The Great Rebellion Campaign

Byzantine Productions Pike and Shot is a deep strategy game set during the bloody conflict of the Thirty Years War.

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keyth
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The Great Rebellion Campaign

Post by keyth »

1642 - With the impasse between the King and Parliament unresolved by pacific means, the King has raised his standard at Nottingham. Open warfare will now decide the fate of the King, Parliament and the people.

The Campaign
As the Great Rebellion starts and England descends into civil war, the country is divided between the King and Parliament. For the purposes of the campaign, the regions of Britain are as follows:

South-West: Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset Agricultural or Hilly
South-East: London, Surrey, Kent, Sussex
South: Wiltshire, Hampshire, Berkshire
Anglia: Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire
Central-East: Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire
Central-West: Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire
Mid-East: Rutland, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire
Mid-West: Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire
North-East: Northumberland, Durham, North & East Ridings of Yorkshire
North-West: Lancashire, Westmorland, Cumberland, West Riding of Yorkshire
North Wales: Anglesey, Caernarfonshire, Denbighshire, Flintshire Hilly or Mountains
South Wales: Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Brecknockshire, Glamorganshire Agricultural or Hilly
Highlands: Inverness-shire, Ross-shire, Morayshire, Argyll Hilly or Mountains
Lowlands: Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Lothian, Dumfriesshire Agricultural or Hilly

Each Region has a Mood that reflects its Sentiment to either the King or Parliament. Generals that win battles in a region will swing its Sentiment towards their cause, ultimately resulting in one side prevailing over their adversary. For ease of administration, Royalists score negative points and Parliamentarians score positive points.

A win scores 1 point, with an additional 1 point for each complete 15% victory margin, so winning by 14% gets you no bonus, 15-29% 1 point, 30-44% 2 points, etc. (these values may be tweaked as the campaign progresses). The Sentiment in the region is adjusted by the battle score. For example, a Parliamentary 20% margin would result in +2 sentiment, a Royalist 20% margin would result in -2.

The relationship between Sentiment and Mood is as follows:

0 Neutral
+/- 1-2 Weak
+/- 3-5 Moderate
+/- 6-9 Strong
+/- 10-12 Fervent


Positive is Parliamentarian, negative is Royalist as mentioned above. Mood scores overall points: Weak (+/-1), Moderate (+/-2), Strong (+/-3), Fervent (+/-4).

Unless noted otherwise, the terrain for each region is Agricultural. Where alternatives exist, it is the defender's choice each turn and they should advise their Commander-in-Chief accordingly.

The Armies

Each army has a Commander-in-Chief (CiC). Unless a team decides otherwise, this role will be fulfilled in rotation, with each member commanding for one turn in alphabetical order. I will not have any command turns as I will have to collate the orders of each team which could be open to abuse.

Turn Sequence
Each year will consist of two turns, Early and Late, and there will be a battle in each region each turn. In this particular campaign, each player has a home region where they will always fight one battle and one 'away' force that will be assigned each turn by their CiC.

i. Each player must PM their CiC with their 'home' and 'away' army lists that must be available in the game year e.g. a Royalist player in 1642 could select Royalist Edgehill 1642 and/or Royalist 1642-1643.
ii. The CiC will assign each player's 'away' army to one enemy region. This list will be PM'd to me and I will collate and publish the challenges. Additional bonus point options (see below) will be added to the orders that the CiC sends to me.
iii. Each player must set-up their 'away' battle, play their challenges for the turn and report the result on this thread.
iv. I will update and publish the scores, ushering in a new turn.


Parliament
Ulysisgrunt, deadtorius, iandavidsmith, rbodleyscott, shawkhan2, Waldorf, Warlord

Royalist
Aryaman, Blathergut, cavehobbit, Doyley50, ironclad, keyth, turenne

Challenges
As mentioned above, I will publish the challenges giving details of Region, players and armies involved. Challenges should be Open Battle, Medium Force and Medium Map.

Bonus Points
A region that is Strongly in favour of a faction gives that faction 100 bonus points; Fervent regions give a bonus of 200. Bonus points can be carried over from turn to turn but their efficacy reduces with age - you cannot always rely on yesterday's victories... Saved bonus points automatically lose 20% per season and an additional 10% for any points deficit from the previous season (if any). For example, if your faction scored 8 total and the opposing faction 10, you would lose an additional 20% of saved bonus value.

Using Points
Points can be used to increase army strength to a maximum of +200 for any one region. If used in the region that gave the bonus, they may be deployed at the start of the battle, otherwise Reinforcements should be chosen. Points can be 'donated' to other regions as follows:

- adjacent friendly-controlled region at 100% value
- adjacent enemy-controlled or neutral region at 50% value
- linked friendly-controlled region at 50% value (i.e. a path of friendly regions can be followed without having to cross enemy or neutral territory)

More than one region can donate points to a donor region as long as the final bonus does not exceed 200, e.g. two fervent regions could donate a total of 400 bonus points to a region that will only get 50% of the value for a total of 200 points.

Espionage
A Commander-in-Chief may add a note to his dispositions saying something along the lines of 'Using epionage this turn'. This costs 100 bonus points and allows the CiC to swap two generals that are no more than two spaces apart after the dispositions have been received.

Propaganda
With a campaign of pamphleteering, speeches and 'friendly advice' to those who may know different, a Commander-in-Chief may reduce (move toward zero) the score of one battle from the previous season by one point. Only results of 1 or 2 can be affected; changing 1 to 0 costs 300 points and changing 2 to 1 costs 600 points. The players' scores will always reflect the actual result but the Country Mood will be affected by the misinformation campaign.

A Final Note
Following discussions on this thread about unwilling opposition and terrain oddities while accepting that we are playing to win (and I think late 1642 has seen plenty of offensive action!):

i. I am happy for a match to be restarted if both players agree that the terrain will make a conclusive/interesting battle unlikely. As we are all gentlemen here, even the Parliamentarians :), I trust we can all see the other player's point of view.

ii. I can't tell people how they should play their game, but Open battles should be that. Going on an all-out defensive at the back of the map can be a bit dull for your opponent; see note (i) above if you feel that the terrain is just going to kill you! :)

iii. Related to (ii) above, anchoring a flank on a map edge with non-light troops is also a little dull.
Last edited by keyth on Sun Apr 19, 2015 11:53 am, edited 14 times in total.
Keyth

ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
keyth
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Re: The Great Rebellion Campaign

Post by keyth »

Early 1645 Orders

iandavidsmith is Commander-in-Chief for Parliament in Early '45.
Aryaman is Commander-in-Chief for the Royalists in Early '45.

This turn the following armies are available:

Royalist 1645-1648

Parliamentarian 1643-1645
Parliament + Scots 1644-1646 (Highlands, Lowlands, North East, North West)
Scots Covenanters 1642-1647 (Highlands, Lowlands)
New Model Army 1645
Early45Challenges.jpg
Early45Challenges.jpg (124.56 KiB) Viewed 8093 times
Please note: The challenger (left-hand column) should create the challenge, so you should only be creating one challenge and fighting two per turn. Please take note of bonus points where used and adjust the army points accordingly. Finally, please check if there is any terrain in use (far right-hand column). Let the games begin and good luck!
Last edited by keyth on Thu Oct 08, 2015 7:59 am, edited 20 times in total.
Keyth

ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
keyth
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Re: The Great Rebellion Campaign

Post by keyth »

Late 1644 Results
Late44Results.jpg
Late44Results.jpg (156.77 KiB) Viewed 8157 times
Late44Player.jpg
Late44Player.jpg (231.06 KiB) Viewed 8157 times
Late44Map.jpg
Late44Map.jpg (67.1 KiB) Viewed 8157 times
Last edited by keyth on Thu Oct 01, 2015 11:07 am, edited 10 times in total.
Keyth

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Ironclad
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Re: The Great Rebellion Campaign

Post by Ironclad »

Thanks keyth, this looks great, I'm really looking forward to it. What about army/battlefield size? Also in region allocation do we go for adjoining areas for a player (more historical and manageable) or can it be any two regions?
keyth
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Re: The Great Rebellion Campaign

Post by keyth »

Ah yes, there is some detail that the voices in my head assured me had been included - obviously not - will add them to initial post now. When the CiC allocates regions, he can allocate any player to any regions. This allows for some limited strategic play, where a CiC can place their team where they think they will have the most impact... I fully expect to be put on Home Guard duty in the 'safest' regions :)
Keyth

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DukeDavid
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Re: The Great Rebellion Campaign

Post by DukeDavid »

I feel that God has called me to command the Parliamentary forces in the first round of this War, but my wife thinks it was Keyth !
Cromwell.
keyth
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Re: The Great Rebellion Campaign

Post by keyth »

Cromwell wrote:I feel that God has called me to command the Parliamentary forces in the first round of this War, but my wife thinks it was Keyth !
Cromwell.
I blame the alphabet ;)
Keyth

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rbodleyscott
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Re: The Great Rebellion Campaign

Post by rbodleyscott »

keyth wrote:Ah yes, there is some detail that the voices in my head assured me had been included - obviously not - will add them to initial post now. When the CiC allocates regions, he can allocate any player to any regions. This allows for some limited strategic play, where a CiC can place their team where they think they will have the most impact... I fully expect to be put on Home Guard duty in the 'safest' regions :)
Sorry to be thick, but I don't understand the strategic significance of choice of provinces to put in a major effort. Surely improving the standing in any province is worthwhile? Equally worthwhile, or not?
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keyth
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Re: The Great Rebellion Campaign

Post by keyth »

Only in as much as a region may be at a 'tipping point', where a change of 1 sentiment may swing the mood I.e. Moderate has three 'steps' of sentiment, so is more likely to change when it starts a turn at 3 or 5. It is limited strategy for sure, but I am deliberately steering clear of building in too much complexity until we've played for a bit :)
Keyth

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Re: The Great Rebellion Campaign

Post by rbodleyscott »

keyth wrote:Only in as much as a region may be at a 'tipping point', where a change of 1 sentiment may swing the mood I.e. Moderate has three 'steps' of sentiment, so is more likely to change when it starts a turn at 3 or 5. It is limited strategy for sure, but I am deliberately steering clear of building in too much complexity until we've played for a bit :)
That's about what I thought, but I thought I might be missing something.
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keyth
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Re: The Great Rebellion Campaign

Post by keyth »

Ultimately it would be nice if regions were more than a scoreboard and place to hang challenges - happy to hear any suggestions and more ideas may crop up as the campaign progresses.
Keyth

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Ironclad
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Re: The Great Rebellion Campaign

Post by Ironclad »

There was a fun boardgame called English Civil War which I always hoped to be turned into a PC game but it never happened. Haven't looked at it in years but think I still have it somewhere. It had all the elements for an enjoyable if simplified simulation - regions of different values, recruitment, battle board and city sieges plus seapower and Scots intervention etc. I'm sure there are things there that one could translate to here - especially as P & S more than handles the battle side and can incorporate points size armies.
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Re: The Great Rebellion Campaign

Post by rbodleyscott »

The skirmish system does allow custom points to be set for MP games (in steps of 100). Currently there is no way for the challengee to check that the challenger has set the points correctly, but I am sure we are all gentlemen.

(The MP lobby logic is handled by the engine, rather than scripts, so I cannot make the game display the custom challenge army points without an engine change. I am not sure how easy this would be to implement, but I will ask Pip to add it to the engine wishlist.)

I am thinking that in areas which are Strongly for one side, that side could get 100 extra points (assuming that the normal army size is Medium i.e. 1200 points).

It might also be interesting if the challenger could choose any Skirmish Type (Attack/Defend/Open Battle/Reinforcements etc.) - not just Open Battle.
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keyth
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Re: The Great Rebellion Campaign

Post by keyth »

I very much like the different or +100 points ideas. I'd like to start with open battles to get a feel for how the scores pan out and how the 'National Mood' scale is working. Once that is balanced, then I think opening up the battle type is not only possible but highly desirable.

@ Ironclad, I put together a complex campaign system for FoG based on Warrior Knights and, while it was a thing of beauty, the admin overhead was enormous without having a web interface to support it... Which I seriously considered before canning the project. Hence I am starting here with baby steps but be sure that I am looking to add as much 'strategy' as is possible without creating a monster :)
Keyth

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Re: The Great Rebellion Campaign

Post by Ironclad »

Baby steps makes good sense but its nice to know that there may be some scope to make the campaign a bit more detailed where practicable at a later stage.
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Re: The Great Rebellion Campaign

Post by rbodleyscott »

Further to previous discussion of unequal points MP skirmishes, the next game update will show the points selected for unequal points games, so that neither player can be in doubt as to whether they have been set correctly.
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keyth
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Re: The Great Rebellion Campaign

Post by keyth »

rbodleyscott wrote:Further to previous discussion of unequal points MP skirmishes, the next game update will show the points selected for unequal points games, so that neither player can be in doubt as to whether they have been set correctly.
Excellent, that will be very useful!
Keyth

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Re: The Great Rebellion Campaign

Post by rbodleyscott »

keyth wrote:
rbodleyscott wrote:Further to previous discussion of unequal points MP skirmishes, the next game update will show the points selected for unequal points games, so that neither player can be in doubt as to whether they have been set correctly.
Excellent, that will be very useful!
Also I think perhaps the points penalty for defending may need to be tweaked before we use such games in the campaign - it is probably currently too harsh for MP games.
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Re: The Great Rebellion Campaign

Post by shawkhan2 »

I would think that off-hand, a reinforcement scenario might make more sense.
Little reason otherwise for a markedly inferior force to give battle when it did not have to.
Since i am a very inexperienced participant in this game, I may very well be off-base.
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Re: The Great Rebellion Campaign

Post by rbodleyscott »

shawkhan2 wrote:I would think that off-hand, a reinforcement scenario might make more sense.
I agree, what might be cool would be if the province is adjacent to another strongly favourable province, to give the defender 10% extra troops but set the scenario as a reinforcement scenario so that those extra troops will arrive as reinforcements half-way through the battle. (Actually that is what happens automatically in a reinforcement scenario, but in this case perhaps the bonus should be tweaked upwards a bit).
Richard Bodley Scott

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