Campaign System

[Mad Russian]

Issues of Balance and withdrawal are all decided by how the strategic layer is implemented.

There must be strategic incentives for one side to stay and fight even if forces are unbalanced. Also, it should never be totally clear due to fog of war exactly how unbalanced any battle is until it is underway and both forces have eyes on in the field.

There are several ways to give strategic incentives, road net and supply for example. Road net allows you move forces quicker and in good order and arrive at any destination unfatigued and supply, well that is obvious.

Op CM is setup using an actual operation. The objectives are the same as in the actual operation.

I think playing wargames that have companies as the base unit size help in the vizualisation of how battles evolve. I would say HTTR and COTA would be the best examples.

Op CM uses battalions as the basic unit. These can be broken down into any size units for movement or combat.

In one battle there was an infantry battalion attacked by two other infantry battalions. Bootie had assigned an NW Bde to support the defenders and the outcome was not pretty.

In any campaign lasting over several days, the first few battles are messy as recon by fire takes place, after a few meeting engangements between random elements bumping into each other, lines form and then attacks are made to try and secure objectives that either facilitate supply for friendlys or frustrate it for opfors. Other objectives will be clearing the road net and to take high ground and good defensive positions. After this jockying for postition has taken place then the battles proper begin to try and secure the campaighn objectives.

Recon is the least of your worries when a battle location you have with an infantry battalion in it gets hit with an infantry battalion, a company of tanks, all supported with a 150mm FO.

The battles proper begin right away. The operations are setup on actual operations and you have some idea of what the enemy has and where it is.

Recon elements actually do their intended purpose in Op CM. If they get within a specific distance from the map edge they can report what is in the adjacent location. That and report what is in the location they are in obviously.

If the only strategic level objective is the destruction of enemy forces, then you will have withdrawal after withdrawal, however the destruction of enemy forces must in fact be a secondary objective. The primary objective must be the taking or securing of some strategic objective and thus the destruction of enemy forces must be in a sense incidental to this. This will cut down on withdrawals.

Few people are going to sit and watch a battalion get cut to pieces on a map without withdrawing. Very few locations are worth the severe mauling of a unit.

In essence the ground being fought over must provide some benefits to those that hold it. Thus even if a force is outmatched it may seek to hold the ground to maintain those benefits for its own regiment/division etc and also to frustrate for as long as possible the enemy in receiving those benefits.

I have yet to see a battle fought without a reason. The attacker wants that location. And if he does he generally brings enough toys to the party to make sure he gets it. Now the defender is not toothless and can move troops into the battle zone as reinforcements depending on their disposition on the operational map.

A campaign system that can create the above conditions should lead to a rich playing experience. I mean if all you want is balanced battles CM fulfills that need excellently. I personally would like to see the engine break out of that niche and explore some of its more diverse possibilities, which 99% of the time are ignored.

The issue is how many battles are you willing to fight where the outcome is determined by turn 8? The attacker wants that battle location and from what I've seen so far they normally get it. That means the defender is retreating or taking very high casualties. Not always. Sometimes the defender deals the grief. Again, not in a balanced game but a lopsided one. In real life situations, and Op CM mirrors those fairly closely, there are few balanced fights. Both sides strive to avoid a balanced fight in RL!!

Good Hunting.

MR