[Forum Game] The Battle Cry of Freedom

[bakerydog]

The Battle Cry of Freedom

Setting​

This is a war game that begins on May 20th 1861 following the fall of Fort Sumter to Confederate forces at Charleston and the secession of the upper slave states. For game purposes the attack was led by an elderly Lieutenant Colonel who happened to be a veteran of the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American war. Armies have not been formed outside local militia units in the North and South. Tensions are high in the border states: Kentucky wishes to remain neutral, Missouri is in open conflict, Maryland is a hotbed of Confederate Sympathizers, and Western Virginia is debating secession from the state of Virginia.

Game Rules​

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The Presidents

• Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln will both be playable. The scope of their actions include but are not limited to: Raising troops, managing the economy, foreign relations, and internal affairs.
• The number of actions taken by the Presidents are not limited, however if they conflict in some fashion then there will be a reduced chance of success. If the orders are unrelated then there is a greater chance of success.
• Presidents retain the right to determine the hierarchy of their armies. For example, if they so choose despite popular opinion to replace a popular yet incompetent general they may do so. This is not to say there may be public opinion consequences...

Politicians

• Politicians will also be playable characters. Politicians are defined as any Governor, Senator, or House representative.
• While being more limited in actions than other characters, they may form coalitions to block legislation or draft some of their own. Governors may manage their own states but this will be reflected generally without any specific details.
• If a player so chooses to replace an existing politician they may do so with their own created character. I will not limit Politicians to ahistorical characters.
• Politicians will not receive any special stats.

Generals and Admirals

• The meat of the game, all generals (including guerrillas/bushwhackers) will be characters created by players. The system for general creation will be listed below.
• Generals may act of their own accord but their actions reflect on their Government. This rules out any early possibility of a march to the sea simply because it worked in reality.
• Battles will be resolved in at most 3 stages (lasting 3 hours each, unless it's the size of Sharpsburg, Gettysburg, or just generally greater than 100,000 men including both sides) in which generals involved send me orders regarding how they want to proceed. Basic orders would entail a general strategy and what they want to come out of the battle with.

Stats

• Stats outside of the armies will be abstract, if you wish to know about specific conditions then you would simply ask me for a status report.
• Random events may occur however that could severely damage your cause or armies.

Army stats will be as follows:

Unit Name:

Commander:

Strength, number of artillery pieces:

Supply level:

Percentage of units adequately equipped:

Morale:

Unit Name: (Name of Army/Corps which is subject to player organization)
Commander: (self-explanatory)
Strength, number of artillery pieces: (An Army/Corps numbers will consists of Conscripts, Volunteers, Veterans, and Professional soldiers of which Conscripts are capped at a morale rating of 60. Why does this matter? Well Volunteers/Veterans/Professionals all should perform well in combat but at the beginning almost the entirety of each Army/Corps will be made up of Volunteers. The number of artillery pieces in your Army/Corps is important in that if your unit lacks artillery an opposing force can fire upon your forces unmolested causing a retreat, an overabundance of it will slow you down)

Supply level: (Ranging from 1-10, this represents how much food/clothing the unit has)

Percentage of units adequately equipped: (Shows if your Army/Corps has modern weapons and ammunition on hand. This stat could be at for example 90% but it's supply level is at 2 with a morale level of 75 and still be able to capture supply depots or other positions. If this stat was instead at 30% with a supply level of 2 and a morale of 45 chances are this army won't be doing much of anything)

Morale: (0-100, almost complete destruction would cause an army with a morale of 100 to break. The opposite would occur if morale is at 0)

• The only difference here for admirals/riverine commanders is that their strength is measured in number of ships and men, but the rest holds true, even general creation.

General Stats:

Name:
Attack:
Defense:
Tactical:
Logistics:

Name: (General name here)
Attack: (How good they are at assaulting a position) 9
Defense: (How well they can hold a position) 4
Tactical: (If they are able to see openings on the battlefield and take advantage of the enemy) 6
Logistics: (Can they manage a supply train? Are they able to efficiently forage?) 12

Total points: 31

Note- After signing up an RNG will be used to determine how many points you may distribute into each category. The absolute max points for a general to roll is 40 while the least is 5. Points may be gained through experience.

Signups

• If you wish to join the game as a politician, you simply have to list your characters name, date of birth, and biography.
• Generals will have to provide the same, and they will also have to post how they want to distribute their points after they receive their number of points.
• I suggest making another character if you wish to become one of the presidents as it's a very important position that only 2 players may have.
• Each side may only have one riverine commander and one naval commander.

 

[bakerydog]

Reserved

 

[Ranger900]

Here for Davis, but just incase

Alternatively CSA General: David Grierson
DoB: 1825 December 15
Biography: From South Carolina, Grierson was a military brat. His father served as a general before him and he helped get Grierson into his position, though it wasn't for David's lack of trying either. A bit eccentric, he was also a firm supporter of the CSA cause and didn't hesitate to align himself with his state when it succeeded, offering his services to help whip a local militia into shape and hopefully get into a command position when the regulars start getting called up.

 

[Sithlent]

Name: Arthur F. Thompson
Date of Birth: October 17, 1824
Biography: Thompson was born in 1824 in Tolland County, Connecticut to successful local physician James Thompson and his wife Margaret Addams. He attended West Point from 1842 to 1846 and served with distinction in the Mexican-American War as a corporal. He now currently serves as an active brigadier general for the Union Army and hopes to eventually be commanded to the front lines and serve with great distinction in this Civil War.
Attack: N/A
Defense: N/A
Tactical: N/A
Logistics: N/A

Total Points: N/A

 

[Ironhide G1]

Name: General Paul "the Rock" Cummings
Date of Birth: January 2, 1800
Bio: Born in Virginia, he showed aptitude as a military commander from a young age. He went to West point and ended up graduating high in his class. Throughout his service be is known for his extremely strong defensive ability, hence earning him the nickname "the rock."

Attack:
Defense(I'd like to make this he biggest stat))
Tactical:
Logistics:

 

[Tristanxh]

~~ C.S.A. ~~​

First Name: Thomas
Middle Name: Henry
Last Name: McPherson
Birth Date: 4/1/38
Home State: Texas

Spoiler: Oath of Allegiance

I, Thomas H. McPherson, do solemnly swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Confederate States of America
and that I will serve them honestly and faithfully against all their enemies or oppressors whomsoever;
and that I will observe and obey the orders of the President of the Confederate States
and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to the rules and Articles of War.

Attack:
Defense:
Tactical:
Logistics:

 

[Gerhard Lindt]

I would like to play as Lincoln.

 

[lordmichael95]

Hmm... I may join this game as a politician. However I have a question regarding pacing. Long are turns? A single month?

Also, does this game have an IRC channel?

 

[Deleted user]

Note- After signing up an RNG will be used to determine how many points you may distribute into each category. The absolute max points for a general to roll is 40 while the least is 5. Points may be gained through experience.

((Interested, but may I suggest instead of using an RNG for stats to use something like 2d20, 4d10, 5d8 or something along those lines? That way it's more likely that people will fall into a center set of stats and extremities are rare. For example, with a 5d8 ~95% of rolls fall between 13-32, with outliers falling from 5-12 and 33-40. Just suggesting it because, without knowing how important general stats are and how far they go, the difference between having 5 points and 40 points seems pretty large. Here's a good site if you want to see how probabilities of different sets of dice turns out.

As I said before though, I may be worrying over nothing and am basing this on the idea that there's a pretty large difference between 5 points to distribute and 40 points to distribute, so if the difference is minimal then ignore this.))

 

[Mder1]

I would like to sign up for the Union Navy.

Name: Captain John H. Studebaker
Bio: -placeholder-