2004-Campaign-Homepage

Welcome to the homepage of the Blitzkreig CMBO Campaign which started in April 2004 and finished in July 2006. If you have any queries, don't hesitate to contact me at: vulture.cm@dsl.pipex.com

3 Jul 06. The following message has been sent out to all the players in the campaign and posted on the Blitz Message Board.

The planning for this campaign started in Jan 04, and after extensive playing testing of the rules, Round 1 of the campaign started in Aug that year. The outcome of the last battle of Round 5 was reported on 1 July 06and brings to a close a very enjoyable campaign.

This (fictional) campaign saw the American 1st Infantry Division, know as 'The Big Red One' and the German Grossdeutschland Panzer Grenadier Division lock horns for 5 days (rounds) of intense combat. Supported by a small number of Corps assets both Divisions sought to defeat their opponent and break through to reach nearby important strategic positions. Manoeuvring over the course of the 5 rounds has seen units cut off, out of supply, and one case destroyed. Paradrops in Round 3 introduced a new perspective to the battle and saw the Allied airfield fall to the Axis Paradrop. After 5 days of exhausting combat the overall result is a narrow victory for the Grossdeutschland who defeated the 1st Infantry Division 128 points to 114.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jimzalabim, Glider, Hollander and PUG who assisted me with the play-test and rule development. The campaign rules although not perfect, in the end (as hoped), delivered a playable campaign system both at a strategic and tactical level. The workload at times has been very high, and certainly for anyone out there thinking of running a campaign, my advise (in no particular order) would be as follows:

b. Don't be afraid to make compromises in the strategic rules between realism and the need to have a playable system without excessive record keeping. Players would prefer the Umpire to see the campaign through rather then lose interest because of the workload.

f. Have a timeline for the campaign either in rounds of combat or duration in real time (i.e. year or years). Don't have it open ended, the chances are it will fold before a result can be obtained.

I would like to thank, Monster Company, Hollander and Glider who as Divisional COs were a pleasure to deal with over the course of the campaign, unfailing prompt in processing their orders.

In terms of performance on the battlefield, the 2 most outstanding contributions were made by Kellys Hero and Glider who both fought in all 5 rounds, neither of them losing a single battle !

I've been very lucky to have a great bunch of players in the campaign, and have been fortunate to have had very few drop outs over the years this has running. I hope all the players involved have enjoyed the challenges faced by their games, as much as I have had enjoyed running the campaign.

2 Jul 06. The points results for the campaign are as follows:

Points	Reason	AXIS	ALLIED
1	Each friendly sector.	65	62
1	Each friendly Infantry unit still alive.	13	12
2	Each friendly Armoured, Mechanized, Paratroop, Recon Flight and Artillery unit still alive.	34	30
3	Every airfield controlled.	6	0
5	Every HQ unit alive.	5	5
5	For each Town controlled.	5	5
	TOTALS	128	114

1 Jul 06. Game 1 between Hessians and Monster Company has ended in a points victory for Hessians. Sector V2 remains in Axis hands. This final battle concludes the campaign. In the next day or so I shall update the strategic map and work out which Division has won the campaign.

3 May 06. Game 7 between Haksaeng and Antoni Chmielowski(FGM) ended in victory for Antoni Chmielowski(FGM). Sector V8 falls to the Allies.

18 Apr 06. Game 9 between Badger and Dadsturf ended in victory for Dadsturf. Sector U10 falls to the Allies.

16 Apr 06. Game 6 between PUG and DevilThomas(FGM) ended in victory for DevilThomas(FGM). Sector U7 remains under Allied control.

6 Apr 06. Game 10 between Glider and Speedyninja. has ended in victory for Glider. Sector Q9 remains under Axis control.

26 Mar 06. Game 5 between Chris Martino(FGM) and Herroberst has ended in Victory for Herroberst. Sector T7 remains under Allied control.

25 Mar 06. Game 4 between Panzerjaeger and Jabooo has ended in victory for Panzerjaeger. Sector T4 falls to the Axis.

15 Mar 06. Game 3 between Herr Schacht and The Warrior has ended in a Minor Victory for Herr Schacht. Sector V3 remains in Axis hands.

14 Mar 06. Game 8 between Jimzalabim(FGM) and JakeTKE ended in a Minor Victory for Jimzalabim(FGM). Sector U9 falls to the Axis.

27 Feb 06. Game 2 between Bootie and Kellys Hero has ended in victory for Kellys Hero. Sector T3 remains in allied hands.

16 Feb 06. McEvilly has had to retire from the Allied team. He is replaced by Speedyninja.

3 Jan 06. Created the Round 5 web page. Just need to generate the scenarios now........................

5 Dec 05. Started the planning for the next round and posted out the combat diary to the Div COs. Updated the Narrative situation web page.

3 Dec 05. Game between Bootie FGM and Antoni Chmielowski(FGM) ended in victory for Bootie(FGM). That concludes Round 4 of the campaign with 5 victories per side. I shall now start the planning for the next round.

15 Nov 05. Seydlitz(FGM) has had to retire due to RL issues. He is replaced by Antoni Chmielowski(FGM).

8 Nov 05. Game 2 between Herr Schacht and Monster Company (FGM) ended in a narrow points victory for Monster. Sector T3 remains in Allied hands.

6 Nov 05. Game 8 between Badger and Jabooo ended in a narrow points victory for Jabooo. Sector U9 remains in Allied hands.

1 Nov 05. Game 6 between Haksaeng and Dadsturf ended in Victory for Dadsturf. Sector V7 falls to the Allies.

29 Oct 05. Game 7 between Glider and The Warrior ended in victory for Glider. Sector Q9 remains in Axis hands.

8 Oct 05. Game 5 between Chris Martino(FGM) and McEvilly ended in a narrow points victory for Chris Martino(FGM). Sector T6 remains in Axis hands.

4 Oct 05. Game 1 between Johann von Durchfall (alias PUG) and Kellys Hero ended in victory for Kellys Hero. Sector U2 remains in Allied hands.

26 Sep 05. Game 4 between Panzerjeager and DevilThomas(FGM) has ended in a narrow points victory for DevilThomas(FGM). Sector U3 remains in Allied hands.

16 Sep 05. Game 10 between Jimzalabim (FGM) and JakeTKE has ended in a narrow points victory for Jimzalabim(FGM). Sector W12 remains in Axis hands.

9 Sep 05. The first game of Round 4 has been completed. In game 3, Hessians narrowly defeated Herroberst. Sector V3 falls to the Axis.

18 Jul 05. The last game of Round 3 (Game 12) has been completed. Kluge69 rebuffed the Allied attack by Antoni Chmielowski(FGM) into sector W12. We are now onto the strategic planning for the next round.

4 Jul 05. Game 8 between Haksaeng and The Warrior ended in a Victory for Haksaeng. Sector U8 falls to the Axis.

30 Jun 05. Game 3 between Johann von Durchfall (alias PUG) and Monster Company ended in a Tactical Victory for Johann von Durchfall. Sector U1 remains in Axis hands.

29 Jun 05. We have 3 games still outstanding. I've extended the deadline for Round 3 until 10 July.

25 Jun 05. Game 5 between Panzerjaeger and Dadsturf has ended with a narrow victory for Dadsturf. Sector T4 falls to the Allies.

23 Jun 05. Game 11 between Jimzalabim (FGM) and Seydlitz (FGM) has finished. Sector U10 falls to the Allies.

2 Jun 05. Game 10 between Herr Schacht and Jabooo has finished. Jaboo rebuffed the Axis attack into sector U9.

1 Jun 05. Game 4 between Bootie and Kellys Hero has finished. Kelly rebuffed the Axis attack into sector U2.

25 May 05. Game 9 between Glider and McEvilly has finished. Although the game judged the result a draw, as per the campaign rules (Para 44j) the result is actually a points win for Glider. Sector Q9 falls to the Axis.

14 May 05. Game 7 between Badger and DevilThomas (FGM) has finished. Although the game judged the result a draw, as per the campaign rules (Para 44j) the result is actually a points win for Badger. Sector T6 falls to the Axis.

13 May 05. Kapitan has had to pull out of Round 3. His position this round will be taken by Bootie(FGM) who has kindly stepped into the breach.

12 May 05. Game 1 has finished between Lighthorse(FGM) and Herroberst. Lighthorse(FGM) (Axis) rebuffed the attack into sector T1.

10 May 05. Game 2 has finished between Chris Martino(FGM) and JakeTKE. Chris Martino(FGM) (Axis) rebuffed the attack into sector T2.

4 May 05. The first game of Round 3 has finished. In game 6 Hessians defeated the attack by Speedyninja. Sector U4 remains in Axis control.

26 Apr 05. After a slight delay, managed to work out the rather complex game that is No 9, the 'hot' para drop on the Allied airfield.

19 Apr 05. The scenarios for all the games (with the exception of game 9) are being sent out tonight. Round 3 has officially started.

10 Apr 05. Finished creating the scenarios, with the exception of game 9. need to laise with the COs about how to work the issues associated with a hot para drop.

6 Mar 05. Uploaded a Turn 3 map showing the attacks onto the Narrative & Maps page.

4 Mar 05. Final elements of the strategic orders received. Started creating the scenario files for Round 3.

3 Mar 05. Refreshed up the Round 3 web page with a listing of the battles to be fought.

11 Mar 05. Sent the following E-Mail out to both the respective CO's:
"Monster and Glider, okay guys, with the completion of the training playtest we can now resume the campaign proper. Please find attached a slightly amended narrative which shows the weather forecast for this round. Can you please give orders for your Parachute units please. Cheers Vulture."

15 Feb 05. Map has been updated, and uploaded onto the Map Page, which has been amended to incorporate a running narrative.

8 Feb 05. The last game in Round 2 has been completed. Badger (axis) defeated the allied attack by The Warrior into sector V11. This means Round 2 is a draw, with both Divisions winning 5 battles apiece. Round 3 will start in 2-3 weeks time when the playtest with the new allied CiC is finished. I will update the map tomorrow and upload it shortly.

3 Feb 05. Round 2 game 1 between Jimzalabim (FGM) and McEvilly has finished. McEvilly (Allies) rebuffed the attack into sector S1. The Allies now lead the games 5 to 4 with only one remaining to report.

2 Feb 05. Playtest of the strategic rules with the new allied COs continues.

26 Jan 05. Playtest of the strategic rules started with the new allied CiC and Deputy today.

20 Jan 05. Round 2 game 3 between Chris Martino(FGM) and Monster Company ended in a Tactical Victory for Monster Company (allies) who rebuffed the attack in Sector U2. Welcome to Speedyninja who joins us a reserve for the Allied team.

19 Jan 05. Round 2 game 5 between Kapitan and Herroberst has finished. Herroberst (allies) rebuffed the attack into sector V3.

18 Jan 05. Welcome to Antoni Chmielowski who joins us a new reserve for the Allied team.

15 Jan 05. Extended the deadline for the completion of Round 2 until 21 Feb to accommodate the disruption that is going on. I have had a good response to the call for players to step forward to take over from Hollander. The most enthusiastic responses were received from Monster Company who is with immediate effect promoted into the position of Allied CO, and his deputy will be Dadsturf (formerly known as Warrior).

14 Jan 05. Hollander, the Allied CO has withdrawn from the campaign. McEvilly has been brought in as a replacement to fight as a Tactical Commander. Sent the following E-Mail out to all members of the Allied team:
"Guys, I have just heard today from Hollander that he is dropping out of the CMBO Campaign (and the CMAK Joust).
I'm looking for a volunteer to take over his duties as CO, and also for a Deputy as well. Please advise whether you are interested in the jobs or not. What I plan to do is conduct a small play-test of the strategic rules between the CO and Deputy to bring them up to speed quickly with the strategic rules. The duties of a CO are quite easy at this stage in the campaign and probably involve no more than an hours work (max) in total for each strategic turn.
Cheers Vulture"

12 Jan 05. Round 2 game 4 has been completed. Kellys Hero rebuffed an attack by Hessians. Sector U3 remains in Allied hands.

7 Jan 05. Round 2 game 8 has been completed. Warrior clinched a victory over Heer Schacht. Sector U9 falls to the Allies.

18 Dec 04. Round 2 game 2 has been completed. Glider won a victory over Seydlitz (FGM). Sector T2 falls to the Axis. In addition 2 game 10 has been completed. Haksaeng won a victory over Jabooo. Sector W12 remains in Axis hands.

14 Dec 04. Dobie has left the Axis team. He is replaced by Herr Schacht. Welcome to Kluge68 who joins as a new reserve for the Axis team.

5 Dec 04. Round 2 game 6 has been completed. Panzerjaeger won a victory over DevilThomas(FGM). Sector T4 falls to the Axis.

1 Dec 04. Round 2 game 7 has been completed. PUG won a victory over JakeTKE. Sector U6 remains in Axis hands.

6 Nov 04. On with creating the scenarios for Round 2, a real ball aching job.

24 Oct 04. Just heard some great news today. Badger is a Dad for the second time. Baby Jessica was born this morning sunday 24th weighing in at 7lb 9oz. Both mother and baby are doing well. I'm sure I speak for all us involved in this campaign when I wish them all well.

21 Oct 04. Round 1 Game 1 has been completed. Monster Company won a Tactical Victory over Dobie. Sector U2 falls to the Allies. This concludes Round 1. The GD won 6 battles, and the 1st Infantry 4 battles. The GD therefore has the initiative at the start of Round 2. The strategic map movement will now be plotted over the coming weeks.

8 Oct 04. Round 1 Game 6 has been completed. Chris Martino achieved a 2 point advantage over Seydlitz as so is awarded a victory. Sector U6 falls to the Axis.

29 Sep 04. Round 1 Game 5 has been completed. Jimzlabim won a victory over Herroberst. Sector U5 falls to the Axis.

27 Sep 04. Round 1 Game 10 has been completed. Kapitan won a victory over Warrior. Sector U10 remains in Axis hands.

16 Sep 04. Round 1 Game 8 has been completed. Jabooo won a Total Victory over Haksaeng. Sector U8 falls to the Allies.

13 Sep 04. Round 1 Game 2 has been completed. Kellys Hero won a Major Victory over Panzerjaeger. Sector U3 remains in Allied hands.

9 Sep 04. Round 1 Game 7 has been completed. DevilThomas won a Minor Victory over Badger. Sector U7 falls to the Allies.

5 Sep 04. Round 1 Game 9 has been completed. PUG won a Minor Victory over The Warrior. Sector U9 falls to the Axis.

2 Sep 04. Round 1 Game 4 has been completed. Glider won a Tactical Victory against JakeTKE. Sector V4 remains under Axis control.

26 Aug 04. The first game of Round 1 has been completed. Game 3 between Hessian and Hollander ended in a victory of Hessian. Sector U4 remains under Axis control.

6 Aug 04. All scenarios sent out to the Heer player. Round 1 has officially started.

4 Aug 04. Details of first map movement finalised with both commanders.

2 Aug 04. US advises location of first attacks, Heer counter with theirs.

1 Aug 04. Both COs confirm initial dispositions. Map uploaded onto the Map Page showing units that both teams can see.

23 Jul. 04. Sent the following E-Mail out to all players:
"Guys, well, its been a long time in coming, but the start of the Blitzkrieg 2004 CMBO Mirror Map Campaign is upon us.
Both COs have been asked to confirm their troops selections and, critically, to advise the disposition of those units on the strategic game map. I estimate first games will start in a weeks time (approx.). Hopefully the campaign will go according to plan, and we can all have some fun. All the best, and good luck to both teams."

27 Jun 04.    With the renaming of the German unit I have re-configured the force selection spreadsheet back to Heer as opposed to Waffen SS for the Axis team. In addition, unit selections for Paratroop units for both sides have been added. A first cut at a terrain map in Excel has been sent to the COs for initial feedback.
    Activities that remain to be undertaken before the campaign can start are:
    1.    Both sides need to configure their units and send them to me.
    2.    I need to finalise the terrain map and send it to the COs.

22 Jun 04. The German side have renamed their Division from 2nd SS 'Das Reich' to 'Panzer Grenadier Grossdeutschland Division'.

18 Jun 04. Game 2 of the Recon Round has been completed. JakeTKE was defeated by Dobie. This was the final game in the Recon Round. The 1st Infantry Division is declared the winner.

14 Jun 04. Turn 3 of the playtest game has been processed and sent back to the captains. After many weeks of debate of several key aspects of the rules, this is now about to finish, and the campaign proper will start in the next 3 weeks I hope.

2 Jun 04. Game 7 of the Recon Round has been completed. Badger was defeated by Hollander.

29 May 04. Game 1 of the Recon Round has been completed. Chris Martino was defeated by Herroberst. This means that of the 10 games in the Recon Round 7 have been completed thus far, and 6 of those have been wins by the 1st Infantry Division. This means regardless of the 3 results still to come, the will have the initiative on Turn 1.

25 May 04. Game 5 of the Recon Round has been completed. Panzerjaeger was defeated by Warrior.

22 May 04. Game 9 of the Recon Round has been completed. PUG was defeated by Monster Company.

16 May 04. Game 8 of the Recon Round has been completed. Jabooo was defeated by Haksaeng.

7 May 04. Game 10 of the Recon Round has been completed. Glider was defeated (by 1 point) by Seydlitz (FGM).

5 May 04. Game 3 of the Recon Round has been completed. Hessians was defeated by Kellys Hero.

1 May 04. Game 6 of the Recon Round has been completed. Snakerensky was defeated by DevilThomas (FGM).

23 Apr 04. Snakerensky has asked to withdraw from the Campaign after he has completed his battle in the Recon Round. The first reserve Kapitan will take his place. We have a new reserve player in the shape of Zoomie.

10 Apr 04. Finished creating all the files for the Recon Round and sent all the Tournament start up files out to the respective Heer players. Sent out the following E-Mail to all players:
"Guys another quick update for you all. The force selection issues I had have all been sorted out now. It is worth noting that some players may find they have the off extra vehicle. This was to ensure equal points worth of Green troops for both sides. All the scenario files have been created, copies taken and converted to Tournament files. They will be sent out to the Heer players immediately after I finish this E-Mail. On receipt the Heer player needs to place the file into the SCENARIO folder, and then start the game. If you have any problems either ask me or your respective COs"

9 Apr 04. Have now received adjusted selections for the three allied commanders. Started work on creating the scenario files in earnest.

7 Apr 04.    Sent the following E-Mail out to all players:
"Guys, a quick update on the CMBO Campaign.
1.    Software problems with MS Office XP and PC hardware crashes (that still continue) have delayed activities. I have now resorted to taking files into work on a floppy disk to work on in my lunch breaks.
2.    The strategic playtest with Jimzalabim and Snakerensky has now come to an end, and the rules are now 99.9% complete.
3.    A strategic dry run / familiarization with both COs has started. I plan for this to continue until the end of the Recon Round.
4,    The Recon Round about to start. I am currently generating the scenario files. They should be complete by Saturday night, hopefully. Game to be started on Sunday (or earlier if possible). A slight snag has occurred in that on checking through the selections made by the unit commanders, 3 allied players have not stuck to the guidelines I issued. They will need to tweak their forces accordingly.
5.    I'll be in touch in the next couple of days."

6 Apr 04. Okay, back at home now. Slight problem in that my copy of MS Office has knackered itself at the moment, so took the force selections to work to print out. Discovered that 3 of the allied players have not stuck to the force selection guidelines I put out on the 22nd March. I'll be contacting those players tomorrow, to ask them to tweak their forces.

1 Apr 04. Okay, the last force selection for the Recon Round has been received. As it happens I'm away for a few days now, so setting the scenarios up will have to wait until Monday.

31 Mar 04. Just waiting for the force selections from one allied player now.

29 Mar 04. Progress on the Recon Round has stalled for the moment. I'm still awaiting Force selections from 4 players.

26 Mar 04. I'd like to welcome Kapitan along. He has volunteered to be a reserve. At the moment I won't assign him to either team, we'll just keep him as a reserve that can help either side out. I've tried to correct the problem with the link to the tournament rules by shortening the file name. In addition the Playtest web page now has 4 maps on it.

25 Mar 04. Hollander has announced the name of the Allied Division, the 1st Infantry Division 'the BIG RED ONE'. Check out this link for information on it http://www.bigredone.org
I've created a new web page for the Recon Combat Round. Almost all force selections are in now I think, just 5 left to come.

24 Mar 04. The Heer team have announced the name of their Division, 2nd SS 'Das Reich'. I have received about 10 recon force selections thus far.

22 Mar 04. Chaps, as I said yesterday Hollander has volunteered to be the Allied Strategic Commander. This has allowed me to finalize the make up of both teams. See the new web page Players And Their Teams.

Hollander due to personal commitments (a house move) has asked that the start date be not before the 1st May. Initially I was slightly disappointed at this delay, but on reflection I have decided that in fact this is actually a good thing, for it will allow me the opportunity to play-test with both Glider and Hollander aspects of the Strategic Rules, so that both of them are fully conversant with them before we actually launch into the campaign for real.

Before I forget, in future each team will be referred to as a Division. Glider, and Hollander, I need you both to chose names for your Divisions. These need to be historical please.

Not withstanding that the full campaign itself will not start until May I have decided to introduce a Reconnaissance Round before hand. On the rules as they stand at the moment, initiative for the first round is determined randomly. What I propose is a round of battles, with the Division that wins the most battles having the Initiative at the start of the campaign. In addition, personal experience will be awarded as per the campaign rules.

Each player needs to use the MS Excel spreadsheet I have created just for this round which can be downloaded by clicking here. (If you don't have MS Excel contact me directly I can sort something else out). The listing has been configured to restrict the force selection to remove all medium and heavy tanks. Please select 2,200 points worth of forces. 1,700 points to start on map, the balance of 500 appearing on Turn 5. A minimum of 15 light tanks or armoured cars must be selected. The unit must be completely Mechanized. Any infantry and heavy weapons selected must either:
a.    Come with their own transport.
b.    Have transport purchased for them.
c.    Be capable of embarking on vehicles within the unit.

Please post your points selections back to me as soon as you can, I would like start the games this week if possible.
If you have any problems/questions with what's planned, don't hesitate to contact me.

21 Mar 04. We have a CO for the allies. Hollander has volunteered. Due to personal commitments he feels he cannot take it on before 1 May. Rather than wait until then, I have had the idea to insert a game prior to the start of the full campaign. More details to be provided tomorrow.

20 Mar 04.    Sent the following E-Mail out to everyone "The play test is about to come to an end and all strategic play issues seem to work fine. I've decided to incorporate a Paratroop unit for each side (Snakerensky idea), and am just finalizing the rules for that at the moment. We now have 20 players, and it looks like we have 'topped out' at this figure. So a nice convenient 10 per side. Glider has volunteered to be the Heer Strategic Commander. He will double up, and play as Tactical Commander as well. Before we can go any further, I need one of you to volunteer to double up and be the US Strategic Commander. The duties of a strategic commander are as follows:
    Decide on the troop mix in the units on your side at the start of the game. (very straight forward)
    Plot the starting positions of your units.   (Would not take more than 15 minutes to do)
    Give orders to your units each round and decide which of your commanders to assign to which combat (10 minute job).
So you see, not a difficult job.
On a different subject, I need to talk to you all about the force mix. I had originally intended to restrict the force selection to that used in the Mirror Map campaign (i.e. no Tigers, Jackson's etc.). However one of the players suggests we use the Fion Kelly 76 force mix. This allows everything except the super heavies (King Tigers , Pershings and the like ).

I would like everyone to vote on this issue. I have no strong feelings on this topic either way, and will go with the majority.
Vote as follows:
    1.   Yes.   I think we should use the Fion Kelly 76 force mix
    2.   No. I don't think we should use the Fion Kelly 76 force mix
    3.    I don't care either way."

11 Mar 04. First mass E-Mail sent out to all interested players, asking them to confirm that they still wish to play, and also their side preference.

19 Feb 04. The first Turn of the playtest is complete, and the map will be uploaded soon.

13 Feb 04. Uploaded the latest playtest map with 7 attack order thus far, and the updated playtest rules.

12 Feb 04. In the play test the first attacks have been ordered and a couple of minor rule 'tweaks' have been made.

11 Feb 04.    Welcome to along to Hollander, that takes us to 15 players.
    The strategic play test has started ! Snakerensky is Heer and Jimzalabim Allied. Both players have sent me their initial unit dispositions. I have adjudged supply, randomly determined that the Heer has the initiative and determined which units can see each other. We now have to sort the Recon Flights and units attacks.
    I have created a new web page called Strategic Play-test to enable those interested to track some of the progress. The rules being used for this strategic play-test can now be downloaded by clicking here.

10 Feb 04. Welcome to Badger, Dobie, Kellys Hero and Warrior. That takes us up to 14 players. When the strategic play-test has started in few days time, I will create a few web pages so that we can all track its progress.

9 Feb 04. A few new players have joined us. Welcome along to Chris Martino, DevilThomas, Jabooo, JakeTKE, and Hessians.

8 Feb 04. Recruited Snakerensky and Jimzalabim to undertake the strategic play-test, and sent them various files to browse. In addition decided that it was now the time to start openly recruiting for players, but initially only from those players already participating in the 2004 Mirror Map Tournament.

29 Feb 04. Decided that the strategic element of the rules needed play testing out, so spent some time amending a set of the rules to allow this. In addition created a spreadsheet to allow the performance of Tactical Commanders and units to be tracked.

25 Jan 04. PUG is having difficulty reading the Word file I sent him, so cut and paste the contents into the Tournament Rule page. Some of the word formatting has been lost, so it looks a bit messy at this stage.

24 Jan 04. Although not openly recruiting decided to canvas some of the usual suspects (chuckle) for their ideas, and to suss them out. As such the web page listing Interested People now includes Jimzalabim and Snakerensky, as well as Glider, Wolfi-S and PUG. Welcome along guys :-) . Glider sent me a copy of the rules they are using in the CM Meta campaign he is involved with. They are incredibly detailed, in fact too detailed by half for me, although I'm sure you'd get a quite historical result with them. Uploaded Version 2 of the strategic campaign map onto the Strategic Map page. Sent a copy of the rules to PUG for him to browse.

23 Jan 04. Created this web page, to give me a skeleton on which to build the event. In addition I posted an E-Mail onto the Blitzkrieg CM Message Board to suss out what peoples playing preferences between CMBO and CMBB.

21 Jan 04. Came up with some ideas on how to incorporate Reconnaissance aircraft and artillery. Provided the forces have an airfield in their possession, they can operate a Reccy flight once a turn, that can make a pass either horizontally or vertically over the battlefield. The aircraft will have various percentage chances of spotting units on directly beneath them, and to the sides.

16 Jan 04. Wolfi-S E-mailed me offering to help out. E-Mailed him back with my thoughts thus far.

15 Jan 04. Put a posting onto my 2004 Mirror Map Tournament Homepage, advising that inspiration had struck and that I had started work on the campaign.

14 Jan 04. Continued with thinking the rules through. Initial thoughts are to have 11 players per side, 1 CO who looks after overall strategy, and 10 Unit Commanders who work for him.

13 Jan 04. Work has started on typing my ideas up into a framework document.

1. How to run a successful Combat Mission (CM) campaign? That particular question has been rumbling around in my head ever since I started playing CMBO in 2000. With a long history of running wargaming campaigns (mainly figure ones), I am only too well aware of the problems and pitfalls.

4. These rules contain many elements either by use or omission that will offend the purists; but fundamentally I believe they are very playable, and after all, that's what campaigns and games are all about.