Date: Sun Sep 19 20:03:27 2004
Sender: Andy Dolphin
Since I haven't gotten many comments on the supply and production systems,
let's move on to the other two parts of the game we'll need before we can play
the Russia 1941 scenario.
First is weather. This is something we could safely ignore in the France 1940
scenario because May through August are good weather months in western Europe.
I'd like to keep this as simple as possible (as with many other things in Axis
Tide). Weather is determined by climate zone, month, and a random die roll.
The climate zones from the Axis Tide map are as follows: northern, atlantic,
continental, mediterranean, and arid.
The Arid region is the easiest the weather is always good.
The Mediterranean region has rains between October and April. For military
purposes, mud should be expected in November through March, with it possible in
October and April as well (perhaps a 1/3 chance). The rest of the year the
weather is good.
The Atlantic region has rains throughout the year, but like the Mediterranean
does not suffer freezes. However, the infrastructure in the Atlantic region
(England, France, and Germany) was better than in Tunisia and Italy, so the
effects of the rains are less severe. Thus I would suggest having clear
weather all year, except for the winter months, when shorter daylight hours and
North Atlantic storms prohibit effective campaigning and especially effective
air and naval operations. I'll suggest that stormy weather lasts from October
through March.
The Continental region (Eastern Europe and Russia) has two muddy seasons and
winter. The first muddy season is October and occasionally November. The
winter season starts in December and lasts through March. April and sometimes
March or May are again muddy.
The Northern region is similar to Continental, but the winter months are longer
(October through April).
--
Weather effects
Clear: none
Mud: all ground movement costs doubled; all attacks except against naval units
take two-column left shift; rivers are treated like straits for movement
purposes; ground attacks across a river are not allowed.
Stormy: air and naval attacks on ground units take two-column shift left;
ambhibious invasions and airborne landings prohibited.
Winter: rivers and lakes are ignored. All units fight at half strength except
Soviet, Finnish, Swedish, and Norwegian. Naval missions in the Baltic and
White Sea are not permitted.
--
I think this will be pretty simple. Any comments/suggestions/questions?
Date: Mon Sep 20 21:27:10 2004
Sender: Karim Cheaib
What you said is pretty complete. I would like to add, that maybe we should
emphazise more on the weather in russia, since it can become extrem. Let's not
forget that Napoleon lost the war not against russia, but against the weather.
As for the weather in france, for personaly living there, i dont think it
should have any effect at all. Since the winter is always pretty mild, and the
rain is not that bad so it effects military action. Maybe we can say that units
will move slower during winter, but nothing major.
As for england, we can concider the winter to be a factore since the weather
there sucks big time, it's always foggy, if it's not foggy, it's cloudy, and if
it's not cloudy, it's raining :)
Date: Tue Sep 21 22:41:11 2004
Sender: Andy Dolphin
Karim, my proposed winter rules in western Europe wouldn't do anything to
ground combat. It would account for stormier weather and shorter days by
making air and naval bombardment less effective.
Date: Wed Sep 22 22:04:59 2004
Sender: Karim Cheaib
Don;t you think it could interesting concidering effects on ground attacks
Date: Thu Sep 23 07:25:30 2004
Sender: Phil Bradley
I think these rules are a good first cut.
Date: Thu Sep 23 07:34:51 2004
Sender: Phil Bradley
The only thing that I would add, is to be careful if you throw in variablility
to what the weather will be like. In games I've played before weather can
almost determine the outcome of the war and a balance had to be struck i.e.
if there is an early winter in russia one year the likelihood of an early
winter in the subsequent year should decrease (possibly to a zero chance). It
didn't sound like you were going to have variable weather though so I don't
think there will be a problem.
one more thought, you may have covered this I can't remember, but in winter
(where units fight at half strength) the exceptions imo should be when fighting
on home territory and possibly when defending inside a city.
Date: Fri Sep 24 17:51:55 2004
Sender: Andy Dolphin
Good points. Regarding variable weather, I wouldn't want to see the seasons
totally fixed in stone. I think the uncertainty of not knowing the next turn's
weather makes the strategies a little more interesting. Of course, the flip
side is -- how variable is a full month's worth of weather? It's not as if
we're dealing with specific storms coming through... So perhaps we can start
with fixed weather, see if it's too boring, and if so use the die.
I'm thinking that German units would have been hard-pressed to fight
effectively at -20 degrees, whether or not they were in a city. Naturally,
they would still get the city bonus in combat.
Karim, the issue with western Europe is that no effective campaign was ever
mounted during the winter months. The bulge was fought during bad weather (and
the shortest days) specifically to minimize the Allied air superiority edge.
So I think the ground units can move and fight reasonably well on their own,
just they lose air support.
Date: Mon Oct 4 08:18:38 2004
Sender: Stephen Thompson
Andy, what do you think about the problems with actual loss of troops do to
freezing weather, which were real issues both in Ardennes and Moscow? The
principle problems with the Americans and Germans, respectively, in those
campaigns was the lack of winter equipment they had, and that has a real impact
in lives as well as combat effectiveness.
Date: Tue Oct 5 01:34:55 2004
Sender: Andy Dolphin
We won't be simulating the winter aspects of the Bulge, except for diminished
effectiveness of Allied airpower.
As for the eastern front, I guess you're suggesting that not only do German
units inflict half the damage on Soviet ones, but they should also take greater
damage? Perhaps all damage done to German units is doubled (at least in the
first winter)? I think this is something we'd have to playtest to get right...
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