Open Discussion: Campaign Season

[Ymbert Montgomery]

Introduction

As I'm sure people have noticed, this game is a frankenstein's patchwork of rules nicked from various sources.

In some ways that's working great in terms of options.

But it does mean that I feel that certain sections are much rougher than others.

In particular, the campaign season rules could do with an overhaul so I'm inviting everyone to contribute to this.

It helps that we won't have to implement them for a bit so we have some time to work these out! (For frontier volunteers I at least think there's enough there to wing it for a bit but campaign season will obviously be a lot more complicated).

[Ymbert Montgomery]

To start with a simpler one, when should army organisation etc.? be announced. We need to allow influence use and time for potential substitutions.

[Renald De La Azur]

Hi,
Armies should be organised at least a month before the campaign begins to allow as you said changes to the roster with the use of influence. 
ideally army units announced in Feb for a May deployment for example 

[Yves Eau]

I think we need to see the organisation with March results, including appointment of a Field Marshal, so he can make substitutions in April before players apply for divisional and army roles in May.

The standard rules state that military appointments are made at the *end* of the summer season. This implies the organisation for the following year must already be decided, which seems crazy for the 17th century, when they would not even have been sure which country would be their enemy by dinner time. Furthermore, many officers appointed in September would likely die or move on before the campaign started nine months later. I would prefer to see the army mobilised shortly before marching to the front.

[Ymbert Montgomery]

Aug 28, 2019 8:37:28 GMT Yves Eau said:

I think we need to see the organisation with March results, including appointment of a Field Marshal, so he can make substitutions in April before players apply for divisional and army roles in May.

The standard rules state that military appointments are made at the *end* of the summer season. This implies the organisation for the following year must already be decided, which seems crazy for the 17th century, when they would not even have been sure which country would be their enemy by dinner time. Furthermore, many officers appointed in September would likely die or move on before the campaign started nine months later. I would prefer to see the army mobilised shortly before marching to the front.

I'm definitely inclined to change that, for both historical and gameplay reasons.

Having them done in September seems bad for the latter as well. By the time campaign comes around we're likely to have people with new characters and new players in the game. Unless anyone has objections I think I'll go with your timing.

[huillaume]

I see two logical means to handle the Generalship appointments:

• Just before summer campaign, when the Army is organized (at any point in spring, I'd say announcing the Army compsition in April and open the applications for May)
• Just after the summer Campaign, to evaluate the results. If so, modifiers for performance could be applied (e.g. +1 per 1-2 result, -1 per 5-6 result i nthe three campaign months)
  

If the latter, though, see that the Army organization (albeit inactive) wil lbe kept, and if more or less Brigades are sent the following year, it could mean it has to be updated...

Another possibility would be to use the first one for Divisions and Marchal (to fit with the Army organization for Summer), but to renbew the Brigadiers ( that are permanent organizations) jsut after the Summer Campaign, and applying the DMs I suggested (they might substitute the DM for AM).

[huillaume]

Some more questions about campaigning (not sure if they belomng to this thread or the General rules questions one):

1) The mission is for month of for the whole campaing (season)?

2) Should a Major volunteer its battalion, it will be attached to a Frontier Regiment, but I guess he keeps the modifiers for his regiment, not Frontier ones (we can assume his battalion is used as an elite reserve or as Flank Companies in the regiment). Right?

20.14 (…) If a commander's BR is better than his immediate superior's he gets a -1 modifier for promotion and MIDs (a btn/sqn commander also gets a +1 death modifier); if the BR is 2 or more worse than his immediate superior's these modifiers are reversed.

Those DMs affect only the commander or his whole command. I ask mostly for the Btn/Sqn commander one, as it uses the regimental BR, and this way it would represent a better/worse performance of the affected Btn/sqn, not enough to affect BR, but maybe the whole unit DMs. For higher echelons (Regiment Commander and up) , as their BR has already an effect, I guess only them..

20.193 If the promotion roll is made or exceeded the character is promoted as above provided there is a vacancy and he meets the minimum requirements. A character can be promoted by battlefield results only once per season.

The confirmation of a brevet rank due to lack of SL is seen as another promotion for this rule, or is considered to be just one promotion (albeit this time confirmed)? In other words, can a character achieve a brevet promotion (due to lack of SL) and be confirmed in the same season?

[Ymbert Montgomery]

Aug 31, 2019 10:55:21 GMT huillaume said:

Some more questions about campaigning (not sure if they belomng to this thread or the General rules questions one):

1) The mission is for month of for the whole campaing (season)?

Correct. So for the Spring frontier campaign the entire campaign will be spent with the Frontier Regiments on defense.

2) Should a Major volunteer its battalion, it will be attached to a Frontier Regiment, but I guess he keeps the modifiers for his regiment, not Frontier ones (we can assume his battalion is used as an elite reserve or as Flank Companies in the regiment). Right?

Yes, he keep regimental modifers. (Without that volunteering wouldn't have as much point.

20.14 (…) If a commander's BR is better than his immediate superior's he gets a -1 modifier for promotion and MIDs (a btn/sqn commander also gets a +1 death modifier); if the BR is 2 or more worse than his immediate superior's these modifiers are reversed.

Those DMs affect only the commander or his whole command. I ask mostly for the Btn/Sqn commander one, as it uses the regimental BR, and this way it would represent a better/worse performance of the affected Btn/sqn, not enough to affect BR, but maybe the whole unit DMs. For higher echelons (Regiment Commander and up) , as their BR has already an effect, I guess only them..

Only the commander.

20.193 If the promotion roll is made or exceeded the character is promoted as above provided there is a vacancy and he meets the minimum requirements. A character can be promoted by battlefield results only once per season.

The confirmation of a brevet rank due to lack of SL is seen as another promotion for this rule, or is considered to be just one promotion (albeit this time confirmed)? In other words, can a character achieve a brevet promotion (due to lack of SL) and be confirmed in the same season?

It's seen as another promotion, so you can't be breveted and confirmed in the same season.

[huillaume]

Aug 31, 2019 13:23:04 GMT Ymbert Montgomery said:

Aug 31, 2019 10:55:21 GMT huillaume said:

Some more questions about campaigning (not sure if they belomng to this thread or the General rules questions one):

1) The mission is for month of for the whole campaing (season)?

Correct. So for the Spring frontier campaign the entire campaign will be spent with the Frontier Regiments on defense.

Another possibility, that would add uncertainty to campaigns, would be to change the Army mission mid-season if the overall result is decisive.

e.g.; the Army (in this case the Frontier Regiments) are now, as yo usay, in defense. Theis means they are defending a bessieged fortress. They attain an Army Commander BR of 1, meaning they scattered the enemy army in a sortie , so the siege is broken and next time situation may change (and be rerolled). Defense again would mean the enemy reagrupped (or recived reinforcements) and goes on again, Field Ops could mean a pursue of the scattered enemy as they reagroup, Siege/Assault that the enemy reagrouped in one of hteir own fortesses and the Army counterattacks, etc...

OTOH, remember not all the Army is in the same mission, the one specified being the main one, I guess. In the Summer campaign, diferent brigades may get different results just to give an example. So, any unit volunteering could be assigned to a different mission.

e.g.; The Army is currently in Defense. Being bessieged, any volunteering unit could not reach them, so it could be given a Field Ops mission, joining the relief forces

e.g.2: the Army is in Assault (quite tempting a Mision for anyone wanting plounder). One unit volunteers to join it, but it can also be assigned to Field Ops to keep the communication lines open, or even to Defense ans the enemy tries to cut them by attacking a friendly fortress...

Of course, the examples are only so, examples of how such a situation might be handled, but other outcomes are also possible, as the GM feels to fit the situation or as the dice dictate...

[Alain Andre Durant]

Aug 27, 2019 21:38:12 GMT Ymbert Montgomery said:

To start with a simpler one, when should army organisation etc.? be announced. We need to allow influence use and time for potential substitutions.

This has always been a mechanics issue. IRL, these things would be decided over a month or two, but since the game needs to allow for one decision to affect the next and also to be influenced, the mechanics, while simple and straight-forward, are drawn out over months.

I haven't seen a better mechanic other than all of it being decided in a single month, and as long as all of the essential appointments are NPCs, that isn't an issue. But when PCs hold one or more of these appointments, I can't see a better way.

One way to look at it is that once the army composition is determined, the regiments start training up for the campaign practicing formations and such.

[Alain Andre Durant]

Aug 28, 2019 8:37:28 GMT Yves Eau said:

I think we need to see the organisation with March results, including appointment of a Field Marshal, so he can make substitutions in April before players apply for divisional and army roles in May.

The standard rules state that military appointments are made at the *end* of the summer season. This implies the organisation for the following year must already be decided, which seems crazy for the 17th century, when they would not even have been sure which country would be their enemy by dinner time. Furthermore, many officers appointed in September would likely die or move on before the campaign started nine months later. I would prefer to see the army mobilised shortly before marching to the front.

I think the appointment of the Field Marshall should be at the end of December with the King "publishing the rolls." From there, everything else starts to be decided and defined.