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Post by makofan on Oct 27, 2015 8:19:23 GMT -5
It's about to get exciting!
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Post by jmccann on Oct 29, 2015 0:40:50 GMT -5
I am now calling a Referee Big Halt. The reason is this: I do not have rules in my game for elephants. And somebody has something very like an elephant, a Forest Mammoth. A little smaller than an Asian elephant in our world, they are a little squirrely to be used in combat. But it has been done in the past, with varying effectiveness.
I am thinking through some ideas on how to resolve elephant combat.
I am also considering a new model for using casualties to determine morale. I have an idea for a model that I think I can distill into an easily applied chart requiring little paper or even mental arithmetic. With mounting casualties sure to come for both sides, I need to flesh this out quickly.
I should be able to get the rules drafted by the weekend and execute the turn. Sorry for the delay but I don't want to rush this turn thoughtlessly. A lot will hinge on the next couple of turns I think.
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Post by sully on Oct 29, 2015 8:59:54 GMT -5
It's a Mammoth! How can you call it small and squirrely?
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Post by jmccann on Oct 29, 2015 10:37:57 GMT -5
Well, in comparison with other, bigger elephants. It is very much bigger than a horse.
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Post by jmccann on Oct 31, 2015 14:36:15 GMT -5
I have draft rule notes. There are some open questions but I am ready to play the turn tonight, and I will have a photo showing figure positions after playing both moves and the combat round.
A few points about elephant like beings in combat: They scare horses. They can be opposed by trained heavy armored formations with pikes. In the game they cause elements they come in contact with a morale check. They have somewhat brittle morale, and when they rout you do not want to be in the way. I am considering a Berserk Elephant Running Amok table. It might be best for everyone if the elephant does not fail a Morale Check anywhere near troops of either side.
This Woods Mammoth is a little smaller than an Asian Elephant, standing a little under 2 meters at the shoulder. They don't train as well as the elephants used in the Mediterranean and Asia. Not having a driver and perhaps a shooter, this elephant-like creature is not as effective as a combat-trained elephant would be. That said, it is still several tons and will win in a momentum contest even with a Heavy Cavalry figure or a Knight.
Light Horse because they spook upon nearing the elephants and because the troops are veteran and able to react quickly with discipline recoil 2" from the elephants on contact. There is no Morale Check when this occurs.
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Post by jmccann on Oct 31, 2015 17:22:58 GMT -5
Clarification regarding the last post: the comment on the veteran status of LH applies specifically to the LH of Archbishop Wulfstan.
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Post by jmccann on Oct 31, 2015 20:06:14 GMT -5
Sorry about this folks, but today is Halloween. I had forgotten this when I said I would run a turn. The membrane between worlds is weak tonight, and I dare not approach the membrane. I will not be running the turn tonight. Our kids had 3 soccer games in the soaking rain (the autumn rains have come to the PNW) and now it is time for soaked trick or treating. I will not be up for running the turn tonight I am afraid.
Tomorrow night I should be able to run the turn.
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Post by sully on Oct 31, 2015 20:22:08 GMT -5
No need to apologize. Real life always comes first!
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Post by makofan on Nov 1, 2015 14:34:32 GMT -5
I have a bad feeling about this...
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Post by sully on Nov 3, 2015 9:46:44 GMT -5
Cry havoc! And let slip the pachyderms of war!
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Post by jmccann on Nov 7, 2015 23:19:51 GMT -5
I have a message out to the Druid to get some more info on how he wants to play out his turn. After I get that I should be able to run the next step. Depending on what happens during movement I may or may not need to get some input to run the combat phase.
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Post by jmccann on Nov 10, 2015 16:54:59 GMT -5
I ran the turn last night but my phone was dead and I wanted to include a photo. I'll get the picture taken and write up the results tonight.
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Post by jmccann on Nov 17, 2015 18:03:09 GMT -5
I plan on running the next phase tonight, so get any final updates to me this afternoon.
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Post by jmccann on Nov 18, 2015 1:24:25 GMT -5
I am not going to get to the turn tonight. I have too much to do. Tomorrow should be less busy.
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Post by jmccann on Dec 3, 2015 2:18:58 GMT -5
Well, I have been pretty busy lately so I have not run any turns. But I have been thinking about this. I think it is time to make a change. I'd like to get the reaction of the participants.
The game as we are playing it is not working, even after the burst of energy in the fall. The granularity of the decision-making in the minis game is just too small for this forum where every turn takes at least 24 hours and on average more than that. At least that is my perception. I think the tweak earlier improved things but that this game as currently played is just not a good fit for this narrative + photos approach.
Despite the fact that the game-play is not working out I think the situation is interesting. The play of the game has been surprising and I am curious to see how this battle will end. There has been a bit of role-playing a couple of times but this format does not naturally elicit that much of the time. I would like to have RP elements emerging naturally more often. For all these reasons, I don't want to spend more time playing the way we have for these many months. But I don't want to abandon the game either.
My proposal is this: I will play the remainder of the game solo and post the results. Doing this will actually make this test round more like the campaign style I discussed earlier where battles would be played out by one or two players, or the referee, or might be decided by an in-game mechanism like a CRT or other randomization mechanism.
I also plan to make some rules changes. I am also considering abandoning the d6 approach of the current game. I am not happy with some of the results of having only 6 outcomes available as in the current game and want to come up with a different mechanism (although the d6 approach has a nice advantage of simplicity and ease of understanding) for resolving game events. It is really the excessive (compared to that intended) lethality of archers in this game (the casualties the Druid's archers has inflicted were too high in my opinion) due to the fact that I wanted to have a simple mechanism for resolving archery fire. I don't want to go into the details here although I will if people express an interest.
Do people agree that the current approach is just not working well? If so, do you have any suggestions? How would everyone like to proceed?
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Post by makofan on Dec 3, 2015 9:31:36 GMT -5
Well, I just got dragged in to fill someone else's shoes, and am not sure what you were really going for, but it seems to be working for me. In miniatures, you are playing an army more than individual characters, and your limited (or should-be-limited) ability to reform and redirect troops means that 50% or more of the game is getting your initial deployment correct (which our side did not do, or it is not the way I would have arrayed the troops, anyway).
Frankly, once the decision was made for the armored infantry to gain the grove, there are no other orders I need to give them. The RPG aspect is I have my prince trying to heroically melee the mammoth, because I am sure my troops can not handle it. And the cavalry have contingency orders - targets of opportunity, and if none, charge the grove from behind.
So the only input we need from the Prince is when to sound the withdrawal. I have probably already taken too many casualties, but I am not going to retreat without at least having my infantry gain the grove and see what they are facing.
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Post by tetramorph on Dec 3, 2015 18:15:20 GMT -5
I will echo what makofan has said. I have never played a game like this so I am learning about it while playing as well. My apologies, makofan, for having no war gaming back ground! The poor lay out is probably my fault. I am interested in seeing how things unfold and the role play aspect has been fun. Perhaps, jmccann, you could just ask for broader directions from us and then play things out from there. In the "simulation" aspect of the game, once we lined up and gave the initial orders, we as leaders would not have been able to micromanage each troop anyway. |
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Post by jmccann on Dec 13, 2015 15:26:37 GMT -5
Sorry about the long silence. Work has gotten very busy since around Thanksgiving and I have just not had time or energy.
I am glad to see there is still interest in the scenario. Usually the workload drops off greatly right after Christmas and I plan to resume play of this scenario at that point. I plan to resume the scenario at that point.
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Post by sully on Dec 13, 2015 16:08:51 GMT -5
I feel like unless you have people sitting around the table, or you have people willing to post daily, you're never going to have a nice smooth PbP game. So you shouldn't get worked up about how it's gone.
I was actually fine with how it was going. I like giving orders once every few turns and then watching as my minions execute my orders (or not).
I would second Tetramorph's suggestion to let us give broader direction and then let the dice tumble where they may.
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Post by Admin Pete on Dec 13, 2015 21:25:59 GMT -5
I'll add my vote to theirs and I am really curious to see how this turns out.
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Post by jmccann on Dec 26, 2015 13:55:29 GMT -5
Work got really busy this year, and just sucked up all my time. It slowed down as Christmas approached, but with family and other obligations I still had no time or energy to run this game. Now I have a five day weekend, followed by a two day work week and a four day weekend, so I intend to make a lot of progress on this game over the next couple of weeks. I am glad to see people are invested in the outcome. I knew that online play was slow, but we have been at this for nearly 6 months now.
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Post by sully on Dec 26, 2015 21:51:10 GMT -5
Looking forward to it!
Merry Christmas!
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Post by jmccann on May 4, 2016 21:56:47 GMT -5
Well, quite some time has passed since the last update hasn't it. I plan to wrap up this campaign by playing out the remainder of the scenario, trying to continue to apply the players' intentions (as I am able to gather) with little further input from the players. I just don't have the time to devote to playing this out the way I had been last year. However I do want to see this through to some kind of conclusion even if it is less satisfying than playing it to the end would have been. I also want to keep Middelsae going in some form with the characters and events as they occurred in play.
If participants are reading this, please weigh in. Here is what I am thinking of: I'll go over plans and standing orders for the remainder of the game by PM and then play the scenario until it is done. I'll send out a public update after than and give character updates by PM. I'll also solicit "closing statements" of some kind so the players can react to events within the game.
Thanks to all who have participated, and I hope we can wrap this campaign up in some satisfactory way.
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Post by sully on May 4, 2016 22:22:12 GMT -5
Sounds like a plan to me! I'll keep an eye out for your PM.
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Post by tetramorph on May 5, 2016 17:49:42 GMT -5
jmccann, good idea. I stalled out and potentially killed my Dun Kells Risk campaign with an endless duel. I realize now I should have taken general orders and then just played it out as I would have. My character will try to take out the Pagan Cleric if he ever gets a chance. Spell first, and then direct attack. Other than that, just play him as smart as you can and I trust you. Thanks!
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Post by makofan on May 6, 2016 8:17:42 GMT -5
Sure, keep me informed
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Post by jmccann on May 7, 2016 0:43:51 GMT -5
All right, since I have everyone's input I'll go ahead. I have to read over the events so far to refresh my memory and I'll send PMs to each player for guidance for the remainder of the game.
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Post by jmccann on Aug 17, 2016 10:03:50 GMT -5
I have not forgotten about this battle. About a month ago I finished a several months long high pressure project which had completely eliminated any time or energy I had for games. But now I am on vacation. I will have several days off work at home and will wrap up the battle on one of those days.
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Post by sully on Aug 17, 2016 10:11:18 GMT -5
Awesome!
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Post by tetramorph on Aug 17, 2016 21:59:26 GMT -5
Rad!
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