[Sticky] Scenario Planning

Yup go for it...

Get your latest version uploaded or linked in for discussion...

Useful links:

Wikipedia - general
regiments.org has list of british troops involved if you can decipher it.

CW have you amended the scenario as yet ? If so can we see a draft of V2 ?

Where are we going with this one chaps . By my understanding we had my draft one, which most seemd to think a bit under ambitious. I believe Dave offered to re write it with added excitement with the signs etc , however it's all gone quiet since then . (I appreciate he's been busy with the exc website)
Is this still the plan , or do you want me to "sex it up" as the current jargon has it ?

Oh right, I'm doing that as well!

I've got loads of ideas to add to the scenarios so it's not gone quiet at all just still in my head! Actually, spoke to Yith about some of them when we were out and about, but I appreciate you want something more concrete.

But, important though that may be we really ought to define the allowable uniform/weapon list as soon as possible so that potential players have max time to prepare.

Okay... so Guy... can you upload what we have right now on to the site?

i.e. text, not word docs... and if images are needed then put them in http://www.photobucket.com (or similar) and link to them on here.

Then we have something to work from...

Um...... ........not sure how to . I can use photobucket, but how/where to I upload a word doc ?

don't... copy paste the text directly into the forums

Scene Setting

Following the D Day landings and the bitter fighting in Normandy the Allies decimated the Germans forces in France and drove them back to the German boarder. Despite Patton’s insistence to carry on through to Berlin, Eisenhower was swayed by Churchill and Montgomery to press into Holland and Belgium , mainly to remove the V1 and V2 sites that were being used to bombard London . After the disastrous Arnhem campaign , by late 1944 the Allies find themselves poised on the German boarders . During December many of the battle weary Allied divisions are stood down to recoup, leaving mainly green troops to hold the line .
In the Ardennes region of Belgium, a heavily forested and mountainous terrain, the US forces were thinly spread out . The Allies feel that Germany is defeated, and it is just a matter of time before Berlin is taken in the new year .

Sadly the Germans do not feel defeated . They reason that a big assault through Belgium, with a view to taking Antwerp on the coast, will drive a wedge between the American forces in the South and the British forces in the North . It is hoped that this division of forces will lower the Allies morale and force the Western front to stagnate, thus allowing time to hold back the Russians .

For this assault the German amass the last of their finest troops , and equip them with the latest weapons, including such beasts as the 70 ton King Tiger tank . They plan to start the attack in mid winter (16th December) so that poor weather will neutralise the Allied air superiority that had helped destroy them in France. They are short on fuel, but if they can break though the Ardennes quickly then they will achieve their objective. The preparations are carry in secret, to the extent that the Allies have no idea on the 15th that the Germans are even able to assault in the West . German confidence is high , if they can force the Allies to stop their advance, it may buy enough time for the new mysterious wonder weapons they are being told about to change the course of the war …..

So What Happened ?

Starting on the 16th December , three German Armies plunged into the Allied line through the Ardennes forest . Spearheading it in the North were the 6th SS Panzer Army, tasked with blitzkreiging their way to the Muese bridges 150km away . Their route took them through the middle of the forest, and key to their success would be the capture of the many villages and small bridges over the forest streams to allow passage for their tanks . In the middle came the 5th Panzer Army , supporting the main assault , and to the South the 7th Army are told hold the line against any counter attack by Patton’s forces in Northern France.
The assault is also helped by German commandoes , dressed as GIs infiltrating the lines with a view to capturing the bridges in advance of the main German attack.
The attack started well, with the Allies falling back or surrendering in large numbers , although trying to get large numbers of troops and heavy tanks though little villages in mountain terrain slowed things down .
The Allied forces, despite initially retreating , hardened their defence, especially after hearing reports of US prisoners being killed at Malmedy. The Allied command reacts much more quickly than expected and fresh troops are rushed into the line from the US in the south and the British in the North . Within four days of the Battle of the Bulge starting , the Germans are totally bogged down . Their supply lines are very poor and many units ran out of petrol and ammunition .

By early January the weather cleared, the Allied fighter bombers destroyed the few tanks that have not run out of petrol, and the Germans are in full retreat. At the end of January the line is restored to where it was in December, and the Germans have wasted their best men and the last of their equipment on the battle.

There are two great stories connected with the battle .

The first is of the defence of the town of Bastogne by the 101st US Airborne which was surrounded for four days in the south . When asked to surrender by the overwhelming German forces, Brig McAuliffe gave the famous reply “… nutsâ€

Hi gents been having some scenario thoughts .

1 Artillery

Really like the idea of reading the board to call in a strike . However how would this work ? Do we have fixed boards on trees to read, (in which case I would not go within 30m of them) and how do we get them in the right places . Do we have boards that marshals move into place as required and then are read ? Again players could spot them and move .
We were talking about using electric maroons for this, obviously they will have to be set up prior to the event , in which case how to we call down a strike on an area not set up ? Or do we go for half a dozen Mark 9s /smokes deployed by marshall more for effect than game play, which was my initial thought .

2 Minefield

Need a sanity check on the rubics cube idea , is it good or is it pants ? I thought some signs and some tape could delineate the minefield, placed at the US commanders choice.

3 Commandoes
Think the MP armband idea is superb for Skorzenies lot . Missions can involve
- infiltrate and capture commanders
- find and capture fuel depot ( I have some jerry cans and ammo boxes , & will see what else I can rustle up
- find and move road signs . Will make up some road signs , suggest two or three sets ot scatter amongst the wood . If we refer on the day to place by game name ( ie Stavelot , La Gleize) rather than by F&O name this may have some real effect . Otherwise it could be a case of move the signs .

4 Will look at how having two longer games rather than three would play out - your thoughts appreciated . After Saturdays discussion a looser format might be worth exploring to give unit commanders some greater freedom and allow for a better build up . Guccis comments about deployment and recces adding to the feel of the game got my interest , rather than just lining both sides up and letting them clash . I'll have some thought and post some more ideas .

5 Regen – plan on obtaining a large US and German flag to mark regen points. This will also allow us to move regen around relatively easily if we want to .

6 Prisoners – suggest prisoners have to be escorted back to your CP ( Flag) and can be held for up to 10 minutes provided they are under guard. Both sides can shoot prisoners instead, in which case they are just sent to regen straight away , so it’s worth hanging onto them to deny the enemy for longer ?

7 Spoke to John of the Lima Bravos at the weekend , getting his lot down there as yanks would be good, as I don’t think we have any teams. Also though they would be really useful for the Commando role .
Also spoke to Rupe of the Wolves, as Fleckarn lovers they would be a useful German team as well . If anyone can think of other teams to invite / coerce feel free . !

OK – got to do some work now .

Hi gents been having some scenario thoughts .

1 Artillery

Really like the idea of reading the board to call in a strike . However how would this work ? Do we have fixed boards on trees to read, (in which case I would not go within 30m of them) and how do we get them in the right places . Do we have boards that marshals move into place as required and then are read ? Again players could spot them and move .
We were talking about using electric maroons for this, obviously they will have to be set up prior to the event , in which case how to we call down a strike on an area not set up ? Or do we go for half a dozen Mark 9s /smokes deployed by marshall more for effect than game play, which was my initial thought .

I imagined that there would be boards up on all major objectives... one on the bunkers one on the monastery, one on the firebase. It may be necessary to put multiples on some locations to allow spotting from a variety of locations. If they're on objectives then the US troops have no choice but to sit on them (and vice versa)

Artillery barrages can be as simple as a marshall wandering to the area and chucking a few Mk5s and Mk9s around... it worked well like that in the nam games. They can also call players out as needed.

2 Minefield

Need a sanity check on the rubics cube idea , is it good or is it pants ? I thought some signs and some tape could delineate the minefield, placed at the US commanders choice.

Its pants. You may have been able to solve the damn thing in 30 seconds, but I haven't ever in my life and not without trying either! It would also need a marshall to watch over... too larpy and not going to work in airsoft. I'd prefer to use Major's "proper" mines if we bother at all.

3 Commandoes
Think the MP armband idea is superb for Skorzenies lot . Missions can involve
- infiltrate and capture commanders
- find and capture fuel depot ( I have some jerry cans and ammo boxes , & will see what else I can rustle up
- find and move road signs . Will make up some road signs , suggest two or three sets ot scatter amongst the wood . If we refer on the day to place by game name ( ie Stavelot , La Gleize) rather than by F&O name this may have some real effect . Otherwise it could be a case of move the signs .

Yes... all very good. We could also add in something to do with the field telephones if necessary... maybe you disconnecting the wires from the phone. I don't want anyone cutting the wires... though that has been done in LF events in the past!

4 Will look at how having two longer games rather than three would play out - your thoughts appreciated . After Saturdays discussion a looser format might be worth exploring to give unit commanders some greater freedom and allow for a better build up . Guccis comments about deployment and recces adding to the feel of the game got my interest , rather than just lining both sides up and letting them clash . I'll have some thought and post some more ideas .

A loose format with less trips up to the safezone is good and allows the day to flow a lot more. Basically instead of all heading up to the safezone for a debreif, you regroup back at base or on the objective thats been just taken... I do however think this needs some discussion...

5 Regen – plan on obtaining a large US and German flag to mark regen points. This will also allow us to move regen around relatively easily if we want to .

A fantastic idea. They don't need to be that big though!

6 Prisoners – suggest prisoners have to be escorted back to your CP ( Flag) and can be held for up to 10 minutes provided they are under guard. Both sides can shoot prisoners instead, in which case they are just sent to regen straight away , so it’s worth hanging onto them to deny the enemy for longer ?

CP should be where the telephones are... this should be out of bounds to enemy players (except the MPs)... We don't want tp have to have players defending their CPs all the time... they can be assumed to be off-site...

7 Spoke to John of the Lima Bravos at the weekend , getting his lot down there as yanks would be good, as I don’t think we have any teams. Also though they would be really useful for the Commando role .
Also spoke to Rupe of the Wolves, as Fleckarn lovers they would be a useful German team as well . If anyone can think of other teams to invite / coerce feel free . !

good stuff..

OK – got to do some work now .

lol me too!

Small sub plot?

Each side has at their disposal say 10 mine flags. At any point in the game they can be deployed anywhere, at the discression of the commanders/squad leaders. Each marker has a six foot radius effective exclusion area.

Can be deactivated by sitting on the flag for 60 seconds - engineer can't have arms in his hands - if he picks up a weapon to return fire the clock returns to 60 seconds from when he puts weapon down. Must be at least a two man team both to deploy and remove - the engineer (can be anyone) plus his guard.

Objective - deny enemy access and create choke points.

At any point if there is a lull in the game or a couple of bods have nothing to do/are bored, send them out on mine laying/clearing exercise.

Doesn't need to be policed - remind players that they need to be a man's height away from a marker unless they are attempting disarming.

An interesting idea... and it really could work

However I say that we hold this one for a future event... I think we may have enough complexity already this time?

There's nothing to stop someone preparing the props though...

What do you others think?

I will have the mine laying option ready for the game - two bags with mine markers. Commander at some point assigns a squad to mine laying duties - bloke with the bag is the engineer. So very easy to chuck into the game at Commanders discretion.

Also.
I would like to take advantage of the Airbourne divisions on both sides by giving the option to commanders to deploy behind enemy lines. Using the 'Ho Chi Min trail' idea from the Vietnam games forces can be moved with protection until deployment. I wouldn't like to over-use it and have a constant flank/out-flank that happened on Sunday but it would be a mighty useful tool to allow, say, both Allied and Axis two airbourne drops each during the day. (The Air Cav thing where they moved THROUGH the site didn't work at all well IMHO but the trail did.)

Ooh! Yeah, will get some written down. They'll only be simple little things to cause a distraction.

I need to have a look at my list and get my squad leaders sorted. Obviously Yith'll be one, possibly Pork Pie.....nick (iamheritic) was excellent at the w/e so if he books up.

Erm... I'm your 2IC steve... hence not a squad commander.

Don't foget Gadge... he'd be ideal as a squad commander.

Oh, ok.

Yeah, Gadge was a good chap.

What happened to the downed pilot and the prosthetic limbs?