Further pondering of how I'm going to handle the various decision points led to, after an abortive attempt, the creation of a table of decision points for each commander. On relevant dates decisions on options are taken by rolling a dice, e.g. what date does Leopold capture Leipzig. Some decisions are about direction: "after Leipzig, does Leopold head for Torgau or does he take a more direct route towards Dresden?". The historical outcome has odds weighted in its favour. In the last example, Leopold heads to Torgau (the historical course) on a 1-4 and more direct to Dresden on a 5 or 6. Sounds more complicated than it is.
Snapshot from the table:
Date | Frederick | Lehwaldt | Leopold | Charles | Grünne | Rutowski |
20 Nov | Charles crosses border at Zittau | Heads for Berlin at 15 miles a day. | ||||
21 Nov | ||||||
22 Nov | ||||||
23 Nov | Frederick crosses the border into Lusatia at Naumburg (Silesia - Now Nowogrodziec, Poland). | |||||
24 Nov | Frederick takes Görlitz: 1 24th; 2,3,4 25th; 5,6 26th | Leopold gets orders: 1,2 24th 3,4 25th 4,5 26th | Dice for when he gets news of Frederick crossing border: 1,2 24th 3,4 25th 5,6 26th | |||
25 Nov | ||||||
26 Nov | ||||||
27 Nov | F despatches Lehwaldt to Meissen: 1 27th 2,3 28th 4,5 29th 6 30th | Lehwaldt marches towards Meissen: 1,2 same day 3,4 +1 day 5,6 +2 days | ||||
28 Nov | ||||||
29 Nov | Leopold leaves Halle +/- 1day | |||||
30 Nov | Leopold captures Leipzig +/- 1day | When Leopold captures Leipzig dice for whether R concentrates ‘forward’ or ‘back’ 1,2 Forward 3-6 Back -1 if S-W is NOT CinC |
In addition there are some 'standing orders' such as, Saxons and Grünne if forced back always head towards Dresden. Charles, if forced to retreat, will attempt to retreat back to Bohemia via the last route he used.
The next preparation step is to prepare the map. Then I think I'm ready.
 |
| My last foray into 'Saxony 1745' The Battle of Kesselsdorf. I can't believe this was over 4 years ago. |
You are right. Very hard to believe that your Kesselsdorf battle was more than four years ago.
ReplyDeleteTempis certainly fugits quickly these days.
DeleteThat looks a very effective way to help handle certain decisions within the campaign, so look forward to seeing how this all pans out:). Funnily enough I was thinking today about how to handle a simple narrative 18thC campaign, using some of the info gleaned from the Horace St Paul books published by Helion & Co. Using you chart above would seem to be an ideal starting point:).
ReplyDeleteIt'd be great if you found the chart useful too. I thought it would be an effective way of testing for 'events' at the right time. The first iteration was a right mess. What theatre/year would your SYW campaign cover Steve?
DeleteI honestly have no idea Chris, but most likely something covered by St Paul, but adding an ImagiNations twist to it, using my MDF figures. Something to ponder for 2026 for sure.
DeleteWhat sort of map will you be doing? Point to point or hexed?
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking point to point at the moment. If I can print the Saxony map (not a given with our printer's idiosyncracies) I'll draw in the key points and roads etc just to make it clearer.
DeleteLooks good Peter. Adds some variation without the possibility of weird results. e.g. if anyone rolls a 1 for several activations in a row and stands around looking awkward. 😁
ReplyDeleteThat's what I was going for Ben. A series of bad throws might mean someone is delayed but they will nearly always move the next turn.
DeleteJust had a thought that I need to allow for some smaller detached forces to come into contact with each other.
All looking very good and well conceived. Looking forward to seeing the map and how this plays.
ReplyDeleteCheers Richard.
DeleteChris