Campaign Setup Update

Morning everyone!  Another busy week at work has finished, so I thought I'd post a quick update of how things are progressing.  First off thanks to Paul for his tireless reseach.  I'm currently reading The Fleet That Had To Die and Human Bullets for a 'feel' of the period, both of which are proving very useful.

Rules

After chatting with Paul, I thought the best thing to do would be for each of the 'team captains' to double hat as the individual brigade commander and the overall strategic commander.

So Paul will make the general moves for General Nogi, and the moves and battles will be randomised.  But also you can play General Oseko's Divison and those games will be played on the tabletop.

I think that'll be the best balance between tracking the overall state of the campaign and giving it a realistic focus on 203 Meter Hill.  Thoughts?

Models

The 2mm figures from Irregular have arrived, and these are the Russians:

 

To give you an idea of the scale, each base is a company, each row is a battalion and each 4x4 group is a regiment.  The two regiments make up the Guards Brigade.

For the Japanese, they only have three battalions to the regiment and their companies are slightly smaller.  Paul, you'll have two brigades in total (although only models for one - since there will only ever be one on the table at a time.  You'll have the luxury of being able to rotate regiments through!)

You can also see some of the ships in the background.  I have a few paddle steamers, armed yachts and auxiliary vessels to make things a bit more interesting.

Tabletop Games

I'm working on a system of 'subordinate orders'.  These are pre-game orders which Paul can give so the Japanese won't quite be NPCs, you can specify casualty thresholds, artillery priorities, primary and secondary objectives etc and I'll do my best to implement them on your behalf as a sort of umpire.  Ollie and KB will of course be fully occupied leading their regiments!

Siege Rules

After sharing the draft rules with you chaps, I think they're nearly there.  The basic structure is done, so everyone still has chance to familiarise themselves with the rules before the campaign starts.  They are still very much unfinished, so please send suggestions in and I'll incorporate them.

Next Steps

I hope to start the campaign at the beginning of May.  I'm in the middle of moving bases so I'd like to hold off until that's done, but it should give me enough time to base all those lovely models.

General Count Nogi Maresuke reporting!

Gentlemen,

Firstly and most importantly, thank you indeed for allowing me to participate in your latest Supercampaign.  I have been watching your previous iterations on Ed's blog and been very impressed at how you take the projects to the next level.  So to have the chance to be involved is great.

Its also pretty neat that my commanding His Imperial Majesty's Japanese Forces allow you guys all to plan and play cooperatively.  That will make an enjoyable change I'm sure.

So this is one of my alter egos: General Count Nogi Maresuke, Commander of the Japanese Third Army.  Born the son of a Samurai, he was a veteran of the Satsuma Rebellion (upon which the movie The Last Samurai is loosely based) and a Brigade Commander during the 1894 First Sino-Japanese War which saw him capture Port Arthur in a single day.  Can he capture the city a second time?

General Nogi - he has a beard and I have a beard.  The resemblance is uncanny really

Historically, the Japanese Third Army comprised 3 Divisions of Infantry so I'm not sure Ed how you might whittle it down to limit the scope of the campaign and just focus upon one particular section.  It make work better if I play the part of one of Nogi's subordinate Divisional Commander perhaps.  I'll leave that up to you.

My other Japanese alter-ego will be as a senior Officer of the Imperial Japanese Navy and I must admit that as a serving Naval Officer I am looking forward to fleshing that character out soon!

Bansai!

Japanese Propaganda from their Victory at Port Arthur

Welcome to Port Arthur!

Welcome to the Port Arthur campaign!  This blog, very helpfully suggested by Paul, will serve as a general admin area and discussion zone until the Port Arthur campaign gets properly under way. 

Once we start, the game will be administered from here.  Paul will post the Japanese moves, then we'll post with the results of the games, and a few pictures as well.

Just to keep everyone in the loop:

• Rules:  The rules are written in draft, and everyone should have seen a copy.  Please reply here with any comments you have, or aspects you want to incorporate.
• 2mm Models:  These are currently in the post from Irregular Miniatures.
• Ship Models:  I don't currently have enough to replicate every last ship at Port Arthur, but if people don't mind a few stand-ins we can get by.

Please post freely and reply on here - it isn't a 'normal' blog, more of a fancy chat room.  Many thanks go to Paul for his enthusiasm in getting involved and very helpful advice in setting up.