Designing Big Battle Totensonntag Game: 3 scenarios, 10 Steps

Presviously, I posted in my medieval blog about designing and then running a large "One-Hour Wargames" medieval game. In the past during the Flames of War era, we used to throw big games occasionally at the FLGS. Sometimes it would be Tanksgiving, and other times I set up Sidi Rizegh battles for 6-10 people with thousands and thousands of points a side. By the end, there'd be burning Cruds and Honeys EVERYWHERE!!! And we had lots of fun, which is what gaming is supposed to be about.

So, been meaning to not only present my WWII rules, but to get together the local gang who quit FoW together. Been a few years since some of them played. Some sold off all the stuff they had, others have it buried in a closet somewhere. This seemed like the right way to get people together and show them something I'm pretty excited about and really enjoy playing. Spearheading the effort and full of encouragement was Steve from "Sound Officer's Call", who has been leading the charge for "The Quest for the Holy WWII Rules".

First, a large game is like a party.
This is really different from a 1-1 game, and hosting skills will need to be used.

Second, shape the game around the attendees and the miniatures they can bring. 
Take your number of respondents, divide in half, and plan the basic game around those people. In my case there were ten people contacted, and I got 5 who said they'd make it, 4 maybes and 1 no. So I planned for 6 people as I could play - or not.

Third, decide on an historical battle, if possible.
People who do historical minis usually are big history fans - they'd rather re-fight something that actually happened than a fictional scenario, no matter how plausible. This was a little different from the medieval battle. For that one, I didn't have a specific historical scenario in mind. I just came up with a plausible historical scenario [securing a series of hills to further invest a castle that was off-board] and put three "One-Hour Wargames" side by side for a 3x9 board. I wanted to set up the same size again based on respondents - I was almost certain we'd have 6 people or more show up. If we had 5 I could play, and if 4 I'd just host. This time I went historical and dug around and found good info on Sidi Rizegh HERE, and decided it would work perfectly.

Fourth, do the research so you can present the battle in an interesting fashion.
I read all of the posted material and article, and decided that November 23, 1941, aka  Totensonntag or "Sunday of the Dead" was the right battle for Sidi Rizegh this time around. Totensonntag was the major counter-attack by Afrika Corps against the British 5th South African Brigade south of Sidi Rezegh [up the escarpment] supported by various bits and pieces of disorganized Brit tank regiments. 

At first, I was tempted to do the morning battle, for which I had several scenario ideas:

'The Sidi Rezegh Battles 1941' by J.A.I. Agar-Hamilton and L.C.F. Turner, published by Oxford University Press, Cape Town, 1957

but the main battle was a real humdinger, so I went with it!

Fifth, don't do a sideshow if you can do the main show!

Here is the map from which I got the basic idea:

'The Sidi Rezegh Battles 1941' by J.A.I. Agar-Hamilton and L.C.F. Turner, published by Oxford University Press, Cape Town, 1957

From this, I zoomed in on what looked like the best battle setup:

Given the map scale, a 3-mile wide battle will fit nicely into the center where "B ECH" is in the bottom of the South African camp [dotted line]. 36" is a mile in the scale I use for these rules, 1" = 50 yards [or meters].

There'd be a main drive up the center by 15th Panzer Division at 5th S. A. Brigade, with Italians on the left confronted by what was left of 22nd Armoured Brigade [Cruds!] and British 7th Armoured Brigade bits attacking from the right. This was ideal since I have a load of Italians, and could shift the battle a bit to the left if some of my Germans didn't show up due to real-life issues around this holiday season.

Sixth, keep the figures available in mind as you choose your scenarios.

I then played around with my "One-Hour Wargames" scenario cards, picking out different ones and flipping them around, turning them, changing angles, etc:

As is often the case, I liked the scenarios I picked but needed to invert them [do a mirror image] for them to make better sense on the battlefield, or to alter them a bit. I decided on the following as being true to the historical account, as well as interesting:
WEST. Scenario 16, Advance Guard. A meeting engagement of equal forces [6 Units] - sharp and sudden - between Ariete and 22nd A.B, fighting to hold the center Town.
CENTER. Scenario 15, Fortified Defense. Attacker must take both towns [black squares] against up-armed equal force [6-units], BUT gets a total refit of his force as reinforcements [so 6 Units, then 6 more]. This was perfect for the overwhelming Panzer attack up the middle, and the two fortified towns would make good encampment areas for dug-in units.
EAST. Scenario 4, Take the High Ground. Attacker must take hill against an equal force, but only 2 defending Units start on the Hill. The rest enter as reinforcements from the West edge. A good and simple attack by 7th Armoured Brigade against the flank of the German Panzer attack - it caused them some alarm, but never threatened to stop their advance.

Just one thing to emphasize here. I don't think that the OHW rules need to be confined to the strict parameters of the OHW scenarios. However, the scenarios are pretty carefully thought out, and work well the vast majority of the time. This makes it wise to consider using them "as-is" a few times so you get an idea of reasonable victory conditions given the timing, forces, distances etc. Push the force 6" farther apart, and the attacker will need another turn! 

So something to keep in mind as you plan you own historically inspired games. I think most historical situations and accounts [especially ancient accounts] are so limited that it is impossible to know exactly what happened. The best thing to do is to fit the history - as best as it can be known - into a scenario that you already know works, modifying it a bit as needed.

So from this, I sketched out some ideas.


Then I did my alterations, inversions, etc.


Then I did a more detailed and specific map, using square paper to keep the details right.

Unfortunately, I ended up with the hill 6" too far back on Scenario 4 to the right. Oh well...

I then made notes on the initial six forces I'd use for the three battles. I included reinforcements for people who showed up late and decided they wanted to play.

Seven, plan to accommodate everyone who might make it.
Have plans for people who don't make it [especially if they've figures you need!] and for those who show up at the last minute. Remember that they could be doing something else, and that the most  important thing is to have fun - pushing figs and dropping dice!

Eight, provide rules and force lists a few weeks in advance and invite feedback.

While I did put the rules out a few days in advance, I wasn't able to get all the forces figured. I still had some people who weren't certain they'd be there, and I even had Bir-el Gubi as a backup in case only my British forces showed up to fight my Italians! This isn't a bit deal as I've at least 3 full forces of Italians, and a force of Cruds for the Limeys.

I did get some feedback from the guys about the rules, so made some more clarifications.

Nine. Pack everything up a day in advance.
If you leave it, something will happen and you'll end up rushing, and rushing means broken figures! I had everything packed and was tinkering with the force lists at the last minute. I should've done that a few days earlier, also.

Ten. Make sure that Home-6 is on board with what's going on.
Yeah, cause she could put arsenic in your coffee, shred your suits, or other even worse things, like stomp on your figures, right? Remind her, if there's a problem, that you could have a worse hobby - a boat or a plane - or hang out in bars and strip clubs blowing money and acting stupid. Also, it's nearly impossible to meet attractive women playing historical miniatures, so you can't get into that sort of trouble, either. Overall, it's a pretty harmless, nerdy hobby, which she should know, but you may have to occasionally remind her. Just don't spend the grocery money on figures or rules!

OK, I hope these ten steps give you some help in case you want to throw your own game some time!

Next up, we'll talk about the Big Day itself - but Steve beat me to the punch with a "Sound Officer's Call" post, so I'll be posting something that isn't reduntantly repetitive soon.