With all the first round of dawn battles now underway with lots of explosions I've promised in both HQ forums to post about possible improvements to the battle creation process. There were a few niggling issues with the CM Scenario files both sides received due to misunderstandings of intentions on my part. Changes or in game solutions were made so the turn could push on ahead with minimal delay for the other party. When playing a new rule set for the first time there's bound to be some issues so thanks again for your patience.
Can both sides provide suggests or support for the changes outlined below.
Issue 1
Which orders are the final 'locked in' ones.
When determining the committed forces to a battle, reinforcements and off map support intentions it became confusing trying to scroll through tens of pages of forum posts and some errors were made.
Solution: I've created a MS Word doc which will act as a 'Battle Form' for both sides to outline the make up of a CM battle. When I create battles from campaign turn 2 onwards I'll refer to this form and this form only rather than trying to scroll through tens of pages of forum posts. I don't want to stymie debate in the HQ forums of team mates coming up with a strategy but there needs to be a clear in confidence location for the 'final product.' I will probably add a box at the bottom called 'End of Battle Feedback' where you guys can log any comments or highlight anything privately to me before I review the end of battle file and adjust OOB.
Issue 2
Fortifications are units and therefore not fixed. Will need be reapplied for each battle.
Solution: We can try to map everything out or we can assume that fortifications are destroyed and removed by occupying forces after a battle if the campaign square changes hands. Please advise.
Issue 3
OOB work for each battle takes considerable time.
It took about four days (on and off) to create the three battles, largely because the CM Editor has no undo button
and importing multiple OOB is not possible. (Lots of stuff happened behind the scenes).
Solution: From Strachwitz. Both sides when submitting the battle detail form will also provide a CM .btt file with their selected forces for that battle selected from their existing Master OOB. The GM will combine the files and do the placement on map etc. This way we'll have two pairs of eyes double checking to ensure the right units are part of the correct battle. Also syncs a bit better for helping to fix issue 1.
Issue 4
Units being scattered across the campaign map.
Having Battalion and Brigade level forces scattered all across the map makes it that little bit harder to keep track of and doesn't in my mind make realistic command and control sense for organised offensive and defensive lines. I don't really want to impose a rule on this but would be nice if players tried to keep C&C a bit tighter and more realistic. A Colonel doesn't have one of his companies five miles away with a whole other battalion between them and him if he can help it.
Solution: Aim in the future to try and have formations to fight in their area alongside their Battalion / Brigade comrades.
Guys please provide feedback and suggestions to help streamline the process further in campaign round 2 and check your dropboxes. Additionally, once this round is finished I'll share the Soviet objective maps with the axis for a better system for informing me of your objective intentions in game.
Can both sides provide suggests or support for the changes outlined below.
Issue 1
Which orders are the final 'locked in' ones.
When determining the committed forces to a battle, reinforcements and off map support intentions it became confusing trying to scroll through tens of pages of forum posts and some errors were made.
Solution: I've created a MS Word doc which will act as a 'Battle Form' for both sides to outline the make up of a CM battle. When I create battles from campaign turn 2 onwards I'll refer to this form and this form only rather than trying to scroll through tens of pages of forum posts. I don't want to stymie debate in the HQ forums of team mates coming up with a strategy but there needs to be a clear in confidence location for the 'final product.' I will probably add a box at the bottom called 'End of Battle Feedback' where you guys can log any comments or highlight anything privately to me before I review the end of battle file and adjust OOB.
Issue 2
Fortifications are units and therefore not fixed. Will need be reapplied for each battle.
Solution: We can try to map everything out or we can assume that fortifications are destroyed and removed by occupying forces after a battle if the campaign square changes hands. Please advise.
Issue 3
OOB work for each battle takes considerable time.
It took about four days (on and off) to create the three battles, largely because the CM Editor has no undo button
and importing multiple OOB is not possible. (Lots of stuff happened behind the scenes).Solution: From Strachwitz. Both sides when submitting the battle detail form will also provide a CM .btt file with their selected forces for that battle selected from their existing Master OOB. The GM will combine the files and do the placement on map etc. This way we'll have two pairs of eyes double checking to ensure the right units are part of the correct battle. Also syncs a bit better for helping to fix issue 1.
Issue 4
Units being scattered across the campaign map.
Having Battalion and Brigade level forces scattered all across the map makes it that little bit harder to keep track of and doesn't in my mind make realistic command and control sense for organised offensive and defensive lines. I don't really want to impose a rule on this but would be nice if players tried to keep C&C a bit tighter and more realistic. A Colonel doesn't have one of his companies five miles away with a whole other battalion between them and him if he can help it.
Solution: Aim in the future to try and have formations to fight in their area alongside their Battalion / Brigade comrades.
Guys please provide feedback and suggestions to help streamline the process further in campaign round 2 and check your dropboxes. Additionally, once this round is finished I'll share the Soviet objective maps with the axis for a better system for informing me of your objective intentions in game.
