Four "Monte Altuzzo" RtV Scenarios

[Malaspina]

Hi everyone,

I've had an obsession with "Monte Altuzzo" for quite a while after reading MacDonald's book Three Battles a few years ago. With RtV out, I couldn't resist temptation and had a go (once again) at the scenario editor. I drew a master map of the entire area and then carved out small maps to create four scenarios depicting the action that took place on Sept. 13, 1944, which I've almost finished. (The actual battle went on for four more days. I might keep going if I have the energy...)

These are Allied v. AI scenarios with a feeble attempt at A.I. plans for the Germans. Rather than actual scenarios I would call them "companion scenarios" to Three Battles following MacDonald's narrative as closely as possible. Just to give you a better idea, this is the Designer's Notes I will probably include in all four:

"This battle is part of a series called “Break-Through at Monte Altuzzo” depicting the action described in the book Three Battles: Arnaville, Altuzzo and Schmidt (pgs. 103-247) by Charles B. MacDonald.

All scenarios are historical and should be played as Allied v. AI. No balancing effort has been made in terms of forces available for h2h purposes. The scenarios are an attempt at a historical depiction of the 338^th Infantry Reg. assault on the Gothic Line between Sept. 13 and Sept. 17, 1944. This means that in some battles you might, for example, be facing overwhelming odds, while in other scenarios you will be fighting against a broken enemy previously wiped out by an artillery barrage (which was in fact a major factor in the American Army's ultimate success).

Historical participants are marked with an asterisk (*)."

While they are "historical" scenarios (i.e. very possibly unbalanced) I still need general feedback and would like them to be enjoyable for the single player. How does one go about searching for testers and publishing scenarios these days? Is anyone here interested?

Thanks!

enrico

[mjkerner]

Sounds like a lot of work, but a great idea! (I have the book but read it long ago.) To get testers, you do what you just did; ask. Then arrange to make the scenarios available to those expressing interest, usually through Dropbox or some other file sharing app. Then the testers should play them and send you feedback by email or the PM method through these forums. I’d like to give them a go. If you can send me a PM I’ll send you my email address and we can go from there. Sound good?

Oh, and when they are ready for publishing, you would contact Bootie who runs CMMODSIV and he will upload them for you.

[rocketman]

@Malaspina I read most of the book when R2V was released and started work on a 4*4 km master map to make some battles. But concluded that the slopes were too steep in many places to make the German positions close to the historic ones. So I stopped and might do some "what if" battles later on. It will be interesting to see what you come up with. Did you use a editor map overlay? I have some resources that might be of interest, drop me a line if interested.

[Malaspina]

On 6/3/2020 at 3:44 PM, mjkerner said:

Sounds like a lot of work, but a great idea! (I have the book but read it long ago.) To get testers, you do what you just did; ask. Then arrange to make the scenarios available to those expressing interest, usually through Dropbox or some other file sharing app. Then the testers should play them and send you feedback by email or the PM method through these forums. I’d like to give them a go. If you can send me a PM I’ll send you my email address and we can go from there. Sound good?

Oh, and when they are ready for publishing, you would contact Bootie who runs CMMODSIV and he will upload them for you.

Thanks! I'll message you right away.

 

[Malaspina]

On 6/3/2020 at 4:13 PM, rocketman said:

@Malaspina I read most of the book when R2V was released and started work on a 4*4 km master map to make some battles. But concluded that the slopes were too steep in many places to make the German positions close to the historic ones. So I stopped and might do some "what if" battles later on. It will be interesting to see what you come up with. Did you use a editor map overlay? I have some resources that might be of interest, drop me a line if interested.

Hi rocketman, I used gmaps for terrain and satellite overlays, and then relied on MacDonald's descriptions (and my own experience of the area) to add foliage and terrain tiles. I'm not especially pleased with the end result but it should do. I'll probably go over it several times before I'm fully satisfied. If you want to check it out, any suggestions are more than welcome! The master map is 1520x2000. Ideally I would like to reduce foliage and add craters (caused by US arty) in subsequent scenarios as the battle progresses.

True, the inclines are too steep in many places even for infantry, which, while historical, makes the map unplayable in many areas. To avoid that, I spaced the "direct" input in elevation mode (black tiles) when following the altitude lines of the overlay map. If you draw a continuous line of "black" altitude markers on each and every tile, you will see a lot of horizontal lines of impassable rock slabs in 3D preview that make the map look horrible and prevent any vertical movement of infantry trying to climb the hill. If you space those "black direct inputs" every four or five map tiles, some of the slabs will be pierced here and there and the overall effect is a more "rounded" map. However, you still have to deal with impassable tiles and horrid-looking spikes everywhere...

To try to solve that, a trick I used in one battle in particular was to draw vertical footpaths wherever those rock slabs prevented movement or created choke points. Again, not aesthetically ideal but it works.

I'll send you a message for those resources, yes!

Edited June 4, 2020 by Malaspina