Category: games
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Megagame: Iron Dice – Turn 5
Third week of September 1914. BEF Report to War Office 23rd September 1914 Situation Due to the fact that both the Belgians collapsed to the left of us and to the right of us the French 6th Army were thrown back as well, the BEF was in a difficult position. With bravery and in coordination with…
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Megagame: Iron Dice – Turn 4
8-14th September 1914. I didn’t get a picture of the main control map this turn, so you’ll need to use your imagination. BEF Report to the War Office 14th September 1914 Situation We have attacked the German First Army on our Right flank. They were numerically superior (Five Corps to our three) but we managed…
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Megagame: Iron Dice – Turn 3
The first week in September 1914. BEF Report to the War Office 7th September 1914 Situation We have moved up into a line between the coastal marshes at DIXMUDE to LILLE. Two corps of the German First Army are on our Right flank and we intend to attack them in the flank. We believe that they…
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Megagame: Iron Dice – Turn 2
From the second turn onwards each turn covers the period of a week. Turn 2 is 24-31 August 1914. BEF Report to the War Office – 31 August 1914 Situation The Belgian Army is falling back westwards towards TOURNAI, LILLE and GHENT. The Belgian right flank has been badly hammered by German First Army and…
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Megagame: Iron Dice – Turn 1
The first turn of this megagame covered the first three weeks of August 1914. During this turn the British decided on their plan (K) and mobilised the BEF to France. British Strategic Discussions There were three plans considered. Plan F was a landing at Ostend to directly support the Belgians; Plan K landing in France…
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Megagame: Iron Dice
“If the iron dice must roll, may God help us” – Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, German Chancellor, 1st August 1914. Later today I will be the British Team Control for the Megagame Makers Iron Dice game of the opening moves of WW1. Here’s the blurb from the Megagame Maker‘s website. Megagame Makers are marking the centenary…
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The 200 Foot General
This is the third post on my Operational Research driven wargame rules (and it’s probably about time that I came up with a catchy name for them, ideas in the comments section most welcome). One of the most unrealistic things I find in most commercial wargames that I have read or played is that it…
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2D Morale Chart
Further to the previous post Faith in Morale I’ve tried to synthesize the varioius readings on military psychology into a set of morale rules that might give a realistic ebb and flow to an engagement. I’ve not had a chance to test these yet, but here’s what the chart looks like. Reading through the various…
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Faith in Morale
Does having faith give soldiers an edge in dealing with combat?
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Book Review – Bullets and Brains by Leo Murray
Brains and Bullets: How Psychology Wins Wars by Leo Murray My rating: 5 of 5 stars Brains and Bullets is an excellent and very readable book which tries to put some hard numbers on a variety of psychological tactics that can be used to persuade your own troops to fight and the enemy to give up.…
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Counterfeit Game Money
At Chestnut Lodge Wargames Group we design and play a lot of games involving game money. We do this to the extent that we often joke that all you need for a game are CLWG members and some (play) money. Â By definition none of this is real, but in game terms it is always genuine.…
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A215 – Life Writing – Working in the Dark
From the two pieces I’ve already posted, Early Memories & Initiative at Night and another I drafted this piece as part of the life writing tutorial for A215 Creative Writing. It has summarised the original freewrites and linked them with a through-line. Working in the Dark “How many civil servants does it take to change…