Using Wi-fi chat in "face-to-face" kriegsspiels

The usual arrangement in our games at Little Gaddesden is where the Umpire team is in one room and dedicated player umpires come out into the hall where the players have their own tables.  Information is given, orders are taken and passed back to the chief Umpire who adjudicates the results.

This of course involves a lot of going back and forth. I think we can speed up the process (but not eliminate face to face interaction) if we use wi-fi chat like Skype or Discord. What is more we would have a log of what was written, maybe that would reduce misunderstanding, maybe not. There is one certainty however we'll all be able to read the messages because they won't be in a hurried scrawl on pieces of paper.

Here is a snippet from a skype channel used in an online game I play, the players are counting down defenders sent to defend against an incoming attack.


Typical scenario

I'm a little shakey with Discord but it is a dedicated games comm program and I believe more appropriate for the use we would want to put it to. In both you can set up rooms or channels with restricted access and a administrator. So let's discuss a scenario where there are umpires and 2 players on each side, what would you need?

umpire-chan - notes and decisions by the main umpire - all umpires can see (and maybe copy some parts to other channels)
time-chan - records the passage of turns ONLY - all can see
red-player1-chan - access by red player 1 his dedicated umpire and the main umpire (for observation only)
red-player2-chan - access by red player 2 his dedicated umpire and the main umpire (for observation only)
blue-player1-chan - access by red player 1 his dedicated umpire and the main umpire (for observation only)
blue-player2-chan - access by red player 2 his dedicated umpire and the main umpire (for observation only)

So the umpires can make their reports, deliver messages and the players can respond and write messages to other players.

When players on the same side meet a normal face to face interaction will occur.

At the end of a game the channels can be made accessible to all for AAR usage, general arguments etc. etc.

They can be reused, renamed or more likely removed (after a decent interval) and a new lot set up for the next game.

So what should we do & what do we need to get this going?

Well we need to have skype and/or discord accounts, you can always set up a new account for ks gaming if you don't want to mix regular use with family use etc. The accounts should be ready and appropriate apps downloaded prior to going to Little Gaddesden.

We need to see if we can use Sean's wi-fi hot spot and from someone elses phone (pref 2 people) chat over skype or discord to him.

Even better if the hall has its own wi-fi and we can use it, but they a) might not have it or b) not be happy with us using it (though I guess we maybe offer a small inducement to use).

For experimenation I have created a Discord server.

Join with this link. If 2 or 3 people join we can see/show all how it can be administered. I should see if anyone says hello I am in and out of Discord.


https://discord.gg/9vy4B4z