My Current WW1 Project - Need Your Help for Scenario Ideas

[Doc Twilight]

I know this is sort of an odd idea, but it's what I've got on the brain at the moment. Essentially, I have a project in the works, but I'd really appreciate any suggestions you lot might have about possible scenarios, events, etc to keep things interesting.

Some time ago, I was doing some research on the Austro-Hungarian Army of WW1. During that time, I read about the multiple battles of the Isonzo, which reminded me, in turn, of other conflicts in which I'd read about various towns and geographic locations that constantly switched sides during a battle.

Actually, this happened a -lot- during the Great War, and I thought it would be an interesting experiment/tactical challenge to do something based upon the idea of the same armies fighting over the same ground, likely a town in the middle of No Man's Land, over and over again. So what I've done is to plan out a small, fictional French Town "Le Chevre" I call it, located somewhere near the Belgian border and the Ypres salient, along a branch of the Lys River.

The idea is fairly simple. The major lines are approximately one mile east and west of the town, and because of its strategic location, it sees a lot of changes of ownership as the lines expand/contract over the course of the war. As a result, I will be putting on a series of battles (a very basic 'campaign' of sorts) where the sides involved are constantly fighting over the same town. The layout of the town will never change. The Church will always be in a specific area, the Mill will always be along a certain section of the river, etc. However, the town itself and the geography might well change. Buildings might become damaged by artillery. Entrenchments and field works might be constructed. Vehicles might be wrecked over the course of a battle and block access to a previously accessible street, etc. Tactics and objectives will change, too. Perhaps the Entente must take the church belltower for the purpose of spotting artillery on the distant Alliance lines; perhaps the Germans will need to seize control of the mill long enough to get enough grain out of storage to feed their men during a particularly bad supply situation. Ownership of the town will constantly change, too, based upon how the battles go. The Americans might occupy most of the town for several games, only to find themselves attempting to re-take the town from an Austro-Hungarian force, etc.

The idea is to have a dynamic battlefield in a static setting. To reflect the tactical problems of taking and holding a town, as well as the advantages that occur once a commander generally knows the geographic location over which he has to fight. Hopefully, over time, the various players will begin to appreciate certain pieces of high value real estate, learn to avoid certain sectors, maybe focus their artillery on a specific area in order to render it less useful to the enemy, etc.

So, that's the rough concept anyway. Constant back and forth fighting. The armies and objectives may change, the town more or less remains the same, though it is affected physically by the war.

I think it could be loads of fun, and very different, but I could be wrong, of course.

What I'm looking for are scenario ideas. Various bits and pieces that I can throw at both sides to keep them interested. The plan is to have various objectives and distribute them to the players. Probably blindly so that I , too, can play without being unduely influenced.
The date will be sometime in 1918, the armies involved (so far) are the Germans and the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps, but they will eventually be joined by the other armies that would have been fighting in that section of France at the time (Russian Legion, Austro-Hungarians, etc.)

Any suggestions? Interesting curveballs? Etc?

Would appreciate your thoughts!

-Doc

[cdr]

Sounds interesting but how much of the town would still be standing (there were plenty  of towns and villages who more or less disappeared)

my suggestion: in 1918 intelligence agents (eg Dame Blanche group)frequently landed by French or English planes behind German lines. have a unit clear an area so a plane can land, protect the landing strip from a counter attack, escort an unarmed character

might make a good game 

Carl

[DS615]

I really like this idea, I think it would be an exceptional amount of fun to do that.
I agree, if it were that close to the lines then in RL that town simply wouldn't be there anymore.  However, it doesn't matter to the game, does it?  Fluff is easy to create if someone really needs it.

For scenarioes, I would think it's best to keep it simple.  Take the town is the scenario, over and over, etc.  I assume the forces will be taking casualties over time, maybe with a die roll or something between games to bring up replacements.

While any scenario would work, it might be fun to just go with the single take the town.  However, include objective points on the board that affect the next game or the replacement roll between games.
If the French hold the church tower at the end of the game, then they have spotted artillery next game.  If the Germans control the rail bridge at the end of the game, then they get a + to the replacement roll, and so on.

So basically you could set it up so that the players are moving to grab objectives on their own, and for their own reasons.  That might be neat.

[Doc Twilight]

Thanks for the compliments and ideas, guys. Much appreciated. The town is more or less semi-intact because it's located in what, until the Spring of 1918, was a relatively quiet sector (near Lys). That's what I'm going with, anyway;)

-Doc

[Hauptgefreiter]

What about a medevac scenario? Get the wounded out of the church to your own side, while the town is assaulted? Followed by a "rescue the captives" to free those which were left behind?

[former user]

sounds like a nice idea in any case

the only way the town does realistically not get flattened is indeed in a quiet corner without tactical importance.

recon, intelligence gathering, making/liberating prisoners, capturing something, looting for supplies etc can be the only objectives then.

[Doc Twilight]

Some excellent ideas, again. Thank you.

I should add that more than one town did survive presence near the front lines. It may have ended up mostly in rubble, but there were towns on every front that managed to get shot to hell, and somehow spring to life again, when the fighting was all over.

-Doc