The following is a description of the Global Thunder Mail Battle eXercise (MBX) along with some rules and tips to help players get the most out of the game during the weeks ahead. It is recommended reading for all players. For information about MBX games in general, please refer to the MBX FAQ. For specific guidelines on commanding naval forces, see Scott Gainer's Naval Operations Guide.
This document is organized as follows:
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Global Thunder is a multi-player wargame played by e-mail that will attempt to simulate a full-spectrum warfighting experience at the strategic, operational and tactical levels. It is based on the Battle of Brunei experiment (sometimes referred to as the US-Malaysia MBX) that was conducted during the summer of 1998 which successfully proved the feasibility of a combined-arms MBX.
This game will use a combination of commercial wargames -- including TacOps for ground battles, and a family of Harpoon games (Harpoon 2, Harpoon3 and H4 miniatures rules) for naval and air operations. Flight Commander 2 may be used for certain air combat missions, particularly in large air-to-air engagements. Onslaught (a combined-arms wargame made for the Mac only) may be used for low-fidelity resolution of large ground battles at the division level or higher.
While being familiar with one or more of these games will certainly be helpful, it is not necessary to even own any of these games to play. Similarly, being knowledgeable about the military will be highly useful but is not required. In fact, great pains have been taken to simplify a lot of the esoteric military jargon without "dumbing down" the complexity of the game. The hope is to create a wargame experience that appeals to both grognards and non-grognards alike.
This MBX will involve all branches of the military, including special forces and support elements. Players can command anything from a squadron of fighters to a naval task force to a battalion of tanks. Chances are, whatever your wargaming fetish is, it will be featured in this game!
Global Thunder will also feature many intangible aspects of warfare such as logistics, weather, fatigue, morale, maintenance, communications, intelligence-gathering and so on. A healthy dose of "friction" (aka Murphy's Law) will be thrown in as well, so don't be surprised if your supplies are held up because the convoy got lost, or if a ship is unable to keep up with the fleet due to engine problems.
While this game will involve a fair degree of authenticity and complexity for the "grognards," most of it has been greatly simplified to allow casual "beer and pretzel" players to sign up as well without feeling left out or intimidated.
The game will be played in three separate stages, with Stage I involving grand strategy, Stage II, operations, and Stage III, tactics. Players who stay on for the whole exercise will get to experience a single campaign as seen from all three levels of command.
Players may, if they choose, join, exit or change positions within the game without hurting the continuity as long as they change their status between stages. This should help make the MBX more popular to people who have been shy of making longterm commitments to MBX games in the past, as well as provide people with a wide variety of command experience.
Each team will have a great deal of leeway in choosing operational objectives as long as they meet the victory conditions set forth by GM. This means there will be a greater emphasis on winning through maneuver warfare as opposed to the usual force-on-force attrition duels that we see in most games.
A separate, special group of participants will be playing the role of non-combatant countries, both neutral and those allied to the two warring sides. Their interaction will provide a constantly shifting political background which will be fed as input into the game.
People may also observe the game as "Lurkers" if they wish, either on one side or on both sides.
Steven Gill has once again offered to head up "ENN," a fictitious online news service which will keep casual web visitors up on the latest news from the front.
This MBX may involve one or more CPX battles during this exercise, featuring real-time combat between the teams at the tactical level.
Rikki's Disclaimer
This game has been designed to provide a fun and reasonably authentic simulation of near-future, combined arms combat. It does not in any way attempt to be a fully accurate model of current military procedures or equipment. While much care and research has gone into this game for the sake of realism, some of the weapons and events in this game will undoubtedly deviate from what you know to be true or possible in real life. In general, players are asked to suspend their disbelief a bit and to please accept the game events as well as the data and rules as presented by the GM and the other umpires. If you find this request too difficult or too displeasing then I submit that this particular MBX may not be for you.
A game in three stages
As mentioned above, this MBX will be played in three separate stages, each representing a portion of the final score. Stage I will involve the pre-positioning of forces at the strategic level, where teams must demonstrate their ability to anticipate major military events with a given set of intel-gathering resources. In Stage II the actual battle begins, as the game switches in focus to a specific operation within a particular theatre or region. Stage III will focus on a particular land battle or series of battles within this operation, this time at the tactical level.
Each new stage will represent a jump in time as well as in level of command for the players. As we change stages, players will "demote" themselves to the next lower level of command, without looking back. (This is a marked change from the US-Malaysia MBX where players would often would switch hats back and forth during the entire game, as needed.) One of the objectives of this approach is to observe the cause-and-effect dynamics that go on between upper and lower tiers of command, as the players who make high-level strategic decisions in the early game will be forced to live with the impact of those decisions as the subordinate in the trenches. (Or in other words, "you made your bed, now lie in it."<g>).
Another benefit of having three separate stages is that it will permit some flexibility with people's schedules and time commitments, since people can leave or join the game between segments without spoiling the continuity of the scenario. It is very much hoped that at least a few players per team can play through all three stages, however, as this is helpful for AAR purposes and for providing an overall "vision" for the rest of the team.
The Scenario
One of the great fears in the coming century for the US and its allies (BLUFOR) is the notion of two or more wars taking place in different parts of the world simultaneously. Even a superpower like the US cannot keep the peace everywhere at once, and its allies are limited in how far they can project power around the world. To make matters worse, there is an increasing number of militant, aggressive, outlaw countries and organizations in the world today (REDFOR) which, if not stopped early, could represent a highly dangerous threat to world peace and even, perhaps, to the world itself. Thus there will be an increasing need to forecast conflicts before they happen, allowing them to be snuffed out early by small peacekeeping missions now rather than needing to deploy whole army groups later. This scenario takes a close look at this future dilemna to see what might transpire.
The Mysterious REDFOR
Unlike most wargames in which the combatants are clearly known up front, this scenario begins with the premise of many possible confrontations between either the US or one of its allies and an unknown "evil" power -- one of whom is plotting a full-scale surprise attack on a BLUFOR asset or ally right from the game's start. REDFOR will thus have a head start in the planning cycle but they must gather their forces for the attack as quietly as possible in order to maximize the "surprise." The Blue team, meanwhile, will be more powerful in terms of overall forces but must scramble to discover the identity of the opposing force (OPFOR) as soon as possible so that they can deploy their reserve forces accordingly.
Resetting the balance
Since each stage is scored separately, rewards and penalties for team performance will have already been taken into account before the start of the next stage. Victory conditions for the following stage will therefore be set so that the scenario will once again be balanced -- regardless of how well or how poorly a team performed in the previous stage.
For example, let us say that BLUFOR does extremely well in
detecting and anticipating REDFOR's intentions, and deploys its
forces accordingly. The REDFOR attack wuld very likely be foiled
before it starts and BLUFOR would win Stage I handily, getting
perhaps the full 20 points as its reward. Thus, in Stage II, REDFOR
might very well be losing the war -- however this is no longer
of great concern to us since we have now jumped down to the operations
level, where REDFOR will be tasked with completing a successful
series of missions to help limit the damage and try to prevent
a bad situation from getting worse. Perhaps the victory conditions
for REDFOR in this case would involve a "cover the retreat"
or "evacuate the wounded" objective. In any case, the
mission would be judged by the umpires as being reasonably obtainable
(ideally a 50/50 chance, if perfectly balanced) no matter how
FUBARed everything else is on the broader battlefield.
To put it another way, it is less important which side wins the
war than which team best meets the victory conditions for each
stage.
Umpire Staff
To help with the immense workload in running this game, I have 'hired' a second umpire in the person of Scott Gainer, a Navy veteran and an experienced Harpooner who will handle most of the naval operations as well as the logistics issues in this game. Scott's encyclopedaeic knowledge of the military will help provide the realism and authenticity that I could not provide alone, perhaps even making tweaks to the game engine resolutions where there are known deficiencies.
I am also fortunate to have the highly knowledgeable and helpful Dan Vorobiev helping out as my Foreign Affairs Advisor, and James Sterrett as my CPX umpire. James is the undisputed king of CPX umpiring whose skills in this area exceed all known human limitations.
Your Own Personal "XO"
One of the difficulties in running games that provide the kind of authenticity demanded by the military pros is that it can sometimes be intimidating or alienating to the less-knowledgeable civvie faction (myself included! <g>) My solution is to assign my co-umpire, Scott, to play the role of a ubiquitous Executive Officer (XO), who will assist any player on the tactical and technical capabilities of his or her forces upon request. He will not make any decisions for you, but you may call on him for technical advice or anytime you are unsure of your options. He will not only describe them for you but will list the pros and cons of each choice. If at some point you happen to issue an order that runs counter to "conventional wisdom," he will call this to your attention (as any good XO would) and will provide alternative choices if need be. This means that players with no military background whatsoever can lock horns with the veterans and still have a decent chance of coming out on top. The veterans, on the other hand, will enjoy having an XO who is up to their level, as they can plan fairly complex operations with confidence knowing that the details will be taken care of by their highly capable subordinate.
Scope
In Stage I, players will begin as three and four-star generals and admirals involved at the very highest levels of planning and grand strategy, as each side will move forces around on a big war map in accordance to where they see their opponent building forces. The perspective from the player's point of view is that of a top level Army, Navy or Airforce commander or a theater commander operating from a high security war room. This is primarily a planning stage, not a combat stage, in which both sides are trying to gain as many advantages as possible for the fight ahead. For REDFOR, this means gaining the highest possible attack ratio and choosing a launch date for the attack before the Blue team is ready. For BLUFOR it will mean reducing that ratio by first determining which country appears to be the most threatening and deploying reserve forces accordingly. Think of it as a global game of chess, where the opening moves can set the stage for who will win often before a single piece is taken.
Stage II is where the fighting begins as the two forces begin to engage. Here the perspective changes to a battlefied command, perhaps within a corps or division headquarters or aboard a flagship of a carrier battle group. This segment allows for more detail than in Stage I, but players can still keep their orders simple with few instructions and let the subordinates (umpires) figure out the details. This stage will probably see a lot of naval action, air battles and perhaps some special forces insertions -- the usual preliminary operations that take place prior to a major land battle.
In Stage III, the focus downshifts once again to an even smaller field of focus, this time emphasizing a ground engagement, probably at the brigade level or so, with naval and air operations in support. Here the game will focus on tactics, the two opposing ground forces maneuver across several adjoining TacOps maps. Orders during this segment are likely to be much more detailed than in previous stages, containing exact positions of intended deployments, type of formation and type of munition to be fired. Naval operations are once again the exception here, as any carrier, offshore bombardment or logistics support will most likely be gamed abstractly.
Politics
Politics will play a role in this game but only during Stage I, and primarily for the benefit of BLUFOR who is more concerned with global level strategy. The main purpose of politics in this game is to provide a backdrop for possible military events, much of which will ultimately be decided by die-rolls and a group of participants called World Leaders.Players will have no control over political events themselves, but should try to keep aware of their political surroundings as a means of fortelling possible military implications.
ENN
ENN is a fictitious online news service created by Steven Gill which will be used to report on progess of the war. Players and lurkers alike can click on the ENN logo to get the latest stories from the front, which will often provide color and detail that may be missing in the rip-and-read teletype-style of reports. Besides providing an entertaining way to keep up on the latest events in the war, ENN will also be providing players with political news and perhaps, from time to time, a clue leading to some useful intel.
Lurkers
Once again there will be an audience observing this game whom we in MBX-Land affectionately refer to as Lurkers. One-sided Lurkers -- Lurkers who see the game from only one team's perspective -- will be eligible to play on the team they are observing if they wish, assuming there is an available slot. Dual Lurkers -- lurkers who observe both sides -- may not play on a team for obvious reasons.
World leaders are volunteers who get to role-play as leaders of non-combatant countries during Stage I. They in fact get to play a game within the larger game as they try to improve their country's military, political or economic situation (without losing a war or being overthrown!) The interaction between the world leaders will create a dynamic background of international events that will be largely unpredictable by even the umpires, which in turn will feed the main game with constantly changing information about where hostilities are building up and how quickly. It is a great way for people to enjoy taking part in this MBX wihtout having to give up much of a time commitment. World Leaders cannot play or lurk until Stage II, however.
Web-based gameplay
A web site has been created for the purpose of distributing important game information throughout the duration of this MBX. This is the general gateway to news updates, maps, charts, weather reports, unit databases and any other non-secret game information for players and lurkers alike.
There will also be a password-protected headquarters area for each team, so that players and lurkers can view and download documents and maps created for each team. This headquarters area will also feature a Communications Center to assist you in sending your orders and requests to the right "superiors" or "subordinates" for the fastest possible response. (See Communications section, below).
CPXs
There is a good chance that there will be at one or possibly several CPX games during this exercise to resolve tactical conflicts. A CPX is a double-blind wargame played in real time, live on the internet, in this case over IRC (Internet Relay Chat) and will involve fast-paced decision-making at the tactical level. Generally CPX games involve tactical ground combat but there might in fact be a CPX naval battle as well. Even if you do not intend to take part in the tactical combat and even if there are no CPXs it is recommended that players are able to access IRC in case teams want to hold "emergency planning sessions" from time to time. To learn more about CPXs and IRC, see the CPX FAQ located at James Sterrett's IRC CPX Page.
First steps
1. Sign up. To join, go to the Recruiting Center at the Global Thunder homepage and fill out the form. This form asks which branch of service and type of command you would most like to play, which will be useful to the GM and to your team's CINC later on. You will receive an e-mail confirming your enlistment usually within 24 hours.
2. Get to know your mission. When you receive your confirmation you will also receive a password which will allow you to enter the RESTRICTED AREA of the web site. This is the gateway to your team's planning area where you'll find your team's orders, as well as a library of information to help you with your research and planning.
3. Get to know your team. The next thing you'll want to do is send an e-mail out to your team and introduce yourself so you can discuss the mission and begin planning. Click on Roll Call to find out who your teammates are and set up a mailing list for sending e-mails later on. Or, click on CommCenter to send an auto-addressed e-mail to your team. (The latter option is recommended to avoid "intel leaks" due to errors in communications.)
4. Appoint a CINC. If the team is still forming there may not yet be a CINC, in which case you are welcome to apply for the position by stating your interest to the team. Generally, the team as a group is responsibile for choosing their own CINC. If no one volunteers to for the position, or if there are several volunteers but they are too "polite" to compete for the job <g> they may apply to the GM (that's me) for the job and the GM will appoint the CINC.
5. Appoint a team XO and a team Historian. The first job of the CINC is to appoint two other positions: the Executive Officer (XO), who can stand in for him should he have to be absent for any length of time, and the Team Historian, who is responsible for keeping a diary of the important game events as they unfold. (NOTE: A "diary" is not the same as an AAR. It is just simple listing of events and the dates they occurred. After Action Reports are detailed recollection of those events as well as any learning from the experience.) All three positions -- the CINC, XO and Team Historian -- can serve for one stage of the game and switch off with someone else later, or they can serve in the position for all three stages.
6. Assign commands and tasks. Once all the players have had a chance to look over their orders and the forces under their control, they will want to parcel out the various responsibilities and commands. There are no rules for this; it is up to the players (and ultimately the team CINC) how to split up the forces among the players. Commands can be distributed according to region, branch of service, task or any criteria. Players should clearly state their desire for a particular type of command or task at this time, if your CINC doesn't know this already.
7. Organize your mail. Like any MBX, this game will generate a lot of e-mail. You may want to create a number of separate folders for storing orders, sitreps and maps, etc., so you can find them easily. Hooking up to IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is also adviseable -- especially if you plan to play in Stage III of the exercise -- as this permits quick decision-making from the players in real time. If you are new to IRC, you will find help aplenty from your team. One of the traditional duties of the CINC in fact,is to help new recruits get squared away with running IRC.
8. Organize your schedules. A lot of you will have different times of the week when you are available to read reports, look over updated maps and submit your orders -- and many players will likely be playing from different time zones. This can be a nuisance or a benefit, depending on how well you organize yourselves so that there is always someone who volunteers to be "on watch" for the team for a given period and respond to game events, if necessary. (This can be especially helpful in rapidly developing situations where the window of opportunity to respond is very small.)
STARTEX
Once the GM determines that both teams have the minimum number of people to play he will announce the starting date of the game -- which in this case will probably be about two to three weeks from the time the game was first announced. This date is known as STARTEX (Start of Exercise), and is the deadline by which teams must submit their first set of orders or instructions to the umpires. They do this by way of the ComCenter, as explained in the ComCenter Directory. These initial orders are then processed in game terms, after which the teams are issued a situation report (SITREP) describing the first set of events in the game. This marks the ending of the first turn of the game and the planning and orders cycle begins again.
SITREPS
SITREPS are the most important reports issued in the game. They list all of the important game events that occurred within a specified segment of time. SITREPs may contain completely disparate types of information. For example, at 8:01 there may be an entry from an air transport commander that a brigade of artillery has just been loaded and is ready to depart for base X, as ordered. Another entry at 8:15 might be from a sonar operator aboard a destroyer in a completely different area of operations reporting active sonar pings from a sub some 2 miles NW of his position. The SITREP may contain dozens of entries or just two or three, depending on the activity going on. The final entry on the SITREP indicates the "current game time," which may be several hours after the first entry. The events described in these SITREPS often arrive too late for you or your team to do anything about them; the important thing is that your team is gaining information -- however delayed or inaccurate. The challenge will be to use this information to predict the next events and put standing operating procedures (SOPs) in place so that your subordinates will respond in accordance with your wishes next time at the time of contact.
The Game Clock
The game clock refers to the running time of the game events. It is completely independent of any real life calendar or clock. The "current time" can always be calculated by looking at the last time-stamp on the most recent SITREP.
It is important to note that the timespan that any one SITREP covers may change drastically. In the example above, the SITREP may have encompassed the period of time from 0800 to 1000 hours, or just a few minutes. If there are no major sightings or events to report to either team for awhile, the next SITREP that arrives might cover a full 12 hours or more with only a few fairly insignificant entries, such as a logistics inventory taken in the late afternoon, or an overnight weather report. In this way the game can speed quickly ahead and focus only important events involving a lot of action. As the action heats up, the game clock will slow down to give players a chance to control the situation. (Players of Harpoon and other time-based games -- as opposed to turn-based -- are already familiar with this concept, which is commonly referred to as "time compression.")
Gathering Intelligence
Throughout the game, teams will be tested in their ability to sort through and analyze a steady stream of information in order to extract usable intelligence. Some of this information may come in the form of a report from a reconnaisance patrol, a radar operator or a pilot overflying an enemy position or some other event that is reported in your sitrep. A report of this type tends to be fairly reliable, though there may still be some degree of inaccuracy depending on the skill, experience and degree of panic or fatigue of the person making the report. A lot of information may be hazier and a bit harder to come by, however. For example, the newswire might carry a story on a rebellion in a third world country being put down by government troops, which are supported by tanks. An astute player might notice that the tank in the accompanying photo is actually a T-80U, the very latest Russian design. This would indicate that this poor country is not so "third world" after all, and that they may have other top-quality weapons through an unreported alliance with Russia -- all of which would certainly be regarded as useable intelligence.
The most useful source of intelligence, however, will come from your Intelligence staff or bureau at your command headquarters. This staff is available to you for almost any kind of intelligence request, merely by asking questions regarding the subject matter you want investigated. Keep in mind that there is only so much your Intelligence staff can accomplish at any one time, and that certain tasks may overload your staff more so than others. For this reason, a team CO may choose to elect one of the players as the team's dedicated "Intelligence Officer" to make sure its intelligence operations are being conducted in the most efficient manner possible. For more information on gathering intel in this game, please refer to the Intelligence Officer's Handbook located in your team's planning area.
Communications
For your convenience, your team has been provided with a communications area (ComCenter) located at your team's planning area. This is an automated interface that allows you to easily issue mail to the right group of players or umpires, depending on the "commander" or "subordinates" you want to contact, just by just clicking on the appropriate box in the team's organization chart. For example, whenever anyone clicks on the team's top naval commander box, the mail will go directly to my co-umpire Scott who handles all the naval combat, while Marine and SEAL orders go to me. It is hoped that besides serving a routing function this should also help prevent any showtopping blunders in mail security (which seems to have occurred in just about every MBX in history).
You can also use the CommCenter to send a "memo" to your teammates on any topic you wish. This mail will be addressed to all your teammates (with the umpires "cc'd" so that we can keep up on plan development in case we need to correct any misconceptions along the way). The address list will be updated by the umpires as players join or leave the game so you don't have to worry about maintaining your own team mailing list. Players may respond to any mail they receive using their e-mail program's "Reply To All" button but are asked to use the ComCenter page whenever they want to initiate a new thread of discussion.
Oh yes, just for fun you will notice we included a "Taunt" button. This is an open-frequency broadcast that will send an email to all players on both sides -- something that might come in handy when you feel like heckling your opponents. <g>
Objectives for Stage I.
In this stage of the game, the world is at peace, but just barely. Tensions have flared in several parts of the globe as of late, and it looks like BLUFOR is facing that most dreaded of situations -- having to keep a lid on not just one potential hot spot, but several. A group of commanding generals, admirals and intelligence officers have been called together to recommend a plan for deploying ground, naval and air reserves to various parts of the globe to best counter these perceived threats.
BLUFOR will have a handful of intelligence-gathering assets to play with to help them gain a clearer picture of the world political and military situation . Intel will consist of a steady flow of information from the usual intelligence agencies as well as from the ENN news service. The idea is to weave an intelligence mosaic from various data as it becomes available, then preposition forces and supply caches accordingly. The sooner BLUFOR can determine which threats should be treated with urgency and which ones are can be ignored for the time being, the better their chances of defending against the coming attack and the better their score will be in this stage of the MBX.
In addition to deploying reserve units to various regions of the world in anticipation of a conflict, BLUFOR may also initiate recon missions, sea patrols training exercises, power projection ("show the flag") missions and other limited peacetime operations in an effort to collect useful information on enemy responsiveness and force makeup while at the same time forcing the countries who are aggressive but without true resolve to withdraw, thus reducing the number of possible threats.
REDFOR, meanwhile, will be one of several potential "Bad Guy" countries who is already in the midst of planning some dastardly plot at the start of ghe game. Their goal during Stage I will be to choose a target or targets that meet their team's prestated strategic objectives and to amass the forces they need for the attack to succeed. The longer they take to plan the mission the more forces they will have to work with, but also the greater the chance that their plot will be discovered by the ever-roaming eye of BLUFOR.
To win a perfect score in Stage I, REDFOR must amass overwhelming force and achieve complete surprise. For BLUFOR to win a perfect score, the team must correctly allocate its reserves in proportion to the level of the various threats throughout the world (including the REDFOR threat) without needlessly resorting to the draft. Since the two sides are working toward goals that are not quite diametrically opposed, it is theoretically possible for both teams to do well in Stage I.
Objectives for Stage II.
In Stage II, the scope of the scenario narrows from the theater level to the regional or sub-regional level, as we pick up the battle at the moment when the REDFOR attack is about to meet the BLUFOR defense. All players will immediately jump down one or two levels of command, as they begin to do battle with whatever forces they gave themselves during Stage I.
The focus of this stage is operations, not strategy, so the scenario would only look at one region of the entire area of operations. To use the 1990 Gulf War as an example, if Stage I had to do with deploying divisions, airborne corps, air forces and carrier groups to various places throughout the Persian Gulf, Stage II might focus on only the 1st Marine Division landing at Kuwaitt, or the end-run armored maneuver across the desert toward Baghdad -- not the entire war.
Army commanders will generally command units from the size of battalions all the way up to the division level, while aircraft commanders will generally lead squadrons or air wings. Naval commanders might lead anything from a single submarine all the way up to a carrier group.
The team objective for Stage II depends on the orders that were issued to the team (see Resetting the Balance, Part I) but the overall objective is the same as it was for Stage I -- to gain the most advantageous force ratio and readiness levels for an important tactical ground combat engagement, which will be played out in Stage III. Force ratios will depend on previous combat results, fire and air support availability, what reserves are available and how far off-map they are from the engagement area. Readiness levels will be influenced by such things as supply levels, command and control capabilities, fatigue, unit cohesion, morale, maintenance issues, and so on.
Assuming neither team has pre-empted a tactical battle through the use of maneuver warfare or destroying the other side's troop transports, the final stage of the engagement will most likely be some sort of ground engagement at the battalion or brigade level. Most players will jump down a level or two and take up ground command roles. If the combatants are larger than a division the umpires will most likely game out much of the fighting off-board (using Onslaught as the game engine), leaving whatever portion of the battle appears to be the "crux" of the engagement as the premise of the final and decisive CPX. In other words, it is implied that whoever wins the tactical fight in Stage III will be the victor of the larger regional operation. (This still may not be enough to win the war, however, but this is irrelevant in terms of scoring points).
During Stage III there may be several weeks or more (real time) in which the two sides engage in small-scale combat operations, such as recon skirmishes, flanking maneuvers, rear area raids or paratrooper insertions, in order that the main forces gain the greatest tactical advantage possible. Depending on the size and nature of the engagement and the availability of he players and umpires, the main battle may take the form of a typical TacOps CPX.
It should be noted that if one of the two main forces destined to take part in this engagement were destroyed en route to the battlefield during Stage II, there might not even be a Stage III. In this case, the MBX will be a hands-down victory for the team that destroyed the transiting ground forces. Still, there will probably be some interceding of "Deus ex machina" (some trumped-up rationale conjured up by the umpires) to introduce ground troops to the area so that we can all enjoy a good ground battle, even if the winner of the MBX is a foregone conclusion.
"Friction"
Players should take note that operations can be disrupted from time to time by bad luck as well as Mother Nature, not just the enemy. Equipment can break down, intelligence data can be garbled or lost, and random human errors can occur, all of which can result in problems later on down the line. You may or may not ever learn the source of these problems, any more than you would in real life, at least not until the umpire's AAR comes out. This is the area of warfare sometimes referred to as "friction," and you can probably expect to experience a healthy dose of this phenomenon throughout the scenario. Our recommendation is to prepare for these mishaps as best you can psychologically, but then leave the rest up to Fate and hope for the best.
ENDEX
After the tactical-level battle in Stage III is over, the GM will declare that the exercise has ended (ENDEX). The umpires will then confer on how well each side met it's victory conditions for Stage III and award points accordingly, then add them to the previous two totals to figure out which team won the MBX. Note that the team who wins the war may not be the team that wins the MBX due to the fact that the scoring is skewed to promote good tactics and operational wisdom at the lower and middle levels of command -- which may not be enough to save your country from blunders made at the strategic level.
Scoring
In effect, Global Thunder is really three separate MBX exercises, with each exercise focused on a different aspect of wargaming. Teams win points out of a total of 100 points. The game will be "graded" in stages, as follows:
- Stage I (Strategy) .......... 20 points
- Stage II (Operations) .......50 points
- Stage III (Tactics)...........30 points
Scores will be determined at the end of each stage but will not be announced until the end of the exercise. Scores will be based on the average of the scores submitted by the umpires.
Note that the point distribution above greatly favors skill in operations and tactics versus strategy. This reflects the expected time commitment for each segment, as well as the belief that most wargamers tend to focus on the combat and tactics aspect of soldiering rather than national-level strategic deployments.
After Action Reports
It is requested that all players, upon completion of the exercise, submit an After Action Review (AAR) to the GM. An AAR describes what happened and why from their point of view. It can be extremely brief or extremely long -- the important thing here is to include any valuable lessons learned to help improve the game or to help other players improve their knowledge of tactics and operations. Should you forget what happened or in what sequence, refer to the diary that should have been kept by your Team Historian.
Why is compiling an AAR so important? Well, besides the lessons learned there are usually some fascinating, often enthralling stories that can come out of such an exercise as this which often cannot be talked about openly during the game. It would be a great shame to let these entertaining and instructive anecdotes fade into obscurity. But mostly, it's a great help to the GM and to GMs of future MBXs who want to create an even better game experience. The AARs written by players of my past MBX, in fact, were crucial in helping me to make improvements that I have implemented in our current game. (Though I apologize for losing most of them when I moved web sites :-<). I hope the tradition of contributing AARs continues in this exercise as for other ones.
This section describes some of the rules and procedures that will be used in this game and to acquaint players with my particular style of umpiring. It is also meant to provide some helpful game hints which should prove useful, especially to those who are new to the MBX format.
Giving orders
Orders may be given to the umpires in pretty much any format you like, and may include as much detail as would be appropriate for the subordinate commander you are addressing. Or, if you prefer, you may omit all but the most basic information and let the umpires fill in the details themselves. For example, it is perfectly fine if a player at the Admiral level simply says "move Task Force Atlantic from port A to port B" and leave it at that. In this case, it may be assumed that the umpire, acting as XO, will take care of such details as setting up a proper formations, patrol zones, emissions control, course, speed, determining threat axes, and so on. Of course, if the player has specific tactics in these areas he wishes to implement he is invited, in fact encouraged, to do so. The idea here is to allow players of all skill levels -- not just the "pros" -- to try their hand at commanding forces that are new to them without being intimidated by a horrendously steep learning curve. It is hoped that as the game goes on and players become more familiar with the units under their control that they will enjoy assuming more and more of the details of command.
Here is a tip, however: orders should include, when possible, some explanation of intent. This will allow the Executive Officer (the umpires) to smartly prepare for any unforseen events. For example, if the same player above had said, "move Task Force 1 to port B and and prepare set up a blockade of Port B," this would shade the Executive Officer's (umpire's) decisions considerably, such as making a stronger effort to identify all unknown shipping as they approach Port B, and having gun and missile crews at the ready. Without this intent, a freighter or two might see the task force from a distance and escape before the task force commander (the umpire) knew to intercept them.
Command & Control
While most support elements in this MBX will be gamed in the background, players may issue orders to the support elements within their command as they wish -- provided that their orders do not go below the level of command that has been assigned to them. For example, a naval task force commander may call upon his replenishment vessels to rendezvous at such-and-such a place for at-sea refueling. He need not get involved, however, with the nitty-gritty of listing the order in which ships will be refueled, or how best to handle the transfer of food and munitions. These are details that may be left to a more junior staff of commanders and CPOs several ranks beneath him. Other support elements players may control include logistics, communications, aircraft loadouts, tactical loadouts for landing craft, engineering missions, maintenance issues, vehicle recovery, and so on.
Command and control will be subject to limitations which may or may not always be known to the commander giving the order. For instance, in the fuel replenishment example above, you suddenly learn to your disappointment that you didn't have the proper supplies or the manpower to issue that order. In such cases, your XO will usually give you a prompt reply as to why your order cannot be carried out and will perhaps provide you with one or more alternative solutions to your request.
Requesting more forces
Players may make requests for extra forces or equipment at any time without penalties as long as they are reasonable and in keeping with the kind of request any real-life commander might make in a similar situation. A brigade commander requesting bulldozers, collapsable bridges or special communications gear from Division HQ would certainly fit in this category. Should players find themselves in a situation where they are greatly outnumbered or outgunned they should feel free to call higher command for reinforcements, fire support, air support or any other form of help just as they would in real life. If possible, all requests should be passed up the chain of command (or to the player designated as being responsible for making such requests) -- not mailed directly from each player to the umpire. This will not only help reduce the e-mail traffic to the umpires but will also allow the CINC to keep tabs on who needs what and to prioritize those needs.
Keep in mind, however, that requesting forces too quickly or frequently as a knee-jerk response without actual in-depth knowledge of the enemy's forces will not help your team. In fact, such knee-jerk requests will no doubt instill a lack of confidence in your abilities from your superiors (umpires), who may see your requests as a sign you are not capable enough or resourceful enough to work with the materiel at your disposal. If so, your team may incur a small penalty in the form of a reduction in your team's score for that stage of the game -- whether your request is granted or not. Also keep in mind that for purposes of balance, any substantial request that is granted to one team may be answered with a grant of equal importance to the other side. So -- make those requests wisely!
Directing your intelligence assets
Players have four methods of gathering intel. The first is through the use of your team's intelligence agencies, which gather information from many different sources worldwide. Different countries have different levels of ability in gathering information. For more information on directing your intelligence agencies, please refer to the separate Intel Officer's Handbook located in your team's planning area.
The second method of gathering intelligence is by aggressively going out and getting it. Border patrols, submarine ops, "fishing trawlers" or other intelligence-gathering vessels near major ports or choke points are all examples of such methods. Some countries have high-altitude aerial recon or space surveillance assets which can also be requested. Another practice might include conducting training exercises close to an adversary's borders in order to observe that county's defensive response. Care should be taken, however, not to be too aggressive and overstep normal, peacetime Rules of Engagement (ROE).
The third method for retrieving intelligence is through your country's allies. Allies will generally share information if it is beneficial to do so but may need a little prod to get them to hurry up about it. Too many urgent requests, however, may burn up your favors later on when you really need help, so again, choose your requests wisely.
The fourth method has to do with covert or clandestine operations, which is detailed below.
Support operations
Unless otherwise notified, all support and logistics operations such as refueling, maintenance, communications, ordnance loadouts and so on will be gamed abstractly in the background until such time as a player demands to take control of it. So unless otherwise requested, most support operations can be assumed to be proceeding as normal and need not be attended to. This is to keep the game simple and manageable so that players don't have to set waypoints for all of their supply ships, or keep track of food rations, or any of a hundred other less-than-critical details of operational warfare.
However, make no mistake, while these support elements will be gamed abstractly they will be gamed. So if a storm hits the region where a supply convoy is transiting it could have an impact on when the supplies reach your forward-deployed troops. Or if an MEU was on its return leg of an expedition when it was sent out on an emergency mission, its level of supply may not be optimal and fatigue may begin to set in sooner than normal. As all of these issues are normally considered part of operational warfare, players are welcome to delve into this aspect of the game as much, or as little, as they like.
Covert or clandestine operations
Both sides will have the ability of conducting some sort of illegal or clandestine operation -- such as assassination, organizing a resistance movement or an act of terrorism. Here you must let your morals be your guide, but if you and your team believe that the "good" of the mission (from your country's point of view) outweighs the "evil," you may be able to persuade your higher command (the umpires) to approve the mission. One of the fringe benefits of conducting these missions is that the intel gathered from in-country is often highly useful, and could possibly be enough of a reason to rationalize the mission in the first place.
Tour of Duty
A "tour of duty" is considered to be any single stage (Stage I, II or III) of the MBX. At whatever stage a player joins the game, that player is requested to stay on for the duration of that stage as his "tour of duty." If a player must leave for a brief period that is fine, as long as he states this to his CINC ahead of time so that someone can be found to take over his command during his absence. (Here's where a Single-side Lurker may be asked to go to "active" duty and help fill in the vacancy. Players are of course free to "re-up" for a second or third stage, but only if they can stay on for the duration of that next stage as well. The purpose of this request is to prevent too many disruptions in the game and in the team's organization.
Disputes
It is inevitable that in any game that attempts to simulate realism there will be disagreements over what is "real." While I can attest that great care has been taken to make this game as authentic in feeling as possible, there is simply no way to ensure complete fidelity or accuracy. Game engines fail to take all aspects of warfare into account and often provide combat results that are far-fecthed, if not impossible. Also, many people refer to different sources when citing military data and often those sources do not agree. This problem is further compounded by late-breaking news about this or that platform being refitted with a new weapons system or sensor of some kind, so "reality" is often a moving target.
If you find yourself frustrated by this occasional bending of reality as you know it, try using your imagination a little and invent your own reality to explain the outcome. After all, this game takes place a good ten years in the future, so one could probably come up with any number of explanations as to why that "stupid, wrong, dumb" game rule or piece of data could in fact be a reality in ten years.
Still, there will no doubt be times when a dispute over combat results or game data becomes an issue. To help circumvent these disputes or frustrations before they start, I have drafted a few simple guidelines to go by:
1) Any information found in your team's planning area may be considered "official" and will usually supercede any data found through other sources -- regardless of the authenticity of the other data.
2) Any rules or data involving naval and air operatrions that have not been stated in this game will be assumed to be governed by H4 miniature rules unless otherwise noted.
3) Any rules or data concerning tactical ground operations that have not been listed in this game will be assumed to be based on the TacOps 3.0 database unless otherwise noted.
4) If after following the guidelines above you still think there is a discrepancy that is tremendously significant, or somehow unfairly affects your team's chances of winning, feel free to alert the GM. The umpires will confer to see if perhaps a correction can be made. (After all, we are human and we will always aim to please if possible!) The umpires' decision, however, will be final.
If this last recourse does not satisfy you, I offer one last suggestion:
5) Re-read Riki's Disclaimer! (See Part I). <g>
If after following the guidelines above you still think there is a discrepancy that is tremendously significant, or somehow unfairly affects your team's chances of winning, feel free to alert the GM. The umpires will confer to see if perhaps a correction can be made. (After all, we are human and we will always aim to please if possible!) The umpires' decision, however, will be final.
Security
A moderate amount of work has gone into team security and to prevent catastrophic "intel coups" caused by sending comms to the wrong team. However, all players are asked to recognize that all MBX games (and most CPX games) experience screwups from time to time, and I'm sure this one will be no exception. If you or your teammates receive a communication that was sent to you in error by the GM or any of the umpires, you are asked to disregard it entirely and proceed as if you had no knowledge of that communication. (If teams suddenly take advantage of this information it will be fairly apparent to the umpires anyway, so you might as well forget about it.)
The issue of tampering or breaking into the opposing team's headquarters is a more serious issue, however, and will be dealt with harshly. I am told that hacking into a password-protected web site can be done fairly easily if someone were so inclined. However, to my mind, anyone who is so inclined has no business being among gentlemen who are playing with honesty and integrity. Therefore, even the mere attempt at hacking into the site will be considered grounds for automatic and immediate expulsion from the game.
References
The forces and weapons data in this game are based on a wide array of sources too numerous to remember or name. The main resources, however, other than the databases within the various game engines themselves, include the Harpoon 4 Rules, the Harpoon 4 Data Annex for naval and air equipment, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies publication, The Military Balance 1997/98, for general orders of battle for countries other than the US (thanks to Nick Moran who loaned me his copy for this event).
Enjoy yourself!
This is the most important guideline of all, and surprisingly, can sometimes be the hardest to follow. If you are feeling upset over the way you are being treated by your teammates, your opponents, or the umpires, you should immediately do two things: 1) Tell me. My objective as GM is to provide a good time for people, and if you are upset over something, then it is my failure more than anyone else's. But most importantly you must try to... 2) retain your sense of humor! Remember, please, this is just a game. It's amazing how quickly disagreements and frustrations clear up once you regain your perspective and try to realize we're all here for the same reason -- to have fun and enjoy the comeraderie of fighting together as a team. Anything else is really secondary.
That is all.
-- RT
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Ammendments
The following rules and guidelines supercede all previous rules and guidelines above.
1. Rulings on forces
From time to time players will request rulings from the umpires on whether or not certain units, weapons or sensors are officially included in the game. This can often require a significant amount of time to research, especially if the subject is an unfamiliar one to us. From this point on, the players may determine the forces they have under their command themselves by submitting their own equipment lists, equipment capabilities, ORBATs and TO&Es. In fact, if you take the initiative and do the research, there's a good chance that whatever equipment, TO&E, map or force structure you are proposing will be accepted. (Many additions to the game, in fact, have already been added this way, we just never informed anyone about it). Generally, if you dig up bonafide research and you do not hear back from the umpires you can generally assume that your proposed addition is acceptable. Players will be responsible for providing URLs or other sources so that the umpires can check on the authenticity of the item, however. The harder you make it for us, the less likely the proposal will be accepted. As a general rule, if your request to have certain items sanctioned by the umpires requires us to do a lot of research, those items will probably not be allowed.
2. Direct vs. Indirect control
During Stage I, orders will generally not go more than two levels beneath the rank of the player. This means that if players are responsible for armies and fleets, their orders must be written as though they are going to the commanders of divisions and task groups. Orders containing instructions for a battalion or a brigade or an individual ship would be regarded as inappropriate. Likewise for any orders issued to individual ships or planes.
Any support units, auxilliary forces or units deemed too small or insignificant for this level of rank will still be gamed, but abstractly. This means that players may only have indirect control over these units by issuing SOPs (standing operating procedures) regarding general situations, not individual units or specific tasks.
For example, if an admiral suspects enemy submarine activity in area X, he might order a carrier battle group (CVBG) commander in the region (a conceptual figure, played by the umpire) to patrol that area. The carrier commander (umpire) would then choose a unit or units from his command (eg, a Viking ASW aircraft, Osprey ASW aircraft, an ASW frigate, ASW helos or possibliy a sub or two, if attached) to patrol area X, and then deploy that group of units. The TG commander may also deploy SURTASS units (tugs with towed array sonars) and other auxilliary units that, as players, you may not even be aware existed. For this reason, issuing orders directly to the next level of command below your own may be the best way to insure your intentions and objectives are carried out, and is probably the easiest method of control for players who are new to controlling naval unitts.
Most players will want more involvement than that, and will probably The admiral may also, however, issue orders directly He may also offer specific instructions and SOPs for that group,
are usually given areas of responsibility or groups of forces to control, as indicated by the various ORBATs provided by the umpires. Any units or forces listed in the ORBATs provided by the umpires are considered to be under the direct control of the players. This means that orders may be given directly to the commander of a
3. Guidelines for Scoring in Stage I
The criteria for scoring in Stage I will be similar for the two teams, but not exactly the same. For example, let's look at the BLUFFOR team first.
When deploying forces to meet an opposing force, the optimum goal will be to achieve between a 1:3 and 1:1 force ratio (where BLUFOR is assumed to be the smaller number representing the defender). Anything less than 1:3 will be considered an under-defended position, while anything more than 1:1 will be considered "overkill" and unnecessarily costly. Either of these situations will count against BLUFOR's overall score, with more points being subtracted the more the BLUFOR overestimates or underestimaates the enemy's attack. On the other hand, if BLUFOR can distribute its forces around the world so that any matchup (which in some cases may have to be protracted theoretically) will fall between 1:3 and 1:1, BLUFOR could conceivably be awarded a perfect score of 20 points.
There are many secondary factors, however, which may boost or subtract points as well. On the BLUFOR side the most critical of these factors would probably be morale, readiness, training, and leadership. These are the kind of "soft" factors that can only be assessed by the umpires on a judgement basis, but are what make MBXs so much more "real" than straight computer or even tabletop simulations.
The REDFOR team's objective in Stage I will also be measured by force ratios, but there are many soft factors involved here as well -- the main ones being that of surprise, flexibility, and initiative (since it can probably be assumed that things like training and leadership will have been optimized for the attack). Since these factors are different than those of BLUFOR, the two sets of objectives are not mutually exclusive. This means the final decision could have a surprising or complex outcome and will hopefully allow for many factors of warfare to influence the game beyond just force ratios or firepower.
Thus, the force ratios are really just a starting point to base the team's score. The other factors are what may indeed decide the true outcome. This is one of the reasons why it will be helpful to have multiple umpires, to get a more well-rounded judgement as to what the ratio actually is.
4. Explanation of the World Leader game
All countries, including BLUFOR and REDFOR countries, are being headed by a World Leader. With the exception of BLUFOR and REDFOR, World Leaders are not lurkers and have no information regarding which country is the "real" OPFOR. World leaders will therefore not be influenced by BLUFOR or REDFOR agendas any more than they would by any other country.
The World Leaders will be playing a completely separate, self-contained game whereby each Leader has been given a specific goal, known only to the Leader. Leaders must achieve their stated goal by the end of Stage I. These goals may or may not be in accordance with the goals of their (notional) military commanders. This includes the BLUFOR team, whose political leaders may have other agendas besides protecting the free world (covering up a sex scandal, for example <g>). In the case of the REDFOR team, however, both the Leader and the team are in sync, and will work cooperatively toward the agreed-upon military goal.
Throughout the game, Leaders will be asked (by Perry, our Foreign Affairs Umpire) questions that require the leader to make an important policy decision. This decision might be to emphasize domestic issues over international ones, diplomacy over military action, and so forth -- very broad-strokes stuff. The leader's emphasis may change week to week depending on events. All decisions will bring about some sort of event, as determined by the dice or in some cases by the Leaders themselves. For example, a leader might offer to broker a peace treaty between two other warring countries, thus gaining popularity points at home and abroad. One of the other two leaders, however, might find his popularlity plummet because his people think he did not bargain hard enough and gave away too many concessions (an event which could be decided by the umpire (Perry), a die roll, or a combination of the two.
Perry then compiles these events into a list each game week, and submits this to the umpires and the ENN staff. The ENN staff (Steve Gill, the ENN news editor, and Kelly Crawford, ENN's war correspondent) will read the list of items and choose the most newsworthy ones to do a story on. This provides another source of intel for the teams. (The stories that don't make it as intel or that Steve doesn't choose will be filed in a News in Brief archive, which the teams may want to research at a later time should one of these events prove relevant to the mission.
What we have, then, is a self-generating stream of news and intelligence that can be fed into the MBX system without it being pre-scripted. This should keep things pretty exciting because even the umpires cannot predict what events might happen!
END AMMENDMENTS.