Planning the next campaign

We have been kept busy wargaming the three campaign battles.

But with the campaign on hold until all three are completed I have found myself with a lot of time on my hands in-between the wargaming. This is never a good thing, because there is too much time to consider what might be improved for the next campaign.

There are two aspects in particular which I have been giving a lot of thought to.

First whether to change the order of battle for the campaign. Since converting to PBEM I have found that most of the battles/wargames are one corps per side. With our small corps this in turn means not a lot of model soldiers on the table. The rules were designed for four corps per side, and they have had to be amended to cater for the smaller battles.

I have spent some time working on using the four corps as four divisions when fighting single corps battles. This would increase the number of figures on the table. But it would look strange when there were two corps per side, or two to one.

There is also the consideration that we quite like smaller number of figures on the table. It allows for open flanks, and less figures to move around. In fact we much prefer the faster wargames as a result.

The second thing I have been working on is a new set of maps.

Over Christmas I created a new map of Europe. Again based on the AA road atlas of Europe, but this time a more accurate copy. I then want to have a series of campaign objectives on the map, each one small enough to produce a shorter campaign phase.

As the PBEM campaign rules are developed, the players have more choice and can use their initiative more. This has resulted in long periods of movement but no battles. I am tempted to reduce the tactical map, which would reduce their room to manoeuvre.

I have enjoyed the exercise, but have not come to any firm conclusions.

Meanwhile we have almost finished the third battle and hope to return to the campaign movement next week.