RE: FMA Brigade

Using Patton's rule of thumb "give orders one level down and know what's

happening two levels down" the playing pieces represent companies.  At
this 
level resupply is something that happens daily for the basics and on an 
emergency basis for those critical events that occur.  Maybe incorporate
a 
supply company and have "Out of Ammo" events like in Fire and Fury to
get 
players at least working on tactical supply.  Ammo or fuel limits could
be die 
roll or roster based.  Works the Log issues into B and C below.  For
example: 
 Unit Zebra rolls hot this turn, therefore is "Out of Ammo".  Do I
expend 
command assets to pull it from the line and resupply?  Or do I hope they
can 
hang on for a turn or two?  Random event cards based on some sequence of
die 
rolls is another possibility.

Michael Brown

-----Original Message-----
From:	Laserlight
Sent:	Thursday, December 20, 2001 7:22 PM
To:	gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu
Subject:	Re: FMA Brigade

Stll puttering away at this.  Right now I'v kind of got a feel for
scale and attributes, but I have these subjects as yet unresolved:
a. how to incorporate supply in a way that is simple yet important
("amateurs talk about tactics; professionals talk about logistics")
b. how to show the effects of better leadership while still enforcing
"span of control"
c. how to handle the turn sequence in such a way that both players
remain involved while neither side is certain as to what will happen
next.

Right now I'm stuck on how to deal with supply, but I'm thinking to
combine b and c thus:

The player is a brigade commander and has control of a number of
battalions.  Each battalion is formed of companies.

Battalion activation is determined by drawing from a deck.  Each
battalion has a card assigned (1st Armored = 10 of Spades; 3rd
Infantry = 6 of Spades, etc).  Extra cards are added based on the
commander's quality, so a d10 brigade commander would  add 10 cards
(2-J of Clubs, say).   There are also two "end of turn" cards (eg
Jokers) in the deck.  Both sides alternate drawing one card at a time.
a.  if a card corresponds to a specific unit, that unit activates
normally (even if it has already been activated)
b.  If a commander draws one of his quality cards (in this example, a
Club rather than a Spade), he may activate any unit that has not yet
activated, or he may hold it and pass; by using two quality cards, he
may activate a unit that has already been activated this turn.
c. when a Turn End card  comes up, the turn is over.  Any quality
cards that the commander held are wasted--they cannot be carried over
from turn to turn.
Return all cards to the deck at the end of each turn and shuffle.
Extra cards can be assigned other values (eg weather change, arriving
reinforcements, etc)

When a battalion activates, it rolls for action points (per DBA's PIP
dice), using the battalion HQ's quality die--so d4 leaders can't
expect to control more than a couple of units at a time.