Based on Huda (2003) and Martin Rapier: Race for Leningrad.
Campaign
I like wargaming campaigns and multi-player Games. I have a list of my campaign rules and multiplayer games including campaign name, style and tactical rules. I’ve also written up what I like in a campaign and multi-player game. I typically use DBA, Linked scenarios, 3 Round, Engle Matrix, and Race for … X style campaigns, although I’ve also got material on a Free For All Campaign and Diplomacy style games.
“Race for … X” Crossfire Campaign
A Race for … X mini-campaign can be used anywhere where two friendly forces are competing to reach the same objective – the “X” of the title. The campaign mechanisms are based on some work by Martin Rapier as modified by Huda (2003). I have tried to make it more generic than either of the originals, and also show how to apply the mechanisms in Crossfire.
Race Through Normandy – Crossfire Order of Battle
The forces in each session of the Race Through Normandy Campaign have to be arranged so the Allies have about 2 to 1 odds in terms of points – the Allies are expected to win, although it might be tough. What follows is the Orbat for a Huge campaign.
3 Round Kursk: A 3 Game Campaign for Crossfire
This is a 3 Round Campaign set at Kursk in 1943 and Crossfire as the tactical rules.
Krasny Bor Campaign: Phase 2 – Consolidate gains
Phase 2 of the Krasny Bor Campaign is for consolidation and each Soviet player has different objectives. It ends at 13.00 hours and is fought on the Rear tables.
Krasny Bor Campaign: Phase 1 – Break the line
Phase 1 of the Krasny Bor Campaign is the Soviet attempt to breakthrough the Spanish Front Line troops and get as many troops as possible into the Spanish rear for use in Phase 2. It starts at 08.00 hours and is fought on the Front tables.
Krasny Bor Campaign – A Crossfire Campaign featuring the Blue Division
In mid-2003 the guys at the Shed asked me to set up a scenario for a weekend bash. The parameters they outlined were: WW2, Crossfire, 8-9 players (optional umpire), 4 tables, 2 real days of gaming, and BIG. Krasny Bor appealed to me for a number of reasons:
- It involves the Spanish Blue Division
- It is very BIG
- There aren’t many tanks
- It is seemingly one-sided, and I wondered if I could still make it a good game.
3 Round Campaign
I picked up the idea of a 3 round campaign from the BattleFront: Kursk Campaign and the BattleFront: Campaigns in Flames of War page on the Battlefront Miniatures website. Essentially it is a serious of linked scenarios, with some pre-determined logic for which scenarios are fought depending on the results of earlier games.
Arnhem 17-25 Sep 1944
In the English speaking world at least, Arnhem is one of the defining battles of World War II. Vince Lody from the Shed ran a multi-player Crossfire game based on the last stand of the Paras at Arnhem. A last stand poses certain challenges for a scenario designer, i.e. you know the defender has to lose, so I wondered what other aspects of the battle would make for interesting gaming. I’ve sketched out the course of the battle and outlined what I think might make interesting scenarios.
Multiplayer Pocket – A Three Table Crossfire Scenario
I was asked to run a one-day Crossfire game for 6-8 members of the Guildford Wargames Club. This is what I came up with. It was designed to use all the WW2 / Eastern Front infantry I had at the time – one battalion a side – plus supporting equipment, however, with play testing I decided to increase the forces of each player to at least 1 company. This meant the total forces on each side ended up being 4 Infantry Companies + 1 Infantry Platoon + 2 AFV + 2 or 3 ATG.
Machiavelli for Miniatures: A Campaign based on the Machiavelli Board Game
Some campaign ideas taken from Chris Hassler’s Primer for Diplomacy Players on the Avalon Hill game “Machiavelli”. Obviously for the Italian Wars.
Low Maintenance Italian Wars Campaign
This is a low maintenance system for running a multi-player Italian Wars wargames campaign between a Spanish team and a French team. It requires an umpire.
Free For All Campaign
In his article “The East is Ablaze: 1919-1926” Chris Peers outlined a simple but effective method for running a campaign without a map, and ignoring all those pesky things that can bog a campaign down (politics, diplomacy, economics and logistics).
Wargaming Campaigns for DBx, DBA, HOTT, DBM and DBR
I am a fan of campaigns and I’ve tried a few things involving the DBx family of tactical rules. The campaign system included in DBA/HOTT is ideal for one day events. And the same DBA/HOTT campaign system can be tweaked to make campaigns with more detailed tactical rules; I’ve run a couple of big DBM campaigns like this. But over time I have returned to the basics and used DBA/HOTT for the tactical rules as well. My latest initiative like this was Britannia 600 AD. DBA/HOTT are also a good complement for campaigns using Engle Matrix Games.
A Load of Gauls – A DBA Campaign Matrix Game
‘A Load of Gauls’ is a Engle Matrix Game campaign based on the Gallic invasion of Italy in 225-224 BC. Battles are fought using DBA. The game was devised by Colin Tothill although I’ve made minor tweaks to it.