Campaign Update

After the two week Christmas break two of the twelve campaign commanders opted out of the campaign.   Fortunately I have managed to replace them, and the campaign carried on without interruption.

I used to have the same response many years ago when I ran a wargame group.   The group met in our detached garage where I had my wargames set  up.  There was a group of 4-8 of us who met every week for almost 20 years.   The group was constantly changing, particularly the military members from the nearby garrisons.   But the real “danger” times were when we had a break for summer or Christmas holidays.   I guess people get out of the routine and decide that  they no longer want to take part when the group starts up again.

There was the added problem that I changed the supply rules over Christmas.  This was to prevent commanders from keeping their armies concentrated for long periods.   The change in the rules resulted in new campaign phases for all six areas.   This is also a time when players often decide to take a break.  Each phase lasts three or four months, and was so designed to allow players to commit to a reasonably short period.   At the end of the phase I start a new campaign, new map and new order of battle.  So there is minimum disruption if a player leaves the campaign at that point.   At least the new player has a new campaign and does not have to sort out the problems caused by the previous players.

It’s always a worrying time when this happens.   The longer it takes to replace a player the more likely it is that his “partner” (the other commander in the same area) will also lose interest  and leave.   Fortunately there was a reserve player who took on one role.   And I got a second within a week having posted an ad on the wargame forums.

So the campaign is back on track.   It’s been a lot of work preparing six new campaigns all at the same time.   Normally its only one area at a time, and I can make the maps and rewrite the player brief quite easily with the rest of the campaign administration.

We have also wargamed the outstanding battles due to the Christmas break.   There were some really interesting games, including one where three French corps were pinned against a river bend by four Prussian corps.   The French fought hard, but had to surrender at night fall because the bridges were all taken by the Prussians.

Now that al of the administration has been completed I am hoping that I can get back to processing one of the six campaign areas each day.  The aim is to complete one campaign day each week, and providing there is not more than one battle to be wargame I can usually manage it.