1914 WW1 Kriegsspiel

Ok so I’m back here after a long absence and I was thinking about running a early WW1 Western Front Kriegsspiel, it would be at the point where the German Army started to invade Belgium. I am not sure of commands and such yet but if you are interested can you post down below as that wouldn’t help me a lot.

Bob

Hi Bob

I would potentially be interested. Can you provide some more details please?

Martin (J)

I would be interested.

Good to see you back.

Hey
So I’d like to have at least 4 people so every army gets a commander. We would have German, French, British and Belgian forces. I’d like to run it on the forum, perhaps in game management. Each side would get a forum and orders would get PMed to me. I haven’t really decided on objectives yet. Combat would be decided by me. I’m planning on once a week turns. So lemme know if you interested. MRM nice to meet you. If you want to command an army let me know which one you would like.

I will take the German command since Martin will probably want to be the Brit's.

Hi Bob

I am intrigued. Can you provide some more details please?

* Will the manoeuvre elements be division, corps, or army?
* Will the game cover the whole western front, or just say the area N of Verdun.
* What scale will the map be?
* Is this a hex-based game?
* Given the relative size of the armies in 1914, it looks as if the British and Belgian players would have much less to do than the French and German - is that right?
* Will there be a political element - eg what will be the command-relationship between the French, British and Belgian payers?

Hope that gives you a flavour of what I'm after

Martin (J)

Hey Martin,
1. Im planning on manoeuvre elements being armies.
2. I’m not entirely sure yet. I am still in the process of finding a map.
3. See 2
4. I hope. It all depends on the map.
5. More or less yeah. I’m trying to balance things out though.
6. Yep. The way I am planning the scenario is that there is no clear commander of the Allied forces.
MRM great! I will let you know once things start to move into place.

Edit: I think I may have found a map. http://www.gmtgames.com/1914oao/1914OaoMap1.jpg
Lemme know what you guys think.

Thanks. Do keep posting as you develop the idea.

That's a very nice looking map btw.

Martin (J)

Nice map.

Will do Martin

No kriegsspiel experience here, but I'd be interested in participating.

Great. The game is almost done and I will let you guys know when it is finished. I’m going to make the unit level corps for more freedom of movement as well as more people can participate

Me too please

I would be most certainly interested as well. Given that there is a free spot left. Would also be a CoS for someone if necesssary :-D
Nevertheless, I would prefer a German Command.

Cheers

Loving the interest. We currently have 5 people which is enough for a full Allied Command and a German overall commander and a German Army commander. I would like to get to 8 people to start

The OaO Map btw is a work of art, have been considering buying this gem for quite a while now, very interesting perspective on things.

I will ask someone from my club if he likes to join, if that's okay.

That’s perfect.

Please count me in if there are spaces left.

Will do

Any Update on the Progress?

Cheers,

A

I am currently reading a book on the 1914 campaigns, I'd be interested to join in if there is a space free.

@ Hannibal

What book are you reading? Is it recommendable?

It's "Catastrophe: Europe Goes to War 1914" by Max Hastings. It's a well-written lay history. I've found it great for someone like me who knows very, very little about 1914, but I'm not sure it would be particularly useful for planning a kriegspiel. By this stage, I imagine you would have already discovered everything that Hastings discusses, as it's a general history which covers all fronts, on the political and ground-level military levels as well as the strategic and only goes to a certain depth.

One of his main emphases is that while few generals covered themselves in glory, the Germans especially were far too ambitious. The scale of European warfare had far outstripped European communications and transport capabilities, making it impossible to launch Napoleonic offensives across the north of France and achieve total victory in a few months.

Thanks for the Feedback. I haven't read a book on the opening campaign and was already thinking about looking around for one. If you say yours is drawing with a broad brush, I will probably skip this one.

Thanks for the write-up.

A