New CM Campaign: Battle for Rikonovo

[Rico (FGM)]

After frying my brain for last week or so working on this, I think I'm finally ready to jump in the deep end and get this thing going. (it's been in development hell for just about two years...LOL)
Introducing... (drum roll please)

BATTLE FOR RIKONOVO
The time: November 1943.
The place: The FICTIONAL Eastern Ukrainian town of Rikonovo
The weather: Rain, Fog, Mud, Light Snow
The situation:
The small railway junction town of Rikonovo is crucial to German logistics in the area. The Soviet Offensive in the area is running out of steam, but as a last gasp effort the advancing Mechanised Brigades are ordered to capture Rikonovo and cut the vital railway. The Soviet forces are tired, strung out after weeks of hard marches and advances along increasingly deteriorating roads and unreliable fuel supplies.

On the German side it doesn't look rosy either. The enemy has been pushing through a yawning gap in the German lines, and in a desperate attempt to stop the Soviet advance and secure Rikonovo, elements of a newly arrived Panzer Division are rushed into the area to reinforce the threadbare German units holding the town.

Both sides' units inevitably arrive in dribs and drabs...the Russians at the end of long advance the Germans hampered by chaotic railway and road situation caused by the deteriorating weather and the ongoing retreat.

Here's a preview of the Map: (for larger view click here: http://www.rico.co.za/Rikonovo/rikonovo-map-NEW-NEW.jpg )



THE CONCEPT
Battle for Rikonovo is not a Tourney, not Campaign, ... it's BATTLE.
There are no Flags, no Points, no Unit Purchases, no SCORES.
Both sides will receive a mission from their Army HQ's and the result will be reflected by actual real battlefield event amongst serious Fog of War.
The idea is for Players and CO's to make battlefield decisions... not Game decisions.

The set up is two teams of a CO, as many players as are needed by either side to command the battlegroups which the CO creates, and myself as Toruneymeister running the show.

The CO's make decisions according to Situation Reports provided by their Battle Group Commanders and the Tourneymeister, who will also control random FOW events such as weather, order delays, actual unit movements, battlefield intel.
How will this work?

Each Day is broken up into 6 "TURNS".
Four DAYLIGHT TURNS: 0600 to 0900 (Dawn), 0900 - 1200 (Midday), 1200-1500 (Midday), 1500 - 1800 (Dusk), 1800 - 2400 (Night), 0000 - 0600 (Night)

Each DAYLIGHT TURN consists of 3 "IMPULSES" -- Each action a unit is ordered to execute, will use up a set number of impulses. This the TM will use as a guide to how fast units deploy, move, regroup or fight.

CO's will issue orders to their battlegroups and smaller detached units, and the TM will collate both sides' orders and play out all the orders and report to the CO's things like Enemy Units Spotted or where Opposing forces come into contact and battle will ensue.

The battles will be custom made battles on maps custom made for each engagement, reflecting the terrain and features on the hex map.
The map consists of HEXES, each consisting of a terrain type plus roads, villages, towns, rivers, etc.
Each HEX is approx 500m across.

The units used in each battle are what the CO's assign to the battlegroups, which includes Arty and Air support (if available) also assigned by the CO if they are in range.

Opposing battlegroup commanders will have no real idea what the enemy's orders are -- only their own objective.
For instance: The attacking Russians could have orders to capture village X... while the Germans may have orders to take ambush the lead enemy units, delay them a bit and then get the hell off the map...
Victory at the end of a fight will be pretty obvious at the end of a battle by the actual after battle situation and not by an artificial method like Flag ownership.
If as a defender you've been bludgeoned to a pulp, it's pretty obvious you can't continue the fight and withdraw...or get reinforced and carry on.
The Attacker will probably have a tolerance level as to how many casualties he can take before breaking off an attack and try plan B.

I will post more details once this gets up and running...

PARTICIPATION
First off RIKONOVO needs two brave, assertive CO's to take command of the two sides.
Players who sign up for participation as Battle Group commanders MUST be TCP/IP enabled or incredibly fast (able to turn around a 20 turn PBEM in a week)

The campaign will start small with the opening skirmishes and the grow as more and more units arrive on the map...

More News to be posted as I go along...

PS: It goes without saying, that this concept will only suit players who want to be challenged and are able to think outside the "CM Game Box" and try something never really been done before.

Recruiting for the Rikonovo campaign is open over at the Few Good Men site here: http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=125
Any Blitz players wishing to join need to sign up with the FGM first... details here: http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/ (click on "JOIN" button.

[Rico (FGM)]

How it work -- first of a series of posts to give players an idea of how this is meant to work.

TURNS and IMPULSES
In Rikonovo, each DAY is broken down into 6 TURNS (four 3-hour DAY turns and two 4-hour NIGHT turns)
TURN 1: 00h00 - 06h00 (night)
TURN 2: 06h00 - 09h00 (dawn)
TURN 3: 09h00 - 12h00 (midday)
TURN 4: 12h00 - 15h00 (midday)
TURN 5: 15h00 - 18h00 (dusk)
TURN 6: 18h00 - 24h00 (night)

Each DAY TURN contains 3 IMPULSES.
Each NIGHT TURN contains only 1 IMPULSE.

IMPULSES are guide for me to determine what actions units are able to execute during a TURN.
Each action by a unit uses up a set number of IMPULSES:

Movement of set number of hexes (according to movement chart -- more of that later) - 1 IMPULSE
Unit Deployment (say from road march to attack formation) - 1 IMPULSE
Unit Digging in (foxholes & daisychain mines) - 2
Digging Trenches (& laying minefields) - 14 -- presence of Pioneers and Engineers reduces this to 10 IMPULSES.
Building roadblocks (engineer or pioniers only) - 2
Regroup Units after battle - 1 (Russ 2)
Rally Unit - 1
Refuel and Rearm Unit - 2 (Russ 3) - after battle regrouping and rearming/refueling can share same IMPULSE.
Rearrange unit OOB's - 1 (Russ 2)
React to main HQ Orders - 1 (Russ 2) -- this reflects better radio comms and verbal order on German side.
Contact Battle off March, or Meeting Engagement - 1 IMPULSE -- deployment here is part of the battle and doesn't use up any more IMPULSES
Prepare for Deliberate Attack - 1 (Russ 2)

So for example, German Unit X is given the following orders at the SITREP at end of TURN 2:
Regroup and absorb Pz Reinforcements, Move to village Y, Deploy for Deliberate Attack on Village Z.
Starting at beginning of TURN 3 (09h00 - 12h00): 1 IMPULSE for Orders, 1 IMPULSE for Regroup, say 1 IMPULSE worth of road march, 1 IMPULSE for attack deployment.
So, Unit X's attack will only commence during the 2nd IMPULSE of the next TURN, at approx 13h00.
(this doesn't include any random FOW die rolls like delayed orders, fuel problems, vehicle breakdowns etc... or of course whatever the Russians are up to at the same time)

If this is confusing, don't worry -- I as TM will be acting as each CO's chief of staff.
A CO will give the order, and then get a report as to the earliest when the attack will begin.
Same as for estimated arrivals of moving units etc.

ORDERS, SITREPS and BATTLES

At the end of every TURN, I will prepare a SITREP Map for each CO, which will sum up all the actions from the previous TURN and status of ongoing actions, movements, battles.

Each CO will then issue orders for their units and battlegroup commanders for the next TURN.

During each turn there might also be a constant flow of reports, updates and AAR's from the battle group commanders on the HQ MB's during each of the IMPULSES.
CO's can issue additional orders at any time during an IMPULSE, but the way and speed with which units actually react to these orders is governed by the IMPULSE rules.

When enemy units come into contact, BATTLE can be joined (depending on a units standing orders or decision by the local battle commander).

I will build a custom 1000 x 1000m map and 20 turn scenario based on the dominant terrain represented in each hex, and the forces allocated to each battle group by their respective CO's.
The standard 21Turn battle will take up ONE Impulse. Larger assault battles may be set up for up to 40 turns taking up 1 - 3 IMPULSES.

At the end of the battle, depending on the material situation, if unit have achieved objectives, suffered too many casualties -- either side will decide what to do next.
Battles will be sent back to the TM after completion of turn 20... I will provide each side with an AAR.
Battlegroup commanders are of course free to share with their CO's any battlefield intel gained during the battle as well.

For example: If a defender holds on and decides to stand in the position after the enemy's attack fails, the attacker can decide to attack again. If the attacker decides to add reinforcements to his attacks, 1 IMPULSE will be taken up for Regrouping PLUS any IMPULSES necessary to move these reinforcements into position.

Attackers may decide to advance right after the battle without rearming/regrouping/refuelling, but this will carry Readyness and Casualty penalties.
(the advantage of having fresh exploitation units in position is clear here)

CASUALTIES
Vehicle and gun casualties are counted individually.
Personnel casualties will be handled by rounding up or rounding down into complete platoons (keeping track of losse with any more detail will be way too much work)

Abandoned vehicles may be recovered by the side in control of the battlefield after any action, subject to die rolls.

OK, back to work for me... more to follow.

[herroberst]

I have offered to sign up on either side as you need me on the FGM signup roster. Thanks, sounds like fun.