09/8/16

Modern-Day Napoleonic Battles & Travels, Part the First

Cyrano delves deep into the world of Napoleonic battlefields in preparation for an eventual visit, and more ~

Jim Owczarski, 08 September 2016

Most images click to enlarge

People are incessantly telling me I’m missing the point.  (ed note – he frequently is, but usually about other things)

They wonder how someone can visit Paris and prefer the Army Museum to the Louvre — pace those areas given over to David — or would rather spend time crawling over an Old Vineyard in Bohemia rather than sitting in a coffee house in Vienna two hours to the south.

They even have a word for what I love to do, viz., “dark tourism”.  I suspect it’s not intended as a compliment.

But I, and I am assuredly not alone, am obsessed with Napoleonic battlefields.  I read about them, watch movies about them, play as many games about them as I can lay my hands on, and, far less frequently than I would like, visit them.  I’ve been to Waterloo twice, Austerlitz once, and, having spent this Summer taking my son to middle-American water parks, am determined that next Summer will bring a visit to Jena-Austerstadt.  The management has asked me to share my own journey to Jena as well as talk about those conflict simulations that take up the campaign and its battles.

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08/29/16

Tracer Rounds: The C2E2

Revisiting an older concept to reinvigorate the re-conversation ~

Brant, 29 August 2016

So, about 5-6 years ago, I started playing with an idea for a game/system.  The idea was a basic unified set of rules for current events conflicts, with regularly-released updates that would provide unit information and updated map details for the current world situation.  This would allow any player to just grab the current update, and “play forward” from there, to see how the various conflicts might shape up over the next few months or years.  When the next update rolled around, the players would have the option to either reset to the current world situation, or adapt the update to their own ongoing conflicts and continue an “alternate future” using the update components.

It’s not like I was breaking any really new ground with the idea, but I had a pretty high-minded concept for how I wanted it to happen, but got quite bogged down in the actual execution of it all.

What I’d like to do here is reopen the discussion and attempt to reinvigorate the participation in the development of the rules and current updates, in the hopes that many minds are smarter than mine, and we can collaboratively move forward on an open-source set of rules and initial process for putting these kinds of tools in the hands of gamers with an interest in current events.

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08/29/16

Order of Battle Pacific: US Marines – AAR, Scenario 1 Part 3

Wrapping up the first mission in Airboy’s extended AAR ~

Avery Abernethy, 29 August 2016

This is an AAR of Order of Battle Pacific: US Marines on Captain level difficulty. Our first scenario is taking Tanambogho and Tulagi. I picked a large proportion of my core force in the first scenario over three attack waves.

Turn 12 Reinforced and Marching Towards East End of Tuguli
Turn 12 Reinforced and Marching Towards East End of Tuguli

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08/28/16

Order of Battle Pacific: US Marines – AAR, Scenario 1 Part 2

Airboy’s extended AAR for his adventures across the Pacific continues ~

Avery Abernethy, 28 August 2016

This is an AAR of Order of Battle Pacific: US Marines on Captain level difficulty. Our first scenario is taking Tanambogho and Tulagi. I picked a large proportion of my core force in the first scenario over three attack waves.

Turn 6 - Yellow is Weak Supply
Turn 6 – Yellow is Weak Supply

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08/27/16

Order of Battle Pacific: US Marines – AAR, Scenario 1 Part 1

Airboy gives us an extended AAR for his adventures across the Pacific ~

Avery Abernethy, 27 August 2016

This is an AAR of Order of Battle Pacific: US Marines on Captain level difficulty. Our first scenario is taking Tanambogho and Tulagi. I picked a large proportion of my core force in the first scenario over three attack waves.

Campaign Start
Campaign Start

I chose Marine infantry without transport to save command and supply points. US Infantry has slightly more firepower but must land in a port to avoid heavy disorganization penalties. Heavy terrain also makes it difficult for tracked or wheeled vehicles to move quickly off-road. The difficulty of spotting Japanese units makes fast travel over unsecured ground a recipe for disaster.

Tulagi
Tulagi

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