Regular Monday SOW HITS games

A few of us are planning to start a new regular game session on Monday evenings at 7.30 pm (UK time). These are intended as fun games which we’ll use to try out a variety of periods, new approaches, and test out ideas.  The games will be very much at the non-competitive end of things, so hopefully will be a good way in for new players too.  Given it’s a weekday, we expect small numbers, so games will probably often be coop vs the AI.

Here are some of the things we are going to try:

- The Lace Wars (using Blenheim & Fontenoy mods)
- Napoleonic
- ACW
- 1860’s European Wars (using KS Reisswitz Mod)
- Plains Indian Wars (using Little Bighorn Mod)

We appreciate that the timing is not ideal for everyone, but all are welcome.  

I am including a doodle (below).  The intention here is not to commit you to a specific game, but to get an idea of how many could at least make some of the games.  That will help us in deciding what scenarios to create.  

http://doodle.com/geyzzczmzt6xenc9

Martin (J)

if I may be so bold to post here:

I am available around this time on Mondays - and that is unlikely to change in the future - thus I have answered with "yes" in doodle - but I would like to wait for this weekend to sort of make sure that I can setup these mods properly before jumping in and saying "yeah - I'll install 5 more as well "

however the prospect of fighting in the 1860s in Europe, maybe fighting as Austrian in the 1864 Prussian-Danish war - or even avoid the great disaster of 1866 (on land anyway - at sea we did win ) sounds very promising!

hell, I am open for pretty much anything when it comes to time and age of military history

You'll be very welcome when you do make it, Roland.  

The 1860s mod features traditional Red and Blue German-type  kriegsspiel armies, as used in the Prussian training game.  The original game was used from the 1820s onwards, so could represent any period in the 19th C.  

As it happens I have set the KS Reisswitz Mod in the 1860s, so the nearest war is indeed the 1866 Austro-Prussian War.  I have consciously not tried to replicate that war though, but simply reflect battle in a period of rapid technological change.  I wanted to get away from both Napoleonics and ACW, and also to show that there were different views on how to adjust tactics given that firearms were increasing in range and accuracy.

We have 5 so far, so that's not a bad start.

Martin (J)

Got my support but this coming monday I will be working

Mike

That is a good time for me most Mondays. Will be good to do some more HITS during the week.

Today’s game will start at 19.30 (7.30 pm) UK time.  Please try and go into T/S shortly before.  

It will feature the 1876 campaign against the Sioux and their Northern Cheyenne allies.  The 7th Cavalry will ride again under their flamboyant commander George Armstrong Custer.  The sprite ratio is 1:1 for this game, and the 7th looks quite impressive at this scale.

To play you will need the Pipe Creek add-on, the appropriate version of CouriersAndMaps, plus the Little Bighorn Mod.  Please try and download and install the latter before the game.  You can get the latest version here https://www.dropbox.com/s/pw6u2kfg5vsum8y/Little%20Bighorn%20Campaign%20v%201_24.zip?dl=0

We will be facing a force of unknown strength (even to me), and equally uncertain attitude.  

Kevin has considerable experience with the mod now, so I would ask him to take the role of Custer on this occasion.  Plus his scalp would look mighty fine on a lodge-pole.  There will be battalion-level roles for the other players  (Reno, Benteen etc).  These act much as brigades in the stock game, being composed of a number of cavalry companies, together with some less regular formations (eg scouts).  I will probably take command of the essential but problematic pack train.

Martin (J)

"CouriersandMaps" ? - is that included in the download you provided me last night via email or is that a special one?

thx

It's the one we use when we play ACW.  You can get it here https://kriegsspiel.forumotion.net/t370-set-up-for-sow-acw-games-for-kriegspiel-style

There are two versions depending on your maximum vertical screen resolution.  You will find links to both versions there.

The 2 Mods should be listed in the following order in your Modifications screen:

* CouriersAndMaps
* Little Bighorn

That's all you need to play, and any other mods should be disabled.

Martin (J)

If you want to try the Little Bighorn mod in SP, you can.  There are brief suggestions on how best to do this in the word doc in the main mod folder.

The OOB to select is OOB_SB_Kriegsspiel_Custer_master_OOB (the others are purely for testing).  From this OOB you can choose to play as Custer, Terry or Crook, who each have very different commands in terms of both size and composition.

Martin (J)

already tried that a little bit last night - very different to what I've played so far - but it should be great fun

Go to this link Roland and you will see the Couriers and Maps Mod Download.


https://kriegsspiel.forumotion.net/t370-set-up-for-sow-acw-games-for-kriegspiel-style

thanks a lot for all quick replies guys - I am simply stunned at how helpful this community is!

The bill is in the mail. LOL I do think that Martin Charges more then I do.

But probably less than Kevin .

Martin (J)

I am willing to pay of course: my brigades, divisions even my armies have plenty of lead to spread around and are more than willing to show you how to receive those bullets, cannonballs and shells properly too!

SMART ASS

I see new equipment has been issued to the last remaining armoured regiment in the British Army - I am sure the lads from the 1st Royal Tank Rgt will be pleased

Just occurred to me. For those who n have played this mod before (eg Kevin & Sean), it's probably safest to download the latest version, just in in case of any incompatibilities.

Martin (J)

I just installed CouriersAndMaps with increased priority over LittleBigHorn...

a few problems come up: the game crashes when I try a sandbox scenario in SP - if I try to open a lobby in MP it tells me "there are more than one instance for drills.csv - please disable extra mods"

any ideas? - little big horn alone ran just fine... should I load CaM after LBH?

Hi Roland

The clash is with 4 logistics files in CouriersAndMaps. You need to disable those, at least temporarily.

This is because the game does not allow multiple installations of certain files. The particular files should be listed in the window to the right on the Modifications screen, when you click on the Little Bighorn Mod. They are also listed in the word document in the main mod folder.

Disabling them is easy. Just rename the files by say putting an 'x' at the beginning or end of the file name. That way you can easily reverse things if you wish to play ACW.

Incidentally you only need to do this if you are hosting a game (but of course that is what you do in SP). There is no need to change file names for anyone participating in todays game, as I will be hosting it.

Hope that all solves it, but let me know if not.

Martin (J)

Background

It is 15.30 hours on 16th October 1866.  After a long period of peace in Europe, war broke out between Blue and Red in the spring.  Since their skilful relief of Barsch, and a tough drawn battle a few days ago on the Camino Zaragossa, Blue have advanced further into Red territory.



Special report for Blue - Landgraf Heinrich

Things are generally going well with our campaign against the evil Red.  However in Gastenau province,  control is disputed by a Red force under General Kopacki.  This province is still relatively untouched by the war, and both Blue and Red are seeking to levy supplies and financial contributions from the settlements in the area.

It has been decided to deal with Kopacki once and for all.  3 mobile columns have therefore been prepared, drawn from a number of commands, but all reporting to you.  The intention is for them to converge  to eliminate the Red force.

You are in enemy territory and reliable intelligence is lacking.  Kopacki's HQ is variously reported at Randau, Reifland, Tapiau and Lapiau.  He is believed to have the Koenigin and Kannitz infantry regiments (6 or 7 battalions) and several squadrons of dragoons.  There is also an unconfirmed report that he has recently been reinforced by jaegers and hussars.  

Your job is to defeat and disperse Kopacki's force, and also to prevent any significant element escaping to the NE or E.

To play this game you will need the new KS Reisswitz Mod, featuring 'German-type' armies of the 1860s.  I will put up a link to the latest version in the next few days.  The scenario has been designed for coop play vs the AI.  

If you would like to play please complete the doodle http://doodle.com/6gnpbsuvt92sg9hf

Martin (J)

now that sounds like an interesting scenario for sure!

are you going to put up a list of the main mod features? - or is there already a thread on this forum to this mod?

mainly thinking about range of small arms - artillery etc...

I've only played one game using Martin's Reiswitz Mod and I noted that cavalry was almost useless when charging enemy infantry. Infantry small arms ranges are LONG. Artillery didn't seem too powerful and still needs to be supported by infantry.

Martin - beware using the 10 mile map. Kevin created a scenario on it recently and it crashed and crashed and crashed. We never found out why and had to give up. I suspect the 10 mile map is loading SoW to near it's limits. I am avoiding it for Peninsular campaign battles

sounds pretty good to me then... the time for cavalry was pretty much over in Europe by 1866 - just look at the slaughter in 1870...
I suppose the artillery hasn't been issued the new shells yet (I am sure the Prussians had them in 1870) - don't know the exact English term for it - something like "percussion shell" - meaning explode on impact - and not have the issues of trimming the fuses anymore...

there should be a significant difference in range between the Prussian Zündnadelgewehr and the Austrian System Lorenz... the first has a rate of fire about 3 times higher - but the second one shoots a lot further as well as it is more accurate...

looking forward to the fight anyway - the battleplan seems pretty obvious to me in ths one - a classical hammer and anvil situation!