I had an idea… Bear with me about this "campaign".
I know SHAKO II was designed around Divisional battles where you could play anytime, any day, and anywhere. However, this idea I have may be "too intense" for some people's tastes.
GENERAL CONCEPT
SHAKO II Campaign revolves around an a-historical campaign using SHAKO II rules with some minor modifications (not directly related to the rulebook) made to retain the flavor of Napoleonic warfare. Basically, playing in favor of either historical or alternate history…
REQUIRED MATERIALS
-SHAKO II rulebook
-Napoleonic miniatures to assemble and play with; should include famous/generic generals and DCs
-1 separate d6 die (for the campaign, not the SHAKO II battles)
-An enlarged, sizable hex-based map of Europe (probably 4x' 4')
-Wooden pegged tracker with Year and the Four Seasons atop the hex-based map
-Army Sheets for every General, which has the entire division composition.
-A wargaming table for battles
HOW TO PLAY
Every nation should start out in the beginning with the number of their own armies. France and Britain should have a sizable advantage over each other, differing in the numbers. Minor nations should start out with smaller armies. Russia will end up with a weaker army but may build up to better ones way late into the game.
Alliances are acceptable though not everyone should ally historically for the fun of it. See if France can ally with the Bavaria, Westphalia, Saxony, Wurttemburg players to fight against others, or not. Or Russia can ally with Britain and crush Napoleon. Maybe the minor nations will unify into the Minor Coalition and attempt to rule the world.
Rules are rules though. Starting out, every nation listed in the SHAKO II rulebook must have the correct starting number of ADCs. Into the late game, you can acquire said number of ADCs per SHAKO II rules.
You move your general across the map, meeting with opposing generals and battling them on a larger wargaming table. Simple as that. However, army compositions are tracked via Army Sheets attached to a specific generals. So army sizes should be appropriate for the time.
A nation gets entirely eliminated if the nation has lost its capital and 2/3 of its cities. The losing player may bow out while the rest may continue play.
START DATE / END DATE
The game starts on 1798 in the Winter. The game ends on 1815 in the Autumn. 68 turns in 17 years!
HOW TO USE THE WOODEN TRACKER
The Wooden Tracker should have the starting Year to the end of the Year, from 1798 to 1815. Underneath the Years with peg holes or a square border around it is where the pegs or a token is placed.
Below the Years contains the Four Seasons, Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn in this appropriate order. They are also included with a peg hole or a square border, your choice.
To begin, place the peg/token in 1798. Place another peg/token on Winter. This begins the game…
To continue the game, every player plays their round in initiative order (using d6 rolls; highest to lowest). For every player that finishes their round, they move the peg/token from Winter to Spring. Then they begin a new round. After the Spring round ends, move toward Summer. After all the four seasons are completed, move the peg/token from 1798 to 1799. Repeat the pattern as indicated.
THE HEX-MAP OF EUROPE
On a smaller table, the Hex-Map of Europe shows the national borders. The Hex-Map should be laminated. You need colored easy markers to keep track of advancing armies that seize territories. Each player should pick their own marker. Tracking the movements and invasion of the armies, the invading player should do slash lines on said territories their armies move on. These are indicative of supply lines. See SUPPLY LINES for more information.
Your famous generals, firstly placed on the hex map within your country, should begin the game with good divisional compositions, formed via army sheets. Generic generals only comes in when famous generals die, are captured, or shot to death by the enemy. Famous generals give bonuses to the armies. Generic ones don't.
MOVEMENT
You move the general across the map. On a D6 roll, the rolls are:
*NOTE: MV is movement. 1 MV = 1 hex; 2 MV = 2 hex…
d1: 1 MV
d2: 1 MV
d3: 2 MV
d4: 2 MV
d5: 3 MV
d6: 3 MV
SEASONS
Season modifiers are as follows for die rolls:
Winter: -2
Spring: -1
Summer: +1
Autumn: +2
When you move in a certain season, use the modifiers to modify your die roll. If you roll on a die of 1 but get Winter (-2), you cannot move for Winter and Spring. However, if you roll on a 2 but get -2 on Winter, you are entrenched. You cannot move. You get defensive bonuses. On a 3, for Winter, you move only one hex. Conversely, if you get d1 but get +2 for Autumn, you move 3 hexes. If you get d2+2 for Autumn, you get offensive bonus of +1 for all die rolls, if you get d3+2 for Autumn, you get offensive bonus of +2. This does not apply to all armies but the army you just selected to move.
STARTING AND ENDING BATTLES
Battle begins when your general is adjacent to an enemy general. Move to the wargaming table and set up your scenario. You begin the battle there and engage the enemy. if you are victorious, the enemy must move 2 hexes away from you in the opposite direction. If you are defeated, you must move 2 hexes away in the opposite direction. However, optional rules are included.
See SHAKO II rulebook pg. 99-100. Sections 16.1 and 16.2 and 16.2.1 are applicable to this. If your general is captured, you cannot use him. You must replace the captured general with another after 2 seasons. In the 2 seasons, the army cannot move. However, it may continue to fight with DCs. If the general is killed, the entire army gets dMR automatically in that one battle. Afterwards, the army may continue to fight with DCs at full MR. If supply lines are lost, the army may continue to fight with retained kills on the units.
Every player plays their turn, then hands off to the next highest-die roll player. Repeat.
SUPPLY LINES
Tracking the movements and invasion of the armies, the invading player should do slash lines on said territories their armies move on. These are indicative of supply lines. Simply cutting off a simple hex places an invading army without supplies. See Shako II rules 16.1 for an idea concerning supplies of artillery. Once the box of artillery is gone, it's completely gone for every battle until supply lines are reopened. Lost units cannot be replaced. Units, surviving with kills, do not regenerate. They retain their kills until they're lost in subsequent battles until supply lines, once again, are reopened.
If a general is placed on a hex that has two directions with slash lines, supply lines are still retained UNLESS both are cut off.
TOKENS AS INCOME
If you win a battle, you get tokens. The army size, kills, and outcome of the scenario should give you a number of tokens. These tokens are used to purchase new troops. These new troops may then be allocated to a new general, or to an existing one. Track the newly formed units in the Army Sheet.
GENERIC TOKENS
Win a battle – 2 tokens
Lose a battle – 0 Tokens
Draw – 1 token per player
KILLS TOKENS
TBD
OUTCOME TOKENS
Minor Victory – 1 token
To get minor victory, you must defeat the opposing army closely reaching 33% Breakpoint.
Major Victory – 2 token
To get major victory, you must defeat the opposing army at 50% Breakpoint.
Heroic Victory – 3 tokens + 1 ADC
To get heroic victory, you must defeat the opposing army at 75% Breakpoint.
Epic Victory – 6 tokens + 2 ADCs
To get epic victory, your armies must NOT lose any Breakpoint AND defeat the opposing army.
Three tokens gets you a general (who automatically gets the appropriate ADCs). Two tokens gets you elite or guard infantries or cavalries. One token gets you regular infantries or cavalries. Skirmishers, however, are half the token. Using 1 token gets you 2 skirmishers (4 stands). The ADCs in Heroic or Epic Victory are added to the total of your ADCs per battle. It will give you more of an advantage, even when playing as a minor nation.
CONCLUSION
This is what I can come up with. What does anyone think? I wonder if Dave Wextel would comment here…
paints brigs for the British fleet.