Printable Planning Forms, Tools?

[NamEndedAllen]

Unlike most guys here, I have a damaged memory module that prevents me from remembering all the details from the initial planning stages, from the OOBs to details of the terrain, multiple sight lines, all the squad assignments and important weapons some are given/have, timing…even everything I SHOULD plan. Heck, I’ve even forgotten our wedding anniversary a couple times in my defense, we have had quite a lot of them, so…). While reading through some of the excellent planning posts here like Combatintman’s, and on Bil’s superb detailed Battle Drill site, It occurred to me that there might be some printable planning forms useful for CM. 

Here is one example but I’ve seen others:

Combatintman’s Form, filled out: http://community.battlefront.com/uploads/monthly_08_2015/post-63534-0-32262000-1440492607.jpg

Thanks for any leads!

[chuckdyke]

6 minutes ago, NamEndedAllen said:

It occurred to me that there might be some printable planning forms useful for CM. 

Mind mapping with military Icons. I use a designer program you can screenshot a map and place my library of Icons anywhere. 

 

Edited March 29, 2023 by chuckdyke

[NamEndedAllen]

30 minutes ago, chuckdyke said:

Mind mapping with military Icons. I use a designer program you can screenshot a map and place my library of Icons anywhere. 

 

Thanks! Good idea.

[Sojourner]

Might not be quite what you're looking for, but in case you haven't stumbled across it yet, Bil put together an intriguing concept of Command Friction and a Battle Log spreadsheet. Intended more for immersion and simulating C3, it could also be useful for tracking OOB and unit tasking,

Something else I've dabbled with is exporting a scenario map to pdf and sending it to my iPad. then I can use edit tools to draw lines and such on a representation of the in-game map.

Good question, I'm also interested in learning what others are doing (I definitely need to improve my planning skills).

[MHW]

Miro is an online whiteboard, which affords visual notetaking, sticky notes, and marking up screenshots. Free for basic use. I use it (and similar tools) in my classes, and it's been a great help.

[NamEndedAllen]

57 minutes ago, Sojourner said:

Might not be quite what you're looking for, but in case you haven't stumbled across it yet, Bil put together an intriguing concept of Command Friction and a Battle Log spreadsheet. Intended more for immersion and simulating C3, it could also be useful for tracking OOB and unit tasking,

Thanks for this lead. Definitely along the lines I’m hunting, although it looks like a lot to chew off at first. Hoping for something, like Combatintman’s form up top, to start with. Begin to jot down most critical things in an organized way. He didn’t have a  link to a blank version - that I saw.

[NamEndedAllen]

13 minutes ago, MHW said:

Miro is an online whiteboard, which affords visual notetaking, sticky notes, and marking up screenshots. Free for basic use. I use it (and similar tools) in my classes, and it's been a great help.

Maybe create a form on it. Or try and reproduce some of these ideas in a Word doc or other tool.

[Combatintman]

@NamEndedAllen - glad you found the tutorial useful.  I don't have blank examples of the tools, if ever I plan something I create stuff as I go.  The example you linked to I think I knocked up on a PowerPoint slide.  As with all of these things, tools can be useful but I often found in my military career that some of them actually constrained me.  I'd start off with the things that you feel are important to be recorded, either because it is the type of information that you easily forget (for me it is anything associated with numbers), or is important because it is key to the mission/plan.  Once you know all of that you can then knock an aid or a series of aids to record that data.

[George MC]

On 3/29/2023 at 11:26 PM, NamEndedAllen said:

Unlike most guys here, I have a damaged memory module that prevents me from remembering all the details from the initial planning stages, from the OOBs to details of the terrain, multiple sight lines, all the squad assignments and important weapons some are given/have, timing…even everything I SHOULD plan. Heck, I’ve even forgotten our wedding anniversary a couple times in my defense, we have had quite a lot of them, so…). While reading through some of the excellent planning posts here like Combatintman’s, and on Bil’s superb detailed Battle Drill site, It occurred to me that there might be some printable planning forms useful for CM. 

Here is one example but I’ve seen others:

Combatintman’s Form, filled out: http://community.battlefront.com/uploads/monthly_08_2015/post-63534-0-32262000-1440492607.jpg

Thanks for any leads!

I’ve used the whiteboard function in Windows - by importing a screenshot of the map (you can import multiple copies see later)  then annotating that as I go, including using post-it’s etc. you can also use this to track different phases of the e battle by using a fresh copy. Saves everything getting to cluttered. 
You can also export the mission briefing via the editor and copy/paste relevant info from this into your whiteboard. 
 

For smaller scenarios I’ve also used the IPad and imported image and annotate using Apple Pencil but find for larger scenarios the screen size constrains things. Though this is more accessible. 
 

Cheery!

George

[NamEndedAllen]

1 hour ago, George MC said:

I’ve used the whiteboard function in Windows - by importing a screenshot of the map (you can import multiple copies see later)  then annotating that as I go, including using post-it’s etc. you can also use this to track different phases of the e battle by using a fresh copy. Saves everything getting to cluttered. 
You can also export the mission briefing via the editor and copy/paste relevant info from this into your whiteboard. 
 

For smaller scenarios I’ve also used the IPad and imported image and annotate using Apple Pencil but find for larger scenarios the screen size constrains things. Though this is more accessible. 
 

Cheery!

George

Thanks, George. I will look into Whiteboard. And thank you for your superb CM work. Partly your fault I have to solve this!

[George MC]

1 hour ago, NamEndedAllen said:

And thank you for your superb CM work. Partly your fault I have to solve this!

He! He! Thank you and my pleasure

oh meant to add the facility on Windows is called Windows Ink Workspace - basically a large digital whiteboard.

Cheery!