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Poll – Competition Preference

What's the next type of competition would you like to join in...

  • Campaign – Using a strategic map units to create tactical battles

    Votes: 11 55.0%
  • Tournament – Using new scenarios designed specifically for tournament

    Votes: 6 30.0%
  • Tournament – Quick Battles, players choose troops, with everyone using the same map.

    Votes: 1 5.0%
  • Multiplayer – Two or more players on each team playing on a single large map

    Votes: 1 5.0%
  • None – Just play single scenarios against other FGM members

    Votes: 1 5.0%

  • Total voters
    20
I've enjoyed various stuff I've been part of, I think what I enjoyed most is the larger strategic campaigns that then use CM to play out the tactical battles. Such as the Highway to Hell which sadly did not finish. I appreciate these take a lot of work from the GM to set up and run, but I like the battle having a context in a larger operation. Hence I voted for the Campaign.
 
I like campaigns and have participated within FGM in the Battle of the Bulge, Highway to Hell and Cracking the Nut.
Unfortunately none of these campaigns reached their conclusion, because of real life and GM burnout.

I think I'm running the only campaign on FGM at the moment, Brigade Battles - WW2 Eastern Front using CMRT. Two massive brigades have been dueling it out in eastern Poland for months.
@Rico and @Nathangun have campaign systems under development in a modern setting.
I have also been working on a modern campaign using CMBS and have been creating a giant city map for a MOUT campaign. 5 months in the works and about 60% complete.
 
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I'm seriously considering starting a Western Front campaign as well.
Although I am mindful of keeping my current campaign running to the end and keeping up pressure on the development of the modern map.

In my experience, running a campaign isn't the biggest challenge (there are 60 companies in play in Brigade Battles).
The biggest challenge (by far) is having a big enough stockpile of tactical maps ready to use for battles.
 
I have really enjoyed the Warrior Battles with the modern titles.
Even though I have been getting my ass mostly handed to me.
I really have a lot to learn about the modern weaponry for sure
 
My vote goes for campaign however I'd add a caveat to it.

Large campaigns seem to bog down due to the time it takes to play out individual battles, interest drops off especially for those not actively participating in the battles. Therefore it's in everyones interest to keep battles short, meaning they will be small battles, and the overall campaign is only being run at or around Battalion size.
Individual battles may only be company sized or smaller, with additions thrown in at the behest of the commander, who will have a limited amount of points to purchase extra equipment or forces each round (or maybe once every 2-3 rounds). Likewise there would also be a certain amount of reinforcements each round/few rounds, where the commander can choose which company to replenish.
This would also mean casualties and losses would be tracked, as are purchases and additions to forces, normally a nightmare of administration, but with the battles being so small it should be manageable.

Anyway, just thinking out loud here. :)
 
My Ardennes CMFB campaign “48 Hours At St Clervaux” is almost ready to go.

 
My Ardennes CMFB campaign “48 Hours At St Clervaux” is almost ready to go.

I'm looking forward to this one. (y)
 
My vote goes for campaign however I'd add a caveat to it.

Large campaigns seem to bog down due to the time it takes to play out individual battles, interest drops off especially for those not actively participating in the battles. Therefore it's in everyones interest to keep battles short, meaning they will be small battles, and the overall campaign is only being run at or around Battalion size.
Individual battles may only be company sized or smaller, with additions thrown in at the behest of the commander, who will have a limited amount of points to purchase extra equipment or forces each round (or maybe once every 2-3 rounds). Likewise there would also be a certain amount of reinforcements each round/few rounds, where the commander can choose which company to replenish.
This would also mean casualties and losses would be tracked, as are purchases and additions to forces, normally a nightmare of administration, but with the battles being so small it should be manageable.

Anyway, just thinking out loud here. :)

I agree with Stafford here.
Another aspect I find is that most, if not all, battles seem to be a defense against an overwhelming force.
This is understandable because what commander on a strategic map would attack with less than 2 to 1 odds.
 
In my experience, running a campaign isn't the biggest challenge (there are 60 companies in play in Brigade Battles).
The biggest challenge (by far) is having a big enough stockpile of tactical maps ready to use for battles.

I was wondering that myself.
For the Brigade battles are you creating the maps are you using canned maps or maybe both?
It's pretty impressive the variations on the maps you're using however it's done. (y)
 
I agree with Stafford here.
Another aspect I find is that most, if not all, battles seem to be a defense against an overwhelming force.
This is understandable because what commander on a strategic map would attack with less than 2 to 1 odds.

Yeah that's one thing we've been grappling with in Brigade Battles, it's hard to get a good (fair) ratio of forces for an attack, for mine the sweet spot is defender having 65-70% of attackers strength. But most of the battles over there have been 2:1, and I'm not sure a single defending player has won yet.
 
I was wondering that myself.
For the Brigade battles are you creating the maps are you using canned maps or maybe both?
It's pretty impressive the variations on the maps you're using however it's done. (y)

For BB it was a case of gathering every map @Panzer_Kraut and I could find (including some I had made previously), then I sifted through every one, resized if necessary, and renamed.

For the MOUT campaign I am designing one huge 4km x 4km map of a city, which will then be split into .5km x .5km sections.
 
Campaigns. Throws up unexpected force compositions, tactical problems and an operational layer to worry about and overcome. The risk of "win the battle but lose the war" is powerful... well for some players. *Cough* @Hapless Plastering an urban area full of civilians with artillery and expecting no consequences. *Cough* :D Regular tournaments where every battle is it's own and don't need to worry about the consequences you don't get those problems to overcome.

Proud "Operation Five Lions" went through to completion and trialed a few things narratively even though my time was cut short as soon as it got underway. I do have HR on my back saying clear some of this 14 weeks of annual leave this year. Ideas? :p
 
@Ithikial I still say you should have let TF Sparta just shoot all those 'protestors' :p But from an impartial GM perspective, NATO probably needed a touch of the brakes at that point.

Five Lions was fantastic, but obviously required a tremendous amount of effort to set up and keep going. On the other hand, Rico's Domination Tunisia QB campaign was nice and quick-firing.

Some kind of narrative campaign with an operational layer fought with Small-Tiny QBs might be worth examining as a compromise between the two.
 
Proud "Operation Five Lions" went through to completion and trialed a few things narratively even though my time was cut short as soon as it got underway. I do have HR on my back saying clear some of this 14 weeks of annual leave this year. Ideas? :p

I would say something like "How about a tour from the beaches of Normandy to the Eagle's Nest." ;)
 
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