Chosen Men on Campaign

[Warren Abox]

Roped two friends into participating in a little map-based wargame campaign this weekend, inspired by my recent reading of Donald Featherstone.  They will take on the role of distant commanders and issue orders to two (defender) or three (attacker) detachments, the latter of which are charged with looting stores from the countryside and getting them back off map to the main body of troops.  The defenders, naturally enough, are tasked with stopping them.  For this inaugural game the French are doing the pillaging in an unspecified region, and the British are trying to stop them.

I've set up a map with five villages and a handful of outlying farms, and each force has an order of battle that offers a little bit of room for customization - subject to the limits of my modest figure collection.  All of which you can find here:
https://chosenmencampaigns.blogspot.com/

As you might expect, I'm going to be using Osprey's "Chosen Men" to fight out the tabletop battles.  Since the players are distant commanders, I'll be adjudicating the orders by plotting out map movement, determining when battles occur, and playing out the conflicts on the tabletop.  Players will issue orders at the start of the day, which lasts 12 map turns.  The scale means that reinforcements "marching to the sound of the guns" can potentially arrive during a battle, and that I'll need to pay a lot more attention to casualties and retreats than I normally do in a one-off game. 

The day's length of 12 map turns equates to 24 turns on the tabletop, at which point night will fall and hostilities will cease.  That will allow messengers to run back to the two players, apprise them of the day's results, and return will fresh orders for the next day.  This way the players will have some opportunity to adjust plans based on the results of the day. 

I'm not quite sure what it means for the tabletop yet with respect to activity in the last two turns of the day.  Chosen Men games typically take four to six turns to resolve, so what happens when two forces meet at the eleventh hour?  I guess that depends on the situation and disposition of the forces at the time.  They may square off to fight at dawn, or I'll have to figure out what to do when a battle goes into the night!

You guys are pretty smart.  If you have any advice to offer, I'd be open to it.

[vtsaogames]

Die rolls for movement: forces might march slower (boggy terrain, chicken coops to raid, etc.) or more rarely, faster. Forces encumbered with loot would be slower. Raiders were most often caught when withdrawing laden down with loot. Forces marching together should be slower, the old accordion effect. Otherwise the French should just mass three groups together and kill anything in their path.

Encounters near dusk? Roll to see if fighting continues for the first couple turns after sundown, with ranges greatly restricted and chances of panic increased. Or both sides might just stand down and wait for the morning, hoping for reinforcements.

Perhaps the player can choose where their HQ is on the map. If stationary, messnegers will know where to reach them and deliver timely reports. If they accompany one force, they will be able to respond quickly but messngers from other forces will have to track down the HQ location, leading to delays.

And one more: die roll to see if each town has as many things to loot as reported. Might be more, might be less.