domingo, 13 de septiembre de 2015

Tableboard for Pas de Manoeuvre wargames

With the remains of a box for a shower plate that someone left on the street near my home, I made a support for a dark green slate board, 120 cm x 70 cm (47,24 in x 27,56 in), to draw a square grid of 6x6 cm (2,36 in x 2,36 in). The previus design with MSExcel was for a square grid of 8x8 cm (3,14in x 3,14 in).



The wooden shower box plate.

A side view of the rudimentary box

The dark green slate is glued with wood glue to the surface of the box. Various books of some loss-house encyclopedia transform their cultural destination in constructive destination. 

Crosses of 2 cm (0,78 in).

 

The final size dimensions are 21 x 12 square grid, for a scale of 200 meters/square, a total of 4,2 km x 2,4 km, a relatively comfortable scale for a small Napoleonic battle.


At the end, painting the sides with green colour and varnished wood molding finishing the board. The next and final logical problem is the storage. I bought 4 small rubber wheels, to keep the board "on foot" and be able to move the surface from one place to another.



Big failure!. The weight of the molding table and the little surface base surface makes the joint totally unstable, so you have to add a little weight in the base so that the table does not tilt dangerously.
 

viernes, 11 de septiembre de 2015

Pas de Manoeuvre! - Tactical Solo Programmed Opponent

I have uploaded a single MSExcel file which is a development of an idea of Nic Birt for my Pas de Manoeuvre! system, to set the battlefield orders of non-player depending on various factors (terrain, balance between player and NP troops, support by own forces, etc), after a number of turns or hours. I have included a help file and optionally cards to use as a reminder of the actions of the non player.
You can modify it freely for your needs. Any comments will be appreciated.
I hope you find it useful.
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LA IDEA

Hace algún tiempo y buscando ideas para el mecanismo en solitario de Pas de Manoeuvre! me topé con la interesante página de Nic Birt llamada "Franco-Prussian Wargame Campaign 1870" - French
Battlefield Orders (http://www.geocities.ws/fpwargame/Battlefield-Orders.html), cuya secuencia de juego es la siguiente:

Secuencia
1. Colocar el terreno y las figuras francesas y prusianas.
2. Escribir las órdenes prusianas para las tres primeras horas de batalla.
3. Decidir si los franceses están a la defensiva o a la ofensiva según la situación de la campaña.
4. Generar las órdenes francesas para tres horas siguiendo las reglas descritas.
5. Repetir los pasos 2 a 5 cada tres horas de batalla.


Repasando las reglas son bastante lógicas y al mismo tiempo sencillas en su concepto, por lo que he intentado agilizar los cálculos a realizar con una sencilla hoja de MSExcel, y dando de 1 a 5 opciones para posibles sectores en el campo de batalla.


Pantallas de la aplicación

Menú principal

- En primer lugar colocamos las fuerzas del jugador y del No-jugador (a partir de ahora NJ), sin contar las reservas con que cuente aparte el total del cuerpo o ejército, sólo las que se encuentren en esa sección o área del campo de batalla, en 1ª  y 2ª líneas de combate. Seguidamente, según el punto 3 anterior, decidir si el NJ está a la ofensiva o a la defensiva (lo podemos modificar también para cada zona si queremos ser más específicos para cada momento en concreto) y señalarlo con una "x".
- Consignamos el terreno en el que se encuentre el jugador y el NJ. Puede ser Llano o Abierto, Montañoso, Boscoso o Fortificado. Se pueden añadir más opciones modificando la fórmula que tenéis situada en la celda C103 y siguientes de ésta hoja. De hecho la intención futura es definir con alguna opción más este campo.

Tablas utilizadas para el cálculo de las órdenes del NJ - Opción Tables del menú

- Las siguientes cuatro  filas definen el resto de fuerzas del NJ que se hallen en el campo de batalla respecto las que se encuentren en ése sector concreto del NJ, en definitiva el apoyo con el que cuenten o no en un sector determinado.
- A continuación, y como opción aparte, podemos definir el nombre y valía del comandante al mando del sector del NJ. La valía está contabilizada de 0 a 10, pero como en el caso del terreno, también se puede modificar a gusto del interesado.

- Finalmente sólo nos quedará presionar con el botón izquierdo del ratón sobre el cuadro naranja 1D6 cuando aparezca la mano del puntero y nos generará un número aleatório de 1 a 6, que acabará de definir la orden en cuestión para el NJ así como las tropas en 1ª y 2ª línea que tendremos que situar.


Hoja de Ayuda - opción Help del menú

Aparte hay dos hojas más:

- una sencilla ayuda en inglés para cada cuadro, ya que éste mismo archivo se subió en la web de SoloWargame Yahoo Groups hace 1 ó 2 días, pero obviamente se puede cambiar en el idioma que os interese, ya que son Comentarios de MSExcel cuyo contenido puede cortarse y pegarse fácilmente;
- una hoja con cartas (cards) para recordar cada órden los movimientos y acciones de tropas que comporta. Al igual que en el caso anterior, pueden modificarse a vuestra conveniencia o para el período en el que desarrolleis la contienda.


Cartas - Opción Cards del menú


Por último, cualquier comentario u observación razonables que querais realizar sobre el contenido de la hoja o variaciones que puedan hacerse en la misma serán bienvenidos.


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Fuente:

Nic Birt's "Franco-Prussian Wargame Campaign 1870" - French Battlefield Orders homepage

(http://www.geocities.ws/fpwargame/Battlefield-Orders.html)

Evolution of a campaign map - Bavaria 1809 (III)



AN EXAMPLE TEST

In Altomünster are the Claparede and Tharreu infantry divisions and Colbert's light cavalry division. Back in Adelzhausen, the headquarters of General Oudinot's II Corps, the heavy cavalry division commanded by D' Espagne and II Artillery Reserve Corps. About 40 kilometers east , 4 red dummies are indicating a probable enemy presence

The formula for the presence or not of dummies on the main map is for red flags cells (expresion in spanish), and changed to Windings type text for the flag aspect:


=SI(SUMA(Dumm!N68:O69)=1;"P";"")


More or less: if the sum of the four cells of the area in Dumm worksheet equals 1, (no matter the formula of sum, there will be only a dummie in each area, therefore it's not posible a value plus of 1) cell's value is P (flag symbol in Windings text), and if not, there's no value in the cell.





The same dummies in the secondary map. Red Squares also have a symbol painted in red to hide if they are dummies or a real enemy vedette.


 

Next turn, the units have been gradually stepped to contain the enemy if it is present. As in the famous War & Peace game (from Avalon Hill), infantry units cannot move by themselves if they aren't accompanied by a leader (Oudinot in this case) . The leader has 10 points of movement that can distribute moving units or performing other actions ( destroying bridges, building depots, etc ) . Cavalry units move 3 squares for themselves and artillery reserves move as infantry , with the company 's leader. In Neufahrn there has been a meeting with the division Tharreau and a dummie.


 

We change the vision to the secondary sheet, and change the red text color to white (or another color just to make visible the character). We check that it is a "1" what means that the dummie is really only a dummie, and delete this red square.




The following turn, dummies move northward of dummies do not put them in contact with any unit in the II Corps, probably their objective is the city of Ingolstadt, 30 km northeast.





We try to block the line of dummies between Wolnzach and Fahrenzhausen. We check the red dummie in Wolnzach, a white square (vedette symbol, it could be another to the player's taste) and we confirm that it's a vedette of the enemy.






With an auxiliar table (for example), we see that the vedette belongs to Bellegarde's I Arméekorps. The disposition of enemy troops can be randomized or with an auxiliar table too. In our case we distribute the enemy troops in the three closest squares in contact with Oudinot square. We also check (optionally)  the other two dummies to see if are also enemy troops giving (thankfully) a negative result.

 



The numbers are favorable to the Austrian Non Player, with 30,000 troops against near 20,000 french. A battle can occur in Wolnzach , with all Austrian troops (red arrows) or two twin battles (orange arrow) with the Austrian troops in Altenkirchen trying to neutralize the French troops in Reichertshausen and prevent they can't go to the aid of Oudinot. An interesting situation!


Due to my lack of skills with graphical design, the aesthetics of the units are from many sources: Napoleon Total War modified for leader's epaulettes value, the troops design from Fairline (1), really beautiful drawings, the background colors of Jours de Gloire campaings: Allemagne 1813 units, and the leader's faces from Napoleon's campaign (2007) Pc-game from Ageod.



____________________________________________________________________________

Sources:




Evolution of a campaign map - Bavaria 1809 (II)


Among the various options like square, hexagon, point-to-point, etc., it exists another interesting way to develop the campaign map: the Offset Squares system, detailed in some blogs like:

- Bob Cordery's blog (http://wargamingmiscellany.blogspot.com.es/2009/05/operational-level-wargame-design-1-why.html) or

- MsFoy's blog (http://prometheusinaspic.blogspot.com.es/2013/05/the-man-who-killed-pythagoras-and-other.html)


Offset squares system


Following with this subject, mapping with offset squares, the excellent "The Perfect Captain" homepage (http://perfectcaptain.50megs.com/bfinder.html), details his own system, the so-called Battlefinder : The Campaign System.


Battlefinder basee sheet that allows multiple combinations with  
pre-designed cards

It has an interesting and easy concept, for each area or card, the Provender Points. "The red numbers on the right side of each card (always P#) are the provender points available on each card. This is an abstract rating which at any time can represent the amount of moveable wealth present in the CS, the amount of crops that the CS produces, or even the amount of habitable shelter available in the CS. Players may interpret this in any way they can imagine."(1)


Example of cards with Provender Points on the middle right.


Currently , after several previous attempts, I think I've reached a compromise between facility for drawing squares and versatility of hex grid to measure distances. Moreover, the support of the game is the program MSExcel, instead of Vassal , Cyberboard or another. Why? Because it facilitates be both a spreadsheet for drawing the map and can implement the old concept of Matchboxes system for solitaire play.


First version: the inside of boxes reflects the type of terrain, the name of the area and the Provender Points on the bottom right. More like Battlefinder style

Each square represents an area of ​​12x12 km (7,45x7,45 miles), divided into 16 squares of 3x3 Km (1,86x1,86 miles). On the computer screen, 64x64 pixels every mini-square.



Second and last version (I hope so): it looks more like a map and not a cards style. Dark green represents forest areas.



The full area of Bavaria Campaign, from Ulm to Passau, and the Danube river on the center of the map.  An example for the Excel worksheet for the main map.

In my campaign system there are two Excel worksheets: a map of the campaign area, and the other a more simplified version of the map for dummies movement. The dummies represent, as General Nuisance says about his system: "The line of red chips across the map is the Prussian "front" [in the example] representing cavalry vedettes, local militia, frontier troops and rumors of enemy locations and movement. On the map, you move one city/town per "day" (2).


The second Excel worksheet with the dummies (red squares)

To be continued....



 _______________________________________________________________________________
Resources:

(1)  http://perfectcaptain.50megs.com/bfinder.html
(2) http://www.smallworldproductions.blogspot.com.es/2012/08/solo-campaign-part-1.html

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Note: As you suppose or know I'm not native or english speaking so despite my old First Certificate degree, probably there will be some failure of the spanish translation so I beg patience and understanding if a word or meaning is not entirely correct what it should be.

Evolution of a campaign map - Bavaria 1809 (I)

Long time I have been developing a map for a campaign system with my Pas de Manoeuvre rules. 

The initial idea had two premises: 

- First, focused on what should be a campaign in the Napoleonic era (can be applied at other epochs with the obvious differences, among others, communication and units speeds). The map of the campaign could come defined among others for areas, squares, hexagons or nodes (point-to-point). I initially thought in hexes, which fits quite well with a real map, let define the courses of rivers or roads in a less forced way that squares, and measuring distances. Another alternative was that of nodes, which seemed more suitable for my idea of ​​game development. 

- Second, developing the mechanics of the Matchbox system, described by Don Featherstone in his book "Solo Wargaming", combined with a quite original idea, in my opinion, that I found on the SmallWold Productions blog (http: //www.smallworldproductions.blogsp ... art-1.html).


The campaign of 1809 has always had a certain interest to me because it represented the set-up of the Austrian army restored by Archduke Charles after the defeats of 1805 campaigns, and the response of the Napoleonic combined troops (French and German allies), leading to a series of heavy fightings in some places like Eckmühl, Teugn-Hausen and Landshut.

The first source that I considered was the Kevin Zucker's gameboard, "The Seven Days of 1809" (2004) by Operational Studies Group, whose map with hexagonal grid is quite detailed
.


Map of  "The Seven Days of 1809"



Another source was a historical map of the valley of the Danube from Ratisbon to Pressburg to illustrate the campaigns of 1808-9 and Valley of the Danube west of Ratisbon on the same scale.
(http://www.maproom.org/00/13/present.php?m=0053) with a superimposed hexagonal grid, but less detailed.


Map from Atlas to Allison's History of Europe,1850 with hexagonal grid.


Searching through internet and some forums, I found Malcolm Mccallum's Homepage (http://www.murat.ca/maps.htm) , a huge representation of Europe with a series of detailed maps for his campaign system. Malcom's maps are point-to-point system. A very impressive work!


Malcom McCallum map, Bavaria area

The same area of Bavaria with sepia tone and orange hexagonal grid.


Another source of inspiration was the "Campaign in Germany 1813", of Hexasim (http://www.wiki-juegos.com/index.php/Allemagne_1813) it is a game for two players with multiplayer option with a small solitaire mode (small by treatment that gives). The map is point-to-point, as my idea of the game. The truth is that I had different design options (squares, hexagons, areas, etc), but in the end, the troops moved on roads or paths for their long journeys and most important, also simplified the solitaire mode option.  

 

Allemagne 1813, by Frédérick Bey (Jours de Gloire) - http://www.wiki-juegos.com
/images/8/8f/Wiki_alemania2.jpg


 
For my Bavaria-1809 version I have not used any additional program to draw the map although I have Hexdraw software, and I used MS Excel, with the whole issue of graphical objects was sufficient for my purpose. For the basemap grabbed one of Google Maps, which started as leaf background 100% vision, and the grid squares are 5 km of side. Apart from the points or nodes connected to each other is a framed grid for locating and referencing the units. I only caught the area where the first part of the campaign, from Ulm to Passau (West-East) and Amberg to Munich (north-south) was developed. I have excluded the area around ​​Vienna where the campaign ended (or can I say where finished the first part of the campaign).


It was a major effort, but I did not finish very satisfied with the appearance of the map and also with the possibility of using the modified Matchbox system.


To be continued....



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Note: As you suppose or know I'm not native or english speaking so despite my old First Certificate degree, probably there will be some failure of the spanish translation so I beg patience and understanding if a word or meaning is not entirely correct what it should be.

Pas de Manoeuvre - Wargaming with Risk figures

In miniature wargaming, normally troops are represented by stands at different scales and sizes
In my case, the first option for my Pas de Manoeuvre tactical rules were stands with top-down view, with figures like those shown on the excellent website of Junior General, with paper figures of all periods. (http://www.juniorgeneral.org/).
For example, they are stands or counters designed by Papalazarus, for the Waterloo campaign:



http://www.juniorgeneral.org/uploaded/%20%20092813/pruss3a.png

No problems with height scales but the vision is restricted to two dimensions only, and drawings need some zoom to appreciate the details of the uniforms, watching them from some distance.
I tried to remove the grass of the drawings to drawn my own counters but the results didn't like me.





Second option was stands with foam board silhouettes. Using some pretty good pictures of Napoleonic troops by Fairline, of  French, British, Russian, Prussian, Austrian and more countries, but I could never take firmly to a Napoleonic game.


 

http://sleague.civfanatics.com/images/2/22/Fairline_nap1.png


Testing with these stands didn't like me either, just the silhouette with 3mm of foam board was too big for these stands, for my taste.






Third and last option was, logically, wargaming miniatures -corporeal figures- but to get an army represents the cost is often too expensive. Searching for the web I found this article very interesting, about wargaming with Risk game figures:



It seems for the Risk figures the scale is 1/144, or 12 mm -> 1,73 m, more or less 10-15 mm of eight.

Another links and some examples of wargaming with Risk figures:





This last link with very good painted figures, and "La petit armee" web, with tactical and campaign rules:


An example of stands with these rules:

http://www.zianet.com/SIGNIFER/lpagraphx%5Causgren2.jpg

With all this information, then madness has begun, buying a lot of Risk figures, by Parker (shako figures) by the Internet, which has caused my own family asked if my mental faculties were not altered. Summing up, everything for the cause... :))

Pas de manoeuvre stands are 35x25 mm (1,37x0,98 inch) for cavalry units, 40x25 mm (1,57x0,98 inch) for infantry units and 20x25 mm (0,78x0,98 inch) for artillery units, but I'm still doubting this last measure. The board square grid surely will be of 80x80 mm (3,14x3,14 inch) or 100x100 mm (3,93x3,93 inch) per square.





 Some examples:
Cavalry figures, spraying with primer and glued with Blu-Tac.


French Chasseurs à cheval stand.
 



Austrian line infantry post-1809







___________________________________________________________________________________

Note: As you suppose or know I'm not native or english speaking so despite my old First Certificate degree, probably there will be some failure of the spanish translation so I beg patience and understanding if a word or meaning is not entirely correct what it should be.