If you haven't heard, the "Interactive Campaign" is an idea I am trying out, with my army persona.
Here are the rules. To skip to the shortened version, scroll down until you see the bold "END OF RULES". However, I do advise you read the full rules first.
BEGINNING OF RULES
THE PLAN:
A simulated army campaign, in which there are several players. Each player has "command" of one or more units, and, by looking at maps given to them by the gamesmaster, must decide on the best course of action for their units for their turn.
The gamesmaster creates a scenario using the Civilisation II game engine, and makes the map available to all players, and specifies which units are which.
The players will then have 3-4 days to decide what their units should do, in conjunction with other players in the game.
After they have decided, the gamesmaster plays the turn with their instructions. He will then report back on the consequences, and any objectives gained.
After a set number of turns (differant for each scenario), the scenario ends, and objective points, accomplished missions, losses etc are counted up. Promotions are given out to the best commanders, and demotions to the worst.
THE PLOT:
An Army mission to establish a scientific research station on the planet of Strak has been met with disaster. The Cleoggi inhabitants have reacted with hostility, attacking the establishment repeatedly. Diplomatic negotiations have failed completely, as no language could be established between the two sides.
Major-General Jalanus, the Commander of the 15th Irregular Brigade, who carried out the mission, has requested that their support, Wildcard Platoon (a Platoon of Regulars) be incorporated into the division, with the finest members taking battlefield commissions.
This would mean that volunteer Regulars would become temporary officers in the 15th Irregular Brigade, commanding platoons, companies, batallions etc. They would be charged with carrying out the missions given to them by Major-General Jalanus - their reward would be promotions and credits.
THE PLAYING:
The gameplay would come into several steps. These are:
1) START OF TURN: General Jalanus assigning platoon/company/batallion/regiment commanders.
2) DAY 1: Commanders are issued objectives and given battle maps and figures
3) DAY 2: Commanders discuss with fellow commanders the best course of action to take
4) DAY 3: Commanders continue to discuss.
5) DAY 4: Plans finalised and given to General Jalanus
6) END OF TURN: General Jalanus plays turn with instructions, and reports on losses, objectives gained, new situation etc.
7) END OF SCENARIO: General Jalanus issues promotions based on commanders merit, demotions and other rewards.
THE COMMANDERS:
The commanders would each take on "battlefield commissions", giving them officer ranks - starting at 2nd Lieutenant. They would also be given command of a unit - a platoon to begin with, then a company once they reach Captain, a Batallion once (if) they reach Major or Lt. Colonel, and finally a Regiment if/once they reach Colonel. Any promotions above this may be given special consideration (i.e. a new brigade might "turn up" for them to command), but would probably command their Regiment.
The units are as follows:
Platoon = 2 UNITS IN GAME
Company = 4 UNITS IN GAME
Batallion = 8 UNITS IN GAME
Regiment = 16 UNITS IN GAME
The commanders would be promoted for a number of reasons. They may be: All objectives gained; immense bravery in battle (i.e. saving another unit); avoiding excess losses; accomplishing missions; going above and beyond the call of duty (i.e. helping another unit with their mission).
THE UNITS:
Units would be named as "1st", "2nd" etc depending on which order they were created. For example. the first Platoon created, in the first company created, in the first batallion created, in the first regiment created would be: 1st Platoon, 1st Company, 1st Batallion, 1st Regiment, or 1/1/1/1 for short. This is for ease of use - it is unwieldy to put "Major Raziels Regiment" on a map - "1" would be much shorter (as it may be the 1st Regiment created).
THE CAMPAIGN:
The campaign would consist of about 4 scenarios, depending on interest. After this, a second campaign could be played, with the players keeping their temporary ranks and commands. It is also possible that we may add starfighters in so players may command Naval units.
THE PLAYING:
To play the game, we will probably use one of the Vast Empire Comnets - the Role Playing Game comnet would be most suitable, unless we get one set up for the duration of the games. There would be several topics - one for the Gamesmaster to post maps and objectives on, which nobody else may post on; one for commanders to post their finalised turns on; and one for each major unit (Regiments), where commanders will need to communicate with each other - the Regiment commander can give his instructions to his subordinates, who take his advice and base their judgements on this.
For example, comnets would be:
"MISSION TOPIC - GM ONLY"
"MISSION PLANS - COMMANDERS ONLY"
"1st Regiment Topic - members only"
"2nd Regiment Topic - members only"
"GAME RULES" (locked from new posts)
EXISTING OFFICERS:
Exising Officers will retain their ranks for the game, and may take positions allowed by their ranks. This applies to ALL existing officers, whether they are the Prefect of Squad Members.
For example, General Talon may take command of a Regiment, with a batallion coming in later. However, if someone rises the ranks of this regiment and is eligible to command it, they will take command - General Talon would be given command of a new regiment (with no real life players in it) or a batallion within the regiment. This is to give players the best chance as possible of commanding fellow players, rather than just units on the board.
GAMESMASTER:
I would be Gamesmaster, and would take on the persona of Major-General Jalanus - however, I would have no influence over the command of the Brigade. My duties would be to simply give objectives and details, and play the turns.
RANKS:
For ease of use, we will cut down the ranks to:
2nd Lieutenant; 1st Lieutenant; Captain; Major; Lt. Colonel; Colonel; Brigadier. It is possible for members to be promoted by more than one rank in one scenario.
INTELLIGENCE:
Details on the types of units for friendly and enemy forces (as well as terrain information) will be given when the game begins. In addition, random intelligence will come up - i.e. "Spies report: Heavy enemy forces ahead of 4th Company" to assist you in your decisions.
END OF RULES
Basically, the Interactive Campaign is, as it says, an interactive campaign. I play the gamesmaster, and set up a scenario using the Civilization 2 game engine (you do NOT need the game). I show you maps of where your units are (after assigning each gamer a number of units which he/she must control), and give some intelligence about the enemy positions and objectives.
Each gamer becomes a "commander" - starting at Acting 2nd Lieutenant (ONLY for the campaign; not for the army/navy etc). They control a number of units, and over the course of a few days must tell me, after talking with other commanders, what they want to do with their units (i.e. "MOVE STORMTROOPER ONE 2 SPACES WEST AND ATTACK ENEMY").
At the end of each turn I will show more maps, more intelligence and, of course, the results of the turns.
After a set number of turns (perhaps 8 - 12), the scenario will end, and I will show the scores - which commanders achieved their objectives, etc. If you did well, you will be promoted (Acting 1st Lieutenant, Acting Captain etc), and given command of more units. If you do badly, you will be demoted (Acting 2nd Lieutenant is the lowest you can go), and may be given less units and/or no reinforcements.
Basically, it will involve quite a few posts on a couple of comnet topics, and quite a bit of activity. However, it WILL be an Army activity (could become Navy as well), so you may get the rewards that all active troops get - medals, promotions, etc. And you get to command men and pretend to be an officer.. surely thats enough?
I need as many names as possible for people interested in playing, otherwise we can't do it. If we can get five, I'll do it - if we can get more than that, fantastic.
Put your name down here if you're ever remotely interested
P.S. IF it does start, it won't be for a little while. But put your name down NOW!
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Captain Aaron "Bear" Le'pue, Naval Instructor & VE Today Chief Editor
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INS/CAP Aaron "Bear" Le'pue/Flight School/Training Fleet/ISD II Crusader/VEN/VE
(=A=) (=SA=) (=MA=) (=FOCE=) (=JCPA=) (=SCPA=) [BRC] [BRC] [LSM] [LoC] [NDM]
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Bear : [email protected]
Vast Empire Today : [email protected]