Drago(o)ns in the Fog: Campaigns on the Danube 1805 scenario (no Asid)

[JasonPratt]

So, I know everyone has played Campaigns on the Danube to death and is a huge fan of its unique gameplay, but being an absolute newbie to the game I thought I'd let y'all laugh at my inane attempts to keep Napoleon out of...

...what? What's Campaigns on the Danube?

Uh.

Well, for one thing you might still catch it on the Matrix Christmas sale. Go get it! Thank me later. You're welcome.

CotD (hereafter) is an operational level simulation of just how foggy the fog of war really was, once upon a time, using two of Napoleon's campaigns on the Danube (thus the game title) for purposes of illustration.

Look, it's better if I just show you as I go.

Note that this is an Absolute Newbie During Action Report, intended to help people who have never played the game (like for all practical purposes myself) learn what the game is about. Except for Asid, because to talk about various concepts before the game starts I have to show some information that (unless he loads up my side in a solitaire game) he wouldn't know about, as France, before the game starts.

So Asid stay away. Until after the end.

[JasonPratt]

ENTER THE FOG

The map (for all scenarios) stretches diagonally from Ulm to Olmutz. There are two Ulms in Germany, and this isn't that one -- this is the other one, the bigger on one the Danube. The one that faction of steel butt-kickers in Illwinter's Dominions game is named after.

Olmutz is... uh... well, map names have changed quite a bit for areas east of Budweis, but I think it's modern Olomuc. Brno is definitely Brunn. Assuming I'm right, the map is 311.25 miles on the diagonal as the crow flies, 76 hexes wide by 22.

That sounds rather narrow, and it is -- the map's unusual shape takes a bit of getting used to -- but it's drawn pretty, and features a nice selection of German, Austrian, and Czech river/forest/plain countryside.

In real life this is the game area and its surroundings for context (courtesy of Mapquest).




Those two mapticks are the far left and right of the map, and Olmutz on the right also represents the top edge, with Vienna and Munich (and some area south of them, pretty much where I snipped it) toward the bottom.

Here's the topological minimap of the game map, ingame.




My allied stacks are the little white squares. The top right stack is at Olmutz, the bottom left one at Ulm. The lowest-right one is at Vienna.

For this campaign, the 1805 standard scenario, that's all I have. No reinforcements. (France gets two more stacks later along the way.) Those other three squares in the south-middle are a few reserve infantry divisions, which aren't overly useful except to distract the French by giving them something to laugh at.

This scenario (and its variation) runs for 22 days, from Oct 2, 1805, to Oct 24. (The main 1809 scenario set runs more like three months.) Each turn is a day, and each day has 24 rounds, one round per hour, starting at daybreak on the 2nd.

That may sound like a lot, but it really isn't: this game is a real-time WEGO game, with a pause at daybreak. That pause at daybreak is the only time the players can do anything.

And quite literally the only thing a player can actively do, is send out written orders. By horse courier.

Passively, I'll also be reading reports as the day goes on, brought back to me by horse courier. My map will be updated by my aides to reflect those little pings of information, or in some cases reasonable guesses about what's happening where (for my supply trains, since they aren't always sending messengers back and forth to me).

That's it.

That's all.

I'm General Mack -- that's who I'm playing as a character -- with four corps of Austrians under my command (the 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th), and a couple of Russian corps entering the area (1st and 2nd) who have been donated by the Alliance against France to my command. But I can't command them directly. I have to send them orders by courier. Heck, I can't even command my corps and divisional generals directly! -- I have to send them messengers, too! Naturally as long as we're all in the same stack, that isn't a big problem.

Currently, only my Austrians are in the same stack. In Ulm. You saw where those other two Russian corps were, right? All the way on the other side of the map?

That's the last time I'll have reliable at-the-moment information on them for a while. In effect, they parked at Vienna and Olmutz to rest up after their march, and sent me couriers letting me know where they were. The French aren't anywhere near them, so I have plenty of time to send them couriers back. For now.

Eventually there will be hundreds of couriers running invisibly around on the map, trying to find the safest and fastest route to their targets, trying to find their targets at all sometimes, sometimes getting lost, sometimes never arriving from (rare) accident or (less rare) getting caught.

Welcome to the fog.

[JasonPratt]

It currently looks like Asid and I will be setting up a multiplayer game, so we'll shift into that if we can. I won't post further info yet, since we may decide to play a different scenario and my Absolute Newbie comments presume at the moment I'm playing Mack in the historical 1805 scenario.

I don't know yet whether Asid will be running his own side of the DAR. If not, that's okay -- in fact, even if he does, I kind of recommend that readers choose one of ours (either one is fine) and stick with it until the end before reading the other, so as to preserve the Fog which is one of the key elements of this game design.

[JasonPratt]

I think we have agreed to play the 1805 historical scenario, which is the potentially shortest available that ships with the game. (I don't know about mod scenarios.)

So we'll move along on this side of the AAR. Our game hasn't started yet, and we'll be doing a brief test run (on our respective sides of the Danube) before starting the actual game. I'll mention later when our game has actually started. 

Meanwhile, on to the next chapter.

[JasonPratt]

OCTOBER FOG, 1805

Now that we know broadly speaking where we and our allies are, what are we doing?

We'll be fighting the French, who are currently holding a ton of Bavaria, and who will be attempting to take Vienna soon. We're here to stop that from happening.

In the "campaign" version of this scenario, this whole operation is a question of whether France is holding Vienna at dawn on the 25th (or maybe on the 24th; I'm not sure yet if the final day is inclusive as the final turn or not). If so they win; if not we win.

I'll be playing the more nuanced (and regular) version, where the score determines the relative winner, and where the game can end early if either side reaches a decisive score. For France that means 80 points; for me, that means -50. We start at 0 score each. At the end of each turn, the game checks whether the current situation adds Victory Points to either side -- a continuing situation continues to add VPs each day, so a bad situation can rapidly reach a decisive win if the other side can't reverse the situation. But a sustained reversal will neutralize the score just as quickly; and, if kept, will start accruing for the other player instead.

For example, I start this scenario with most of the towns. That's going to translate (by various calcs) into a continuing accrual of VPs every day, until France can take enough from me to break the calculation of even 1 VP. When-if-ever France takes enough, they'll start accruing VPs every day that way instead, helping swing the balance of the score back in their direction.

So, we know where "we" are (for now!) -- where are the French?




Somewhere in that red blob: they control those towns and cities. (Strictly speaking I could find out where they start, but I'm being intentionally ignorant because Mack wouldn't have known. Which is why the game map doesn't show them.)

I'm at Ulm; the 1st Russian Corps under Kutusov is at Vienna. Buxhowden (that's a weird name for a Russian commander...? maybe he's a merc?) has his corps at Olmutz.

Here's the current French territory on the main game map.




The towns with gold names are French-controlled; the towns with silver STEEL! names are Allied: some are Austrian or German or what was once called Moravia but now are Czech.

My initial scouting report for the morning says an estimated 71,000 troops are at Kraisherm. Ulm, where my Austrian Army has fetched up for a rest, is off map to the southwest a little (I couldn't get it on the screenie and also all French territory.)

Here that is again, scrolled to show Ulm and Kraisherm both.




I'm not showing my stack of chits on Ulm at the moment, but we'll see more of that soon. I can't see the French at all yet, and won't until I've made contact with combat troops. I'll hear about it if they take a city (maybe?), but I won't see them.

In this game, a unit with cavalry can see two hexes out, depending on what the weather's like and some other factors. (At this scale, weather is assumed to be uniform for the map.) Infantry can see one hex out: infantry have to be adjacent to an enemy in order to see them. (Ditto for artillery brigades maybe.) Spotting rules are suspended for rivers: no unit can see across a river, without a bridge, for which spotting rules go back into effect.

Depending on various factors, a unit can hear shooting as far out as four hexes, so that's sometimes more important for spotting trouble. Whether I'll hear about that from a report before I hear about the fighting directly from a report, is another matter.

So there are dragons out there in the October fog, and I have only the first clue about where they are -- at least I know where they aren't, for now! But they'll be coming.

Not knowing where they are isn't my only problem, though. My other big problem is that I force marched my main army to get here in time, and although I've been able to rest up at Ulm we've outrun my supply.

Which leads to that professional topic: logistics.

[bbmike]

[JasonPratt]

We still haven't started yet, so I'm still in pre-game blather mode.

AUSTRIANS FOR BREAKFAST

CotD isn't only a command and control simulation of the deep fog of pre-modern war communications, it's also meant as a logistic simulation. Fortunately, a player can choose to turn that over to the computer.

Even if the player does that, though, the logistic rules will still be running -- just handled by aides -- so it's still important to know why things are happening or not happening. The aides are only aides; you can still completely screw yourself over by getting the logistic issues wrong. Alternately, you can take control of logistics temporarily or permanently to any degree at any time. Which I probably will, by the way.

I, as Mack, have control over all logistic operations for my side, although I can delegate corps to operate independently of central operations if I want. Which at this point would be better for the Russian Corps, especially since one of them (the 1st) happens to be camped on the only supply generating source for the Allies, Vienna. If Vienna falls, the source will shift to Pressberg (bottom right corner) or Olmutz (upper right) if either is still available. Otherwise we'll get no more supply, until we retake one of those cities.

The French have fewer options: in 1805, their supply source is Rothberg, on the upper left of the map (in the 1809 campaign scenarios, they start in Ulm) and that's their supply source with no alternates (ditto Ulm in 1809).

Any town anywhere can hold an infinite amount of supply, or rather whatever the upper limit is for this game, although only 1000 supplies can be sent in any one supply train at a time. But it costs nothing to set up a supply train, so if I wanted to move out all of Vienna's 8000 supplies, I'd just make 8 maxed trains.

Rather, I could do that if Vienna is also my Ops Center. Which it isn't, Munich currently is (at the start of this scenario).

So, to be more specific, I can send supplies to and from places (mostly to places) from my Operations Center. But my Ops Center isn't necessarily my supply source; that's always going to be Vienna. (Unless I lose Vienna and then it's Pressburg or Olmutz. Hopefully I get a choice on that, because if Vienna falls, Pressburg will have a lot of trouble moving out supplies, since all its roads into the area pass through or nearby Vienna.)

Vienna (or my alternate) is the only city on my side which automatically increases its supply every day. It then automatically decreases that supply by the exact same amount, sending the supplies on to wherever my Ops Center is, and ONLY there. The supply doesn't stay in the city, unless Vienna is my Ops Center. And even then it doesn't go into the city depot, it goes into my Ops Center depot.

Once the supply-city train arrives at my Ops Center, it goes into a pool from which I can send out supply anywhere I want -- including back to Vienna, however close or far away that may be! I can also call for supplies manually from any city under my control which has any supplies in its depot, such as from Vienna; in that case, once they receive my order, they'll send a further supply train out beyond the normal one passing through every day. I can also send supplies to any corps.

So, if I changed my Ops Center to Vienna, supply would automatically arrive at my Ops Center depot every day, which is separate from the Vienna depot; and in my morning orders I could move supplies between my Ops Center depot and Vienna's depot, either way, with only a few hours' delay -- once my orders arrive! Right now, I'm in Ulm, all the way on the other side of the map, remember! Or if my Ops Center is in Munich (like currently), I can send orders to Vienna to send more of its supplies to my Ops Center in Munich -- which could take several days to get the order and then send a wagon train to Munich (more or less between me and Vienna), and then I could send orders to my Ops Center to put X-number of supplies into the Munich depot. Or send them back to Vienna's depot. Or to any city under my command (whether it has a depot already or not), or to any corps under my command. But my Ops Center (in Munich in this example) will automatically be receiving a supply wagon train from Vienna in any case, for all supplies arriving on my area of the map every day.

Except at several days' delay, because the main supply train still has to plod from Vienna to Munich.

Got it?

What I can't do, is send supplies directly from town to town, or from town to corps (or to any detached divisions for that matter), or from corps anywhere (even to specific divisions). It all has to go through my Ops Center, wherever that is; and any divisions must get their supplies from their corps, not from me in any case. I can't strictly detach divisions to operate independently, although once I detach them I can give them marching and disposition orders directly; but all such orders must, like all their supplies, ALWAYS go through their parent corps HQ. I can send orders to two corps saying that a division is now under the control of another corps (with all the time delays involved; how exactly the game resolves things if the new parent never gets the message but the old parent sends its message through to its division, I don't know!) But all communication and supply for divisions must go through a corps first. And I can't order a corps to send supply specifically anywhere.

French divisions can forage supplies from towns they conquer, sending that back to their corps HQ, which is a special rule independent of their usual Ops Center supply chain. Note that this is completely independent of whether there is a supply depot in the town that would normally belong to me: they would get that, too, if the depot is still there! A town can only be foraged once, and only by the French. If the Allies retake it and I set up a new depot there, that depot can be captured again but the town itself cannot be re-foraged.

Aside from French foraging, either player can send orders that a corps will operate on independent supply until further notice, in which case that corps' HQ will send their own supply trains to and from the nearest depot. (On this I think the game engine allows all corps to know the realtime supply status of any depot in their regime.)

Any side can also send orders to have a depot of their own burned, which then means whoever controls the town has to set up new depots from scratch. A player would use this option when it seems no longer feasibly safe to just send orders to move the remaining supplies out to the Ops Center (and thence elsewhere) by the usual method.

At the start of the game, a lot of towns and cities have some level of supply already in their depots (though nothing like Vienna's starting 8000). Those supplies will sit there and neither increase nor decrease unless a player sends orders otherwise. Which, as I've noted, even includes Vienna, and even if Vienna is also my Ops Center: all newly incoming supply goes to my Ops Center, not to the depot at my supply source, even if my Ops Center is at my supply source.

So again, as a practical example: at the moment I'm at Ulm. Ulm starts with 1000 supplies. But my army can't eat breakfast there -- we have enough supplies for a couple of days (French corps keep supplies for 4 days, Austrians 2), but I can only receive supplies from my Ops Center Depot in Munich. Not directly from Munich either! -- I'd have to send orders to shift those supplies to the Ops depot, and from there create a train across half the map to me directly (not to Ulm, they won't do me any good at Ulm; besides, I can meet them on the way. Supply trains are visible on the map, and will go to where they last heard their target corps was at, then try to follow along afterward.)

So If I wanted to restock breakfast from Ulm, I'd have three options:

1.) write up orders to have Ulm send a wagon train to Ops at Munich, and then back to find me again (however many days that takes). This would be stupid, but technically possible.

2.) write orders to set my Ops Center (also called my Line of Communication center) to Ulm, and then move the supplies from Ulm to my Ops (in a few hours) then to my various corps separately who happen to be at Ulm. So that would take most of the day, and could very probably screw with my supply situation afterward. Also, I don't know yet how long it takes for changing the Ops Center. Also, I don't know whether the Ops Center teleports along with its supplies across the board in an invincible and/or automatic way, or if it plods over to its new position as a supply wagon train.

3.) tell my corps at Ulm to get off the Ops grid and take supply independently, in which case they'll start taking it directly from Ulm. But Ulm still won't restock supplies until and unless I write orders sending them in a wagon train from my Ops depot (currently at Munich), assuming my Ops depot has enough when the orders arrive. (I'm not sure yet if an arriving over-request cancels the order, or if the order stands until enough supply arrives in the Ops to fill the order. That might require me to send another order, to get supply from a depot at Munich or elsewhere to the Ops depot; but my Ops depot will normally be receiving supply passing through Vienna every day or so, depending on the main wagon train movement.)

Did I mention that supply trains can be captured? Because they can be captured.

Annnnnd now you are insane. Sorry. >:D

Have I provided a screenie yet for this entry? {checking} Uh, no.

So here's a screenie showing the supply depots already set up, on my side, at the start of this scenario, for the southwest corner of the map.




I've got chits turned off, so you can't see my army stack at Ulm. Notice that the Ops Center depot isn't shown at Munich -- it exists more abstractly, I guess. Also notice that this map format puts the map names sometimes in places which obscure that town's supply depot chit. There are no wagon trains on the map yet; I could pan rightward to Vienna, but it won't generate today's supply train until some hours after I start the turn. That train would be plodding toward Munich down there, though, because that happens to be where my Ops Center starts (unless I send orders to move it at the start of my turn; how long that takes to go into effect I don't know, could be variable.)

This is one reason why fans have modded in alternate hex maps, but I'm sticking with this one for now, because it's pretty, and I want to show off the vanilla game.

Next up -- uh, probably time to figure out what I need to actually do on my first turn. (Even if the first turn isn't really ready yet.)

[JasonPratt]

Quick update, Sid and I are still doing the game but he's getting things organized and we haven't had our test PBEM run yet.

Originally I planned to talk about my initial strategic goals and rationales during the delay, but then I realized that if the game with Sid didn't work out I'd be tipping my hand to anyone reading the thread who might want to take his place. So I'll wait to talk about this later.

I do have some plans to return to an earlier AAR and continue onward where I left off, entirely independently of whenifever various multiplayers play or not.  :P ::) >:D

[JasonPratt]

A PBEM bug is messing with our attempts to get started on the game; just wanted to update where we were.

I may try a singleplayer report eventually, but I'm happily busy on other AARs at the moment.