Who shall rule over Wadisdah? Solo-WW1-Campaign in 20mm

[ichwillauch]

I want to share my latest hobby idea with you to keep myself motivated while surrounded by hundreds of little soft plastic toys that all wanted to be painted.

So what is it about?
A solo campaign set in a fictional Arab country during the First World War, drawing inspiration from ideas of Herge and Karl May in 20mm scale. It combines the Scruttockshire Campaign from the "1644" rulebook with the aerial combat rules from "Aces at Dawn" and the ground combat rules from "A World Aflame."

[ichwillauch]

Some Background Stuff:

Introduction
As the events in Khemed from that time reach their 110th anniversary this year, this is an appropriate occasion to delve deeper into the historical developments. As widely known, Khemed is an autonomous emirate with access to the Red Sea and served as a buffer state between the territory of the former Ottoman Empire and the British protectorate in Aden. Although the exact date has faded into the dust of history, leading historians today agree that the struggle for Khemed took place on two levels. Firstly, the centuries-old feud between the two leading Arab tribes, the southern Beni Janub and the northern Beni Shamal within the country itself; secondly, the influence of the two major power blocs, the Central Powers and the Entente. For the first time, Khemed entered the spotlight of global interest when, at the end of the year 1913, initial reports about ancient ruins of an Anubis temple in the mysterious oasis of Tel el Esdir appeared in the international press.

Sightseeing in Khemed
The Emirate of Khemed is a small coastal state on the Arabian Peninsula, located on the Red Sea. To the north lies the capital city of Wadisdah, close to the border of the Ottoman Empire. To the west stretches the fertile coastal strip, home to the two important port cities of Shamal Harbur and Janub Harbur. East of these lies along a north-south axis the two mountain ranges enclosing the barren highlands. Beyond these mountains, to the east, extends the vast sand desert, while to the south, the emirates of the Aden Protectorate form the border. In the heart of the country, framed by the two mountain ranges, lies the vast salt desert, the Schott Dscherid. The discerning tourist can conveniently reach Khemed by ship through the Suez Canal or from Bombay. Meanwhile, there are also groups of investors raising funds to expand the Hejaz Railway to Wadisdah, or to lead the Trans-Aden Railway south to Bedabi, the clandestine capital of the south. Currently popular are stays in the two vibrant port cities of Shamal Harbur and Janab Harbur, or an enjoyable journey along the old caravan routes either to the northern capital Wadisdah or south to the second important city of the country, Bedabi. For those who wish to escape the bustle of the cities, friendly local guides can also arrange a trip into the vast desert. Meanwhile, adventurers can embark on exciting journeys by caravan to the mysterious oasis of Tel el Esdir. In Wadi el Vladi, the tourist can expect the extremely warm hospitality of a recently exiled count from beautiful Romania.

First Plans in London
Due to the geostrategic importance of Khemed, it was decided early on in London to establish the K.E.F (Khemed Expedition Force). For this purpose, elements of the South Essex Regiment, MacLaren's Highlanders, and the North Loamshire (Royal Field Artillery) were marched from England to Khemed via Alexandria, while parts of another regiment, the Maharajah of Padakhore’s own Rifles, were shipped from Bombay. Despite London's initial intentions to prevent it, the Russian Empire joined with an air squadron, and France pledged a fleet and air force.
The initial operational plans of the Entente envisioned crossing the border into Khemed and establishing a defensive line from the coast to the desert along the settlements of Janub Harbur, Bedabi, and the Summe Dau Oasis. From there, advancing northward with the support of irregular Arab units and ultimately capturing the capital city of Wadisdah.

First Plans in Berlin
However, on the side of the Central Powers, they were not idle either. The Ottoman Empire specifically formed a new border brigade for this purpose, while the German Empire dispatched a military mission with funds, artillery, supply units, and a Royal Württembergian air detachment along the Baghdad Railway. Karl Friedrich Theodor von Tatendrang was appointed as the commander. Conversely, to the great surprise of Berlin, the Imperial and Royal Navy Ministry in Vienna pledged some smaller units for naval warfare. The plan of the Central Powers envisaged crossing the border into Khemed and establishing a defensive line from the coast to the desert along the settlements of Shamal Harbur, Hash el Hemm, and Wadi Tarfaui. From there, advancing southward with the support of irregular Arab units and ultimately capturing the southern capital of Bedabi.

[robh]

Interesting idea, setting it in the middle east gives you lot's of options to bring weird and pulp elements into the story.

What did you use to generate the map?

[ichwillauch]

What did you use to generate the map?

Hi,
at first, I drew with a black pen on A3 paper, then scanned the whole thing and colored it using Gimp, adding labels. Then, I placed a transparent hex grid over it and added the map's frame.

[AKULA]

Love the setting 

[robh]

Hi,
at first, I drew with a black pen on A3 paper, then scanned the whole thing and colored it using Gimp, adding labels. Then, I placed a transparent hex grid over it and added the map's frame.

Great result, better than a lot of "professional" publications manage.
I look forward to seeing how you develop the project.

[ichwillauch]

Thanks everybody for the nice comments.
 
To play a solo campaign I thought about a dice mechanism, so I would like to present:

Euclidean Division with Random Dice Results

In a solo campaign, we require a dice mechanism that generates diverse outcomes triggering new reactions to player actions. To accomplish this, we employ 1d6 and 2d6 to test against a set difficulty level. For instance, if the difficulty level is 4, we roll 2d6 against it and obtain a result of 9. We then perform Euclidean division of 9 by 4 to determine both the quotient and remainder. In this example, we get 2 for the quotient and 1 for the remainder.
Thus, rolling a 9 against a difficulty level of 4 yields two successes and one failure. In the context of a damage roll, this translates to achieving two points of damage while accepting one failure. Failures may result in increased resource expenditure such as ammunition for ships, fuel for aircraft, supplies for land units, or counterespionage measures for agents.
Failures accumulate over time and undergo Euclidean division, too. Whenever the division yields an integer, the model sustains damage. Consequently, damage escalation raises the difficulty level against which dice are rolled.
In gameplay, this dynamic requires players to occasionally abort actions early to prevent complete loss of their units. Conversely, success can be attained relatively easily.

[ichwillauch]

A gaming example:

Agent: Richard Pineapple
Careers
• Medic: 0
• Soldier: 1
• Merchant: 2

Secret Mission: Travel incognito to Hash el Hemm and determine which enemy forces are stationed there.

In the first section of his journey, the agent must first find a local fisherman – "Call me Sinbad, I am a sailor" – and sail with his Arabian dhow from Janub Harbur to Shamal Harbur. This poses no particular difficulty. Upon arrival in Shamal Harbur, the agent must now enter the city incognito (1), find a local contact (2), find transportation to Hash el Hemm (3), and persuade his friend Sinbad (4) to wait in the harbor of Shamal Harbur until he returns. He must then leave the port city incognito (5). Thus, the difficulty level is 5, and the career: Merchant is used with 2d6. The roll results in a 9, which is very unfavorable, as there is only one success against four failures. Four failures mean that the Ottoman Empire's counter-espionage is already well aware that a spying operation by the Entente is underway.

In the second section of the journey, our agent travels from Shamal Harbur to Hash el Hemm. Such journeys proceed without problems.
In the third section, the agent must enter Hash el Hemm incognito, find a local contact to arrange transportation for his departure, and of course, he wants to leave Hash el Hemm incognito. Thus, the difficulty level is 4, and the career: Merchant is used with 2d6. The roll results in a 7. Again, this is very unfavorable, as there is only one success against three failures.

The espionage activity should not be too complicated, as the agent only has a Soldier career of 1. Therefore, it suffices if he identifies the military presence (1) and determines the number of units (2). Thus, the difficulty level is 2, and the career: Soldier is used with 1d6. He rolls a 1, resulting in no success and one failure.

So far, the agent's deployment has been a complete disaster. However, our agent can depart from Hash el Hemm. The journey to Shamal Harbur is as usual without difficulty, but things have changed in Shamal Harbur. Essentially, our agent just needs to enter the city incognito (1), find Sindbad in any harbor tavern (2), and leave the harbor with him undisturbed (3). However, since his failures have now increased to a total of 8, the Euclidean division by the difficulty level of 3 is 2 (ignoring the remainder), and the final difficulty level is 5. With a roll of 8, he achieves one success with three failures.

But now let's remember that we have a remainder of 2 and three new failures. Thus, the sum of failures equals the final difficulty level, and counter-espionage succeeds. Our agent disappears without a trace in the streets of Shamal Harbur shortly after finding his friend Sindbad (the agent did have one success). A few days later, an Arab sailor appears at the espionage headquarters in Janub Harbur and delivers a rather confused narrative about a mysterious new weapon of the Ottoman Empire, which, however, broke into seven pieces scattered all over Khemed and now must be found again in seven elaborate journeys.

[robh]

To play a solo campaign I thought about a dice mechanism, so I would like to present:

Euclidean Division with Random Dice Results

 

I hope that is not as complicated as it sounds