Midway PBEM game cancelled (postponed perhaps)

Unfortunately and somewhat surprisingly, I have not had enough takers (not even close!) to get the PBEM battle up and running and so I will kick this into the long grass for now and perhaps look at it again next year.

Thanks to those who expressed an interest. Should I have another go at getting this game going, you will of course automatically be given a command within the game.

Attention will instead turn to my own Napoleonic rules (stop smiling at the back Mr. W. :-) )

I will use the Generic Multi-Period scenario mentioned in the post on 11th November to explore various aspects of the rules and try to develop some of the rule changes that I have been working on. If any of those playings produce anything of note, I will bring it back here as a post.

One of the rule areas that feels a little awkward are the two types of skirmishing. The first is where the entire battalion can collectively go into open order, such as with French light infantry. The other is Line Skirmishing, where a line just throws out its flank companies to screen the rest of the line. Hopefully I can get this nailed down to something that doesn’t keep dragging the player back to the rulebook to remember the differences in effect between the two deployments types. 

In the ‘bridge’ scenario, I am initially looking at making the flank reinforcement for both sides a cavalry only option rather than allowing an infantry unit to flank and emphasising that both sides can reinforce (flank manoeuvre) from the same board edge if they choose to.

Other than that, the Jours de Gloire boardgame system - with the battle of Ligny is about to go onto the table.

Resource Section.

My sister webspace ‘COMMANDERS’ is being re-configured to showcase various figure and boardgame systems that I am enjoying and gives a flavour of where current ongoing projects are up to. Link.

https://commanders.simdif.com

Recruiting for Midway battle - a PBEM game

I am looking to run a Play by E-mail ‘Battle for Midway’ 1942 game that requires ten players. Between them, they will be allocated various commands of carriers, Midway and ranking Admiralty.

The players that have an aircraft carrier will be responsible for setting reconnaissance searches for enemy carriers, plotting movement and arranging and arming their aircraft, cycling them between being on deck, below deck and flying missions and selecting targets.

The fleet commanders will be responsible for making strategic decisions, examples being, the opening plan, the opening dispositions, to switch attacks from anti-shipping to Midway facilities (or vice-versa) or co-ordinating your carriers to attack an identified target of importance or deciding whether to sink or protect one of your own ‘dead in the water’ carriers etc. Mostly, you will leave the carrier commanders to conduct the task as they see fit, but they will need direction and help in understanding what is happening in the bigger picture.

The Japanese fleet commander will also be in charge of managing the part of the fleet that contains the assault ships that carry infantry and which are heading for Midway.

The Midway Commander will be managing land based aircraft  and defending the island from infantry assault.

I will manage the administration of the game including the various combats and resulting damage and will contact players regarding their various options in each ‘Operational Phase’. 

The players will not contact each other, so all information will flow via my H.Q. (Admiral Grand Supremo) and I will ensure that each player is fed a narrative that keeps them true to their role and there could well be some ‘unintentional’ misinformation as military communications typically involve mistakes, exaggeration or simply misreading the situation.

There will be ‘gentle’ random events that build into the narrative.

In this game of cat and mouse, outcomes can be instantly brutal. If you are discovered, an airstrike could be upon you in the next operational phase and you might find yourself sunk and effectively out of the game quite quickly. For those knocked out, I will keep you partly in the game loop by BCC’ing you into various relevant e-mails to your own Fleet Commander, so that you still get a feel for the ongoing battle and its wider aspects.

At the conclusion of the battle, I will do a full write up so that all players will get to understand the bigger picture and relate their part to it. The readership of the blog will also have all revealed at that time.

I am going to use my own game system that I have developed specifically for this PBEM game.

Having done something similar a couple of years ago for the Germantown battle (see Resource Section below), I know that this will be a ton of work for me, there are many moving parts and I expect my H.Q. to handle more than 50 e-mails per operational Phase, so I need those that want to play to be fully committed to this and be able to respond promptly to all e-mails etc, the various time-zones around the world for participants will add their own disruptions to flow, so it is essential that players stay on top of this.

I will try to minimise the work needed to be done by the players by effective behind the scenes administration and to give hints / help for any sticking points in the game.

I am not publicising this anywhere else, so it will only be done for the benefit of those who naturally visit this blog by way of habit and only they who will get a chance to become involved.

I will include a small map of the battlescape, this is a simple gridded affair, though I think players would benefit from making their own simple map on something like an A3 piece of paper (put to x A4 or 2 x Letter side by side). This is small enough that it can be set aside for as long as play lasts, but large enough to fit counters (supplied) and information notes on.

If you fancy a go at joining in, use the CONTACT PAGE on my COMMANDERS site (see Resource Section below) to privately indicate your interest, include your e-mail address and also state whether you have limitations in getting to game very often.

Everyone who contacts me by Friday 18th November will have their name put into the hat and the reliable Mrs. Wargamer will make the draw against the role that the person will assume.

Those that state they have limited gaming opportunity will have their name put in the hat twice for 2 chances of getting involved. The game reinforces the ethos of the blog, which is gaming in small spaces and simply getting games to the table.

Anyone who is unsuccessful and not drawn from the hat will have their e-mail details deleted immediately and at the end of play, all those that participate will also have their e-mails deleted.

I would only ask two things; 

1) if you are interested in playing, don’t research the historical battle, you will only spoil your own fun by undermining the fog-of-war that I will be trying to create.

2) Don’t mention in the comments below that you are interested in applying. Due to the nature of carrier warfare, I would like to keep any familiarity between the players reduced to anonymous levels. When players step into this, I want the sense of the unknown to be as enhanced as it can be.

Below is a link to a write-up of the previously played Germantown game, which gives a sense of the value of true fog of war in a wargame, which we will be hoping to re-create in our Midway game.

Good luck to all those who apply (he says … hoping to get the ten needed!)

The next post will advise that things are underway. Those involved will get a summary sheet of rules, plus a personalised situation report, a map and some counters that they may wish to use.

I have put a lot of effort into the preparation of this, so if it is successful and works and my H.Q. (brain!) doesn’t explode, I will have the material to run it again at some point, so hopefully there will be a second chance for those that don’t make the play list.

Resource Section.

My sister webspace ‘COMMANDERS’ has a contact button at the bottom of the left margin for anyone who is interested in playing. Link.

https://commanders.simdif.com

Fighting at GERMANTOWN - a look at the previous play by e-mail game and the command realism that can come with fog of war. LINK

http://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2020/06/pbem-germantown-game.html

PBEM Germantown game

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been running a Play By E-Mail game using the Germantown boardgame published by Decision Games in their Mini-Folio series to manage it.

cover artwork

There have been 9 participants and it has been a real eye opener to me, to see the way that having such a fog of war environment and imposing realistic command and control limitations can bring such a different playing experience.

All players are anonymous to each other and for the most part have only seen a small part of the map and been operating in isolation of the bigger picture. This post is purely intended to bring the full narrative of that game into one place, so that the players for the first time will get to see the big picture and can place their involvement within that full setting.

To that end, this post is lengthy and intended for them, though of course everyone is most welcome to come and see how this played out.

Please use the 'read more' tab for the rest of this post.

Looking for people to join my PBEM battle

EDIT - all places filled. Thank you to all.

I am planning on running a small Play By E-Mail (PBEM) game and openly invite those in the blogging community to join in if they fancy. A total of 9 players will be required.

I am just using a small American War of Independence game for starters, as part of a learning curve to lay on a more ambitious Ligny 1815 game at some future point.

The Ligny game would be a big two mapper and the opportunity for fog of war much greater than this battle will give and players would control bigger formations, but the principles learned here will make for a more successful Ligny.

The basic structure and conditions are;

Participants should not contact each other and it would be preferable if you keep your participation unknown to each other and only discuss the game etc with me. This stops players acting in concert, even inadvertently and will enhance everyones sense of fog of war.

Participants may already have some knowledge of the campaign, but I would ask that you don’t do any additional research. This will keep the game much more interesting for everyone. To level out the players knowledge of the game, I would suggest they read my earlier AAR on the battle at this link http://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2016/10/auto-saved-post.html

Gamers should only participate if they are able to service this game in a timely manner. As umpire, I will be looking for the battle to proceed promptly with total play sitting in a fairly small time frame. I think this will help you as much as it will me.

I need 7 Players to act as local Commanders, plus a further 2 players to act as Army Commanders for each side. Army Commanders will send out general orders to the various local commanders, who will then order their formation as they see fit to comply with their tasking and I will model that on the table.

All communication will come via me. I will be playing the game and have the total picture. Each participant will be relying on the information flowing into their headquarters and that means that the Army Commander will also be relying on good reports from the various formation commanders. 

I will not be filling in any intelligence gaps and as much as possible will limit my information to commanders to what they can basically see from their own position, so the army commander will be relying on good communications to improve on that. It is possible that one side may out command the other and that blind spots etc will be created and that some troops may find gaps in the enemy lines .... let’s hope so :-).

You will not need a copy of any game or rules system, all of that will be managed by me and if I think you need a hint on play, you will get one. You will get a map and some basic information and it will then be for you to glean what you can at your headquarters to keep abreast of what is going on.

If anyone is interested in doing this, then please put your name forward by e-mailing me on my contact page at the Commanders web page (Link - https://commanders.simdif.com/contact.html ). I need your interest to be shown this way, so that I can keep your e-mails private.

In due course, I will do a blind draw to match the first 9 names drawn from the hat (hopefully I get 9 interests!) firstly to their army and then to a particular command. I hope to have a couple of extra applicants to keep on a reserve list ... in case there are any commissions handed back or casualties on the battlefield!

The Army commanders will have more to think about and their involvement will be greater. If you would like to be included in the Army Commander draw and have the time to do that, please mention it in your e-mail and again, providing I get enough interest, this will be a names in the hat job.

I apologise in advance to any enthusiastic responders that don't get a seat at the game. It will be genuinely names drawn from a hat and of course my immediate concern will be whether I can recruit 9 players!

I will try to give the players a good fog or war experience and to unburden you as much as possible to keep this thing slick and moving along. For the most part, local commanders will only have two or three units to manage, though the British commanders have around 7 units.

I am hoping that the realistic prospect of individuals not understanding the bigger picture and even being frustrated, advantaged and disadvantaged by that will give a unique player experience - even on this small battlefield.

For my part, I will have a minimum of 39 individually emphasised e-mails to manage plus up to 9 situational photographs to handle each turn, so maximum assistance from participants is essential. The game will be no more than 9 turns long (an early, instant win is possible).

Our chosen battle is taken from the American war of Independence - Germantown 1777.

IMPORTANT - please don't add in the comments box that you are applying to join as I am hoping to keep all participants anonymous and their e-mails will be using their commanders names.

I will add comments to this post to advise on recruiting success etc and once I have enough gamers to make this work, briefing packs, including a map, will go out to each nominated player. Thank you.

EDIT - All positions, plus a reserve player have been filled. The ongoing game will not be discussed here, but at the conclusion a new post will discuss the conduct of the battle. Thanks for your interest.