More Solo Campaign Thoughts

 What interesting problems can I investigate?

I have been listening to Prit Buttar's books on the Eastern Front -- currently The Reckoning.  This has left me wondering how the loss of men and equipment affect how units are used, and how home production is fed into front units.  While board wargames can portray some parts of this with techniques like step reduction, I don't think that they do well at how units are rotated out of the line or rebuilt.  That's not a horrible flaw as far as the games go, but if I want to look at what happens to combat effectiveness in detail I will need are quite fine grained model.  Doubly so if I wish to look at production factors.

The Map

I am starting by picking a map.  Maps contextualize strategy. Since this decision will be with me for a while it has to stimulate thought and enthusiasm.

Frankly the map of Middle Earth leaves me cold. 

This version is optimized to increase scale by excluding sea space.  

The problems are:

(1) The map, especially Eriador, is virtually empty.  That makes sense for the Third Age, but by the time industrialization has bee accounted for and human populations backfilled it is all enormously different.  That's both a lot of work and obliterates the feel of ME.

(2)  The strategic problem boils down to control of the Gap of Rohan.  No matter who is fighting whom, the small number of choke points is frankly frustrating.

The only things I lose from abandoning Middle Earth are a cool campaign name and the idea of the Numenorians with their racist backstory being the Nazis.

Instead, I have decided to use a game map from the 1960s, heavily modified half a century later, called Blitzkrieg.

This was my first wargame, giving it a sentimental attachment.  The fan upgrade has far better art and better granularity.  I won't be using the rules, but the map itself is a good starting point.  It has enough details at a sufficient granularity to direct action, while at the same time leaving space open for imagination.

So it's no longer Panzers on the Anduin.  Name to follow, I suppose, alone with a lot of systems design work to tie make a usable game.

 

Throwing off the balast

 If you used to follow one of my blogs that has now disappeared, sorry, but they are never going to get worked on again and have (in my mind, who else has a say?) no ideas that are super worth retaining.  Most of what I have kept is because I think that the ideas are worthwhile.

So What's The Plan?

When I moved I swore that I would have a normal living room.  In practice, this lead to a lot of wasted space.  I don't really sit and watch a TV and when my friends come by we stay at the dinner table. So here's the new game space:
                  

Fully Cat Approved.  A cat picture, because internet.

Current back burner

I have a nice army of Imaginations for Not The Seven Years War, which should regularly see action in the new space.  No particular plans to enlarge. See Enlightenment Imaginings

• In 28mm
• I am assembling a nice little 28mm force or two for Lion (and Dragon) Rampant and Clash of Spears.  Two interesting rules sets with very different approaches to the same scale and period.
• Lets not forget the ongoing 28mm late-C15 Italians; probably Art de la Guerre.
• In 15mm, my 15mm Italian Wars army for Impetus.  Deserves some love, and eventually it will get it.  Pictures eventually.   Mostly painted by a friend but I think that I can step up to it.
• The less attended to but still high potential projects
• Imjin war at sea.  If you don't know what that is, it is well worth a look.  Related, my 16th Century Mediterranean galleys.  And maybe an Indian Ocean meet-up? 
• My very tiny pre-dreadnaughts
• 10mm Italian Wars of Independence.  ACW tactics without slaveowners.

Nothing above is going to get a new blog; news will be posted here. For now anyway.

Panzers on the Anduin

Ever since I thought it might be fun to do fantastical (but not magical) World War II, that phrase has been bouncing through my head.  So the plan is to use the rules for the Columbia block game Victory, knock them into shape for a fifth age, industrialized middle earth, and use my WWII forces for tactical combat.  Still inchoate, but it will get it's own blog if it really starts to roll. 

My Roleplaying Experiments

I have worked through at least five rule sets for campaigns in renaissance Italy and now third century Rome.  The most recent games are ongoing, and I think it might me worth a blog to record and reflect on the whole experience.

But...

It is traditional at the point to apologize for the paucity of blog posts and resolve that there will be regular updates in the future.  Let's be real BUT I think it would be good for me to do something every week on at least one blog, and I have recently been doing things that are good for me.  We'll see how it goes.