Review of Corps Command Campaigns.
There is a lot of material on the Files section of the Yahoo group. Recommend joining the group to see scenarios, charts, and maps. Yahoo link: link
A. SCOPE OF THE GAME: The game has players control one of seven major powers: France, Austria, Britain, Prussia, Russia, Spain, Turkey. There are five turns per year: Spring, Early Summer, Late Summer, Fall and Winter. The players arrange their units into one of five allowed formations: Fleets, Armies, Corps, Detachments, and Garrisons.
(See Europe_1792 CAMPAIGN MAP.pdf on the Yahoo site.)
(See WORLDWIDE CAMPAIGN MAP.pdf on the Yahoo site.)
The players control the diplomacy, military and economy: If Prussia wants to build a navy and establish Trading Posts in the Far East (Japan), the rules will permit it. (If the player is not keeping the masses happy, he will lose Tolerance Points and may be forced to surrender to all powers he is at war with due to falling below Violent Discontent.)
The players have great autonomy and can follow history, or not. The rules have a set of Special Agreements & Organizations, such as Levee en Masse, Vendee Revolt, Wars of Coalition, Irish Revolt, and about 35 others. These give a flavor of the broad world from 1792-1815.
There are six campaigns and they can be tied together as a Grand Campaign:
Tides of Revolution (Late Summer 1792-Fall 1795)
Rise of Napoleon (Early Summer 1796-Latte Summer 1800)
Imperial Splendor (Spring 1805-Late Summer 1808)
With Eagles to Glory (Spring 1809-Fall 1812)
Fortress Napoleon (Spring 1813-Fall 1814)
The Emperor Returns (Spring 1815-Fall 1816)
B. SEQUENCE OF PLAY: (See the CORPS COMMAND CAMPAIGNS QRC.pdf on the Yahoo site for details.)
1. Diplomacy: Treaties of Alliance, Coalitions, Peace Treaties, Declarations of War, Sacking Generals/Admirals, Intrigue, Territorial Deals.
2. Campaign Movement: The players send the orders for their formations to the umpire.
(a) Movement is plotted. The umpire plots Fleets, Armies, Corps, Detachments, and Garrisons on a strategic map.
(b) Army Interception and Evasion/Fleet Sighting, Interception, and Evasion. The umpire will use the players' orders to determine if there are any engagements in the turn.
(c) Supply/Depots/Attrition: The umpire checks supply status of the formations and applies any attrition due to supply status or terrain effects.
3. Combat:
(a) Set-up battlefield. A terrain generator is used to generate battlefield terrain.
(b) Determine arrival of forces. All forces may not be on the board initially. Force arrival is impacted by the quality of the general commanding the force.
(c) Resolve the battle. A fast-play combat resolution is provided for players that don't want to fight a battle with miniatures.
(d) Resolve sieges, devastation of provinces, conquests.
4. Retreat and Repair:
(a) Defeated forces retreat or withdraw to other provinces.
(b) Army/Fleets list are adjusted for losses
(c) Land and Sea forces may get their morale level adjusted due to their performance in combat.
(d) Naval repairs are conducted.
5. Economics: Collect revenues (except in Winter), transfer economic points, pay expenses, make purchases.
6. Tally Political Points and Tolerance Points
C. COMMENTARY: I discovered Corps Command Campaigns in search for a Napoleonic campaign game. I wanted something the generated miniature battles and give the battles a context. At first read, I was confused, but then I read John Seeker's 2014 review of Panzer Korps ( link ). I have found Hoplite Research rules in general to be ‘eccentrically edited' but worth the time to figure them out.
I have played two short campaigns: Three of us trying to figure the mechanics of the rules and run the other major powers as NPCs. I have enjoyed what we have been able to do, but as we are learning, it is pretty time intensive. I fear I cannot draft new people into a campaign until I can streamline the process. I am trying to make some templates using spreadsheets or documents to allow the umpire to spend 3-4 hours per week on ‘bookkeeping and admin' and have the players spend no more than an hour each week—I ain't there yet.