Range ID
The Sands of El Alamein Campaign - Map Symbolism
Mar 3 2017 @ 19:13
138 Comments
We get stuck into some awesomeness ahead of the rest of the weekend. Jim (oriskany) is going to be running a bit of a campaign.
So, we get stuck into just what kind of gibberish this all is and work out what we have to look forward to over the weekend.
The Four Levels Of Wargaming
- A New Scope On The Hobby
- Command Tactical Level Gaming
- Operational Level Gaming
- Strategic Level Gaming
Check out this series from Jim which goes into more detail about the different levels of wargaming you can encounter when you're looking at maps and campaigns.
Check back for more over the weekend...
Looking great…would love to win some DAK!
Thank you for doing this Boot Camp will be watching with interest.
this is really interesting, ive become alot more facinated with this time period now thanks 🙂
Thanks, @tuco74 , @phasestar , and @eddie117 . We’ll see how the campaign system works this morning. Eating breakfast at the moment, then it’s off the desert.
you have done a really good job with the campaign map well done
Interesting i need to go back see that article 4 lvl of game they mention. guys can you put up a link?
No worries, @tomd – those links are at the top of the page. 😀
Ok – I know how to read NATO standard military map icons. There are lots of them and once you get used to the system it makes reading the basics of a situation a very quick experience. One thing that must be pointed out as this comes up a lot especially in late war is that German formations on paper might have been Division X but in practice they were seriously understrength in personnel and equipment for much of the time after 1941. At one point in the war to appease Hitler the panzer divisions were split in half and… Read more »
We get so used to using these icons, @dorthonion – it’s easy to forget that not everyone “speaks” this language. We just start throwing this terminology around, not realizing some people aren’t understanding us. Platoon, regiment, brigade, corps, what? 😀 As we try to recruit more historical players, those of us “in the know” have to remember to keep the genre accessible, one of the aims of this video. 😀 And of course you’re absolutely right about the German situation as the war goes on, and the increasingly dishonest picture their maps and operations reports in general would portray. By… Read more »
very nice, never been interested in battle maps because I cant read them.
This is quite cool. Military map reading….. nice way to monitor pregression. Interested in how this will represent in game
This is such a great way to run a campaign. Might try something similar with the Normandy invasion, thanks for the idea oriskany!
@civilcourage – We’ve done something similar on line at Beasts of War with the Worldwide D-Day Challenge (WWDDC) project – June 6 of 2015. 😀
Wonder if at the end of the bootcamp, you guys could show the alternate map to the one that happens this weekend.
cant wait to see the battles take place , maybe history will be rewritten :0
I’m almost sure history will be rewritten to a degree, if for no other reason that the campaign map will be affected by the minis tables, and no vice-versa. And in the interest of fun, balance, and simplicity, the miniature games will be more or less fair. So the Germans actually have a pretty good chance at winning this battle. Historically, the reality was somewhat different. 😀
Would love to be there so I could worship at Oriskany’s feet, the man is brilliant.
@gremlin – If only I could convince my girlfriend of your wisdom, worthy sir. 😀 Just kidding. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Love the map, Thumbs up
Murphys law – Offices with maps get taken out first and at signs of attack the battle plan usually go’s out the window…… i just saying guys ha ha
Beasts of War HQ has already had its share of explosions this week. 😀 we’ve taken measures to ensure our command post remains secure.
Very nice , cool stuff
I love all the work for the site that oriskany does with historical. He never seems to be difficult to understand but I always manage to learn something new.
Thanks @panzertanker64 and @m30wm1x 😀 – I think all of us as historical gamers have to find that balance between explaining things to new historical “recruits” and not coming across as stuffy, arrogant, or elitist.
Rommel’s first divisional command was 7th Panzer Division. It moved so damned fast in the invasion of France that it was given the nickname Gespensterdivision (Ghost Division) – neither the German High Command nor any of their opponents could keep track of it so any map indication where they were tended to be out of date instantly.
Oriskany has a god like view over the battle field: he’ll keep track of Rommel.
No French gas stations along the invasion route this time: so Rommel will run out of petrol soon, making it even easier to find him.
Yep, @dorthonion and @peter327 – we’ll see how much British petrol depots Rommel can capture to keep his offensive going today. 😀
i’m more of a late war player but man i love some italians, the battle map is beautiful, wish i had one of those in my games room
I’ve brought my Italian North African army this weekend, maybe I’ll be able to use some of them in Free Gaming Sunday.
lol not going to even bother trying to pronounce them names 🙂
It’s the DAKka corps. :p
Thats a great use of real mapping systems. We dont use them enough in real life anymore. Mainly because everyone is just sat in barracks!!
Makes me want to play Hearts of Iron.
Thanks, @amachan , @dane001 , @anthony122 . 😀
Excellent! Thanks for the quick lesson in map reading( NATO) style.
Really nice way to get the maps into the game! Tanks for the explanation!!!
This should be interesting. I hope I can remember a lot of this long term. I’ve never really know what people mean by terms like platoon and regiment etc.
It’s really rather simple – think of them as building sub-assemblies:
2-4 squads to a platoon; 2-4 platoons to a company; 2-4 companies to a battalion; 2-4 battalions to a regiment; 2-4 regiments to a division; 2-4 divisions to a Corps; 2 to 4 corps to an army; 2+ armies to an army group.
It gets a little more complicated as you add support units and independent specialist units, but this is about it.
What he said . . . ^^^^ 😀
The only addition I would make, especially for this particular battle, is that some of the British / Allied divisions would be built around 2 Brigades instead of 3-4 regiments. British Independent tank brigades were also attached to some Allied infantry divisions. These divisions would still have attached regiments as well, but usually support assets like artillery regiments.