I have attached an interesting questionnaire on what players of the WinSPMBT/WinSPWW2 game seem to prefer when it comes to User Designed Campaigns over at the Shrapnel Games Forums. It is primarily directed at WinSPWW2 but some of the information should apply to WinSPMBT as well. You can download it here:

WinSPMBT/WinSPWW2 User Campaign Preferences

It covers some of the various parameters of a campaign that players seem to prefer to play. It should be helpful to anyone interested in User Campaign Design. You will find the preferred settings for each category highlighted with a Light Yellow bar as of the date this data was collected.

For those who want the latest data, the questionnaire can be accessed here: User Campaign Player Preferences

TURN 1

Now that UN Forces have now completely left the country both sides go on the offensive and fighting is reportedly under way all across the country. The heaviest fighting appears to be mostly centered around the capital at Luanda. Pro-Government commanders are predicting a quick victory over the Rebels. Both sides are reporting that morale among their men is very high.

Here is the current situation map. (Pro-Government Forces are represented in RED, Rebel Forces are represented in Black).

This is a multiplayer Combat Campaign with 2 teams recreating a fictional civil war in a fictional country using the Steel Panther’s: Main Battle Tank (WinSPMBT) game engine with an operational overlay. UN Forces previously occupying the country to maintain the peace have been ordered out as rumors of war escalate.

In this coming Civil War, one team represents the Pro-Government forces and the other represents the Rebel forces. Force Order of Battles are based on the those of Angola around October 1976. Players get to assemble their forces for each battles the are involved in. They are not restricted to historical OOB’s nor do losses from a previous battle affect what is available for the next battle. The teams initiate their attacks at the operational level on a hex based map, then fight out battles at the tactical level using WinSPMBT. The main objective being the capture of the national capital (Luanda) and the 2 regional capitals (Cabina and Luena).

vs

The current Rules, Player Roster can be found here:

FICTIONAL CIVIL WAR CAMPAIGN - WinSPMBT

Disclaimer: This is not based on any “real” situation in the world.

Mission 1 : Repulsed ! Chimki, Russia. December 1, 1941

By December 1941 the German 9th Army was making its last effort in trying to reach Moscow from the northwest. Some motorcycle elements of the 62. Panzepioniere Regiment reached Chimki within a mere 23 km’s northwest from the Kremlin. Different units of Rokkosovsky’s 16th Army were thrown into the fray in order to stop this last desperate effort. The exhausted Germans were stopped cold in their last attempt to take the capital.

• Type : Enemy Offensive (9)
• Mapboard selection : A8d
• Initial mapboards : On a dr <2 the easternmost board (only) uses Table 8b with a +2 DRM
• Weather : EC are Snow with a Mild Breeze from the Northeast.
• Enemy ELR : 2
• There is an additional +1 DRM on tables G2, G5a, G7 and G8

MISSION SETUP
My 1st mission was to defend against an enemy attack from the bottom board edge (West). Fortunately, I was provided a single 45mm ATG along with some Mines and Wire from Battalion HQ to add to my defensive line. Not much but it would have to do. Starshiy Lejtenant Pronin and 1st Platoon take up positions on the left flank directly behind Hill 498. Kapitan Demochev and the rest of the Company along with the ATG deploy in the center. The HMG and crew take up a position to the rear overlooking the defenses from the 2nd floor of a wooden building.

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This is an SASL Historical Campaign recreating the 7th Guards Division’s part of the Soviet Winter Offensive against the German spearheads threatening Moscow in December 1941.

My command is the 2^nd Company/1^st Battalion/20^th Guards Rifle Regiment/7^th Guards Rifle Division which includes the following units;

• x1 8-0 (Kapitan Demochev)
• x1 7-0 (Starshiy Lejtenant Pronin)
• x9 4-5-8
• x1 2-4-8
• x2 1-2-7
• x1 HMG
• x1 MMG
• x5 LMG
• x1 50mm MTR
• x1 ATR

As you can tell we are short on leaders, a common thing when playing the Russians. But fortunately my squads are rated as ‘Elite’ for the campaign so that should give them a little more staying power under fire.

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One of my 2008 New Year’s Resolutions will be the creation (and completion) of at least 3 User Campaigns for WinSPMBT/WinSPWW2. Not yet sure of the mix but I have do the drafts written out and some scenarios files already started for at least 3 WW2 campaigns and 2 modern era campaigns. I just need to gather the files and move them to my new laptop so they are all in one place and can be worked on a more regular basis or at least more frequently than I have this past year.

I decided to add a gallery to this Blog so I can keep my images uploaded locally on the server here as opposed to using an image-sharing service. That way I know they are always available should the free site go out of business or decide to become not free anymore and my files no longer accessible.

After about a 20+ year hiatus I recently returned to playing one of my all time favorite boardgames, Advanced Squad Leader. Advanced Squad Leader, commonly referred to as ASL, was originally published by Avalon Hill but was acquired by Hasbro when they bought up Avalon Hill. Advanced Squad Leader currently is licensed to Multi-man Publishing.

I actually took it back up about a year ago but haven’t had much time to really spend on it until recently. I have to say it has taken me several weeks of reading and re-reading the rules to even start getting back up to speed 2nd Edition Rules.

One thing that has helped immensely is that I managed to pick up a copy of Solitaire ASL in a hobby shop in Chattanooga, TN that was going out of business. Was told it had been on their shelves for years collecting dust. A rare find indeed as it has been out of print for some time and copies are fetching a pretty good price on Ebay these days.

I recently started a Solitaire ASL Historical Campaign called MOSKVA. It is a 5 weekly mission campaign recreating the 7th Guards Division’s part of the Soviet Winter Offensive against the German spearheads near Moscow in December 1941. I am about 5 turns into the 1st mission (Enemy Offensive) and am having a blast. I planned to write up AAR’s for all the missions so if you want to see how this game works please feel free to check back.

Welcome to my personal wargaming related blog. While this is meant to be an extension of the Combat Campaigns Forums, which mostly focus on PC wargaming, this blog will also include information on some of my favorite board wargames as well as links to other wargaming websites.