I thought I would try an experiment, by taking a very long running Barbarossa/25 game that our group had been playing for approx. 4 years and running it by Email with some new players as well as the original cast. I certainly haven't got this quite right yet, and there seem to be a number of pitfalls to avoid. Here are some notes, in no particular order: The first point about the game was that the Email players didn't get to command their troops on table due to obvious practical considerations. This IMHO led to problems if a player commanded a small unit where his command stand would be on table. The extra information required in this situation by the player is huge, whereas if the player is off table you are able to generalise somewhat. My recommendation here is to give players each a command of divisional size or greater, thus lessening the chances of his appearance on a wargames table. The reasons our existing Barbarossa game had been running so long were the evenness of the original scenario, the on and off nature of our gaming group, and the time required to play all the scenarios. As a group, we used the original campaign purely as a scenario generator to give us links between our Tuesday games. When our weekly gaming sessions became more regular, i.e. every week, not just when I felt like it, the campaign speed of play was still very slow due to having to play one scenario after another. The way around this was to invite other groups of players to join, and play some of the scenarios. So the new players who have Email commands in the campaign need to come in groups, so that they are able to play some of the table top games. This works quite well, as with a number of gaming groups around the globe now involved, we can fight simultaneous battles. What we try to avoid is an Email player getting to command his own troops (those in his campaign command) on the table top, although this is possible in certain circumstances where a commander has issued a set of campaign orders in which he actually will lead from the front. As an example of this, Barry Geipel is the Soviets Western Front commander in our game. Recently he was demoted after ordering the retreat of a regiment from near Vyazma against STAVKA instructions. In order to regain his rank, Comrade Geipel has launched Operation Repromote, a divisional sized attack with tank support to regain his original positions in which he is leading from the front. Simultaneously, immediately to the North Comrade General Semonyenko has launch a similar attack on a forward German regiment but with heavier tank support. The way this game is being played is the Southern half of the battlefield is in California at Barry's whilst the Northern part is here in the UK. As Barrys command stand is on the table in the game he is allowed to actually use his own command. He has appointed a chief of staff to handle all "campaign level Email" whilst the battle is in progress who is one of the players within his group. The Northern attack has been handled from a distance with no player commanders on table. The interactions between these battles are handled by me, with the game at Barrys leading slightly, so the group in CA are making all the weather rolls etc. as per the scenario outline and reporting them back so they are used in our half of the game. During the tabletop scenarios, players write reports about what is happening, intel briefings, cries of desperation etc., which I then censor (for things they shouldn't really know, they are all 800' generals when on table) and forward at the correct point in campaign time to the real Email commander of the forces who can then use the info to make decisions on reinforcements etc. The guys who check their Email frequently make far better commanders than those who don't, as their reaction times are faster. This generates a huge number of emails. I have over 4000 in the archives so far and 50 orders awaiting my attention at present. Things to Avoid Small commands unless your Email commanders can get to your games table. Bathtub games. There is far more work involved running these than a normal 1 to 1 short timescale game. The replacements, reinforcements, troop quality improvements, changes to TOE as time goes on all add an appreciable amount of work. Starting the game before you are completely ready. The organisation of all the data and sequences takes a lot of time. I'm only just managing to catch up. Things to Try Make sure you are copied in on EVERY bit of correspondence between players. Restrict the number of orders a player can issue. You will find a response to every report you send otherwise. Try to run a campaign clock so players can see where they are up to. (More difficult than it sound is this). Give as much info as possible, attempt to report any events of significance to everyone who would have noted them, the more reports the better. I am failing dismally in this respect due to a lack of time, so people in the active areas tend to get far more info, as I neglect the quiet sectors. This is something that needs addressing. Invent spurious reports and send then to players who have not seen much action, to make them feel more involved, and to make sure they are still answering their Email. Radio intercept some emails and forward them to the other side. Finally Have some role-playing among the commanders. This adds a lot to the game. The commander of the Rumanian Field Army was always drunk and sarcastic when issuing orders so you would get things like this through the Email. From: Gen.Loriolescu (Romanian Field Army) To: Luftwaffe HQ Time: 1600hrs Oct I You asked (about the enemy airplanes that assaulted Dnepropetrovsk) Herr General, "Please report on the type and markings of enemy aircraft, so that my staff can calculate probable enemy airfields at which to direct reprisals." Recognition of aircraft markings and models is quite outside of the possibilities of a lowly infantry battalion commander, especially when the abovementioned airplanes are dropping tons of bombs right upon his head. Next time that the Soviets will try to raze flat our positions, I will order my subordinates to stick their heads out of their foxholes and start drawing pencil pictures of the attacking airplanes, so Your experts could be able to detect which airfield they are coming from. In case you need colour pictures, I will distribute water-colours and brushes set to our most artistically-oriented soldiers. Another possible solution is that You could detach some LW liaison teams to our front-line HQ, so that they could show our troops how to spot small fuselage markings on high-flying enemy planes when under heavy bombing attack. I'm certain that it would be a most interesting lesson. By the way all the photos I've seen so far from captured Soviet airplanes do not show any tactical marking at all except for a single or two digits number showing the position of the airplane inside its Air. Rgt., and without any reference to the numeral of the Regiment itself, even less the Airfield they are based on. So Your liaison teams have obviously been extensively trained in Divination and Clairvoyance to perform their task. We must congratulate your HQ for this most fascinating and far-sighted provision. A little doubt I have, and that I'm certain You could easily explain, is why do You need to know "who" attacked us to launch what You call "reprisals" : if You already know the location of the Soviet airfields, You are already in position to attack them. If they are from the Squadrons that attacked us or not, they are still enemy bombers anyway. I'm certain that there is a very rationale explanation behind Your strange request. What really struck me about this game concept was how the fog of war aspect would change a commanders perception, it would be very difficult to see the enemy's problems, only your own. In the end the thing was most enjoyable, especially the attempts to get out of what appeared to me to be hopeless situations. Back to Frontline Vol. 1 Iss. 2 Table of Contents Back to Frontline List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Rolfe Hedges This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com