VSF world campaign

[Dewbakuk]

What about the Noble Parrotmen of Venus? Where are you putting them hmm?

[Fuzzywuzzieswiflasers]

Yes. I need to buy some GW Kroot for my parrotmen. How many Venus players do we have here?

Fuzz

[Dewbakuk]

That play games on Venus or who have a dedicated army? I suspect just me for the latter 

There are a few with Parrotmen or Lizardman Sepoy/Askaris etc at least.

[Red Orc]

Hi there, long time reader, first time poster, but this has got me very excited and I thought I'd share something I wrote this afternoon. It's a campaign background that seeks to tie together everything that everyone's been talking about (just about)...

Ancient history



Positioned as it was between ancient Barsoom (Mars) and Perelandra (Venus), it was inevitable that the Earth should be drawn into their wars. At first both sides sent scouting parties, then diplomatic and then military missions. They were each seeking the rare and unstable element Aetherium, a crystalline mineral used to power their Aetheric ships.



The Martians established bases in the Himalayas and Andes, and in Siberia - those areas that most closely resembled their homelands in the freezing, air-thin deserts of Mars. The Venusians, by contrast, preferred the tropical swamps and jungles of the equatorial regions. At this time, the Earth was much cooler than it is now; this put the Venusians at something of a disadvantage, unused as they were to Earth's more extreme conditions.



Contact was made with the two advanced Earth-civilisations existing at the time - Atlantis and Mu. The Emissaries of Barsoom established themselves in the Atlantean mountains, but could not tolerate the swampy lowlands of Mu, preferring to operate from their bases in the Himalayas.



The Envoys of Perelandra, on the other hand, established themselves in the canals in the southern part of Atlantis, near the capital, and at many places on the generally low-lying continent of Mu. tensions rose between the two sides, but outright war was averted, at least at first. Aetherium extraction was allowed to both sides, but as large concentrations of Aetherium near the surface were only known in two places - the Atlantean highlands, and the swamps of Mu - the two competing alien powers did not often come into direct conflict.



It was in the year 3,217 of the Atlantean calendar - about 9,000 years before the beginning of the Christian Era - that open war finally engulfed the Earth. Devestating weapons were unleashed, and the Priest-Kings of Mu and Council of Atlantis were forced to recognise the inevitable.



Factions arose in both Mu and Atlantis both for and against the alien powers - some wanted to support Barsoom, some Perelandra; some wanted no part of the war; some sought to agitate among the aliens themselves, to turn on their own leaders and establish three equal allied sovereign states on the three planets.



At last, as Earth became more and more devastated, sea levels began to rise as a result of Venusian action, the Mediterranian was breached, and northern Africa was desiccated by Martian energy weapons, a secret clique of scientists in both Mu and Atlantis began a last-ditch experiment to save the planet.



Unleashing terrible energies, they ignited the Aetherium under the planets' surface, hoping to destroy the aliens' mining operations and drive them from the planet. However, the Aetheric Flux generated in the explosions detached both Atlantis and Mu from their foundations and catapulted them into the Temporal Vortex. Thus, both Atlantis and Mu were lost the Earth, to remain only as legends.







March 1889



Recent experiments with Aetheric Flux devices have been highly successful (see Venus Campaign at http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=8689.30 where the principle of flight through the Luminiferous Aether is explained). An unexpected side effect, however, has been to create a Vortex in the Stream of Time which has, by the process known as Convergence (or temporal attraction), allowed the 'lost' continents of Atlantis and Mu to re-appear.



The nations of Earth have failed to grasp this literally Earth-shattering opportunity to unite and co-operate, however. Each country has staked its claim to the new territories, and war now seems inevitable.



Factions claiming territorial rights over Atlantis:



Greece (a claim supported by Greece's sponsor, Britain);

Ottoman Empire (as the successor to the Phoenicians and Egypt);

Spain (on behalf of City of Cartagena);

Portugal (proximity to Azores);

Mexico (as Atlantis is 'Aztlan', homeland of the Aztecs);

France (claims that crew of Breton fishing vessel was first to land);

Free State of Norway (first sighted by His Majesty's Norwegian Navy Ship "Fˆrnuft");

Kingdom of the Netherlands (as the Lost Province of Atland);

Imperial Russia (as compensation for the unexplained loss of the Imperial Russian vessel "Hydromonitor" (for the reasoning behind this name, see http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=1085.0 ) whilst en route from Archangelsk to Rio de Janeiro);

Denmark (The northern parts of Atlantis are inside the claimed territorial waters of Iceland, a Danish Protectorate);

USA (because they can, and obviously the Monroe Doctrine could be extended to cover large islands in the Atlantic, tolerably close to South Carolina. If Mu's being used, it's tolerably close to Hawaii, too).



Other factions can be allied as seems necessary - Austria to Spain, Prussia perhaps to the Netherlands or the Ottoman Empire, Japan (unless a parallel campaign on Mu is also running) with Britain or Portugal, etc etc.



This allows for a good number of human factions, Atlantean (and Muan) energy weapons, 'lost world' tribes, hi-tech and low-tech Venusians and Martians...



Hope this is of some use. I also have a good deal of ideas on how the campaign could actually work (TBH, I'm lifting a lot of things from another campaign I was organising that never happened... oops)

There are some things that will need changing, obviously, Perelandra for instance is my 'ancient Venusian Empire' because I read Lewis's books many years ago. Not everyone might want that background... fair enough. But as I say, an offering to the general organisation of the campaign anyway...

[Doc Twilight]

Well, Fuzzy, I think that the Empire of Austria-Hungary might be an interesting addition.

You know, the Habsburgs did actually attempt to intervene in the Spanish-American War (the navy had orders to assist the Spanish, but by the time they'd arrived, the battles had already occurred; same with the troops sent to the Philippines. However, they did manage to get a lot of ammunition to the Spanish - probably the only shells they had that actually worked...)

Count me in if this is happening. Many, many possibilities here.

-Doc

[HerbyF]

As in history not all Imperial factions were involved in all regions. Even the British had areas that they either didn't hold much sway or just didn't have an interest to become involved. Each club could just run their campaigns with the factions they have on hand or have an interest in. Then turn in the battle reports & campain results for the moderator to sort out. As in the period there will be a lot of confussion as to just where different provences & and territories are and there relationship with others. No need for everyone to have Prussian or British or any other nationality or Alien race. Those that are absent are just not involved or have an interest there. No need to try to standardize the campaign for everyone or pretend that someones French are Belgians or Brits & Americans are Prussian. Another force to be reconded with might be the ABC powers. This was a serious contender as a word power in the late 1800s and early 1900s up to WWI. Argentina, Brazil,  and Chile had sizable military capacity at this time. And were just starting to look outward just as the USA was. A lot of political activity went on to try to bring them into WWI as a counter to the USA's involvement. And combined could have fielded a navy to rival the USA.

[Fuzzywuzzieswiflasers]

Great Background Red Orc! The theme of atlantis returning is similar to my earlier post.

Well if we want to give this a go, I guess we had better get players signed up.

If you are interested in taking part in some kind of world VSF campaign for later this year/next year you can send me a PM with your details.

I would need the following:

Players name & LAF user name
email address
Real World location
local gaming club

Armies you have and preference for faction e.g British, Evil scientists etc.

I gree with your ideas of the campaign HerbyF, as for the actual workings of the campaign we can sort that out later on once we have enough players to kick it all off.

Cheers
Fuzzy

[gamer Mac]

How would the campaign work? Would there be various phases to go through?
For example:
Phase 1 - secure a landing zone/beachhead
Phase 2 – move inland
Phase 3 – Secure some objective

I take it the winning faction of each phase would receive a bonus for the next phase. But what sort of bonus would work for all the different rules system likely to be used. I suppose you could use things like bonus points for army selection or a slightly larger army for the winning force, if there is no points system in place for the army selection.
We would need to work out rough objects for each phase and a bonus for the winning faction.
Have we decided on a location for the campaign? Would it be worthwhile setting up a poll so people could vote on a setting?

The poll could contain

Atlantis
Venus
Mars
Britain Invaded
Prussia Invaded
etc.

[Fuzzywuzzieswiflasers]

A poll would be a good idea.

My vote would be for some kind of atlantis type setting as we could have a variety of terrain types e.g desert , swamp, mountains etc.
so everyone can play with existing terrain they have.

Once we have our players signed up and allocated to regions, I think the background to each region could be made up by the players in that region. That way there is more personal ownership by the players in their own region.

cheers
Fuzzy

[OSHIROmodels]

Atlantis gets my vote again   

cheers

James

[Mors]

I am up for this and shall send a pm. Personally Id like a bit of a lead time before we start as I would need to finish some forces off , but at least it would be a spur to reduce the lead mountain.

I am happy to go with the flow with how we play it, my preference would be that its as loose as possible in size of game, scale , rules and location...Mars, Atlantis, Europe etc etc . My forces are mainly built to skirmish game but Im sure I can adapt them to the setting thats decided. 

I would imagine the complexity of trying to work out a league table would be a real headache , I can only suggest it be made as simple as possible , maybe just a percentage of wins as a faction with a minimum number of games required?

Mors

[leadfool]

The real world location of Sacramento CA should be able to host a few games, and Sinewgrab can even come down from Beaverton Oregon and play, it is only about 350 miles. 

Sinewgrab, did we meet in line at Historicon?

Sacramento players have vertually all the factions, well except the Norgeians, but we do have a Swedish army forming.

I can field English, (including Canadians, Scots, "Disrealians", Sikhs, Gurkhas etc.), Prussians, Austrians, Russians, Americans, Japanese,  Mexicans, Spanish, Arabs, Zulus, and Askaris.  Skrapwelder, Alfrik and Nils can all field many of these as well as Irish, Swedes, Azurians, Martians, etc. 

[Sinewgrab]

The real world location of Sacramento CA should be able to host a few games, and Sinewgrab can even come down from Beaverton Oregon and play, it is only about 350 miles. 

Sinewgrab, did we meet in line at Historicon?

Sacramento players have vertually all the factions, well except the Norwegians, but we do have a Swedish army forming.

I can field English, (including Canadians, Scots, "Disrealians", Sikhs, Gurkhas etc.), Prussians, Austrians, Russians, Americans, Japanese,  Mexicans, Spanish, Arabs, Zulus, and Askaris.  Skrapwelder, Alfrik and Nils can all field many of these as well as Irish, Swedes, Azurians, Martians, etc. 

Unfortunately, no. I had no such luck as to go. I bet my wife would let me make a trip of it, as she is from there. Depends on how work is going for me - i.e., if I have found a job, and then, if that job allows me to go somewhere. I honestly can't believe I am considering it.

[Sinewgrab]

And, of course, it is actually about 800 miles - a full 10 hours at 70 MPH.

Bleagh.

[Red Orc]

Great Background Red Orc! The theme of atlantis returning is similar to my earlier post...

Thanks very much. I tried to fit in most of the stuff people had been talking about, with some of my favourite bits from other people's threads (Free Norway and the Venus Campaign being the obvious places), and filled in the gaps from my own VSF campaign background.

Well if we want to give this a go, I guess we had better get players signed up.

If you are interested in taking part in some kind of world VSF campaign for later this year/next year you can send me a PM with your details.

I would need the following:

Players name & LAF user name
email address
Real World location
local gaming club

Armies you have and preference for faction e.g British, Evil scientists etc.

I gree with your ideas of the campaign HerbyF, as for the actual workings of the campaign we can sort that out later on once we have enough players to kick it all off.

Cheers
Fuzzy

I like the idea of a campaign that spans Atlantis, an Invasion of England, Venus and any other setting. But I don't know how it could work (consider for instance that Britain wins the Atlantis and Venus sections, but Prussia or France invades London and captures Queen Victoria - who 'wins'? Does Delhi then become the capital of the British Empire, or something?)

So I would vote for Atlantis for this campaign (maybe with Mu as well). As Fuzzy says, that can provide a range of terrain types - it's a small continent after all - so mountains, desert, plains, swamps, farmland, forests, cities, or pretty much anything else could be fought over.

Also, as Herby points out, there's no necessity for every faction to be in every location - though with some version of the campaign background I sketched out, any faction pretty much could be anywhere.

I think an important thing to know for the organisation of the campaign is 'scale' of battles people are intending to fight. Are people wanting to fight Aeronef battles, have small skirmish games, fight regiment sized battles, naval battles even? All are do-able and can be intergrated into the campaign I think. But does a small group of explorers raiding an ancient shrine carry the same 'weight' as a Waterloo- or Jutland- sized battle?

For that reason, and this is only a suggestion obviously, I'd recommend that we ask people to limit their faction choices to one at each 'scale', and these can be the same or different to other scales (so maybe French at 1:3 regimental battles, Prussian for Aeronef combat, and American for 1:1 skirmishing).

A suggetion I think is really good is that each group has a particular region it's fighting in. If groups say more or less what terrain and boards they have, and what types of battles they want to fight, it'll be easy I think to say "OK, you lot are fighting in the south-east region, it's mostly jungles and swamps with some cities and farmland, there're a lot of coastal islands, and there are Venusian colonies down there, let's see how your British, French, Portuguese and Prussians get on in their skirmishes and naval battles", while another group is told "OK, you're in the north, mostly mountains, a few big cities and some steppelands, your Americans, Spanish Martians and French can fight it out with their Aeronefs and skirmishers" or whatever.

Anyway, I'll leave the suggestions there for the mo. Hope some of them are helpful.