Monday, June 17, 2013

Empire Campaign System

A week ago after an impromptu game I got to demo test the Empire Campaign System on a limited basis.  This is a fictional scenario with two identical forces opposing each other across the Elbe.

French Advance from Leipzig;  Prussians deployed to observe Torgau and Wittenberg
French Cavalry Crosses the Elbe; Prussians in the Dark

Prussian Light Cavalry Bde (Landwehr!) manage to observe the French Cavalry Corp.
In the fading light the Saxon Cuirassier are identified.  The French, being expert light cavalrymen manage to detect that there are cavalry out there somewhere... they think...
French push the Landwehr  Cav. Bde back
French Infantry Corps get tangled up in the bagged train of the Cavalry Corps at Dessau slowing their crossing of the Elbe.  The contact intel has reached the rest of the Prussian army and they start to concentrate.
French call it a day 9:00 p.m.;  Prussians take extra movement/fatigue and night march.
The lead Prussian infantry corps attempts to surprise and push back the Cavalry from Rosslau--and fails miserably and is forced back with light casualties.
Prussians spend the night concentrating.  A regiment has swept the left bank of the Elbe from Torgau to Wittenberg and another Brigade is sent to watch the minor road to the north that winds its way to Potsdam.
Prussians are resting off their fatigue.   The  French are waking up, eating breakfast and spend their extra movement so they can walk on the field in battle formation.  Battle Starts at 10:00 a.m.  with the French advancing upon Koswig.
A Infantry Corp and a Cavalry Corp are holding Koswig.  The  French  are fully concentrated with two Infantry Corps and one Cavalry Corp. The Prussians are playing for time.  A fairly fatigued Infantry corp will arrive at 12 noon.  (The lead Prussian Corps could have tried to get some fieldworks dug, fatiguing a LW battalion significantly, but forgot to do engineering)

Some Observations on our first go:
  • The map needs to be enlarged for easier movement (even the the small card markers get unwieldy quickly as forces concentrate
  • Paperwork will be significant and all the more reason to try to find ways to offload some of the work onto a computer
  • The movement seems to be a bit off.  For the map itself with so many rivers and streams movement might be limited to something more reasonable, however on a major road with no defiles or rivers you can march an infantry corp 30 miles a day without incurring straggling or significant fatigue that couldnt be slept off in a single night.  
    • Now a 30 mile day is certainly possible, but seems a bit much for your "average" especially since it would not trigger any straggling.  Every 4 hours of normal marching gets you 3 fatigue.  Straggling doesnt kick in until 12 fatigue.
  • Doing the campaign would require a pre-"game day" session as it would take sometime.
  • The campaign system is pretty amazing in that it covers just about everything, including disease, straggling, engineering, hospitals, trains, supply, reconnaissance 

2 comments:

  1. Hi, how is the system/rules of E.C.S ?
    Eric

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    1. Not enough interest in running a campaign given the amount of paper work it requires. At the moment I've waiting for the Carnage&Glory2 Campaign System to release.

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