"Constructing a company sized 15mm scenario" Topic

I'm looking for inspirations and tips for creating a scenario at roughly company scale. We play the PMC 2640 rules, a typical game lasts 12-20 turns, quite fast play.

I've been wanting to set up some large-scale battle since I began with 15mm and finally the model count is beginning to come close to company sized number of units.
Since most of the locals at the gaming club play 28mm my plan is to also make it a participation game. I figure a spectacular, large-cale game might help attracting more players.

What I look for is the experience of others who have created large-scale battles and played them, what to think of etc. Also, looking for written sources on concepts and how to design a scenario, I´ve tried googling but not found anything really, I figure someone must have put their ideas about war gaming scenariocrafting down to print, anything?

My ideas for the scenario is that one side defends something important that the attacker wants to capture (a powerful radar dish for example) the defender would rather sabotage it than let it fall into enemy hands.
The attacking side consists of regular forces as well as irregulars that start behind enemy lines, the defender is somewhat entrenched. Each side is played by 2-3 people and the board is quite big perhaps 8x6 feet, the local gaming club has enough terrain for this.

Not sure about resources but my advice is that if the defenders are defending a position, give the attackers between One and a half to double their number (adjusted for troop and gear quality)

In most wargames, this is enough to let them attack vigorously but not enough to ensure a guaranteed victory.

Make sure each player has both some good unit and some trash (if you have big differences in quality) and that no player gets stuck with all slow support elements.

I write operations orders for each side. You can find a template for the US Army operations order online. Mine are not nearly as extensive as a real one, but they usually run 5 to 10 pages. The operations order gives an overview of the mission, secondary objectives, terrain, weather, expected opposition, reinforcements, off-table support, etc.

I also use the operations order for scenario-specific rules, e.g., orbital artillery is available on specific turns while the ship has line of sight to the table.

Don't write a game bigger than you can finish in the session… Easily said, but also easily done. I recently wrote a delayed defense scenario, with too many troops on the table, and gave the attackers to much of an initial numerical superiority, and to long for the defenders reinforcements to arrive. Not my finest scenario design moment!

Can't really comment on multi-player games except that no one should be left twiddling their thumbs.

Another way of spicing things up a bit is to give each of the players on a side slightly differing objectives. E.g. the irregulars may be keen to blow the radar dish while the regular forces may want it intact, etc

Agreed on slightly differing objectives.

Along those lines, I attached a platoon of Sword Worlds troops to my Zhodani company. The rules for the Sword Worlders revolve around their personal oaths of loyalty to their leader.

If the SW leader is killed, the Sword Worlders will all immediately attack the unit that killed him and not stop until all of that unit's personnel are dead. I also wrote a berserker rule for this situation.

If the SW leader is incapacitated, the men will immediately turn to getting him safely off the table and to a medical facility, returning to the battle only when that has been accomplished.

Neither of these situations has yet turned up in a game, but it promises to be interesting if it does. To increase the interest, I will make the section in the operations order pertaining to the SW platoon a little more vague.

Yes, at heart I am a lawful evil dungeonmaster, even when setting up skirmish games.

Use the mechanics of FoW missions, add fluff to taste.

Oberlindes – Character is what sets skirmish gaming apart :)

I have run multi player games at the platoon level, and I really want to be able to do company sized. It is very hard to keep all the players involved through the game.

i ahve a scenario involving Dr. Hans Kamler. He was never found in 1945. He was involved in thew "die Glocke" project.

my premeis is they used the craft to transport Nazi Germany to another planet.Will post one scenario i am working on soon.

@Weasel: Agreed.

Try to play the scenario from PMC 2640: Hell of Echidna link with bigger forces (e.g two 2 vs 2 Priority 2 armies). It quite often turns into bloodsheed :)

We like large multi-player games with very simple forces and scenarios. We do a few things to create interaction between players, and that sort of things creates a lot of the narrative for the scenario. Even allies can act in ways that are unexpected.
Here's a couple things we do:

1. Keep it as simple as possible.
2. Each player has a different set of orders/objective.
3. Limit Table Talk to a Communication Phase.
4. Assign personalities to each player that dictate what they need to do to win. We keep these secret until after the game.
5. In large games we sometimes set a timer for each phase, it adds tension and keeps things moving.
6. Keeping objectives, personal motivations, communication etc unknown generally gets more involvement in the downtime between plays, as people are trying to figure out whats going on.