New PBeM Campaign From: jacobus@sage.cc.purdue.edu (Kirsten Maloney) Date: Sat, 05 Aug 1995 00:00:00 +0000 I'm wanting to start a PBeM campaign, to begin in the third or fourth week of August (or the first week of September, depending on how fast slots fill up). I'm using a variation of out of print ("ROTU") and in-print ("DBM") rules sets to run the campaign and adjudicate battles. Possession of rules is optional, since I want to remove players from the ability to "play mechanics". Instead, good sense is supposed to give good results. Anyway, I've changed a some things so that some published rules may not be at all applicable. To give it a little focus, I'm using the following background: The campaign is restricted to a large island, barely in sight of the main continent. Leaving the island probably puts any sizeable body of men out of the game for good. The mainland can be traded with, but this is somewhat disrupted at the moment. Recent history: This island has an indigenous population that had not- too-infrequent intercourse with the inhabitants of the mainland. This consisted of both trade and exchange of ideas. Unfortunately, this island possesses a nice distribution of mineral wealth and arable land. This led to a major political power on the mainland mounting an expedition of invasion. The fractiousness of the natives meant that the invasion went fairly well until a violent coup at the Imperial capital. The major commanders and largest forces of the Empire took off to fight over the Throne. At about the same time the Imperial invasion began, a colonization of sea-going peoples arrived in force. Some speculate that the Empire encouraged them in order to split the natives' forces. Finally, to make matters worse, the invasion carried plague in its wake, devastating the native population. Whomever could actually manage to consolidate the island stands to gain immensely, since the island has enough resources and potential population to repulse any invasion, if only it were unified. Alternatively, presenting the conquered island to the Empire (after the central rulership question is decided) could make for quite a gift to the new Emperor.) Players can choose one of three basic setups groups for their starting population: An "Imperial" population consists of a fragment of the Imperial invasion force and whatever native villages it currently can hold on to. It has the advantages of superior initial troop quality, knowledge of superior engineering techniques, and familiarity with state-factory military production techniques. Imperials have the disadvantages of a small core military group (all the legionnaires who could get out have), unfamiliarity with much of the island, and a great deal of native antipathy. Even the starting civilian population begins as "hostile". This is not to say that they cannot be won over, just that there is some bad feeling to overcome. Favored military disposition consists of sword-wielding heavy infantry, trained to walk, fight, eat, sleep, and breed in formation. Missile troops and cavalry are considered mere "auxiliaries" and are usually foreign levies or mercenaries. Unfortunately, most of these "auxiliaries" melted into the countryside when the Imperial invasion broke down. A "Native" population consists of a few native settlements, whatever native military types who have straggled in, and a legitimate claim to some local noble title or another. The advantages had by a Native population include a better reputation among other natives, possession of a claim to legitimacy, and knowledge of the countryside. Unfortunately, a Native population will have very little initial military quality. Their best commanders and troops were slaughtered. What is left are the cautious and the lucky. The technological acumen of the natives is a bit lower than the Imperials, but it is hardly "primitive". Military technology is comparable to the Imperials, but their roads leave a good deal to be desired, and "aqueduct" is just not done by them. The core of the Native military is the spear-wielding, lightly armored fyrd, augmented with heavier cavalry (who also function as mounted heavy infantry) and missile troops. Poor tactical and strategic decisions resulted in the military destruction of most of these forces. The plague only worsened matters. A "Sea People" population consists of a group of Sea People and perhaps some conquered natives. The Sea People are a hardy folk, who have burnt their ocean-going vessels on the beach. They're here to stay. (The Empire did NOT intend for them to do this, by the way--they only wanted to finance raids.) Their advantages consist of extensive knowledge of boat-building and coastal shipping, very tight internal cohesion, and fairly widespread military experience across the population. A small but appreciable part of their tribal "wuten" (warbands) are capable of shield-gnawing, flesh-eating, terrifying berserksgang. On the other hand, they aren't much loved by the natives (although they aren't hated--hatred is reserved for the Imperials), while they are excellent ship-builders and horse-breeders, they suffer from otherwise poor technology. Given time, they could learn, but the forge and the anvil represent the height of their technological ability. They also haven't much familiarity with the plants or animals that would flourish on the island, and this may prove difficult. Except for the coast, Sea People have no knowledge at all of the island. Every able-bodied man older than fifteen is considered to be a "warrior", except for blacksmiths and other craft specialists. Military tactics and force specialization are fairly new ideas to the Sea People. However, they tend to have good morale due to their warrior ethic. Well-off Sea People function as _de facto_ cavalry, and younger warriors often act as slingers or archers, but unit training is still fairly desultory. Training emphasizes individual prowess instead of unit cohesion. For you wargamers who read this, I should warn you, this campaign is not just to generate "points" and "scenarios". Incompetent generalship could potentially be salvaged by excellent diplomacy and/or resource management. No level of generalship will salvage a badly-run realm. If you are interested, reply to bjm10@cornell.edu with a first and second choice for culture you want to play. Up