Chris & Mark commanded their armies remotely via Zoom while I pushed the plastic & rolled the dice for both sides, worked the cameras & umpiring here at Camp Cromwell.
Austrians: 2 brigades of infantry with 5 line, 1 grenadier & a battery each plus a light cavalry brigade & a heavy cavalry brigade each 2 units. Objective to hold the pass.
French: 2 brigade sof infantry each 5 line, 1 legere, 1 battery plus a light cavalry brigade & a heavy cavalry brigade each of 2 units. Objective to clear the pass.
Both sides were able to hide some of their deployment behind woods or ridges or on a high plateau.
The French infantry begin to advance.
The French infantry are advancing in the centre. Both their cavalry brigades have moved into view on the far flank. The Austrian heavy cavalry has appeared on their right flank. Austrian infantry has moved forward over the crest on the left of their infantry line.
The umpire's tablet is visible on the left - being used as mobile camera & audio link. There are also smartphones on tripods at each end of the table giving the players fixed general views.
On the far flank the French cavalry have found the Austrian hussars on the plateau.
The French infantry are lining up to attack the Austrian left. Their left is forming behind the river line to face the Austrian heavy cavalry.
The Austrian hussars have no chance on the far flank, but are not quite all dead yet. The first French infantry attack has been beaten off thought not without loss & the French are moving more infantry from the left to their right.
An Austrian counterattack on the left of the row of trees has made a hole in the French line, but they have reserves to plug it. On the right of their line the French columns have been halted, but their 2nd line is deploying into line.
The French cavalry has pinned the square at the end of the Austrian line & charged the infantry in line beside it after they have been weakened by French musketry. They rode down two units & the Austrians then failed their army break test.
Mark made the most use of the hidden deployment which allowed his cavalry to land the decisive blow after his infantry did the hard work.
The battle was fought with our house rules Camp Cromwell Action with some modifications to make it easier to play remotely. The main change being to use the Hail Caesar turn sequence rather than the Bolt Action style that we usually use in CCA. While I really like the BA system for face to face battles, I think the simplicity of the IGoUGo system works better for remote players.
The Zoom system gave us some angst at the start, but like most things, the more you do it the easier it gets & the more it does for you. We are also gradually improving our hardware, like finding an old phone that still works really well as a camera thru wi-fi, & some e-bay shopping.
Our next project is a campaign based on the Marengo campaign of 1800. We have previously fought campaigns with the campaigning done by email with some players remote, but the battles were all fought here, so remote players had to use a local deputy as battlefield commander. Now all the players will be able to fight their own battles by Zoom.
Austrians: 2 brigades of infantry with 5 line, 1 grenadier & a battery each plus a light cavalry brigade & a heavy cavalry brigade each 2 units. Objective to hold the pass.
French: 2 brigade sof infantry each 5 line, 1 legere, 1 battery plus a light cavalry brigade & a heavy cavalry brigade each of 2 units. Objective to clear the pass.
Both sides were able to hide some of their deployment behind woods or ridges or on a high plateau.
The umpire's tablet is visible on the left - being used as mobile camera & audio link. There are also smartphones on tripods at each end of the table giving the players fixed general views.
The French infantry are lining up to attack the Austrian left. Their left is forming behind the river line to face the Austrian heavy cavalry.
Mark made the most use of the hidden deployment which allowed his cavalry to land the decisive blow after his infantry did the hard work.
The battle was fought with our house rules Camp Cromwell Action with some modifications to make it easier to play remotely. The main change being to use the Hail Caesar turn sequence rather than the Bolt Action style that we usually use in CCA. While I really like the BA system for face to face battles, I think the simplicity of the IGoUGo system works better for remote players.
The Zoom system gave us some angst at the start, but like most things, the more you do it the easier it gets & the more it does for you. We are also gradually improving our hardware, like finding an old phone that still works really well as a camera thru wi-fi, & some e-bay shopping.
Our next project is a campaign based on the Marengo campaign of 1800. We have previously fought campaigns with the campaigning done by email with some players remote, but the battles were all fought here, so remote players had to use a local deputy as battlefield commander. Now all the players will be able to fight their own battles by Zoom.
2 comments:
Good to see you making this work for you, and the Marengo campaign idea sounds great!
This looks good!
Post a Comment