Kudos to Pete Wenman - operational campaign developed from his massive Radzymin map

[Odin]

Some of you may be interested in checking out a semi-historical operational level game Ithikial and I have developed. The game uses Pete Wenman's massive Radzymin master map (approximately 5.5km x 5.5km). It takes place over 3 days in early August 1944, and is set around Radzymin, which is 20 miles north east of Warsaw, where the Germans managed to finally halt the Soviet advance. Each day is divided into a number of campaign turns, and the battles are created from sections of the master map by Ithikial (the games master). We are playing out the campaign in two teams, each consisting of 3 players. To give you an idea of the scale, as the commander of the German team we will be playing the role of the 19th Panzer Division and will have 65,000 CM purchase points to spend on the creation of a number of the Division's regiments and battalions.

We've just started the first campaign turn. We have a thread over on the The Few Good Men where we'll be posting AAR updates (I think the Soviet team will be doing the same). I have just started my first battle as part of the campaign, and I'm trying to repel a Russian assault across the River Struga and stop them from forming a bridgehead before our reinforcements arrive. Between both sides' artillery barrages for this opening scenario, I have never seen such a rate of fire in all my time playing CM.

In the long run we also hope to produce some stand alone scenarios for the wider community to enjoy, which will be taken from the battles we create and fight as part of the campaign. If you're interested in operational/multi-player CM stuff You should check The Few Good Men, there is lots of great stuff going on over there.

Pete if you read this, thanks for producing such a beautifully detailed map, it must have taken a hell of a lot of time and effort.

Here are links to the German command AAR thread for turn 1 of the campaign, a pic of the campaign map, a link to download Pete's master map, and a copy of the rules we've developed:

http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmf...allowed.20658/

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3074

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8f357a8zn67hy11/The%20Battle%20of%20Radzymin%20Final.pdf?dl=0

[Erwin]

Looks fascinating. However, I got an "http 40 cannot be found" msg.

[Odin]

Link in the original post has been updated. Here's another copy just in case:

http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/threads/19th-panzer-division-updates-from-the-front-day-1-dawn-no-soviet-players-allowed.20658/

[Pete Wenman]

Thanks Odin - It's great to see this map getting more fully used. And yes it took a long time to make.

It's worth noting there are few if any flavour objects on the main map, as there was no way I could amend there position given I could not open this map, and the same goes for buildings façades and doors. No tweaking on the main map of any sort. The campaign maps taken from the master did have these elements added however.

I'll follow this with interest and that looks to be some artillery barrage going on at the moment.

P

edit to add

76mm Has an editor image of the full map in his new map database and so you might want to tweak the map image you are using to update it so that the South West corner reflects the completed map. (My editor image - the one you show above, was stitched together before I finished the map and so is empty of terrain elements in the SW corner.)

[Odin]

@Pete, flavour objects or not it looks great. Radzymin also makes for a nice change to the lare numbr of forest maps which come with RT.

I don't really play single player much. Can I ask which campaign did you use Radzymin for?

[Odin]

For some reason my link to the FGM thread keeps going down. Here's a link to the master thread page:

http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/forums/cmrt-battle-of-radzymin-mini-campaign.371/

Hope this one doesn't get corrupted

I also notice that the Soviets have started their AAR thread, so both sides of the story are now available

[Buzz]

Hats off to anyone that can manage 65,000 CM purchase points!

A quick look at FGM site. One comment re: Pete Wenman's massive Radzymin master map (approximately 5.5km x 5.5km) was no computer could open it.

You must be using the entire map for the operational campaign... aren't your? If so

I just loaded Pete's Razymin Master Map - CARE in 2 minutes 46 seconds but w/o 65,000 points on the map.

What size save files are you generating with this campaign?

Razymin Master Map is an amazing piece of work.

[Ithikial_AU]

Hats off to anyone that can manage 65,000 CM purchase points!

A quick look at FGM site. One comment re: Pete Wenman's massive Radzymin master map (approximately 5.5km x 5.5km) was no computer could open it.

You must be using the entire map for the operational campaign... aren't your? If so

I just loaded Pete's Razymin Master Map - CARE in 2 minutes 46 seconds but w/o 65,000 points on the map.

What size save files are you generating with this campaign?

Razymin Master Map is an amazing piece of work.

There's a campaign rule set we are using. Odin did the initial draft and I came in as GM and did some tinkering. (He initially wanted to track individual HMG equipment losses. Adventurous, but asking to fray the sanity of any volunteering GM ). This campaign is a bit of a 'beta' and there has already been a few refinements as we realised the limitations of the CM Editor for something this scale.

The best way I like to describe what we've been aiming for is:

- CMx1 like Operations with persistent map damage etc.

- Players are more like Division Staff Officers between CM games where they have to organise ground force deployments and set out individual battle objectives for their troops to achieve on map. True FOW for both sides in game, you have to achieve your objectives while trying to work out what your opponent is trying to achieve in turn. (Unlike Quick battles and scenarios where you generally already have a fair idea).

- 65,000 pt OOB on both sides (aircraft excluded) is spread over three days this operation lasts. Most battles will be Battalion(+) affairs but nothing to stop them being small scale affairs like probes etc.

- Pete's master map is sliced and diced to design individual battles by the GM.

Can't see why this can't be replicated for other Operation scale multiplayer campaigns in other WW2 titles down the track. As you can see from the links we're only in Campaign Turn 1 (Dawn, Day 1) and already getting some interesting CM battles you may not usually see in a MP quick battle.

[Pete Wenman]

Can I ask which campaign did you use Radzymin for?

The Radzymin master map was used for the first five of the German campaign missions (Blunting the Spear). I did the first two missions, while others including JonS did missions 3-5, and ChrisND did both the map and scenario for mission 6.

A bit of a team effort, as are the Black Sea campaigns.

P

[Buzz]

Thank you for the explanation of the campaign Ithikial_AU.

“Pete's master map is sliced and diced to design individual battles by the GM.”

I wondered if you used Pete’s entire Radzymin master map with 65,000 pt OOB on both sides (aircraft excluded). The Radzymin master map total would make for a substantial load time and massive saved files. Breaking it up into individual battles makes sense. True FOW is cool. Just flying around the map last PM (w/o troops) it was easy for me to get lost in 5km X 5km I can see the allure to playing on such a massive and beautiful map. A Battalion(+) affair is massive by my standards of 1 company playing as Elite, Real Time vs. A.I.

Enjoy the Campaign and thanks for the information.

[Odin]

Buzz, just to elaborate a little more, the battle I'm currently fighting is around 2500m x 1500m. But maps can be much smaller or even a little bigger depending on the battle being fought.

At the start of each 'campaign' turn both sides have a chance to manoeuvre their units on the operational map shown in my first post (infantry units represented at company level, armoured units at platoon). Where from, depending on the type of battle to be fought (the options being reconnaissance, meeting engagement, or attack), Ithikial draws up the battlefields (there can be a maximum of six scenarios each turn). During the first campaign turn we are currently playing out two reconnaissance scenarios and one attack, where I am trying to repulse a Soviet assault as they trying to cross a river which our defensive lines are based around.

The battle with my opponent is currently on a knife edge, and a victory for either side would prove major blow for the other.

[Buzz]

Buzz, just to elaborate a little more, the battle I'm currently fighting is around 2500m x 1500m. But maps can be much smaller or even a little bigger depending on the battle being fought.

At the start of each 'campaign' turn both sides have a chance to manoeuvre their units on the operational map shown in my first post (infantry units represented at company level, armoured units at platoon). Where from, depending on the type of battle to be fought (the options being reconnaissance, meeting engagement, or attack), Ithikial draws up the battlefields (there can be a maximum of six scenarios each turn). During the first campaign turn we are currently playing out two reconnaissance scenarios and one attack, where I am trying to repulse a Soviet assault as they trying to cross a river which our defensive lines are based around.

The battle with my opponent is currently on a knife edge, and a victory for either side would prove major blow for the other.

Sounds really cool Odin. Thanks for the elaboration.

Are you planning an AAR video from this FGM campaign?

If you don't mind, how long does a move take on these campaign contests?

The massive maps are great fun to fly around w/o troops. These larger maps should provide a level of immersion in battalion + bashes as they give you some room to work with these forces.

[Odin]

Yes I'm going to try and put together a video AAR for the campaign.

Re movement of units at the campaign level, we push counters round the campaign map. This is done using photoshop, and once we have finished moving our units at the for each campaign turn the map is saved as a jpeg (there is an example of a populated campaign map in the FGM thread).

There is no need to open up the Radzymin CM master map and sit there for an hour or so moving units into position - although thinking about it that method might save Ithikial a bit of time.