Re: [GZG] ground combat campaigns

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Gzg-l@mail.csua.berkeley.edu
http://mail.csua.berkeley.edu:8080/mailman/listinfo/gzg-lThe kind of
ground compat campaign I am thinking of would be at a smaller level
something like a division or battallion sized engagement.
 
You could then line up seveal players on the same side, each with their
regular table top forces to make up their combined formation. One player
could then be the supreme commander of each team.
 
I have been reading about the Korean war recently and some of the
battles there sound like they would be very interesting to form the
basis of the campaign. Especially as they are not well known and so
might not be immediately recognisable as the template.
 
Orders from HQ could then be a card system indicating mission orders
which may not often make sense or be impossible. The supreme commander
then gets the job of assigning the orders to their individual
commanders. Players could get points for orders achieved and black marks
for orders not fulfilled.
 
One of the best events I ran was a map based large scale engagement
where two sides were advancing towards a meeting engagement... Becaue
the map had the terrain on in people could pick roads to move down and
difficult terrain to hide their infantry in. People also needed to run
reconassance elements to locate the enemy so they could be engaged. Even
though we were using scifi roles to play the game we had deployments
that felt realistic, recon elements up and flanking, main body and
assault and fire support elements as reserves.
 
In the end victory was had by the smallest of chances, the supreme
commander of one side was killed when their transport was straffed by an
air attack. This through their side into confusion at the crticial
moment.
 
One other fun element we had was the communicaitons system. Each player
got their own map and marked their units on it where they thought they
were. They could then communicate their intelligence with their
suprememe commander and other by leaving them a message on the
dictaphone. The supreme commander also got to leave orders for their
commanders by the same mechanism. Once all the orders were in they were
then replayed to the entire group of players. So orders were encoded
with call signs and code words, except for the really desperate who were
transmitting in the clear.
 
Made for a good game. I'll have to do it again.