A New (Old) Idea for a Team Battle

[Cross]

If someone organized this, I would be interested in being on a team.

A few suggestions:

Setup
The Team leaders would have to deploy all forces, but not move them.

In the interest of a faster game:
Why would the team leader always need to go first? As long as he plays once per turn his input/orders will have almost the same influence in the long run. In same cases it would be better for him to go last, as he’ll have better artillery targets.

I would also recommend that the saved game files are posted on a forum thread, instead of emailed, because then the next coy commander available can download, move and repost. Everyone (on both teams) can then see exactly where the turn is, in the process.

The last coy commander to move his forces ends the turn. And posts to the same forum thread. They would have all seen the replay, but the last coy commander to move, would email his team about incoming enemy artillery and aircraft.

Force Control
I would recommend keeping it to 3 players per team, maybe, just maybe 4 per team.
Each player controls an infantry or motorized company.
The team leader controls one of the above infantry companies plus everything else. (Which could include a fourth infantry company even if only 3 on your team).
The team leader would assign control of other assets as he sees fit.
Coy commanders would need permission to call on battalion artillery assets (adjusting with their own LOS), but not coy mortars.

Which means if a coy commander had the northern sector, which was under serious attack, the CO (BHQ) could put some armour under his northern coy commanders control. But then take control back, or assign it over to another coy commander as soon as he thinks he needs it elsewhere.

I agree that players should not touch another player’s company, unless it’s ‘temporarily assigned support units’ that the CO decides to take back under his own command.

Campaign
I agree with Vesku that a PBEM campaign would be interesting, but you would need six/eight committed players. But you could certainly replace a coy commander mid-game if they had to drop out.

Question
Vesku, how much of a problem was players hitting the end turn button, instead of the save button?

With three players in a team, if the first player did that, then two players won’t get to move their company that turn. I guess that causes a serious enough penalty that you’re unlikely to make that mistake twice…