Introducing Oneself

Hi,

I am a new member of the Kriegsspiel forum- I purchased Reisswitz's rules about two days ago, having been vaguely interested in the concept for quite a while now.

I live in outback Australia, which means I will have to play solo or PBEM; slowly getting used to the Reisswitz rules (sorta). Is there are any PBEM games (any period) that I could join, or might be coming up in the future? I'm really amateurish as a Kriegsspiel player, but I have a fair amount of time.

I look forward to learning the art of making war with maps and boxes from all the experts here,

Hannibal

Hannibal wrote:Hi,

I am a new member of the Kriegsspiel forum- I purchased Reisswitz's rules about two days ago, having been vaguely interested in the concept for quite a while now.

I live in outback Australia, which means I will have to play solo or PBEM; slowly getting used to the Reisswitz rules (sorta). Is there are any PBEM games (any period) that I could join, or might be coming up in the future? I'm really amateurish as a Kriegsspiel player, but I have a fair amount of time.

I look forward to learning the art of making war with maps and boxes from all the experts here,

Hannibal

Welcome to the forum. I do hope that you find the site of service.


Do I take it you have purchased the TWO FAT LARDIES product? It is, of course a rule system rather than a pre-packaged game and I am not sure there are experts here, only those with a bit more experience under their expanding belt. Sadly I am not aware of any PBEM activity at the moment and the preference is for an all-day (well six-hour) event on one day at the weekend. It provides more of the social context. In the UK this is NW of London and we do about six events a year split between spring and autumn. I have no knowledge of anything in Australia but perhaps you can be a nucleus for something to develop! Since we started the forum our contacts are coming increasingly from across the world. Patience is a virtue.


In my view key elements for a successful Kriegsspiel concentrate on limited intelligence on what forces the enemy has, what his intent is and what he is currently up to and on the time friction in issuing orders and having troops react. In many other wargames you have an Olympian view of what is happening and a much greater idea of what is happening both with the enemy and with your own forces. Many gamers seem to expect near instant responses and do not appreciate the time lapses in events. Even for tactical battles in the modern era in can take three hours to prepare an attack as you have to coordinate artillery, prepare and issue instructions to the infantry and move people into position. We also like to see something beyond just a nod to the logistics of the baggage. Baggage is not just an extra but an integral part of military maneuver and needs to be included within the framework of any game.


Perhaps you can sketch out your own views on what key ingredients would make something interesting.

Thanks Hammurabi!

That's what I love about Kriegsspiel (and I haven't actually played a proper game yet!)- the fog of war, the uncertainty, the confusion and the need for decisive action, alongside the historical constraints and details- logistics, scouting, sending orders etc which aren't always well covered by "traditional" (is that the right word on a Kriegsspiel forum???) wargames.

Other issues I'd imagine make for a good game are things just going wrong- bridges breaking, roads worse than expected, ammunition supplies (without being bogged down in detail), subordinates disobeying orders, even (in appropriate circumstances) mutinious troops etc- the "fortunes of war". The fact that Kriegsspiel is run by umpires who (presumably?) can throw that sort of thing in adds to it's appeal to my mind.

Josh

Hi Josh and welcome from me too.

"Other issues I'd imagine make for a good game are things just going wrong- bridges breaking, roads worse than expected, ammunition supplies (without being bogged down in detail), subordinates disobeying orders, even (in appropriate circumstances) mutinious troops etc- the "fortunes of war". The fact that Kriegsspiel is run by umpires who (presumably?) can throw that sort of thing in adds to it's appeal to my mind."

Yes as an umpire you can certainly do all that, and it can be great fun. Really what's in a scenario is only limited by the imagination of those running it.

I would go easy to start with though, as you may find that the players create quite enough confusion by themselves. If your group have not operated with much in the way of fog-of-war and communication lags in their previous gaming, they are likely to be quite disoriented by their first experience of k/spiel. So you don't want to overwhelm them with other stuff. Suck 'em in first before you torture them

Best of luck.

Martin

Thanks Martin, that's very sound advice. I'll try not to be too ambitious till I get my feet on the ground!

Hannibal