Ares Games

Ramblings Over the Front

To Campaign or Not to Campaign

Rating: 2 votes, 4.50 average.
3 Comments
by
predhead
, 11-12-2013 at 12:56 (1923 Views)
The boys (The G Dog, Adler64, Smitch) and I have bandied about the idea of doing some sort of campaign. Not a new concept for 'Drome members based on the amount of posts and file submissions that cover that very topic. After downloading several campaign files, I believe I may be even more confused than ever!

I was leaning towards a monthly campaign, where each gaming session was a month, starting with the arrival of the Eindekker and moving towards November of 1918. This would allow us to use all the various planes we have, potentially obtain some ace skills, and never be "stuck" with an inferior plane for too long (plus, using ace skills should help keep the gaming sessions somewhat balanced). That is simple enough. There are a plethora of timeline files that show what aircraft were available at various points during the war, we have at least a couple of each Ares/Nexus plane, so we are good there. And there are a ton of files with scenario generating ideas to keep the group from doing the same old meeting engagement in the sky. Okay, sounds great. But the reality is putting all these ideas together in one spot, so that all the ideas and rules suggestions work together, in such a manner that bookkeeping is kept to an absolute minimum, isn't quite that easy.

I know there has to be a system already in place, so I am hoping to hear suggestions from the members. Did the Avalon Hill games Richthofen's War or Knights of the Air have any sort of campaign system? What about older sets of rules? Anything exist that will allow less paperwork and more time spent playing?

Looking forward to hearing some specific ideas!

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Comments

  1. horsepyre's Avatar
    Thanks for doing this blog - I'm also sort of contemplating doing a campaign with my group, but we've only been playing for three or four months. We already have plenty of planes, balloons, etc., but lack the experience to run a campaign.

    Veterans, help us out!
  2. tractorboy's Avatar
    If I remember, Aces High game had one. The idea I had years ago was have two fighter squadrons of six planes and pilots each, and a two seater squadron of six planes. Each game covers a month (4 weeks), the Brits have two offensive missions while the Germans have one each week for a total of 8 and 4 respectively. Each mission uses a two seater. Only 3 planes per mission including the two seaters, and no pilot can fly more than a single mission per week. Each squadron has an ace with 5 kills, one pilot with 3 and the other 4 with none at the start of the month. Replacements I never figured out.

    This way, you can do a Verdun 1916 game, or a April 1917, Somme...you get the idea.
  3. flash's Avatar
    Check out the AAR subforum & diceslingers blog - uses the "Bloody April" campaign, based on the GMT Game by Terry Simo to generate games for his campaign.