France '40 Gold Team Game

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

I'm still in. If you need me.

[2-81 Armor]

I'm still in.  If you need me.

Glad you replied! You are definitely needed! Right now there is a lack of German players. It looks as if Liebchen is in as Germans, and if you take that side it'll make two. 

We already have three Allied players (me, ComradeP, and Der Landser), so we might be OK there.

I also think you just might have the most experience with team play, and can be a big help in getting us up and running. I only have experience in one team game myself, and that was way back when Danube Front '85 first came out.

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

The only thing or the main things I see with team games is watching your flanks with you partners unless you are told not to worry about them at this time and be willing to give or take forces on an as needed basis. Other than what you(CinC) or somebody else as CinC decide on a plan at that time, you just play your game.

The only rule I don't care for is locking ZOC. Other than that, I'm good. I will still play with it if majority wants it.

The last team I did was Minsk. I didn't get to finish because a stroke put me out of action for a couple of years. I just started playing again 3-4 months ago.

[2-81 Armor]

The only thing or the main things I see with team games is watching your flanks with you partners unless you are told not to worry about them at this time and be willing to give or take forces on an as needed basis.  Other than what you(CinC) or somebody else as CinC decide on a plan at that time, you just play your game.  

The only rule I don't care for is locking ZOC.  Other than that, I'm good.  I will still play with it if majority wants it.

The last team I did was Minsk.  I didn't get to finish because a stroke put me out of action for a couple of years.  I just started playing again 3-4 months ago.

I'm more worried about getting the mechanics right for team play. The way I remember it, a side's CinC gets the game save from the other team's CinC and then (1) moves and conducts combat with any forces he directly controls, and performs any admin tasks needed (like placing reinforcements, etc). When he is done, he then (2) passes the game file, being careful NOT to select "end turn" to the next player on the team, who then moves and does combat with his forces. Each team member does the same thing, again being careful NOT to select "end turn". Once the last team member is finished he sends the game file back to the CinC , again NOT using "end turn". Once the CinC gets the game file from the last team member he then "ends turn", and sends it to the other team's CinC. That's what I remember. Do I have this right?

All the options and particulars about the scenario we choose to play along with "house" rules can be worked out once we've got the teams up and running. (For what it's worth I dislike locking ZOC's too, but will also go with what the majority wants.)

I'm also wondering if it would be feasible to use a voice/text chat program (like Discord - it's free) for planning and admin purposes as we get organized? We'd have to take into account the fact that everyone is not going to be in the same time zone or country, so we'd have to set days and times to use such a thing that works with everyone's schedule. The two teams could even establish separate "channels" in order to discuss strategies and coordinate among themselves. Just a thought...everybody might not have a headset or mic though. In that case the text chat feature could still be an option. Any opinions on this?

Right it looks like Allies: 2-81 Armor, Der Landser, ComradeP, and for the Germans: Leibchen and you (OJW). We'd need at least one more German at a minimum to get started I think, unless anybody else has a better idea?

[Der Landser]

I like the idea of using Discord as a planning/coordination tool. Discord voice (or at least chat) is significantly better than e-mail for collaboration. E-mail will still be useful to convey more complex material, especially if a written record is required for future reference.

[Der Landser]

I participated in a couple of CS team games years ago and we used a system where the lead team member on our side would receive the next turn from the last player on the opposing side.  The lead team member would play his portion of the turn and then pass the turn on to the next player in the play sequence.  This would continue until the last player on our team completed his turn, after which he would end the turn and send it to the lead player on the opposing team.

One drawback to this system is that only the lead player on each team sees the full replay of the previous turn.  Subsequent players in the play sequence never see the entire replay.  I would prefer that once the turn is received from the opposing team, the player receiving the turn distributes the turn to all team members so that they can review the full replay.  Players will have to remember to delete the replay or over write it with the turn in progress to prevent processing the wrong turn.

The benefits of this are that it allows all team members to see the replay in its entirety and it aids in fine tuning strategies for the turn yet to be executed.  It provides team members with a higher degree of situational awareness and fosters collaboration for the turn to be executed.  With the possibility of a 2 week turn around period or more for each turn, it also serves as a refresher of the battle situation.

[ComradeP]

The replay for a scenario of campaign size might be as long as a movie on turns with a lot of combat, but I agree that it's worth looking at by all players.

[Plain Ian]

The replay for a scenario of campaign size might be as long as a movie   on turns with a lot of combat, but I agree that it's worth looking at by all players.

If the first player uses video capture software to make an avi/MP4 file then each player can fast forward it to their sector. The only snag might be that everyone is using different sized LCD's and the screen size is set by the first person. 

Nothing worse than watching a large PzC replay just to catch a part of it that interests you.

[Dodo98]

The only thing or the main things I see with team games is watching your flanks with you partners unless you are told not to worry about them at this time and be willing to give or take forces on an as needed basis.  Other than what you(CinC) or somebody else as CinC decide on a plan at that time, you just play your game.  

The only rule I don't care for is locking ZOC.  Other than that, I'm good.  I will still play with it if majority wants it.

The last team I did was Minsk.  I didn't get to finish because a stroke put me out of action for a couple of years.  I just started playing again 3-4 months ago.

I'm more worried about getting the mechanics right for team play. The way I remember it, a side's CinC gets the game save from the other team's CinC and then (1) moves and conducts combat with any forces he directly controls, and performs any admin tasks needed (like placing reinforcements, etc). When he is done, he then (2) passes the game file, being careful NOT to select "end turn" to the next player on the team, who then moves and does combat with his forces. Each team member does the same thing, again being careful NOT to select "end turn". Once the last team member is finished he sends the game file back to the CinC , again NOT using "end turn". Once the CinC gets the game file from the last team member he then "ends turn", and sends it to the other team's CinC. That's what I remember. Do I have this right?

All the options and particulars about the scenario we choose to play along with "house" rules can be worked out once we've got the teams up and running. (For what it's worth I dislike locking ZOC's too, but will also go with what the majority wants.)

I'm also wondering if it would be feasible to use a voice/text chat program (like Discord - it's free) for planning and admin purposes as we get organized? We'd have to take into account the fact that everyone is not going to be in the same time zone or country, so we'd have to set days and times to use such a thing that works with everyone's schedule. The two teams could even establish separate "channels" in order to discuss strategies and coordinate among themselves. Just a thought...everybody might not have a headset or mic though. In that case the text chat feature could still be an option. Any opinions on this?

Right it looks like Allies: 2-81 Armor, Der Landser, ComradeP, and for the Germans: Leibchen and you (OJW). We'd need at least one more German at a minimum to get started I think, unless anybody else has a better idea?

I would like to join the german side. I had expressed my interest a few days ago, but that must have been overlooked. 

[2-81 Armor]

The only thing or the main things I see with team games is watching your flanks with you partners unless you are told not to worry about them at this time and be willing to give or take forces on an as needed basis.  Other than what you(CinC) or somebody else as CinC decide on a plan at that time, you just play your game.  

The only rule I don't care for is locking ZOC.  Other than that, I'm good.  I will still play with it if majority wants it.

The last team I did was Minsk.  I didn't get to finish because a stroke put me out of action for a couple of years.  I just started playing again 3-4 months ago.

I'm more worried about getting the mechanics right for team play. The way I remember it, a side's CinC gets the game save from the other team's CinC and then (1) moves and conducts combat with any forces he directly controls, and performs any admin tasks needed (like placing reinforcements, etc). When he is done, he then (2) passes the game file, being careful NOT to select "end turn" to the next player on the team, who then moves and does combat with his forces. Each team member does the same thing, again being careful NOT to select "end turn". Once the last team member is finished he sends the game file back to the CinC , again NOT using "end turn". Once the CinC gets the game file from the last team member he then "ends turn", and sends it to the other team's CinC. That's what I remember. Do I have this right?

All the options and particulars about the scenario we choose to play along with "house" rules can be worked out once we've got the teams up and running. (For what it's worth I dislike locking ZOC's too, but will also go with what the majority wants.)

I'm also wondering if it would be feasible to use a voice/text chat program (like Discord - it's free) for planning and admin purposes as we get organized? We'd have to take into account the fact that everyone is not going to be in the same time zone or country, so we'd have to set days and times to use such a thing that works with everyone's schedule. The two teams could even establish separate "channels" in order to discuss strategies and coordinate among themselves. Just a thought...everybody might not have a headset or mic though. In that case the text chat feature could still be an option. Any opinions on this?

Right it looks like Allies: 2-81 Armor, Der Landser, ComradeP, and for the Germans: Leibchen and you (OJW). We'd need at least one more German at a minimum to get started I think, unless anybody else has a better idea?

I would like to join the german side. I had expressed my interest a few days ago, but that must have been overlooked. 

Ok then, it looks like Allies: 2-81 Armor, Der Landser, ComradeP. Germans: Liebchen, Outlaw Josey Wales, Dodo98.
If everyone could confirm that would be great.

Should we close this now and lock the teams with three per side, or could we wait a little longer and see if we can add a 4th player to both or either sides? Four might get cumbersome, but on the other hand it would allow teams to have a dedicated CinC, with three field commanders if they want. 

On turn exchanges and replays, if I'm understanding things correctly, in order to have everyone view the replay we should have the first player to receive the .btl file from the other side send it everyone on his team, and once they have seen the replay, and say they have done so, player one then does his portion and passes THAT file down the line. Players then do their turns overwriting the file they viewed for the replay, (everyone being sure not to "end turn") until the last player in line is finished. The last player can either "end turn", and then send it to the other side, OR pass it back to his side's player one, who will "end turn" and send to the other side.

Am I right about that? Also, earlier OJW mentioned the possibility of somebody having their turn skipped by accident. That's why I believe player one on both teams should be the first and last to get the file, and be the one who sends it to the other team. Sort of a quality control measure.