | VASSAL |
| Squadron Strike: Romance of the Seven Realms Teaching Game | Game Session | 3 | Sunday at 16:00 | 180 | ASCBI.net |
| Farewell to the ACDC | Seminar | 500 | Sunday at 17:00 | 120 | YouTube |
| Rebels and Patriots AWI for 2-4 players | Game Session | 4 | Sunday at 19:00 | 180 | Tabletop Simulator |
ORIGINAL OPORD 22-351 ~ LIVESTREAM ARCHIVE ~ AAR
We appreciate you visiting the Armchair Dragoons!
We’ve got a dedicated forum to discuss the January 2023 ACDC.
You can also find the regiment on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, and occasionally at a convention near you once we’re allowed to hold them again.