Atlantis campaign begins...

[Haarken]

Is it too late to join in the fun on this one? If not I have an Aeronef battle report (British vs French) ready, there's no pictures this time unforunately.

Haarken

[Red Orc]

Not too late at all; there are still some parts of Atlantis that haven't yet been invaded by moderns, and of the parts that have been, well, there's always the possibility of a sneak attack on the ghastly Britishers, treacherous Hun, despicable French or damned Yankees (insert any other country you might be opposed to as you see fit).

That goes for everyone else too - the conquest of Atlantis is continuing, but like the scramble for Africa in the real 1890s, it wasn't over in 2 months...

If anyone wants to get involved, PM me and we'll start to work something out; and if anyone who's already involved thinks I haven't been in touch for a while, PM me too - the book-keeping is a nightmare and I freely admit I'm getting lost and people are metaphorically slipping down the back of the Electric Sofa. Remind me who you are and what forces you have, and I'll get on the case.

[Fuzzywuzzieswiflasers]

Hi Red Orc,

If we have allocated different players to different parts of Atlantis we can also allocate some of the basics of the book keeping.

Remember the original concept of the campaign was actually to not have too much book keeping with most player groups handling their own bookkeeping. I am worried you may be making to much work for yourself. As a person who has run several campaigns at my own club I know how easy it is for this to happen 

Red Orc, you should get to have the fun bit where you get to collate the great battle reports into some sort of organised narrative and then put up a simple table showing which faction is winning in which province and which faction is winning overall.

Remember for this campaign to work we need to follow the KISS principle at all times.

Regarding my own sphere of operations; now that the Zambesi campaign has ended in total disaster for the British (battle report to follow soon). The British have despatched the HMES Hermes to investigate the south eastern regions of atlantis.

Cheers

Fuzzy.

[Froggy the Great]

Please register your interest in the Atlantis campaign by leaving a message below - listing:
1 - Username, and name and numbers of the gaming group you represent, if applicable;
2 - factions you represent;
3 - type of games you will be playing (fleet-level actions, RPG/party-type games, aeronef combat etc).

As I have had a fairly excited exchange of PMs with Herr Orc:
1.  Me and whatever players I can coerce into a game. (Anyone else in Charleston SC yet?  Please?  Echo? Echo?  Echo?)
2. A small British exploration force separated from its main regiment during the crossing, led by Sir Robert Delabrough, versus a trio (at the moment) of Venusian bastards and their pets.
3.  I'll be using a mashup of Rattrap games, most notably Gloire Fantastic Worlds, and the games will center around a network of skull-like temples, possibly connected to a network of underground caverns.

[Red Orc]

Hi mate,

...
If we have allocated different players to different parts of Atlantis we can also allocate some of the basics of the book keeping.

Remember the original concept of the campaign was actually to not have too much book keeping with most player groups handling their own bookkeeping. I am worried you may be making to much work for yourself. As a person who has run several campaigns at my own club I know how easy it is for this to happen  ...

Fair enough, you're certainly talking sense. On the other hand we were maybe thinking there'd be several of us actually co-ordinating the action; at the moment, the 'behind the scenes' stuff is mostly down to me and Christian - he's decided that he's not really going to get around to playing, which will give him more time to help out with paperwork, collating reports, and hopefully working up an 'Encyclopedia Atlantica', a kind of universal refernce work for the campaign. Sad in one way (that he's not gaming) but bloody useful from my point of view!

... you should get to have the fun bit where you get to collate the great battle reports into some sort of organised narrative and then put up a simple table showing which faction is winning in which province and which faction is winning overall. ...

Tried to do this a bit with the 'campaign maps'... it's still to early to say who's 'winning', but if I was to plump for anyone, it would be the British based solely on the fact that they have more forces in the field than anyone else, even if some of them have taken a beating! There are four British armies, and now two aeronef fleets, in the Atlantean theatre. Three of the armies have lost a battle I think - but then again, at least two of those have also won one (I think). Japan, on the other hand, has two armies, one of which has taken an island without a fight, the other is played-two-won-one-lost-one with the British.

But the Confederate States, who haven't fought a battle yet, also haven't been beaten... the French haven't been beaten either, and have inflicted a crushing defeat on the British, but they only have land forces in south-east Atlantis - one army, to the British 4, and one nef fleet, to 2 British. So it's all still to play for.

...Remember for this campaign to work we need to follow the KISS principle at all times...

"Keep It Simple, Stupid"? Yeah. I tried that. Then I thought of this great way of...  You know when people who are really into minis get that mad-dog "ooh shiney!" look in their eyes? I'm a bit like that with rules and background. I have to say, Bullshott is the absolute master of asking me a couple of fairly simple questions, then getting 12 paragraphs of complex reply where I fail to really answer anything. I'm trying to micro-manage too much, it's true. I'll try to lighten up a bit. Now, Orc, remember to breathe...

...Regarding my own sphere of operations; now that the Zambesi campaign has ended in total disaster for the British (battle report to follow soon). The British have despatched the HMES Hermes to investigate the south eastern regions of atlantis.

Cheers

Fuzzy.

Good to know that the British Steam Empire will soon be sending more men and materiel to crash in flames over some corner of a foreign land... it's what we do, God damn it!

And, in other news, welcome Froggy! Adventurous escapades rather than regimental manoeuvrings seem to be the order of the day, it'll be very interesting watching the change of pace!

[Froggy the Great]

Dispatch from H.M.S. Katherine, 15 February 1890:

Admiral Radslip,

I regret to inform you that the deep-survey aeronef H.M.S. St. George is now feared lost with all hands, location unknown.  Following a report of strange architectural artifacts not matching any known Atlantean structures at ten past noon on the 11th, the commander Lord Robert Delabrough signaled that the St. George would investigate a purported meteor strike some miles off.  One further garbled transmission received two hours later, and no further contact, though land-based scouts report an explosion deep in the Atlantean jungle.

Our search and rescue operation resulted in failure.  Please convey our deepest condolences to Lady Sarai, Lord Delabrough's widow.

Respectfully,
Captain Horatio Agglethorpe
H.M.S. Katherine.

[Haarken]

Official Bulletin.

London, March 3 1890.

On the morning of Monday, the 1st of March, an aero-naval engagement took place off the coast of Atlantis.

The 13th Cruiser Squadron consisting of the Exeter class cruiser HMS Atropos and the Ralwalpindi class cruiser HMS Panther along with six Patrol Aeronefs engaged a French Cruiser Squadron and it's escorts as it attempted to enter the British Landing Area.
HMS Panther upon which the brunt of the fighting fell after being seperated in thick smoke from the rest of it's squadron was lost to accurate and heavy fire from what was identified as the Jeanne La Pucelle class cruiser Sans Pareil.

The cruiser HMS Atropos engaged the L'Epee class commerce raider La Gloire in a protracted gunnery duel that resulted in the loss of the French cruiser and left HMS Atropos severely damaged.

The British light forces emerged from the action relatively unscathed whilst having dealt the opposing French destroyers a great deal of damage. Praise must be heaped upon Commander David Scott of HMS Fearless who directed such an accurate barrage upon the destroyer Revanche that it struck it's colours early in the action whilst remaining relatively undamaged.

The French raiders broke off the action at the sight of large smoke plumes upon the horizon which heralded the arrival of the 10th Battle Squadron. A prize crew from HMS Fearless boarded the Revanche and the ship was towed back to the newly established British base and has been taken into the Royal Navy as HMS Revenge.

Rear Admiral George Alexander Maitland

[Lupus]

Excellent post and great too see more Nef action going on as well

[v_lazy_dragon]

A bulletin just recieved at a major (Pro-confederate) London Newspaper:
"Confederate settlement of New Atlanta savagely attacked by brutal forces of Greater Germany STOP Confederate forces take heavy casualties in heroic defence against seaborne attackers STOP Significant proportion of Settler population slain by invaders STOP Town in flames STOP Confederate stragglers & refugees seen fleeing into heartland of Atlantis, accompanied by friendly indigeneous personel STOP More news to follow with mail packet STOP J Melksham STOP  Message ends.

[Red Orc]

In light of the recent battles, especially those involving German forces (overwhelmingly drawn from Prussia), I've updated the Eastern regional map:



That should be it, it shows the successful attack on the Confederate States' positions around 'New Atlanta' (now 'Neu-Brandenburg') on the east coast, and the ongiong attempts by the Prussians in the south to fight off the British while also taking a large Atlantean city.

Nef action, though it has been occurring, is very difficult to mark on a map like this, and anyway, unlike land forces, once nefs and airships have fought a battle, they tend to go away again. But, after the odd early disaster, the British seem to be slowly winning the sky-battles against both the Germans and the French.

More updates as information becomes available.

[ushistoryprof]

I am happy to join, current forces heading for Atlantis will be aeroneff squadrons from Germany, Britian, Russia, Italy and the USA. Rick & Richard current players. Ships available are on my blog:
 
http://worldhistoryprof.blogspot.com/search/label/Aeroneff

The games afoot-on ward to Atlantis!

Thanks Red Orc.

[Red Orc]

Good to have you onboard, and nice to see that the Russians and Italians are getting in the action - they don't have any ground forces on Atlantis, but I would think that if nothing else, they'll want to keep an eye on what the Germans and French are up to!

USA has ground forces in two locations in the west of Atlantis, but only small support nefs; I'm sure the USMC fellows at Port Harrison will be chearing the arrival of the big guns.

[Alfrik]

Now just need a posted map of the other sides action on the West coast of Atlantis!

[Red Orc]

Your wish is my command... not updated recently as the action t'other week was actually to the south of this map, so this is the situation as of 1st March, 1890.



Think that should work...

...though it does look like the map has been slightly water-damaged. Retrieved from a downed 'nef, perhaps? Must be ... can't be my rubbish skills with the drawing software!

[Froggy the Great]

The expected action did not happen for Lord Robert Delabrough and company this week, but long-lost daguerrotypes of their expedition might be discovered soon and posted even now, over a century later...