Can't do right for doing wrong

Blucher explains the campaign rules to his commanders

The PBEM campaign is certainly keeping me on my toes! Whatever decision I make seems to result in an instant response. Not a bad thing, at least it shows that some of the players are taking the campaign seriously.

We are only on the third day of the campaign, and already there has been two heated topics on the campaign forum. Both concerning one of my decisions. Both raised by the same player. Both regarding a command and control decision. Both involving the commander in chief. But, interestingly, the first one because I ignored the CinC and the second because I supported him. Hence the title of this post.

In the first instance Jan went against the CinC campaign orders when fighting the wargame. The CinC complained that she should not be allowed to do so. I explained at length that the whole object of the campaign was to provide good wargames, and that whilst the game would be set up in accordance with the campaign orders, once started Jan and I would be able to fight the game as we thought best. It was clear that one player did not accept this point of view.

During the very next campaign day the other CinC ordered one of his corps to withdraw. This was in accordance with the game write up, which confirmed that as both corps had suffered medium casaulties, both should withdraw. Despite this the corps commander wrote orders for them to hold. The CinC was in the same location, and I found it hard to accept that Blucher would allow one of his corps commanders to disobey a direct order. I suggested that the corps commander make his case to Blucher, but that he would have to accept that the CinC had the final say in the matter.

I then made the mistake of putting a post on the forum explaining that there would be a short delay, and explaining why. This resulted in a prompt reply, from a player who is not even a Prussian player, telling me I am not allowed to do this, and I would have to allow the corps orders to stand if my umpire decisions were to be credible - or words to that effect.

The tone of the post implied that I was not being even handed, and I felt that I had to ask other players what they thought. I asked for comments, and put the campaign on hold for two days to allow everyone to comment.

This in turn resulted in complaints that I was holding up the campaign, and that it would make it even slower! This from a different player, one who appears to dislike the battle reports because they down the pace of the campaign. To allow Jan and I to play the game, I post one move each day on the campaign blog. Therefore a battle/wargame can last up to 12 days. However this player would prefer us to fight the wargame much quicker so as not to delay the pace of the campaign.

Like I said at the beginning - you can't do right for doing wrong!