Dev Log: Monty's Front--OVERLORD

[scsfan]

I was hoping after Monty's, next will be Bradley's Trilogy, then may be more Russian front, like Battle of Moscow?

[bcgames]

I was hoping after Monty's, next will be Bradley's Trilogy, then may be more Russian front, like Battle of Moscow?

Bradley's Front Trilogy will get started after Monty's Front: OVERLORD is published (Designer: Don Timian). 1813 will be published after Monty's Front: MARKET-GARDEN (Designer: bcgames). The third game for the Monty's Front Trilogy--Cinderella Army--will depend on the success of OVERLORD and MARKET-GARDEN.

After that? We'll see where the personal and WEGO community interests take us. Me personally? I would like to create the WEGO: Art of War 1791-1991 game engine that allows access to multiple game eras and provides the freedom of design to scenario authors. The sky is the limit...but...I'm not getting any younger to make it happen.

[scsfan]

thanks, really looking forward to Overlord and Market garden. I like Napoleon area military history, but never acutally played a real war game for that period, apart from Total War: Empire and Total War: Napolean. So I'm curious to see how WEGO 1813 will look like.
Would the AI technology help in the future game development? may be you could get the WEGO Art of War engine running in the next few years?

[bcgames]

It is now late September. We have one more farm event 6-8 October. After that? It is balls-to-the-wall on OVERLORD. I will drag this bitch up the beach all by myself if I have to--but this game will be published by March next year.

[Zovs]

+1

Good planning and good spirit!

[bcgames]

I've switched full priority to OVERLORD development. Scenario list looks like this:

• Tutorial: "Get The Hell Off The Beach!" (6 June 1944)
  UTAH: Cutting The Peninsula (6-18 Jun 1944)
  OMAHA: Crossing the Vire (6-17 Jun 1944)
  Carentan: Linking the Beaches (10-14 Jun 1944)
  Liberating Cherbourg: Allied Assault (19-30 Jun 1944)
  Battles for the Hedgreow: "I'll See You In St. Lo"
  Battles for Caen: GOLD/JUNO/SWORD
  Battles for Caen: EPSOM
  Battles for Caen: GOODWOOD
  OVERLORD Campaign: 6 Jun 1944 (start)
  OVERLORD Campaign: 7 Jun 1944 (start)

First out of the shoots this week? The Tutorial and Liberating Cherbourg.

Onwards!

[Zovs]

I've switched full priority to OVERLORD development. Scenario list looks like this:

• Tutorial: "Get The Hell Off The Beach!" (6 June 1944)
  UTAH: Cutting The Peninsula (6-18 Jun 1944)
  OMAHA: Crossing the Vire (6-17 Jun 1944)
  Carentan: Linking the Beaches (10-14 Jun 1944)
  Liberating Cherbourg: Allied Assault (19-30 Jun 1944)
  Battles for the Hedgreow: "I'll See You In St. Lo"
  Battles for Caen: GOLD/JUNO/SWORD
  Battles for Caen: EPSOM
  Battles for Caen: GOODWOOD
  OVERLORD Campaign: 6 Jun 1944 (start)
  OVERLORD Campaign: 7 Jun 1944 (start)

First out of the shoots this week? The Tutorial and Liberating Cherbourg.

Onwards!

Sounds awesome!

[Remmes]

Nice!

[bcgames]

Working on the AI for the Cherbourg scenario. The hedgerow situation makes this game a different animal from Desert War and Stalingrad. The closed-in terrain makes OVERLORD a tough slog for the Allies...but--they do have an abundance of air, artillery and Naval gunfire.

[MarechalJoffre]

I am more excited for Overlord than any other ongoing wargame project. Going to be great!

[bcgames]

I was hoping after Monty's, next will be Bradley's Trilogy, then may be more Russian front, like Battle of Moscow?

Bradley's Front Trilogy will get started after Monty's Front: OVERLORD is published (Designer: Don Timian).

We're changing things up a bit...re-balancing the talent stacks. Don Timian is now Mr. Order of Battle. This makes my job as graphic artist/scenario designer a whole lot easier. Don is a master of historical depth/detail/precision. I know the game engine/editor/scenario design side of the house. Brian continues to create the miracles that allow us to explore the full potential of a fun wargame engine. So, from this point forward, WEGO game design comes from the combined good works of my parderners--Brian, Don. The team of two is now the team of three. Good times.

Onwards!

[bcgames]

On Organizational Integrity....

Several changes since Stalingrad. In Stalingrad, there was a single organizational integrity rating per Nation--all Germans were the same, all Romanians were the same, and all Soviets were the same. In Monty's Front, each nation now has three ratings--A, B, and C. What this rating represents is the ability (or lack of) of an organization to work successfully with another organization. Organizational Integrity success is usually the result of lessons learned from actual operational
combat experiences.

My basic premise going forward is this : older, experienced organizations are better at integrating external units/organizations that organizations experiencing their first time in combat. My basic assumption is Corps-level units are habitually changed from one organization to another. Therefore, they should have an Organization Integrity Rating of A or B. Divisions within a corps are less likely to change rapidly over time--so they should have a rating of B or C.

Really bad organizations in an Army should get the C Rating Organizational Integrity.

So how does this idea play out?

Let's take everybody's favorite off the table--Airborne Divisions. These guys should be Cs. They drop all over the place. They are a collection of orphans, and their communications/networks are ad-hoc sets of whatever radio/jeep configurations that survived the drop.

On the other hand, Corps-level units like tank and tank destroyer battalions, artillery battalions, etc. have an experience of moving to support one division or another--that's what they do. These units should have an Organizational Integrity Ratings of A.

...And all of this changes over time based on when an operations takes place--1943 experiences are less than 1945 experiences.

Given this description of the WEGO world, ~85-90% of organizations will have a B rating.

WEGO Veterans--Your thoughts?

[bcgames]

The WEGO game engine now includes a weather model. Studying the historical weather and figuring out how to implement...



Good times for desktop historical research.

[Alan Sharif]

I think your Organizational Integrity idea sounds first class. I also agree that most units will be rated 'B,' and with your explanations for those that are rated better/worse.

[bcgames]

+1

[bcgames]

To represent the multitude of decisive individual actions by Allied soldiers on the drop zones and landing zones of Normandy, we have selected a small set of highly decorated individuals.

YouTube: 1LT Jimmie Monteith: D-Day Medal of Honor Recipient:
https://youtu.be/fw8px5vFQEg?si=GR-Vtiu3AGU-KRBU

[Zovs]

That is very honoring to do that for such brave and courageous young men.

[scsfan]

the organisation rating idea is great!

[bcgames]

OVERLORD ALPHA testing continues. If we aren't published by D-DAY plus 80--we suck TOTALLY.

OBTW, we are testing an advanced game engine that exists--there is no more "design" to implement. That's the only way scenario creation/development and ALPHA testing can happen. This engine will be used to update Desert War and Stalingrad--GRATIS.

Onwards to BETA!

[sol_invictus]

I am getting giddy!