If wargaming in person is best, and live wargaming via Skype or some such is second-best, perhaps play-by-email with time delays as orders are sent and implemented each turn is only third-best. Still, needs must. With our dice-rolling muscles atrophying, we have resorted to PBEM to fight the battle of Nachod from the Austro-Prussian War of 1866.
Actually, third-best is unfair: PBEM has pros as well as cons. The biggest pro is that we are finding new gaming buddies. 'We' means our gang at Oxford Wargames Society (OWS):
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There is civilized wargaming life elsewhere in Oxfordshire as well, in the form of the South Oxfordshire Generals (SOG). I have met a few of the SOGs once or twice, but the distance between us is just a bit too far to be manageable for a club night. However, we do have email contact, and when I mooted a PBEM, Steve D volunteered the excellent suggestion that they could field a SOGs team against an OWS team.
Consequently the SOGs are commanding the Austrian side; OWS regulars are commanding the Prussians; I am the referee, receiving orders and implementing them on my tabletop, then sending out photos and updates each turn.
Obviously the logistics mean this is happening in slow time, so it has taken us the best part of a week to get through 3 turns (it will be a 10-turn game). Still, the leisurely pace is actually good in some ways as well. It means everyone has time to ponder the situation and make plans with more care than the usual Monday night canter. And for me at least, it builds tension and makes it very absorbing – and I'm not even playing!
As luck would have it, I think the scenario is a serendipitously good choice as well. It's one I wrote recently, specially for the BBB Bash Day planned for June 2020 and now sadly postponed. It starts gradually with only a small Prussian advance guard on the field facing half the Austrian force, which grows rapidly. The Austrians need to attack and capture the vital ground while they have the numerical advantage, because halfway through the game the rest of the Prussians will arrive to more than even things up. Thus we can expect both teams to have a fair crack of the whip attacking or counter-attacking, and there will be plenty of movement. The forces have very contrasting character too, with hesitant Austrians straitjacketed by their assault-oriented Stosstaktik, facing nimbler Prussians with their deadly needleguns.
We're all having a good time so far. For anyone interested in following the action, one of the Prussian players is posting each turn on his blog:
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May you all keep passing your saving rolls.
Chris
Bloody Big BATTLES!
groups.io/g/bloodybigbattles
bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com
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reveals a long-lost Martian tripod.
