Armchair Dragoons Forums
Game With The Dragoons => Online Kriegsspiels => Topic started by: Cyrano on November 15, 2018, 03:06:52 PM
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Well, I truly hoped it would not come to this, but it seems likely we'll have to track the game's progress here.
S!
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Yeah, I was going to give it the rest of today, but I'll email my guys
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Just so.
Also, asked Brant to correct spelling up top.
Moves like this are always soooo complicated.
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Is this the start of the end of the beginning of the death of Grogheads?
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Its possible, although the situation is far from clear at present.
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Sadness if so.
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Indeed, Jason. A more amicable outcome would have been preferred, but at least we now have some continuity.
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Is this the start of the end of the beginning of the death of Grogheads?
Seems that the site is back up and running... what did I miss out on that would lead to there being any thought of there being a beginning to an end here?
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Not that at all, really.
Just that Doug and I had always intended to move the games once these ended, but we honestly didn't know when the GH site would be back up. I'm working fatigue as I type this...
Glad you made it.
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Is this the start of the end of the beginning of the death of Grogheads?
Seems that the site is back up and running... what did I miss out on that would lead to there being any thought of there being a beginning to an end here?
True, but for me at least the site seems to have lost some of the dynamism that it used to have...I know people need to find their feet and all, but I don't know...there just seems to be little going on and all seems a bit flat!
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The two sites share a lot of the same members, former or current, and by sheer mathematics the time spent typing or reading on one site means less time on the other site. So splitting attention, or migrating all attention here, causes GH to naturally have less content from that member by proportion.
I don't want to impose, so I'll mostly stick with GH (probably, assuming their host migration teething works out), aside from special projects like this.
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Let's try and keep the conversation focused on the ongoing Kriegsspiel games in these threads, please.
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2230 17th April
As I must not let Doug get too far out ahead of me, I will be running the clock either tonight or tomorrow!
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0030 18th April
I can say without fear of correction that that was the craziest run of fatigue calculation I have ever done.
MANY dispatches out.
And, remember, dawn is only four scant hours away.
S!
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0130 18th April
Dawn in a scant THREE HOURS!
But Bavaria is not quiet.
S!
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0230 18th April!
TWO HOURS UNTIL DAWN!!
If you seek sitreps, please let me know?
Also, if you have morning orders, time to start deliberating them!
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Time to get busy this afternoon (irl). :rockon:
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0330 18th April!
One hour 'til dawn.
ONE!
Mua-ha-ha!
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What he's trying to say is that in a few short hours Vandamme will arrive and show everyone how to get things done properly.
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Is he from Brussels? Does he have muscles? Will he be a hard target?
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Most relevantly, can he do those crazy splits?
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Most relevantly, can he do those crazy splits?
Asking the important questions.
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Heading to dawn shortly.
PLEASE check your in-boxes.
There are folks who (I suspect) want to give me dawn orders that have not.
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OK, dawn comes TOMORROW.
OLLY OLLY OXEN FREE!
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0430 18th April!
This, right here, is about to get real.
DAWN!
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Remember, the French are allowed to surrender.
They are not allowed to run away, unless that's part of the plan. :bigthumb:
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So, was it a day that lived in infamy? >:D
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So, was it a day that lived in infamy? >:D
It is proving to live as a day that involved an awful lot of MATH!
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0530 18th April!
That was an hoot!
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So, was it a day that lived in infamy? >:D
It is proving to live as a day that involved an awful lot of MATH!
Hm, sounds like artillery.
0530 18th April!
That was an hoot!
....also sounds like artillery? {whhoooooooooooooooot as the shells go whistling by}
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if you want a thundering broadside, listen to Cyrano go off on this week's podcast :)
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0730 18th April!
What happened to 0630, you may ask?
Well, ask.
I'll wait.
In the meantime, presume it was consumed along with so much eggnog and rum balls by the holidays.
Oh, and now this sucker is ON.
Merry Christmas, brave ones!
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Wishing a Happy New Year to my Marshals and fellow antagonists from your Emperor!
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Why his emperor-ship is looking very fine here in 2019!
And, oh, yes..
0830 18th April!
Between this and the Jena KS, we're now at over 1,000 dispatches received.
ROLL ON!
And Happiest of New Year's to all!
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0930 18th April!
So much...so much.
Glad I've still got the videos!
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1030 18th April!
I do not recall J-A being this insane!
Must find a way to blame Vance.
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Hey now! :tickedoff:
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Are there jeeps involved?
(Who was it who decided to shoot all the jeeps years ago...? I've legitimately forgotten.)
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That would be Cyrano. :Loser:
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JK ACTUAL reporting.
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JK ACTUAL reporting.
Next TTS fight - everyone in jeeps w/ machine guns, in a hedge maze.
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Radio signals sent by emails, routed through comm nodes.
........come to think of it, that might be simulated on CommandOps2.... must ponder this.
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Meanwhile, without going into spoilers, I agree with Cyrano on his judgment of the missive recently sent by Liechtenstein: it was just the best. :ROFL:
Hopefully it gets into the video record. :bigthumb: :rockon:
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1130 18th April!
As Doug has said, I think the time has come to gallop a bit.
I'd like to get in a turn every three days or so, especially as things really are hotting up out there!
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1230 18th April!
What say a turn on FRIDAY as well, eh?
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1330 18th April!
A long way until evening!
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1430 18th April!
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1530 18th April!
This is it, lads!
We can strike while PanzerDe is stricken by illness!!
We'll catch him for sure :D!!
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I'm not sick, I'm just going to St. Louis. It isn't San Diego but it isn't that bad...
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I'm not sick, I'm just going to St. Louis. It isn't San Diego but it isn't that bad...
Voluntarily going to St. Louis might be taken as illness by some.
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I'm not sick, I'm just going to St. Louis. It isn't San Diego but it isn't that bad...
Voluntarily going to St. Louis might be taken as illness by some.
I can't really argue that.
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1630 18th April!
Not done nearly as well as I might have liked.
Ah well, many orders are out!
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1730 18th April!
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1830 18th April!
One more for sure before Vance leaves us (for a bit).
Oh, and four hours until dark!
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1830 18th April!
One more for sure before Vance leaves us (for a bit).
Vance is critical to our strategy, so he must be prote----! uh, I mean, we'll still be here when he gets back, I'm sure! :rockon:
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As threatened...
1930 18th April!
JUST THREE HOURS UNTIL DARK!!
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2030 18th April!
No, no, no.
Too long between turns.
This won't do at all.
TWO HOURS UNTIL DARK!!
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2130 18th April!
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2230 18th April!
And that, dear ones, is NIGHTFALL.
Shout for sitreps, &c.
Fatigue calculation will begin very, very soon.
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Well, I definitely want a local sitrep, camp position, etc. Just some basic information.
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Me too...in fact just about any information would be appreciated....heartily sick of being on the sidelines looking in and not being able to to do a damn thing....well that might be about to change as dawn will bring the beast of Europe to the battlefield!
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......boasting that the antichrist is about to arrive on our captured soil, is not exactly a point in your favor.
But sure, great! -- bounty on the Antichrist now! To the man who shoots him, I shall build a monument and commission an opera for the ages! Who will head the list?!
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Ha not if we find you first my friend!
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Whomever you find first, gets first opportunity to rid the world of your infection.
But we won't be hard to find. Just pick a river and follow it until you run into our defenses. We'll be glad to give you a warm, even hot, welcome to Austria! It will be just like you have gone home to your reward before your time! >:D
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Gentleman, gentleman.
You're both pretty.
2330 18th April!
Really diving down into Prof. Gill's trilogy and I'll say these things:
1. I once felt badly about the march rates. They are merciful. He records one corps (Austrian) marching for 15 hours and making 13 km.
2. I once felt badly about the message delay. They are nothing short of generous. Charles occasionally got messages over one day late.
The grievous fatigue calculation commences...NOW...
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I AM NOT EITHER PETTY!
.... .......... oh. Uh. Oh. :3musketeer:
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Hey game time and real time are almost in sync ...well bar it being two hundred and ten years apart....however it is 19th April real time and we are just on the cusp of entering a very important day in the game also the 19th of April... Will it be momentous or just a damp squib...huzzah!
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Incidentally, I applaud your icon referencing the old Legion game!
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Well I thank you Sir. It is a game I really enjoyed and what I liked about it was the standard bearer or signifier who is cropped in this icon; for my sins I studied Roman standards and their bearers for quite a few years, therefore the image most definitely has an appeal!
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Anyone have or seen the Vae Victis no 144 game called The Eagles of the Danube: The Campaign of April 1809. I saw a report about someone playing it and it was the first I have heard about this magazine game. Anyone had any experience with it? I am tempted to buy a copy and am just wondering if it is any good... Thoughts?
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Anyone have or seen the Vae Victis no 144 game called The Eagles of the Danube: The Campaign of April 1809. I saw a report about someone playing it and it was the first I have heard about this magazine game. Anyone had any experience with it? I am tempted to buy a copy and am just wondering if it is any good... Thoughts?
The game's a little uncharacteristic of my other experience with VV, if only because it adopts a point-to-point system for managing the campaign. In this it resembles a less lovely version of Napoleon: 1806 from Shakos. Let it be noted that I'm counting on those lads to make their way through ALL the campaigns. Rules are straight-forward and light. Nothing much to compare it to, but I liked it. Shouldn't cost much to obtain either.
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0030 19th April!
FAR too long between turns! I apologize for that.
Fatigue calculation was some real work, though.
We'll plow through the evening quickly and, remember, dawn is only four hours away!
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Exciting days so far! -- should continue tomorrow!
Without spoiling details or passing along information outside of the courier system, please allow me to honor all the Austrian commanders in their struggles for Operation Maechtiger Panzer! :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy:
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0130 19th April!
Yep, I did it, and I'm not sorry.
Brace for another one shortly.
And then the call for morning orders.
Always open for SitReps, questions, and the like.
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0230 19th April!
...and the train it won't stop going no way to sloooooow down...
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0330 19th April!
You are a chatty lot of late and that's excellent.
To stress something Doug mentioned over in his longer posting (well worth a read), there's no real substitute for communication in this game! Yes, it slows turns down a bit, but it makes everybody's experience that little bit better.
Besides, is there anything so delightful -- or horrifying -- as coming home from work, or perhaps waking up, to find a KS missive you didn't expect waiting for you?
Last call, lads for morning orders!!
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Well long enough!
Dawn comes tonight.
Last call for morning orders.
Regards,
Control
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0430 19th April!
All right party people.
This, at least in the history, is where it call got really, really interesting.
Let's see what happens!
Look for a quick couple turns over the weekend as well, especially as Origins soon awaits.
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0530 19th April!
Rolling right along now!
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Rollin Rollin Roland,
Keep those French dogs rollin,
Snowy wind and weather!
Hell bent for leather!
My heart's calculatin'
My true love will be waitin'
Waitin' once we're kickin' out their hides.
GIDDYUP RUN EM DOWN
RUN EM DOWN GIDDYUP
GIDDYUP RUN EM DOWN, RAWHIDE!
DRIVE EM OUT, CUT EM UP
CUT EM UP, DRIVE EM OUT
DRIVE EM OUT, CUT EM UP
CUT EM OUT! -- RAWWWHIIIDDDEEE!
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0630 19th April!
Whooooeeee...
OK, now the fun really starts.
However, likely the last turn until after I get back from Origins.
S!
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Turn advances TONIGHT.
Write 'em if you got 'em.
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0730 19th April!
As threatened!!
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As threatened.... >:D
LET OKTOBERFEST IN APRIL.... BEGIN! {scattering applause}
(Note: the internet has failed me, as I could not find a specific clip to explain this joke from around the halfway point of Steve Martin's modern day Cyrano de Bergerac romantic comedy Roxanne.)
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0830 19th April!
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Just saw a rather well done video about Kriegsspiel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-seIA9tukDs&feature=youtu.be (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-seIA9tukDs&feature=youtu.be)
Very well done history of the game in about 15 minutes.
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Just saw a rather well done video about Kriegsspiel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-seIA9tukDs&feature=youtu.be (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-seIA9tukDs&feature=youtu.be)
Very well done history of the game in about 15 minutes.
Best part from my angle are the photographs and clarifications of Hellwig's game which I knew of, but had not seen in this much detail.
Well, and still yet more photographs of my favorite piece of furniture on the PLANET.
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0930 19th April!
This week as been an hoot...
BUT WE HAVE A TURN!!!
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1030 19th April!
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1130 19th April!
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1230 19th April!
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Springtime in Bavaria! :rockon:
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Hm. My original timing estimate seems to be correct.
Accidentally.
And unfortunately.
For someone. :biggrin:
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1330 19th April!
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1430 19th April!
Oh, yes, oh yes...
There will be another turn before I make my way to Ratisbonne...yes there will...
Look for it TUESDAY EVENING!!!
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...and then the game will slow down for a while?
>:D
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1530 19th April!
And, yes, as Charles (Jason) suggests, I'm about to board plane for these very battlefields.
See you all in just a few.
Try to not burn down Bavaria in my absence?
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Good journey fine sir! :peace:
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1630 19th April!
And we are back at it.
Quick turns now, gents.
Quick turns.
I am filled with inspiration.
And whiskey!
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and photos! :D
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1730 19th April!
As I said, gentlemen.
BRISKLY!!!
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1830 19th April!
Briskly!!!
Questions, &c., please shout. Dusk is now only three hours away...full dark in four.
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1930, 19th April!
Some fun now, gentlemen.
Some fun now.
Always available for questions!
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Holding our breath a bit as one of our players (Treb) weathers the hurricane.
Very rude of the weather to interrupt our fine sport.
Still, living as I do in the land of the snowpocalypse, I can't imagine what it's like waiting for something like that to land.
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2030, 19th April!
Only two more hours until dark!
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2130, 19th April!
Did all the work and forgot to post last night.
May...may...have been drinking.
It is now DUSK.
One hour until dark.
Surely I can be forgiven this omission such that we can have another turn tomorrow P.M.?
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2230, 19th April![/i
So bloody much for my lofty ambitions.
Ah, well, it is now NIGHT and time will pass quickly!
Fatigue calculation in just a few short hours.
]
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Kind of amazed the day turned out like it did... :whistle:
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Kind of amazed the day turned out like it did... :whistle:
Oh the video I have to record tonight...
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2330, 19th April!
The chimes at midnight!
Fatigue!
SitReps!
Messengers twacking crisply into trees in the Bavarian night!
All these will come very soon!
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0030, 20th April!
MERCY, but that one took a while.
SITREPS are DONE!!
AVANTI!!!
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0130, 20th April!
Remember, dawn comes in only a few hours!!!
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0230, 20th April!
We are having some fun now, aren't we kids!!!
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0330, 20th April!
With dawn in one hour, I will now slow my roll a bit waiting for your...
DAWN ORDERS!!!
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Dawn will come TOMORROW!!!
Dawn orders if you have them, please.
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0430, 20th April!
And it is DAWN!!!
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Wow, wait, really??!
Man, I wasn't keeping up! -- I was sure there'd be messages incoming by now, but I received practically nothing (from teammates) overnight.
I've got things I have to do tonight, but I'll try to get orders set up soon!
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Wow, wait, really??!
Man, I wasn't keeping up! -- I was sure there'd be messages incoming by now, but I received practically nothing (from teammates) overnight.
I've got things I have to do tonight, but I'll try to get orders set up soon!
I had begun to wonder...
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0530, 20th April!
A wise man who runs a lot of these once told me that nothing focuses the mind quite like shouting "GAME CLOCK ADVANCES"!
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0630, 20th April!
This should be fun.
Please know that Dr. Rouy rides over all your shoulders. He is very pleased this second KS has endured so long and is going along so well!
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0730, 20th April!
Will this fun NEVER STOP!!!
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0830, 20th April!
And the train it just keeps rollin', no way to sloooooooow down...
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0930, 20th April!
And again many march...
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Let Maechtiger Panzer... finally lean over..... into beginningness!
I love it when a plan comes together. {insert Hannibal Smith smiley here} {THE INTERNET HAS FAILED ME THIS SHOULD EXIST!}
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Let Maechtiger Panzer... finally lean over..... into beginningness!
I love it when a plan comes together. {insert Hannibal Smith smiley here} {THE INTERNET HAS FAILED ME THIS SHOULD EXIST!}
With no exception, the busiest hour of the game thus far!
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And considering how hot the action has been until now, that's saying something!
What I can say, is that I'm doing nothing at all. 8)
All the work, and the glory, goes to the guys with the boots on the ground, and the guys who are making sure they get fed and pointed in the right direction. :applause:
(I would give specific credit where it's due, but on an 'open' channel that would compromise operational security. >:D )
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1030, 20th April!
Jeez that was nuts...if in the best possible way.
I hadn't intended to, but I was driven to fashion a special mid-day video just for the memory.
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1130, 20th April!
Well, THAT was a lot.
Sorry for the delay, but, again, THAT was a lot...
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I meant to consider more closely the information you sent yesterday, Cyrano, but I got home a lot later than I expected, and then I was hopping around dealing with various things.
I'm planning to get into it this afternoon, but if you can pause the game progression a little, I'd appreciate it.
If that isn't possible (or perhaps feasible), my original orders from a few days ago will suffice. They're PROBABLY still good anyway; I'm just checking over the extra information to be sure.
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I meant to consider more closely the information you sent yesterday, Cyrano, but I got home a lot later than I expected, and then I was hopping around dealing with various things.
I'm planning to get into it this afternoon, but if you can pause the game progression a little, I'd appreciate it.
If that isn't possible (or perhaps feasible), my original orders from a few days ago will suffice. They're PROBABLY still good anyway; I'm just checking over the extra information to be sure.
I'll hold at the marker until tomorrow night.
Jim
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1230, 20th April!
It reveals nothing to say that if I had lived in ANY of these larger towns in April 1809, I'd have hated the lot of you.
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Deine ganze Stadt gehört uns.
(Not sure if Google translate preserved the meme joke there....)
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1330, 20th April!
Assuredly another turn on Saturday!
Regards.
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1430, 20th April!
I won't lie.
Control is smiling.
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1530, 20th April
So, yeah, there's THAT then!
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1630, 20th April
Too bloody long between turns!
But you've all been up to so much!!!
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1730, 20th April
Ah, much more prompt!
Well done gentlemen, well done.
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1830, 20th April
Heavens to Betsy but it's on now.
Wonderful!
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Hm, can't decide how well this bodes... :whistle: :biggrin:
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1930, 20th April
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Working on something here.
With you presently.
Thanks for your patience.
You GUYS!!!
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If it's a French surrender, I'd be willing to accept a French evacuation instead. They can go back home and talk about how they're coming back later.
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Problem SORTED.
Sorry for the delay.
2030, 20th April
TWO HOURS OF DAYLIGHT REMAIN!
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2130, 20th April
I will respond directly where the question was put, but it is absolutely the case that much time can pass in marching, &c.
If you EVER want a SitRep as to where you are at a given time, just fire off an email and Control will hear and respond!!!
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2230, 20th April
NIGHTTIME?!?
So SOON?
Fatigue calculation in just two hours?
Oh. My. Goodness!
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2330, 20th April
And here comes fatigue calculation!!!
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No turn of the clock yet, but fatigue calculations are DONE.
SitReps will be sent tomorrow.
Remember, dawn is EARLY in these parts and a lot of you have, well, stuff to attend to!
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0030, 21st April
OH. YES!
Prediction: this is the day.
DAWN IN FOUR HOURS!
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This is the daaay (this is the day)
we make lemonaaaade (we make lem-on-ade!)
We will rejoiiiiice (we will rejoice)
and be glad in it! (and be glad in it!)
THIS IS THE DAY THAT THEY BLANCH, AAAAFRAID!
WE WILL REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IIIIT!
This is the daaaay (this is the day)
That we spray
the
raid.
>:D
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...wait, wait, sorry! I had a typo there that ruined the immersion!
That should read "SPAY the raid".
:D
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0130, 21st April
Dawn's a-comin'!
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0230, 21st April
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Austrians! -- EMBRACE THE DAWN! :rockon:
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Austrians! -- EMBRACE THE DAWN! :rockon:
Speaking of which...can't believe I forgot to post...
0330, 21st April
Dawn comes on SUNDAY NIGHT.
Get your orders/queries in NOW!
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I waited.
Honest I did.
BUT I CAN WAIT NO LONGER.
DAWN, GENTLEMEN. DAWN!
0430, 21st April
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So, um, before I roll the clock.
Which i will do.
Anybody got any questions?
Or orders?
Or stories of their overnight, erm, conquests?
Juuuust asking.
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Oh, shit. Just saw this. I'm waay out of touch. email sent.
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^That's actually one of the very last things Napoleon said at Waterloo.
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:ROFL:
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^That's actually one of the very last things Napoleon said at Waterloo.
His email server must have been bloody slow. :D
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He probable deleted the message about the Prussians coming as being spam.
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Duskly dawns the day for the doughty defenders of Austria...! :oh: :rockon:
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0530, 21st April
MUCH longer than I had hoped, but this one required some pushing of some commanders.
Love you all.
S!
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0630, 21st April
The god of battles visits Bavaria.
I trust he likes beer.
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0730, 21st April
When KSs heat up...they heat up...
Watch you inboxes over the weekend, gents.
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0830, 21st April
Fill your hands, gentlemen!
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0930, 21st April
Yeah, just that fast...
Please stay on your orders. This one is getting fun quickly.
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1030, 21st April
As I think I've said before: HANDS AND FEET INSIDE THE RIDE!
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I can't wait to see the video eps on this!
Someday.
Next decade... >:D
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1130, 21st April
If the umpire doesn't sleep, then NO ONE SLEEPS!!!
Eyes on your e-mails, please.
The 1230 hour will come with questions for some.
Shoot, I got people swimming rivers!
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I was about to ask for a status report anyway. :bigthumb:
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1230, 21st April
DOWN GOES FRASIER! DOWN GOES FRASIER!
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Now try to figure out who Frasier is in this analogy...
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1330, 21st April
ROLLING, ROLLING, ROLLING...
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1430, 21st April
Most have been on top of their mailboxes. A few have not!
Still six hours of daylight remaining!
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1530, 21st April
Surely you didn't think you were getting away without a turn just because it's a MONDAY?
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Commanders have asked for a brief respite!
I have crushed their resistance.
CRUSHED IT, I SAY!
A short surcease has been granted, but short it will remain!
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1630, 21st April
Saddle up, gentlemen.
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Or considering it's late in the day, saddle down as the case may be. ;)
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1730, 21st April
Three hours until DARK!
S!
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We have them right where we want them, men!
(i.e., in the dark. ;) )
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Looking forward to joining the next game whenever that is. :)
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Absolutely got you for the next one :).
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Coming to the end of a similar game but for the battle of Waterloo. Would love to join the next game you guys run if there is room.
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1830, 21st April
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Coming to the end of a similar game but for the battle of Waterloo. Would love to join the next game you guys run if there is room.
Always gratified by the interest these generate. Next game will likely be 1807. We'll have open sign-ups right here!
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Coming to the end of a similar game but for the battle of Waterloo. Would love to join the next game you guys run if there is room.
Always gratified by the interest these generate. Next game will likely be 1807. We'll have open sign-ups right here!
Is there a way to get an email notification from the forum when that happens?
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1930, 21st April
Who wants it to be night?
Who?
Not me, of course, because that means fatigue calculation, but some soldiers...well...
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2030, 21st April
Was sorting out a few particular situations, but we're rolling again.
TWO HOURS UNTIL DARK!
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2130, 21st April
DARK IN ONE HOUR!
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Well, that took some noodlin'!
OK, kidsL
2230, 21st April
It's dark!
Super important: I stop marches at dark. If you want to keep marching -- fatigue penalty be damned -- you must let me know. Night turns come very quickly.
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0030, 22nd April
"So I lied, so I can't tell time, maybe some Bavarian bastard has made an appointment to bayonet you in the kidneys..." -- Borrowed loosely from "Heartbreak Ridge"
It's the next day, gentlemen. The next day!
Fatigue calculations are DONE.
Requests for SitReps and orders are in order NOW!!!
Clock will run again on Sunday.
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0130, 22nd April
ROLLING!
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Orders outgoing soon; hold the clock please till receipt.
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The clock stares at the Archduke...
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The Archduke is sending out couriers tonight (he hopes), thanks. :)
-
Orders dispatched.
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0230, 22nd April
The sound you hear is that of commanders being woken from their bunks, reading their dispatches, and, well, reacting...
The clock will advance tomorrow.
Dawn at 0430.
S!
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0330, 22nd April
One more until DAWN!
Orders in for dawn marching if you don't think your intentions are clear.
-
Holding one more day...
One more day...
Wait, that's a song.
-
Holding one more day...
One more day...
Wait, that's a song.
Don't you know? Things will change. Things will go your way.
-
0430, 22nd April
Can't believe I gave you ne'er-do-wells this much time!
DAWN!
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0530, 22nd April
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0630, 22nd April
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0730, 22nd April
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0830, 22nd April
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0930, 22nd April
We march!
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1030, 22nd April
I do not jest when I say I think the game is now officially in the balance.
-
Hm, that could either be good new or bad news.
For them. >:D
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1130, 22nd April
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1230, 22nd April
-
Break for lunch!
...break them, for lunch. >:D
-
Hope you all realise we have been fighting this six day battle now for just over two years!!! We are into our third year of this campaign for pete's sake!
-
What happened to the second game of this... It seems to have stalled out a while back or have they finished that version already?
-
Hope you all realise we have been fighting this six day battle now for just over two years!!! We are into our third year of this campaign for pete's sake!
And don't think I don't love you all for it.
This is why we do this. It's so intensely weird and a little stupid.
And awesome.
I will say that I've been trying to be diligent about keeping the pace up. It's stalled presently because of sorting things out at a crucial juncture, but it has definitely helped to shove the train along...
-
No it was the Spring Time in Munich game that I was talking about. Ours is going on at a fast past as far as I am concerned....sometimes a little too fast when things have been getting a little hot! And it might be two years plus, but I still love this game and what it does and it's twists and turns...always epic stuff!
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1330, 22nd April
MAN, that one was a lot.
S'OK.
Many doings!
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1430, 22nd April
You thought you were getting out of a turn last night?
YOU THOUGHT INCORRECTLY!
Game on, Wayne.
-
1530, 22nd April
Catching up from Sunday when I should have announced.
Did I mention what happens tonight?
Probably not...
-
And, while I'm at it, it bears mention that this KS is now just a bit over two years' old, having begun on July 26, 2018.
Thanks everyone for sticking with it!
-
And, while I'm at it, it bears mention that this KS is now just a bit over two years' old, having begun on July 26, 2018.
Thanks everyone for sticking with it!
:waiting: :D
-
SO SHALL I BEGIN TO DO THINGS!
soon.
soon.
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1630, 22nd April
-
1730, 22nd April!
-
1830, 22nd April
Messages are flying...
FOUR HOURS UNTIL DARK.
And...something big...
Very, very big...
-
1930, 22nd April
Three hours until dark!
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2030, 22nd April
TWO HOURS UNTIL DARK!
-
NOTE: If you have a message from control (today) stamped at 2230, this is incorrect.
I got swamped over with all the messages and thinking about sunset.
They should be stamped to 2030!
-
2130, 22nd April
ONE HOUR UNTIL...UNTIL...
I'm a-tingle...
It's been over two years. I think I'm entitled.
-
2230, 22nd April
It is now DARK.
I will running the clock QUICKLY to midnight over the next two days...
Then, before the end of the weekend, there will be fatigue calculation...
...and the thing foretold...
-
Hopefully the thing foretold means we [BLANKETY BLANKED] enough to finally win. I think this game has lasted longer than the Korean War!
(Note that this is a vague estimate from someone home sick and should not be taken seriously, but I would be very amused if someone verified that my diseased fancy turned out to be true, kthxbi.)
-
2330, 22nd April
Fatigue calculation has started...and the thing...
Results tomorrow, I hope...
-
WE HAVE OUR FIRST GAME ADJUDICATION
i am fortunate that I could call in the game's designer for a consult.
Control concludes:
This game ALMOST ended with a narrow victory for one side. It was very close to over. However, circumstances are such that we agreed to give the teams one more game day to try and right the ship.
So, yes:
-
So we've got another year then.
-
So we've got another year then.
Funny...fair...but funny...
Just for that:
0030, 23rd April
Shout for SitReps. Dawn comes early around here...
-
0130, 23rd April
-
Argh, I'm on COVID lockdown at the moment, so while I've got lots more time to make sure orders are sent in, I have lots less energy to do so.
-
Hope you get well soon.
-
Cyrano, send me a position check when you can.
-
0230, 23rd April!
-
Orders sent out.
Wake me when butt-kicking has been accomplished. >:D
-
0330, 23rd April
ONE HOUR UNTIL DAWN!
Dawn orders, please, if you want them acknowledged :).
-
0430, 23rd April
Yep, DAWN.
Last chance for first-thing marching orders!
-
0530, 23rd April
Pedal DOWN.
-
[Direction redacted]-bound and down, loaded up and trucking!
We're gonna do what they say can't be done. {Beating Nappy.}
We've got a long way to go, and a short time to get there;
we're [redacted]-bound so watch the Aussies.........
...
....well, we don't really "run" much. Trod? Trod. Watch the Aussies trod!
-
Plod is more like it.... :P
-
0630, 23rd April
Y'all had a LOT of questions this time...
Still, an intolerable delay!
-
SUDDENLY A SHOGOTH!
....
....uh, wait, wrong thread.
-
I think all my questions could be summed up as follows:
Me: How incredibly stupid would it be if...
Jim: Incredibly is not a strong enough word.
-
Ah. So maybe this WAS the right thread! >:D
-
I think all my questions could be summed up as follows:
Me: How incredibly stupid would it be if...
Jim: Incredibly is not a strong enough word.
This is just so great...
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0730, 23rd April
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0830, 23rd April
-
0930, 23rd April
-
1030, 23rd April
I am pleased it will end this way...
-
1130, 23rd April
Out of basic decency, I'm going to give you all a couple extra days on this one, but please see to your in boxes.
-
1130, 23rd April
Out of basic decency, I'm going to give you all a couple extra days on this one, but please see to your in boxes.
At once! ......um, nothing there?
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1130, 23rd April
Out of basic decency, I'm going to give you all a couple extra days on this one, but please see to your in boxes.
At once! ......um, nothing there?
Sill nothing. I am forced to conclude that we won, yay! :go-on:
-
I got something and it did not imply that I lost... if you're on my side, then, yes, we won.
-
I got a lump of coal...... :(
-
I got a lump of coal...... :(
A lump of coal is more than I got, which is still nothing. On the other hand, you're on my team and a lump of coal doesn't exactly bode well...
Besides, this is Halloween season: shouldn't that be "I got a rock"?
-
All I can hear is the sound of boots on the ground as the French Corps March on ! Otherwise have not heard a dicky bird!
-
MARCHING ONNNNN! MARCHING ONNNNN! ...out of Austria, cough, MARCHING ONNNNNNNNN! >:D
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What do you mean you are finally going to get here? .I've been waiting so long now but, I am still to meet a coordinated Austrian force...maybe now is the time!
-
The Mighty Glacier fulfilled our win conditions some game-days ago (in a fine fashion Yang Wen-Li would approve of), so if you somehow haven't seen us yet, that can only be because the French (and your minions perhaps) are very astute at maneuvering away from enemies at superior marching and riding speed.
-
1230, 23rd April
-
Huh. Clock is still running.
....GOOD! We're not finished kicking French hineys!
-
Hey Charles.... Come in from the cold dear friend;, we have a surprise for you and we wouldn't want you to miss it! The Napster.
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Pah, we spit at the cold! Besides it's getting warmer all the time now. >:D
-
Well then prepare for it to become scorchio then 'cos the heat is certainly being turned up more than a couple of notches!
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Well then prepare for it to become scorchio then 'cos the heat is certainly being turned up more than a couple of notches!
I know I'm not part of this KS and yet, when I read the word "scorchio", I immediately thought of this:
(https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1008x567/p01zfn4w.jpg)
-
Okay, I have to admit, those floofy French generals do seem to keep their calm while being burned in a warzone's firestorm.
-
1330, 23rd April
NINE
-
Hm. That looks like a countdown...
(I do have an actual theory about what triggered the near-game-end situation; I'm just not talking about it in open chat, sticking with jokes instead. I'll be curious to see later if my theory was correct.)
-
Have to admit I am very much in the dark about this also. I really have no idea what is happening/happend. Tend to think the Austrians may have squeaked it but it hurts me to say so. It might be a different story if there were another 24 hours be hey ho, let's see what happens. Certainly been an interesting last few hours in this very, very, very long campaign! Can't wait for the reveal party at the end of our joint show.
-
I am certainly looking forward to the finale and to all-and-any video recaps Cyrano will hopefully put up for us!
I can say that I know both sides have put up some epic fighting in various areas. And also I suspect the near-win countdown was triggered by one of those sides taking advantage of the results of one of those fights -- a few game-days after that fight.
I don't want to go into more details on my guess, since that could constitute sending information outside the courier system, which my teammates might plan and act accordingly on.
What I will say, is that my guess makes no difference at all to what I'm currently doing in the game! >:D
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What I will say, is that my guess makes no difference at all to what I'm currently doing in the game! >:D
Ha! Nor me either... :o
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What I will say, is that my guess makes no difference at all to what I'm currently doing in the game! >:D
Ha! Nor me either... :o
One of you is incorrect.
-
Well, I've made zero changes yet as to what the Archduke is currently doing in the game, despite my guess as to what triggered the near-win alert, so... be that as it may?
-
You all are making me do TWO consecutive videos, i.e. a video for two successive hours.
Never happened before.
Kinda fun.
-
1430, 23rd April
Heck yes.
EIGHT
-
When all of this is done and dusted I would dearly love to see some unit stats; casualty rates/losses that sort of thing. Don''t know how difficult that would be to do; but for me that would be the icing on the cake of this great campaign. More interesting than just who won, who lost if you see what I am saying? Lease say it is possible.
-
No spreadsheet available, I don't roll that way, but I'll do a video showing casualties unit by unit.
One of the real glories of VdA is Dr. Rouy figured out a way to show that most losses are to fatigue not battle.
-
Heh. "Well, Doc how is it?"
"I've got bad news, I'm sorry. You don't have long to live."
"...okay, better give it to me straight doc, how long do I have?"
"Ten."
"...ten what? Years, months, weeks? Days?!"
"Nine."
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You all are making me do TWO consecutive videos, i.e. a video for two successive hours.
Never happened before.
Kinda fun.
WANT!!
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You all are making me do TWO consecutive videos, i.e. a video for two successive hours.
Never happened before.
Kinda fun.
WANT!!
:ROFL:
My work here is done...
-
:ROFL:
My work here is done...
...not until we get those two videos.
At least. :nerd:
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1530, 23rd April
SEVEN
-
I am provisionally assuming this is also a countdown to my BB2 match with Cyrano to finish out the current tournament. >:D
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1630, 23rd April
SIX
-
Remember my Austrians!
Sie sind das Essen und wir sind die Jäger!
Maechtiger Panzer zermahlt deine Feinde!
-
Yes I know originally it's a plot-related question: "Are you the eaten? No, we are the hunters!" In terms of this game however, it's gone both ways, so I honor our losses and GRIND ON!
For an English translation of the lyrics...
Off to the west, the ogre is grinning!
We're a disgrace -- until we're winning! (a-
Attack on the Corsican ogre beginning:
grinding his teeth into war! :rockon: :rockon: :rockon: :rockon:
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How did this weeb stuff get into my AD...lol ;D
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How did this weeb stuff get into my AD...lol ;D
If nothing else, the Erzherzog is bumping my post count...
Not that anyone is counting.
-
Metalweeb! >:D
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1730, 23rd April
FIVE
Wheeeee!
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1830, 23rd April
FOUR
-
Four Is Death (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FourIsDeath)
(Note: that link goes to the narrative trope of the same name at TVTropes.) (And then four hours later you'll look up from some completely unrelated topic you clicked over to somehow and wonder how you got there!)
-
As I watch this countdown, I have suddenly realized I have just as much of an idea of what's going on as I did now as I did on the 4th turn however many moons ago that took place.
Actually, I take that back... I think I had a better idea at that point in time.
-
As I watch this countdown, I have suddenly realized I have just as much of an idea of what's going on as I did now as I did on the 4th turn however many moons ago that took place.
Actually, I take that back... I think I had a better idea at that point in time.
You, sir, are ahead of me. ???
-
I wouldn't be too sure of that. I'm currently wondering what I'm going to do with all these (admittedly delicious) tomatoes.
-
Our plan has borne fruit! -- the enemy reels in confusion! (....and also some of our allies, but they have good reasons which shall eventually be revealed.)
>:D
Thus, even if we somehow lose, we can still claim a moral victory. Intellectual. Ecumenical. Paradoxical. Incomprehensible. Unintelligible? Enigmatical. :applause: 8)
-
Tomatoes are a fruit, so I say I won. Regardless of the outcome, the real treasures will be the friends we made along the way. Except the bastard who didn't want to have a nice chat while enjoying lunch with me. I may send him a bad tomato.
-
1930, 23rd April
THREE!
-
True story: one of our local restaurants has cursed tomatoes.
Well, kind of true. I've been eating there off and on since they were established, and their tomatoes on the salad bar are notorious for being usually rotten. Don't know why, it makes no sense, they'll bring fresh cold tomatoes out sliced into chunks, and it doesn't matter. The best you can do is sort of pick carefully through the top ones for the ones that look least ripe, and hope for the best. So the running joke is that their tomatoes are cursed.
I mention this to wince in sympathy foreto whomever you're sending a bad tomato. :vomit:
-
Jim assured me in game that my tomatoes were excellent and delicious.
And should we ever manage to get back to having conventions, fresh tomatoes will be delivered to the booth with a note they are for everyone but whoever it is playing the person who turned down my generous in-game offer.
-
...and we're done.
First article tomorrow.
I embrace you all.
Jim
-
Exciting! Can't wait to find out what the heck happen, to whom and when....this is the best part of the process seeing it all unfold!
I'll get the popcorn ready....it's going to be quite a ride!
-
https://www.armchairdragoons.com/forum/index.php?topic=2638.new#new
-
GAH! The French won!?! :doh:
And there are 22 videos... and you're going to torture us with only 1 per day?!? :censored:
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GAH! The French won!?! :doh:
And there are 22 videos... and you're going to torture us with only 1 per day?!? :censored:
Torture was Brant's idea.
One video today with the first article.
Twenty-one tomorrow with the second (final) article, which includes awards.
I was thinking about breaking the videos into qualitative categories given how primitive the early ones feel.
-
And there are 22 videos... and you're going to torture us with only 1 per day?!? :censored:
I was going to go 1/every other day or so, just to keep y'all coming back to check :biggrin:
-
Alas, can't say I'm overly surprised at the Froggy victory.
My guess, which I'm recording here now that the game is over and I can speak freely without sending information through chat, is that having punched through our probe/defenses in the middle of the Isar river, the French looped around to the southwest and got into Munich behind the backs of the defenders (who were defending in advance territory north of the city), thus screwing over our win conditions which by the way were to take and hold Munich and Rattisbonne/Regensburg. We accomplished both of those very solidly (Munich very early in the game), but the game didn't end immediately or soon afterward, giving (as is fair) the French time to mess with our win conditions and/or time to achieve their own conditions (which we weren't told about, btw).
My guess extends to the possibility that the French sent a cav division through the breach to hit our supply line source at Passau and sit on that -- which would have been almost the first thing I'd have done in their place once the Isar was breached, it isn't like there were any other options about where our supply line would be based. But I never received any word of supply problems, even once I knew the Isar had been breached, so if this happened it must have lent its effect at the very end of the game before news got to me.
Now I'll see if my main guess is correct... (And no doubt more comments from me to come, plus other players I hope!)
-
Bohemia is nice this time of year...
-
THERE WERE DALEKS AFTER ALL!!! :biggrin: At least at the start.
Okay, one thing Cyrano forgot to explain, was the Austrian corps offboard (no doubt he'll get to this later tomorrow). That was Barthheart's corps, the 3rd Corps, commanded by Hohenzollen, who's the second best commander on our side for the game -- meaning he grants the next most bonuses to combat after Charles himself (whom I'm playing).
The reason he's offboard, is that this campaign has an option for the Austrians where we can send at least one corps (I don't recall if it was possible to send more, but anyway we didn't) on a safe off-map loop to arrive north of Regensburg (also known as Rattisbonne) after several game days.
Now, as Cyrano may mention in the full set of videos coming tomorrow (but in case he doesn't), since this was a game and I was interested in every player being able to operate as independently with as much responsibility as possible, I synthesized together an operational plan from player suggestions pre-game, which is why you see us spread out across the Isar, and Barth over there offmap. This definitely got almost everyone into the game throughout the game -- except unfortunately poor Barth! I figured the first few days would go by pretty quickly as we got our initial manuevers out of the way (like last time), and so after only a month or two in real time Barth would be warping back onto the map on that hill north of Rattis, where hopefully our main thrust would soon be meeting up with him, advancing along those roads parallel north and south of the Danube. In reality, I'm not sure he got into the game at all until around TWO REAL YEARS LATER!
Incidentally, I named the operation after that factor Cyrano/Jim mentions, where the French move twice as fast as us: Mighty Sheet, as a metaphor for a sheet of glacier ice grinding down upon our foes, thus Maechtiger Panzer. (As I quipped, if we can't win with a name as awesome as that, we deserve to get beaten!) The force groups were named after the pun in German between "mighty" and "tiger", so down by Munich was the Hindclaw Force; at the central Isar crossing was the Lowerjaw (sometimes called the southern jaw) Force; at the confluence of the Isar and Danube were the corps of the Upperjaw Force; and Vance/Barthheart commanded the Frontclaw Force.
Now, the rules for this campaign allowed us the strategic initiative, meaning that we were allowed to assume that we timed things to arrive at simultaneous points on the Isar for starting our crossover. Charles historically was known for preferring to turtle up and let invaders bounce off his indestructable well-supplied fortifications before counterattacking, but we aren't doing that, nor exactly what he did historically although his unexpected offensive did take the French by surprise, reflected in the French setup here which I gather was more restricted in options. (Cyrano may go through the differences in our plan and the historical Austrian plan eventually.)
This is also important because the campaign rules allowed us to shuffle divisions among our corps before we set out for our game-start positions. That's why Cyrano is talking about the elite cream of the Austrian forces down near Munich: those are the two Guard Corps, and we arranged to juice them up a little more by shuffling weaker divisions out and stronger ones in. The same is true about the other corps. Where did we put the weakest infantry divisions? -- over in Barth's 3rd Corps! Our idea was that this way they weren't dragging down our combat capability on the map, BUT they could be relied upon this way to SAFELY arrive in a dangerous position against the French, where they would benefit from Hohenzollen's combat bonus, AND where they would maximize their striking potential for such weak troops: in a supporting flank role spoiling the enemy! How that worked out, I'll leave for future videos.
Bohemia is nice this time of year...
That explanation explains Barth's comment (in retrospect) -- he was off in Bohemia for most of the game, a LOT longer in real time than we were expecting him to be. :doh:
Also incidentally, since this might come up later/soon and be a little confusing: while each corps had named infantry divisions for their (non-player character) commanders, NONE of our Austria corps had named cav divisions. It's always 6th Corp Cavalry or something like that, not Vincent's Cav Division or whatever.
-
I have forgotten the RealTime date I departed the map, Summer/Fall 2018 maybe? ***EDIT Ah found it... July 2018.
I returned to the map in May 2020.
:idiot2:
-
Looking back over our pre-game discussions (which I may post up in a separate thread eventually for archiving purposes), I noticed just now that we had a third victory point goal of exiting forces off the west edge of the map.
Which we promptly ignored as unfeasible, except maybe as an option for the HindclawForce (the two small but elite Guard Corps at Munich) if things were going very well elsewhere, and we wanted to lock in some points to finish the game sooner.
-
We won? Vive la France, etc., etc.
I'm looking quite forward to the videos. I'm especially looking forward to seeing how often I almost got into combat, how much I actually got in the way of things, and how things might have turned out at Rattisbonne had either the Austrians attacked me or vice versa. As it was, we stared at each other rather menacingly for... two days? Three? (I honestly don't remember and my email client decided to lose most my KS emails, so I can't even check anymore.) As I told Jim, would it not have been abusing the knowledge we had here that things were winding down, I was tempted to do something just to say I got in a fight. I even batted around the idea of asking whichever of the Austrians was staring at me if we wanted to arrange fisticuffs between some of our men just so we could say some blood was drawn...
The good news is, Jim agreed to run both the Austrians attacking me and me attacking the Austrians at Rattisbonne just to see what the results of either offensive would have amounted to. My guess is that me attacking would have been colossally stupid. You guys attacking me.... that I think may be more interesting.
Regardless, good times, everyone. I probably should have paid better attention to the other forums. Had I, I probably would have jumped into one of the other games starting up.
-
Well, well...I am struggling to believe what I am hearing ....we won! I truly believed that we had lost...colour me gobsmacked but very happy too....can't wait to see how this all actually happened. What an amazing game!
-
A subtle point from Cyrano/Jim's video occurred to me while I was eating dinner tonight, which might seem obvious to those of us who played, but I'll explain it for those who haven't played.
That lone French division sitting out by itself at an Isar River crossing in between Munich and the central Austrian spearhead? That division's a robot.
It's an NPC, a non-player character. Only the Corps Commanders (and above) can give orders in this particular campaign, because only the CorpsComs (and above) are actual human beings, Player Characters. That division is under command of the French player sitting on the river across from the Austria LowerJawForce, at least two maybe three or four hours away in game time, and divisions outside of direct communication of the Players have a very simple artificial intelligence (so to speak). This has to be done because otherwise the gamemaster (Cyrano in this case) could end up playing a lot of the pieces himself, against himself, with zero fog of war. So we're allowed to give detached divisions like this very simple commands: patrol this line back and forth, and send back reports of any contacts; or take this route to Passau and if it's empty get into the city and sit there, otherwise go up the road to the next town and sit there (obliterating or at least disrupting the Austrian supply chain). Or wait here at this bridge for further orders; if you see Austrians coming, report back; if they come across the bridge, withdraw toward here and send reports. Basically one to three basic instructions.
That's what this division is certainly doing, although I don't know for sure what his instructions are yet -- he's a robot sitting on the north side of the bridge with some simple orders, probably to watch out for and report trouble from us Austrians. But maybe he's got a simple order to head south (I couldn't tell if this was a cav division or not, but it wouldn't really matter except for speed and thus timing) to a certain town, and then follow another road to Passau, hashing our supply lines meanwhile (if not obliterating them). Or head south to a town, wait until this time next week (in the game) camping out, and then probe toward Munich, taking the city if available.
Either of those sacrificial probe actions could win the game for the French. Unless Cyrano has a rule about bot divisions self-destructing, in effect, if they get cut off from their own supply chain, which would make such a sacrificial probe more dicey. But maybe still worth the risk: they aren't going to lose the game from one small division being thrown away early on. (The divisions come in different sizes and morales.)
As an aside, we Austrians were never clear, and I'm still not (after the video!), how many divisions on Napoleon's side here are actually 'French' (and so who have those double-speed advantages) and how many are Germans/Prussians under French command (in which case they may move more like our speed). I mean, maybe we would know if we looked up the historical OOB for this operation, but we didn't.
-
To your very last point, all "French" troops move as French.
-
Interesting! -- one of our key assumptions was wrong, though I think in practice we ended up assuming they were all scooting around the map anyway (just to be safe).
-
BEHOLD! -- I have now posted up the Austrian side of the pre-game analysis and planning, in this separate thread!
https://www.armchairdragoons.com/forum/index.php?topic=2641.0
This includes the formal operational plan (eventually), and even more importantly the collaborative effort from my teammates on devising the op plan! -- which after all I mostly just synthesized together when they were done. :notworthy:
-
You guys seemed very, very prepared there... what happened? :ROFL:
-
You guys seemed very, very prepared there... what happened? :ROFL:
quote from a corps update brief in Kandahar, circa 2004: "We're on slide 116. I wonder what the enemy is doing right now."
-
You guys seemed very, very prepared there... what happened? :ROFL:
Presumably the videos will answer that! :D
-
Either of those sacrificial probe actions could win the game for the French. Unless Cyrano has a rule about bot divisions self-destructing, in effect, if they get cut off from their own supply chain, which would make such a sacrificial probe more dicey. But maybe still worth the risk: they aren't going to lose the game from one small division being thrown away early on. (The divisions come in different sizes and morales.)
As an update (where I'm going through the videos), that little bot division didn't do anything I was expecting, but it DID help win the game for the French Team by being summoned and arriving in the nick of time to save one of the main French corps from being routed off the board by the Austrian LowerJawForce at Landshut. That one little move will have huge ramifications later.
-
Having watched what videos that have been made public so far, I am really glad that when I was thinking "maybe I should just attack Rattisbonne, what's the worst that could happen" that I came to the conclusion that getting smashed into little, tiny bits was not the worst that could happen, but what would have undoubtedly happened.
-
I went through the game thinking our fights around Landshut were a minor sideshow on the flanks - surely the main combat was at Regensburg? - only to discover we were one of the biggest fights in the campaign. :)
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The hell of it is that, in a very gamey sense, we won: we got both of our victory locations, and held them for a solid while. But we couldn't get back in time to rescue Munich being re-retaken (aside from whatever else happened.)
Strictly speaking, everyone did everything they could do at all points (among the Austrians), based on the information we had, and reasonable inferences from that information. The HindClawForce took Munich and kept French reinforcements at bay. The LowerJawForce had numerous options about how their role would end up, simply by probing across the river, and so happened (based on French positions and decisions) to fill the role of center feint, which could not have gone better under the circumstances and kept the bulk of the French both exhausted and tied up locationally as far away from our two victory points (AND our obvious supply source) as humanly possible on the map.
Of course the FrontClaws and the UpperJawForce easily took Rathbone (as I like to call it 8) ) -- but we didn't know what was there, or rather what was no longer there, nor what might be coming to its rescue. The simplest French move to foil us would be to secure Rattisbonn, then strike off back down the road to Passau, so logically with our puny speed we had to be capable of force-taking the city, through waves of defense if necessary, and/or prevent French assaults down our line of supply.
The only problem is that meant tying up three strong corps, plus our weakest corps (where they could make the strongest impacts) on the main thrust. By the time we knew the LowerJawForce was in serious trouble, we were so close to Regensburg (which for all we knew was the enemy supply source, by the way) that the most logical move was to take it now and hope to force a win that way, while we still had Munich (which we did and with no evidence it would be retaken very soon, which it wasn't).
What else could we have feasibly done? Defeat the present French forces in detail and then the arriving French forces? -- following Tukhachevsky's eventual dictum of DESTROY THE ENEMY ARMIES AND THEN YOU CAN DO WHAT YOU WANT WITH YOUR VICTORY OBJECTIVES! ;)
But we didn't know where they were to start with. And while we could have used our initial scouting information to destroy the holding division at Munich immediately (which we did) then collapse upon the blocking corps at Landshut, there was only one problem, which factored strongly into our eventual operational plan: THE FRENCH RUN TWICE AS FAST AS US! If they decided to run for it, they could keep away, tire us out trying ineffectually to chase after them, and then destroy us with their more rested and speedier reinforcements under the combat bonuses of Nappy.
Creep everyone up our right side to Rathbone for mutual protection on the roads, leaving Munich to its fate late in the game? No way to guarantee our glacial pace could get back there in time (without which we surely couldn't win), AND no way to protect our supply line without leaving players behind doing nothing but boring guard duty (hopefully!)
Considering our capabilities, and limitations, I still believe this was the best plan under the circumstances. And it very nearly worked -- all credit to my Austrian teammates!
One small change however that I might have done, given our initial starting information (once couriers arrived with startpos news), would have been to ask Cyrano if we could call back Barth with his corps, and send him along the north bank of the Isar to help out at Landshut. He might have arrived in time (even with our creepy rate, and even with the relevant bridges across the Danube blocked for a while by our passing) to make a winning difference. But I assumed by the time I heard of a corps starting at Landshut, that we couldn't bring Barth/Hohenzollern back anyway, and that his appearance behind Rathbone could easily be more decisively important (which it could have been, had the French focused there). I didn't think the French would basically take the bait at Landshut so hard as to ignore Rathbone (until near the end of the game).
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Also, and this must be faced squarely, the French won by their choice of actions.
1.) They chose to abandon Regensburg/Rattisbonne (for all practical purposes) in a risky move to support the French center on the Isar at Landshut. That battle could have easily gone against the French, and would have without timely reinforcements from this early choice. Sure, a fresh Hohenzollern reversing his course might have helped, but he also might have easily arrived too late to save the fight, and remember he had (by our design) the worst corps (i.e. comprised totally of Charles' experimental attempts at light infantry brigades.) Though Barthheart might have gummed up Davout's attempt at striking our supply line long enough to solidify our win, perhaps.
2.) Davout's choice to hit our supply line back to Passau -- EXACTLY what I worried the speedy French would eventually try, but there was no way to guard against that except to leave Austrian players behind. I will note that Cyrano never told us our supply was interrupted, only that Davout was on the way (thanks to Hiller's detached cav brigade autobot). So we never actually suffered this. But neither could we ignore it: we had to send two corps back in an exhausting rush to secure the line, and that wasted no less than two game days, maybe three, when otherwise we would have been instituting stage two of our main operation and pivoting down upon the French supply line at Ingolstadt (presumably) and upon the French rear areas between Munich and Landshut.
3.) Davout's choice to NOT stay at Straubing on our supply line (where he would have been destroyed by our superior numbers, flanking positions, and his own fatigue), but to continue his fine Yang Wen-Li move immediately south of the Isar and then back along to hit the remnants of the LowerJawForce, racking up more easy victory points for the French, and positioning himself to take Munich behind the HindclawForce. (Also screwing over their supply line back to Passau not incidentally.)
And then of course the basic French choices to recover Munich, catching more of our divisions for victory points and taking the win firmly out of our teeth.
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Hey, Jim! -- currently nine of the 22 videos are still marked "private" and can't be watched.
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Also, video 13 is currently out of order (after two videos later than it on the same day.)
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Really interesting read so far and great to see the videos of the action.
The French from the get-go decided Regensburg was untenable and that those troops of Davout were key to ensuring we had some punch elsewhere. We, jointly, quickly decided that given the fact that our forces were spilt over time and space; most of them coming on in dribs and drabs and knowing that the Austrian's could potentially start on our front lawn, we knew that we must buy time to centralise and combine our disparate forces. We opted for our collective centre of gravity to be Landshut and we positioned what forces we had early on to try and hold key areas until reinforcement could be deployed. I did not want to see Davout's 50,000 men bottled up and eliminated or prevented from being mobile and effective for the whole campaign stuck in the environs of Regensburg. We decided if we were to leave, then leave with all but the bare minimum.
Our centralised policy would, it was hoped, then allow us to deal with developments as we became aware of them. The idea was also to ensure that we did not lose Munich as this might cause our Bavarian allies to lose faith and join with our opponents. That was a situation that I was most anxious about, as also I was about Austrians legging it off the west side of the theatre of operations.
The central plan never really came together as the situation rapidly altered around the threatened theatre around Munich and the situation that Oudinot was facing. Increasingly I had to throw French reinforcement towards that sector to stabilise what I believed was a big push to take Munich and come in via the back door on that western border. With Regensburg I always believed it would fall but I hoped that once we had concentrated our force around Landshut we would be able to move off from there and bring battle to the Austrians somewhere in the area of Landshut or if/when we tried to oust the Austrians from the area of Regensburg.
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And that mostly happened, except substituting Munich for Regensburg in the final push.
Was there an actual in-game risk of your Bavarians deserting (off map and/or over to our side) for us holding Munich too long? We were never told about that.
Also, we were very unclear about how long we'd have to hold Rathbone and Munich in order to win. I presume there was some kind of flexible point system going, where we scored major points every set-amount-of-time (whatever that was), and if that running total ever got so-far-ahead of the French score then we won. We figured we were close to winning after taking the second city (or at least the northern group figured that), but while we knew the Landshut area was in trouble we didn't know how much, only that the LowerJawForce had inflicted hard defeats on the French there. But it turned out that while they Austrians won several times, they didn't actually knock out any divisions! -- if I understand Jim correctly, the only French divisions lost were the two parked in the cities. Whereas, we thought the LowerJawForce, and maybe the HindClawForce, had knocked out at least two or three more.
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As a participant in the campaign, who occasionally needed prodding from Jim to get him orders and do something, a big thank you to him and all of the participants. It was a lot of fun and quite challenging.
I love the concept and purpose of the kriegspiel, although it can be frustrating in the midst of the action (or really during the blindly stumbling around part)--with delays in communications and no real clear picture of what is going on.
But it's an incredible experience. Merci, Jim!
Viva la France!
Viva l'Empereur!
Your humble servant, I remain always,
André Masséna, 1st Duc de Rivoli
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And that mostly happened, except substituting Munich for Regensburg in the final push.
Was there an actual in-game risk of your Bavarians deserting (off map and/or over to our side) for us holding Munich too long? We were never told about that.
Also, we were very unclear about how long we'd have to hold Rathbone and Munich in order to win. I presume there was some kind of flexible point system going, where we scored major points every set-amount-of-time (whatever that was), and if that running total ever got so-far-ahead of the French score then we won. We figured we were close to winning after taking the second city (or at least the northern group figured that), but while we knew the Landshut area was in trouble we didn't know how much, only that the LowerJawForce had inflicted hard defeats on the French there. But it turned out that while they Austrians won several times, they didn't actually knock out any divisions! -- if I understand Jim correctly, the only French divisions lost were the two parked in the cities. Whereas, we thought the LowerJawForce, and maybe the HindClawForce, had knocked out at least two or three more.
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Well the information we received about our Bavarian friends was that the loss of Munich leads to loss of morale points in the Bavarian units. It also goes on to say that ..."you are not so sure of these allies, as German as the enemy. They can fight well, not well, or desert, you just do not know."
All I know is that Lefebvre did a stirling job for me and held those Landshut bridges with those Bavarians for a long time and he was also my escort for a large part of the game before I was able to finally find and keep Davout in my sight! Grand game and very well fought by your boys...I have said it before and I'll say it again I thought we were done for and that you and your Austrians and stormed the game.
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Based on the video of the final fight at Landshut, you seemed to turn a stalemate to a win by your presence, so following Davout riding hell for leather around the banks of the Isar helped a lot with the eventual win! (Though I doubt the LowerJawForce would have been able to hold on until we could grind down to their rescue; we just moved too slow.)
Two of the videos are still listed as private, Jim, by the way (as of this posting), and vid #13 is still late out of sequence by two notches.
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Oh, all the videos for April 18th are currently out of sequence, too, with a newly unprivatized April 20th late night video stuck in the middle!
And both of the current April 17th videos are reversed.
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I was this many years old when I figured out how to re-organize the playlist.
Which are showing as private? There's one in there I need to delete, I think, because the sound is buggered.
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Now that I've caught up on more of the released videos: hm.
Well, on one hand I can't complain, I suppose, that the HindClawForce didn't get their supply chain from Munich snapped even though it should have been flowing from there, with a VERY iffy chance of other supplies coming in from the main artery (from Passau to Straubing. As an aside, we were never told we had another supply source at Deggendorf but I can't see how that would have ever practically mattered anyway.)
On the other hand, if the HindClawForce had been told by Jim, "Hey, by the way, y'all aren't getting any more supplies through Munich..." -- even if no other information came along with that -- they might have realized someone snuck a unit between them somewhere back to Munich to sit on it.
I thought we had been holding both victory locations for two or three game days. It turns out, we held both of them for maybe half a day? (Hard to tell, the videos are currently scrambled out of order mostly, and obviously there are some significant time skips.)
So that's a big reason (not the only one, but a big one) why we didn't win -- Munich was taken behind us. But apparently we were never told that Munich was taken behind us, to do something about that. But on the other hand, neither did taking Munich seem to affect supply to the HindClawForce.
Relatedly, am I upset about the Reserve Corps pushing so far north as to let a small French force sneak through and take our victory location behind our back? Not really. Technically it was an operational error, sure, but they weren't disobeying orders or deviating from the plan: we knew they'd be out of comms for practically the whole game, and would have to operate and make decisions on their own recognizance, and as the compiled operational strategy thread for us Austrians shows (https://www.armchairdragoons.com/forum/index.php?topic=2641.0), the HindClawForce had a ton of leeway about prosecuting contacts and creating advanced defense lines to stall any forces coming down to Munich. Plus they were getting messages from the LowerJawForce at Landshut, calling out trouble, so with Munich apparently secured and supplies still flowing through it ::) it made some sense for them to go up the road and see if they could lend help. Plus from a gameplay standpoint, sitting around on defense building up entrenchments would have been boring. So I understand it, and can't really complain.
In real life, their part of the plan would have been to DEFINITELY sit on Munich and fortify that sucker (especially with Charles' preference for epic defensive sitzkriegs and then counterattacks). Would that have made enough difference to win by ref judgment?
Unsure. I'd like to hear from Jim's opinion on that. The main difference would be that practically all of the very exhausted French forces would have arrived on both sides of the Isar to besiege them -- definitely snapping supplies, although given the simplified supply rules we were using I don't know how much that affects city sieges, which they would have been stockpiling for.
The French would have worn them down and through, but the Austrian elite corps would have been well rested, ammo'd up, and ready to fight, so my guess is that it would have taken several game-days beyond where the game ended, to rotate rested French troops onto and out of the line and back in again (with whole days of rest in between). Nappy's presence would have helped, but enough to get it done in less than (let's say) five more game days? Unclear. (No artillery city following him around this time to blast out the HindClawForce either.)
By then, Hohenzollern would have flanked Vandamme's blocking force, allowing him and Hiller to overrun his defenses (and notice from the post-game test battles how his much smaller and weaker force compared to the HindClaws, entrenching fewer days, outside a city, still gave Hiller's assault a very problematic time without Hohen's help). I would have been farther up the valley, possibly still able to come to their aid, but it wouldn't have been necessary so I would have continued on, as would Bellegarde in any case.
Even with crappy Austrian marching speeds, I think we would have arrived in time to extend the game even farther; though our two corps would have been hit with severe fatigue penalties, but probably not bad morale all things considered. Whereupon we would have been sitting on the French supply lines, and by the time we arrived Hohen would have been approaching the Ingolstadt supply source, cutting it off already or very soon, with Hiller providing support from the south side of the Danube (since we didn't know what Nappy would try to do with his forces once arriving in the theater).
Rotating troops in and out again, with Munich still enveloped, but lots of the French also enveloped and out of supply,, and with tired but high-morale and low-casualty corps of Hiller and Bellegarde on the way arriving a few more days after our arrival.... even if keeping Munich all that time hadn't won us the game much sooner (thanks to the French scoring points for whomping out most of the LowerJawForce), I think we would have had a shot.
Sending a French autobot cav division to find our supply source at Passau, and then splitting into a second brigade to work up the road to search for any other source coming onto the map, would have screwed us over, too, of course. No way for us to stop that either, but we knew that going in: if all the players were to play, then we had to try to win fast enough (with our glacially slow mighty grinding going almost nowhere!) to keep the speedy French from nuking our rear areas.
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I was this many years old when I figured out how to re-organize the playlist.
lol!
I just did a refresh. The last two private ones are currently #4 and #11. They've been reshuffled around in the order, so they may actually BE in order -- just can't tell yet.
As far as I can tell, all the other videos are in correct order now (including the Bad Abbach epilogue).
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Jim,
Thank you for running that final fight for me! I honestly thought Hiller had a lot more men there than he did. Now that I know that there were two giant groups to my left and right, I'm actually kind of happy I overestimated his forces because, had I not, I would have charged, likely drawing their very unwanted attention.
Also, when I first showed up, I was under the very strong impression that Davout's forces were still holding the city. I thought you guys were getting ready to siege the place. I even tried to parlay with Hiller (I think it was Hiller?) about surrendering the city in exchange for giving me the men that I thought were in it. I even tried to entice the deal with delicious tomatoes (if you've seen HBO's Watchmen, you'll get the reference). All the while, I was sending anything I could to the rest of the French about how I happened upon at least 1/2 the Austrians up here and that I could really, really use a hand.
All in all, in spite of never getting into a fight, this was a great experience and I'm going to miss it. Opening my email to a dispatch was kind of like stumbling upon a dollar on the ground. Such a little thing that caused such great excitement. I wish I'd noticed the other ones forming up, I would certainly jumped in to one of them.
Great time, everyone, and great job, Jim!
Scott/VanDamme
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When I debate using vols. #2 and 33 for VdA -- which I will not -- it's almost entirely because I want to connect these units to their true "tail", i.e., back to their depots. VdA one cares about LoCs, not supply lines as you describe. The author points out that all the vol. 1 campaigns are so short that things like foraging, hospitals, depots, return of stragglers, &c., can be more safely abstracted. Not that there aren't consequences -- there are -- but they are abstracted out.
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Jim,
Thank you for running that final fight for me! I honestly thought Hiller had a lot more men there than he did. Now that I know that there were two giant groups to my left and right, I'm actually kind of happy I overestimated his forces because, had I not, I would have charged, likely drawing their very unwanted attention.
Also, when I first showed up, I was under the very strong impression that Davout's forces were still holding the city. I thought you guys were getting ready to siege the place. I even tried to parlay with Hiller (I think it was Hiller?) about surrendering the city in exchange for giving me the men that I thought were in it. I even tried to entice the deal with delicious tomatoes (if you've seen HBO's Watchmen, you'll get the reference). All the while, I was sending anything I could to the rest of the French about how I happened upon at least 1/2 the Austrians up here and that I could really, really use a hand.
All in all, in spite of never getting into a fight, this was a great experience and I'm going to miss it. Opening my email to a dispatch was kind of like stumbling upon a dollar on the ground. Such a little thing that caused such great excitement. I wish I'd noticed the other ones forming up, I would certainly jumped in to one of them.
Great time, everyone, and great job, Jim!
Scott/VanDamme
Thanks for all that.
Oh, and, yeah...there's one slot left. You want it, it's yours.
Figure I owe you a scrap in north central Europe.
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Jim,
Just want to record my thanks for yet another amazing Kriegspeile experience. This was an epic game. Very frustrating at times but also immensely exciting at other times. I lived and breathed this game with my room literally littered with Intel about the campaign, messages written out by hand and collated in time batches by commander including captured Austrian messages. Detailed analysis of which Austrian Corp were where....I still did not know the precise location of a lot of the Austrian forces until the videos showed me. That willow the whisp Corp or Divsion run by Jack Gill gave me palpitations ... I just could not understand where it kept disappearing too. We travelled down every route it could have gone or at least that's what it felt like. An my d'erlonesque shalll I go up the road or shall I go down the road and then ending up doing both...amazing!
Thanks once again until the next time....and remember no senior command for me anymore,!
Cheers
Andy B. (Napoleon)
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Jim,
If there's a spot and no one with seniority, I'll take it!
Scott
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Not that there aren't consequences -- there are -- but they are abstracted out.
I totally get all that, but I'm still surprised that one of those consequences isn't some kind of delayed alert. Like a special, perhaps slower, courier-esque set of markers tasked out to everyone on that supply node, and when they arrive to the players you tell them "Your supply line, from Passau through Straubig, to where you are, has been cut somewhere; so you'll be fighting at some penalties until the supply line reestablishes."
At the very least I would think that supply line combat penalties and any other other practical consequences wouldn't be hidden from the players.
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I lived and breathed this game with my room literally littered with Intel about the campaign, messages written out by hand and collated in time batches by commander including captured Austrian messages. Detailed analysis of which Austrian Corp were where....I still did not know the precise location of a lot of the Austrian forces until the videos showed me.
I figured a substantial number of our couriers from south of the Isar, and from the Munich area, were being intercepted after I started receiving fewer of them during the Landshut faceoff -- I think the dearth started shortly after Davout arrived in the area.
I had planned for the strong probability of our dispatches being routinely intercepted eventually, thanks to our decentralization, by two methods:
1.) ensuring that all three areas (or four counting Hohen) had independent authority to do what seemed best to them from what they could see, and any information that did get through to them;
2.) setting up a code system so that everything sent should be ignored EXCEPT for some simple weather references indicating stages of the plan succeeding or having problems.
I kept the code going on my dispatches out for some time, but eventually I realized the Munich and Landshut areas weren't using the code at all, and that was around the time we started having serious problems at Landshut (i.e. our foray across got pushed back with Davout's arrival). So then I directed any detailed couriers from me to take longer and safer routes to the groups -- though eventually even most of those got nicked by that brigade parked on the road to the bridge 2nd corps had crossed at the start of the game. I risked some minimal messages by shorter routes, and I know now most or all of those got snipped up.
We intercepted a few ourselves, of course, mostly to and from Rathbone. The most important one we intercepted was a note from Davout to Rathbone indicating that he was heading for Straubing! -- which triggered our overnight march (for myself, 2nd Corps, and 1st Corps) back down the line to surround Straubing and retake it if necessary. But either he changed his mind, or he spoofed us with a fake message, because his cav division autobot was the only thing that touched Straubing, and that only briefly.
But this delayed us several crucial days, from needing to march back, to needing to rest a full day after our march (by then we didn't realize there was anyone remaining at Landshut to rescue), to then needing to reposition ourselves, for launching the second main stage of the operation: our pivot of the main force of corps down toward Munich, checking on Ingolstadt's situation as we went.
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I don't know if it worked, but I sent out a few fake messages with directions to the courier that it "accidentally" be intercepted.
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Relatedly, am I upset about the Reserve Corps pushing so far north as to let a small French force sneak through and take our victory location behind our back? Not really. Technically it was an operational error, sure, but they weren't disobeying orders or deviating from the plan: we knew they'd be out of comms for practically the whole game, and would have to operate and make decisions on their own recognizance, and as the compiled operational strategy thread for us Austrians shows (https://www.armchairdragoons.com/forum/index.php?topic=2641.0), the HindClawForce had a ton of leeway about prosecuting contacts and creating advanced defense lines to stall any forces coming down to Munich. Plus they were getting messages from the LowerJawForce at Landshut, calling out trouble, so with Munich apparently secured and supplies still flowing through it ::) it made some sense for them to go up the road and see if they could lend help. Plus from a gameplay standpoint, sitting around on defense building up entrenchments would have been boring. So I understand it, and can't really complain.
Neither Jack or I had any clue that Munich had been taken behind us; it wasn't until I watched the video AAR that I found out about it. I thought about breaking off a brigade from Rohan's big grenadier division to garrison/fortify Munich, but was under the mistaken impression that breaking up divisions was not allowed, so I never even approached Jim with the idea -- in retrospect, I should have.
The reason we chose to advance north, once Oudinot (?) abandoned Dachau, was that we felt confident we could shadow/screen his force and prevent a detached division from sneaking past us and into Munich. This was (we felt/though) in keeping with the spirit of the orders we'd been issued to first secure Munich and then provide such support as practical to assist the Austrian center. We'd expected that at worst they'd be able to hold their positions until we arrived, and at best we'd arrive well after the decision had been reached. You can imagine our surprise when we discovered the Austrian center had essentially ceased to exist and half the damned French army was descending upon us!
In real life, their part of the plan would have been to DEFINITELY sit on Munich and fortify that sucker (especially with Charles' preference for epic defensive sitzkriegs and then counterattacks). Would that have made enough difference to win by ref judgment?
My personal sense is that it wouldn't have sufficed. Even if both our Reserve corps had been entrenched at Munich we were still outnumbered nearly four-to-one. Either the settle down for a protracted siege or accept the heavy casualties necessary to storm the city. Game over, dude!
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I just finished watching the videos today. And I have to admit I am surprised the French won as well. I was shadow boxing the whole time and ran when I was outnumbered and turned to fight when we knew we had the numbers only to see the Austrians melt away just as I had done. It was always hard to find which way they went. That was always frustrating but makes you understand Grouchy's absence at Waterloo all the better.
I played Marshal Oudinot/Lannes and the detached brigade from Colbert had much more impact than anticipated and was a very lucky event. I sat in Dachau for a while watching the Austrians on the opposite bank and finally left one infantry brigade behind and marched to Freisling. At the river crossing just north of Dachau I detached a cavalry brigade south to determine what happened in Munich while I marched north east. Since patrols were disallowed the minimum sized detachment was a brigade. The detached brigade found Munich abandoned and then I ordered the brigade to head back north to see if Dachau was held by my infantry brigade. The cavalry brigade reported that Dachau had fallen and was occupied by an Austrian force. Having no further duties, I ordered the cavalry brigade to rejoin me at Freising. But as luck would have it, they ran into Austrian infantry retreating from our stand off at Freising. After the Austrians left Freising we thought we would fight some of them at Erding but they had vanished. I ordered the detached Cavalry back to Munich to see if they were there and expected to find the Austrians there but hey were not to be found. Had it not been for the pontoon bridge further north they probably would have been there. I sent them several more orders to make sure the Austrians were not in Munich and was puzzled not to find them there.
Looking back in hindsight, we knew Munich and Ratissbonne were the main objectives but the French plan to concentrate in the center could have been our undoing since we ignored these objectives believing we could not retake them. Our piecemeal operations were driven more on individual corps finding the enemy, fixing him and then pouring in forces to crush them rather than to secure the objectives. Ending up with Munich was a pure fluke that owes much to, what I saw at the time as, bad luck. I really wanted that brigade back in Freising and running into the Austrians at that crossroad on their return was pure luck but allowed them to move to Munich. If it were'nt for bad luck I'd have no luck at all.
Thanks all for a wonderful three years of Kriegspiel. Looking forward to the next one.
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That's a dang amazing AAR and explanation for what happened, David! :applause: :notworthy:
While I still think the result really should have been communicated as a warning loss of supply to the HindClawForce, I actually feel better about our team losing this way. ;D It's a classic example of "fortunes of war"; especially in that it wouldn't have mattered much, or at all, if the rest of the French forces hadn't been fighting and working hard to set up a situation where that coincidence could win (which after all also happened because you were doing a good scouting plan.)
Opportunity is indeed preparation plus luck, but sometimes luck is preparation plus opportunity (as Seneca or maybe Cato once said.)
Recon leads the way, and sometimes recon wins the day!
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for those subscribed to this thread
https://www.armchairdragoons.com/podcast/mentioned-in-dispatches-season-5-episode-14-so-a-kriegsspiel-happened/
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Excellent episode as ever and particularly so as it dealt with the Kreigspeile. Loved hearing some of the voices behind the commanders in the game; weird to put a sound to the names that I have played along with for the last two and half years. One day it would be amazing to get a report together from all parties involved as a re-union type get together to shoot the breeze about the game. Logistical nightmare to record and get time zones sorted but, it would kinda be nice to hear the full story, from all sides, both senior command and the commanders on the ground. Dread to think how long an episode that would make!
I think there is a balance that is missing at the moment in that you have covered the story well from the side of the commanders on the ground; in the last two Kreigspeile's we have heard how people didn't know 'the plan' or that senior commanders were not responsive to messages and such like. There has been very little about what the senior command needed re comms and the sometimes woeful lack of data coming in from the 'front' to aid their attempts to collate all the data to get even the darkest/opaque picture of what was going on in the campaign and respond accordingly. I think it is a missing piece of the puzzle in both the 1806 and 1809 campaigns podcast reports. If it was possible to do this for the 1807 current campaign that would be great...one episode the senior command tells what went well, badly or otherwise during the campaign, the difficulties they faced 'hearding the cats' to keep to the plan and report regularly and in detail and the moments that they loved and learned something new about the game, command and the people and history as it unfolded. Follow up episode what the guys on the ground, fighting those battles and not getting the love they deserve from their senior commanders and the issues as they unfolded. Would make epic listening for this 'ole timer at least!
Napoleon (1809)
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In the first game, I made sure to set up Napoleon in the middle of the play map so that I could pass along messages and respond in a slightly more timely manner to events happening at the far edges of the map. However, with a full map spread plan, I knew from the start that often the groups would be out of command communication, so I did my best to consolidate a plan from various discussions and suggestions before the game and then gave each area a subcommander with each group having total freedom to act as they saw fit according to local conditions so long as they kept to the general shape of the plan (divided into one or two-step portions).
In the second game, I probably made a mistake in putting Charles off on the right wing; but that was the main thrust for a VERY slow moving Austrian team, trying to protect our LoC while exploiting a game rule -- about sending one corps safely off map around to one of our game-win targets -- and while taking the shortest possible route to the same victory target. Our setup also put our most elite corps (punchy but small) on the shortest route to taking our other victory target: BUT those were on diametrically opposite ends of the map. We knew from the start we were NEVER going to have good comms between those areas, so keeping the original plans in mind for each group (including the two corps teaming up in the middle) were vital, with independence to operate.
In either game, the only way to avoid a lot of comms problems would have been to create a Grand Army with the leader (me) in the center having interior lines, and advancing to our chosen target. But there didn't seem to be any way to protect our LoCs by this method (under the simplified supply rules we were using), and in the second game especially the Austrians are so slow that we wouldn't be able to bring the enemy to fight if they declined.
Our strategy in the second game was to capture the two victory points asap and hope to win the game sooner than later that way. I think it would have worked, too, except the French team managed to sneak a point-capper behind left-wing's line (somewhat by accident!) who then sat on the point unnoticed. Left wing (the Hindclawforce) were following the plan and so, as not to be bored, were actively defending ahead of Munich rather than sitting on the win point -- and also they were trying to take some heat off the devolving situation in the middle, of course, which was well within their operational plan, and worth doing if they could. But you can see, that this strategy doesn't need a lot of comms with the on-map boss. Unless the operation goes on too long and things start to fall apart after we should have won. (This is why I'm annoyed that Hindclaw never got sent any indication from Control that their supply route had been snipped back at Munich. Maybe the brigade was letting supplies get through, but then that should have been news traveling, too!)
On the right wing, where I was, I did seriously think about halfway up our path, about abandoning the plan and turning around to fall upon the enemies of the middle group (LowerJawForce) from the rear. Had we done so, we could have salvaged that situation, and then combined together to go get Regensburg (and with part of LowerJaw sent over to help protect Munich). But we would have had no way to keep the French from snipping our supply totally back at Passau if they were sending anyone along our path to do that. (We did have a second supply path, although we weren't ever told about it, but it came onto the map near Passau and wouldn't have made much difference if a major force had taken Passau, so long as they also secured the bridges near where the Isar flowed into the Danube.)
This was a case where our operational plan required us to be so out of comms to cover our bases, that The Plan took on more importance for less deviation (outside its broad parameters). If Upperjaw had done that, the FrontClaw force would have arrived on the map without us nearby, probably totally out of supply, and we would have been strongly delayed in securing both victory points, meaning Munich might be overrun by a stronger force. Too many vulnerable players depended on everyone, UpperJaw (thus myself) included, staying with the plan in order to secure the win before we got mulched by Napoleon consolidating his crews somewhere important. So I decided to keep going to Regensberg. (Also, to be fair, at that point things on the Isar didn't look, from reports reaching us, like they were going to fall apart completely: LowerJawForce was doing a bang-up job beating on the defending French, and securing a beachhead.)