We, the unfortunate lot who are unable to attend... would like to know what is going on !
Why can't you guys who are attending post up some pix and event happenings that grabbed
your attention towards be posted ? [8|]
Um, please !? [&o]
Origins 2008 *the Insider's View*
Moderator: maddog986
-
Ron Belcher
- Posts: 247
- Joined: Sat May 21, 2005 7:23 pm
- Location: Clovis, CA USA
- Contact:
Origins 2008 *the Insider's View*
Artwork graciously provided by Rogueusmc
RE: Origins 2008 *the Insider's View*
Hi all,
There is nice info about upcoming WitP-AE in WitP sub-forum...
Leo "Apollo11"
ORIGINAL: tactician93612
We, the unfortunate lot who are unable to attend... would like to know what is going on !
Why can't you guys who are attending post up some pix and event happenings that grabbed
your attention towards be posted ? [8|]
Um, please !? [&o]
There is nice info about upcoming WitP-AE in WitP sub-forum...
Leo "Apollo11"
Prior Preparation & Planning Prevents Pathetically Poor Performance!
A & B: WitW, WitE, WbtS, GGWaW, GGWaW2-AWD, HttR, CotA, BftB, CF
P: UV, WitP, WitP-AE
-
Marc von Martial
- Posts: 5292
- Joined: Thu Jan 04, 2001 4:00 pm
- Location: Bonn, Germany
- Contact:
RE: Origins 2008 *the Insider's View*
ORIGINAL: tactician93612
Why can't you guys who are attending post up some pix and event happenings that grabbed
your attention towards be posted ? [8|
Let's put it this way, we are pretty busy over here [;)]
I'll post some shots when I'm back in Germany.
-
Ron Belcher
- Posts: 247
- Joined: Sat May 21, 2005 7:23 pm
- Location: Clovis, CA USA
- Contact:
RE: Origins 2008 *the Insider's View*
Busy... is good! [;)]
... to add, photos on the way!? Now, that's awesome! I personally would like
to see the "view" from the Matrix perspective !
... to add, photos on the way!? Now, that's awesome! I personally would like
to see the "view" from the Matrix perspective !
Artwork graciously provided by Rogueusmc
-
Ron Belcher
- Posts: 247
- Joined: Sat May 21, 2005 7:23 pm
- Location: Clovis, CA USA
- Contact:
RE: Origins 2008 *the Insider's View*
Thanks for the direction, Apollo11 ![8D]
Artwork graciously provided by Rogueusmc
RE: Origins 2008 *the Insider's View*
I want an origins T-Shirt gosh darn it!![;)]
It doesn't make any sense, Admiral. Were we better than the Japanese or just luckier?
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[center]Banner By Feurer Krieg[/center]
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[/center][center]Banner By Feurer Krieg[/center]
RE: Origins 2008 *the Insider's View*
I'm just happy to have survived Origins! It was great meeting other developers, the Matrix gang, and many others (seminar speakers, etc.). My range of time at Origins was different, Wednesday night thru 1:30pm Saturday. The time was filled and I really would have enjoyed spending more time at Origins, especially chatting with the other developers, sharing development tool hints/tricks/favorite components but time did not allow.
This was my first gaming convention of any sort and my first non-mass market 'paper/card' gaming was done in the Matrix "room". All I can say is that I wasn't the first to be knocked out (but I was the last to be knocked out, I had no Ninja's and Sean Drummy had many...). Given poor health and much work to do before leaving for Origins I had no idea the breadth and scope the convention provides. I was at the convention 2+ days and attended 14 hours of warfare seminars in addition to meeting the people (I finally met Uncle Harpoon and Larry Bond, coolness)(also met Erik Rutins and many of the other Matrix people; having a face to connect with Erik's name gives me a face to go along with the awe at how much he does here on the forums and that is only one portion of his Matrix day).
Would you believe I have not a single photo of my time at Origins? Well, it is true [:'(]. I do however have 500 or so from visiting three air museums during the trip (one being the USAF Museum in Dayton, OH).
Anyway, I was at Origins with my 'developer hat' on and was amazed at the seminars and the benefits of meeting other people crazy enough to write code for grognards.
This was my first gaming convention of any sort and my first non-mass market 'paper/card' gaming was done in the Matrix "room". All I can say is that I wasn't the first to be knocked out (but I was the last to be knocked out, I had no Ninja's and Sean Drummy had many...). Given poor health and much work to do before leaving for Origins I had no idea the breadth and scope the convention provides. I was at the convention 2+ days and attended 14 hours of warfare seminars in addition to meeting the people (I finally met Uncle Harpoon and Larry Bond, coolness)(also met Erik Rutins and many of the other Matrix people; having a face to connect with Erik's name gives me a face to go along with the awe at how much he does here on the forums and that is only one portion of his Matrix day).
Would you believe I have not a single photo of my time at Origins? Well, it is true [:'(]. I do however have 500 or so from visiting three air museums during the trip (one being the USAF Museum in Dayton, OH).
Anyway, I was at Origins with my 'developer hat' on and was amazed at the seminars and the benefits of meeting other people crazy enough to write code for grognards.
RE: Origins 2008 *the Insider's View*
I wanted to go, but coulldn't afford to miss work, and cerainly can't afford the gas and lodging. Really sucks because those prices are milking us dry.
Would have loved to have met Erik and nist of all, Steve on the development team for MWiF. Anyone know if there was any information or beta testing for that out there?
Would have loved to have met Erik and nist of all, Steve on the development team for MWiF. Anyone know if there was any information or beta testing for that out there?
RE: Origins 2008 *the Insider's View*
ORIGINAL: panzers
I wanted to go, but coulldn't afford to miss work, and cerainly can't afford the gas and lodging. Really sucks because those prices are milking us dry.
Would have loved to have met Erik and nist of all, Steve on the development team for MWiF. Anyone know if there was any information or beta testing for that out there?
Panzers,
Just keep checking the MWIF forum for a request by Steve like the one below.
tm.asp?m=1819455
Flipper
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James Sterrett
- Posts: 1619
- Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2004 4:03 am
RE: Origins 2008 *the Insider's View*
At Origins, last Friday and Saturday, I ran four demonstration games, using Flashpoint: Germany, Conquest of the Aegean, Battles from the Bulge, and Close Combat Marines (aka Close Combat: Modern Tactics) to demonstrate the use of games for military training.
First off: a very big thank you to Mark Graves, Paul Roberts, Jim Snyder, and Rob Crandall for operating the sims; to Brant Guillory for numerous forms of assistance; to the US Marine Corps for loaning me all the computer equipment; to Matrix Games for their support; and to Dave O'Connor for a last minute fix to BFTB!
I used Close Combat in close parallel to the USMC training plan, with slightly modified scenarios. Participants received a few handouts on a situation, with troops, map, and mission, and then had 5 minutes to write a fragmentary order for their force. One of the players on each team was chosen to be the commander and issue their frag order to their fellow players; then we set up and ran the mission. After running the mission, we discussed the mission's themes: topics such as support by fire, engagement areas, infantry-tank cooperation, and infantry anti-tank tactics; and discussed major decisions made by the various players.
In each of the other three, the participants were assigned to slots on a staff for one side of the scenario: Commander, XO (executive officer, or second-in-command), Intel, Maneuver, Future Ops, & Fires. After an introduction to staff roles and the MDMP (Military Decision-Making Process), participants received their mission briefing, and then conducted an abbreviated MDMP over the course of one hour. Trust me, this meant some very fast work! The sim operator put the plan into the computer, and then we ran the scenario, with the participants still acting in their staff roles -- so the Intel officer continued to try to track enemy capabilities and intentions, the Future Ops officer tried to concoct alternate plans to deal with potential events, and so on.
For Flashpoint: Germany, we had Jim Snyder and Rob Crandall as the sim operators for the two sides, using a modified version of the "Meeting of Titans" scenario. Three people took on the Commander, Future Ops, and Intel/Fires roles on the Blue team. They drove down the central valley on the Grafshcaft/Norderfurt map, with a company moving to cover the east flank. Both ran into large quantities of Red, and as time ran out Blue was working to figure out a new approach. A key realization by the Future Ops person in this scenario: "I don't need to watch the map so much!" This is true -- Future Ops needs to spend more time thinking about potential new plans than worrying about the details of what's happening now. If anything important happens, somebody else on the staff should tell you about it.
For Conquest of the Aegean, a team of seven assembled to take command of the 9th Panzer Division in First Clean Break. They planned to hook arund the British forces, encircle, and destroy them, then pursue south. (Un?)fortunately, the British retreated out of the encirclement quickly and established a very strong position in Perdika. The unexpected sudden success of their left hook threw the staff off-balance. Their pursuit to Perdika and subsequent assault wasn't the best organized action, but over the course of 12 hours they decimated and scattered the British forces in the city... and those forces were the bulk of the British forces on the map. The road to Kozani lay open, but the staff had become so caught up in current events that they lost track of their mission, and never quite realized the scale of their success. This is a real world phenomenon. "Catastrophic success" cost them a win, but the staff was determined to do better on the next scenario.
For Battles from the Bulge, we ran Mayhem on the Meuse, a hypothetical scenario in which 2nd Panzer didn't meet 2nd Armored near Dinant, but instead gained a bridgehead, and then was replaced by 9th Panzer. 9th begins the scenario poised to drive westwards to Charleroi and hook north to Antwerp, opposed only by two battalions of the 53rd Welsh Division and the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment (which, along with 9th Panzer, was making a repeat appearance from the COTA scenario). However, more elements of 53rd Welsh are on the way, and on the second day, 2nd Armored comes crashing into 9th Panzer's flank.
Most of the 9 players were on the staff of the Allied VII Corps, with the two maneuver staff slots set as the division commanders instead. Because they could not be certain what situation they would face when 2nd Armored arrived, this was the most complex of the scenarios, forcing them to plan multiple courses of action for 2nd Armored and decision points for choosing among those options. All but two of the players had taken part in a prior exercise, and those two were rapidly brought up to speed, one as the VII Corps XO and one as the commander of 2nd Armored Division.
53rd Welsh hung on grimly, suffering enormous losses in the largely successful defense, which they called "Operation: Don't Die", letting only the recon battalion of 9th Panzer slip past them. 2nd Armored then slammed into the flank of 9th Panzer in "Operation: Whoop-Ass", a grinding slugging match as the 2nd Armored advanced slowly towards 9th Panzer's supply line from the north while the remaining elements of 53rd Welsh advanced eastwards against the now-retreating Germans.
What was most impressive to me, Mark, and Paul, was the amount the participants had learned by this final scenario, both about their staff roles, about planning, and, above all, teamwork. The planning process was less chaotic than before, with more and better products produced. As the exercise commenced, the 2nd Division Commander sat down with his paper map, his force list, and a gridded worksheet, and created a synchronization matrix for the employment of his forces as they arrived on the map, paying little attention to the big projected screen until he'd spent around half an hour on this important process. When 2nd Armored began to arrive, its actions were planned and ready to go.
Since my overarching objective was to demonstrate training with games, I was pleased to see the participants clearly learning parts of the planning and staff process over the course of their games!
First off: a very big thank you to Mark Graves, Paul Roberts, Jim Snyder, and Rob Crandall for operating the sims; to Brant Guillory for numerous forms of assistance; to the US Marine Corps for loaning me all the computer equipment; to Matrix Games for their support; and to Dave O'Connor for a last minute fix to BFTB!
I used Close Combat in close parallel to the USMC training plan, with slightly modified scenarios. Participants received a few handouts on a situation, with troops, map, and mission, and then had 5 minutes to write a fragmentary order for their force. One of the players on each team was chosen to be the commander and issue their frag order to their fellow players; then we set up and ran the mission. After running the mission, we discussed the mission's themes: topics such as support by fire, engagement areas, infantry-tank cooperation, and infantry anti-tank tactics; and discussed major decisions made by the various players.
In each of the other three, the participants were assigned to slots on a staff for one side of the scenario: Commander, XO (executive officer, or second-in-command), Intel, Maneuver, Future Ops, & Fires. After an introduction to staff roles and the MDMP (Military Decision-Making Process), participants received their mission briefing, and then conducted an abbreviated MDMP over the course of one hour. Trust me, this meant some very fast work! The sim operator put the plan into the computer, and then we ran the scenario, with the participants still acting in their staff roles -- so the Intel officer continued to try to track enemy capabilities and intentions, the Future Ops officer tried to concoct alternate plans to deal with potential events, and so on.
For Flashpoint: Germany, we had Jim Snyder and Rob Crandall as the sim operators for the two sides, using a modified version of the "Meeting of Titans" scenario. Three people took on the Commander, Future Ops, and Intel/Fires roles on the Blue team. They drove down the central valley on the Grafshcaft/Norderfurt map, with a company moving to cover the east flank. Both ran into large quantities of Red, and as time ran out Blue was working to figure out a new approach. A key realization by the Future Ops person in this scenario: "I don't need to watch the map so much!" This is true -- Future Ops needs to spend more time thinking about potential new plans than worrying about the details of what's happening now. If anything important happens, somebody else on the staff should tell you about it.
For Conquest of the Aegean, a team of seven assembled to take command of the 9th Panzer Division in First Clean Break. They planned to hook arund the British forces, encircle, and destroy them, then pursue south. (Un?)fortunately, the British retreated out of the encirclement quickly and established a very strong position in Perdika. The unexpected sudden success of their left hook threw the staff off-balance. Their pursuit to Perdika and subsequent assault wasn't the best organized action, but over the course of 12 hours they decimated and scattered the British forces in the city... and those forces were the bulk of the British forces on the map. The road to Kozani lay open, but the staff had become so caught up in current events that they lost track of their mission, and never quite realized the scale of their success. This is a real world phenomenon. "Catastrophic success" cost them a win, but the staff was determined to do better on the next scenario.
For Battles from the Bulge, we ran Mayhem on the Meuse, a hypothetical scenario in which 2nd Panzer didn't meet 2nd Armored near Dinant, but instead gained a bridgehead, and then was replaced by 9th Panzer. 9th begins the scenario poised to drive westwards to Charleroi and hook north to Antwerp, opposed only by two battalions of the 53rd Welsh Division and the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment (which, along with 9th Panzer, was making a repeat appearance from the COTA scenario). However, more elements of 53rd Welsh are on the way, and on the second day, 2nd Armored comes crashing into 9th Panzer's flank.
Most of the 9 players were on the staff of the Allied VII Corps, with the two maneuver staff slots set as the division commanders instead. Because they could not be certain what situation they would face when 2nd Armored arrived, this was the most complex of the scenarios, forcing them to plan multiple courses of action for 2nd Armored and decision points for choosing among those options. All but two of the players had taken part in a prior exercise, and those two were rapidly brought up to speed, one as the VII Corps XO and one as the commander of 2nd Armored Division.
53rd Welsh hung on grimly, suffering enormous losses in the largely successful defense, which they called "Operation: Don't Die", letting only the recon battalion of 9th Panzer slip past them. 2nd Armored then slammed into the flank of 9th Panzer in "Operation: Whoop-Ass", a grinding slugging match as the 2nd Armored advanced slowly towards 9th Panzer's supply line from the north while the remaining elements of 53rd Welsh advanced eastwards against the now-retreating Germans.
What was most impressive to me, Mark, and Paul, was the amount the participants had learned by this final scenario, both about their staff roles, about planning, and, above all, teamwork. The planning process was less chaotic than before, with more and better products produced. As the exercise commenced, the 2nd Division Commander sat down with his paper map, his force list, and a gridded worksheet, and created a synchronization matrix for the employment of his forces as they arrived on the map, paying little attention to the big projected screen until he'd spent around half an hour on this important process. When 2nd Armored began to arrive, its actions were planned and ready to go.
Since my overarching objective was to demonstrate training with games, I was pleased to see the participants clearly learning parts of the planning and staff process over the course of their games!
-
old man of the sea
- Posts: 274
- Joined: Fri Feb 06, 2004 2:01 pm
- Location: Waynesboro, PA
- Contact:
RE: Origins 2008 *the Insider's View*
James, sorry I missed that. It sounds cool. What the heck are you up to now?
E
E
"Point me to a 'civilised' part of the General Forum and I'll steer way clear of it." - Soddball
Some people can tell what time it is by looking at the sun, but I never have been able to make out the numbers.
Some people can tell what time it is by looking at the sun, but I never have been able to make out the numbers.
RE: Origins 2008 *the Insider's View*
ORIGINAL: Apollo11
Hi all,
ORIGINAL: tactician93612
We, the unfortunate lot who are unable to attend... would like to know what is going on !
Why can't you guys who are attending post up some pix and event happenings that grabbed
your attention towards be posted ? [8|]
Um, please !? [&o]
There is nice info about upcoming WitP-AE in WitP sub-forum...
Leo "Apollo11"
Where exactly=? I didnt see any new posts there.
"99.9% of all internet arguments are due to people not understanding someone else's point. The other 0.1% is arguing over made up statistics."- unknown poster
"Those who dont read history are destined to repeat it."– Edmund Burke
"Those who dont read history are destined to repeat it."– Edmund Burke
RE: Origins 2008 *the Insider's View*
Hi all,
Here it is (just click on the link below):
Greetings from Origins
Leo "Apollo11"
ORIGINAL: Zakhal
ORIGINAL: Apollo11
ORIGINAL: tactician93612
We, the unfortunate lot who are unable to attend... would like to know what is going on !
Why can't you guys who are attending post up some pix and event happenings that grabbed
your attention towards be posted ? [8|]
Um, please !? [&o]
There is nice info about upcoming WitP-AE in WitP sub-forum...
Where exactly=? I didnt see any new posts there.
Here it is (just click on the link below):
Greetings from Origins
Leo "Apollo11"
Prior Preparation & Planning Prevents Pathetically Poor Performance!
A & B: WitW, WitE, WbtS, GGWaW, GGWaW2-AWD, HttR, CotA, BftB, CF
P: UV, WitP, WitP-AE
-
James Sterrett
- Posts: 1619
- Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2004 4:03 am
RE: Origins 2008 *the Insider's View*
ORIGINAL: old man of the sea
James, sorry I missed that. It sounds cool. What the heck are you up to now?
E
Back to my normal day job, on the Simulations Team at the Command & General Staff College -- testing software, preparing exercises, and teaching the use of games for training.
It's a rough job, but somebody's got to do it. [;)]
-
James Sterrett
- Posts: 1619
- Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2004 4:03 am
RE: Origins 2008 *the Insider's View*
A photo from the Conquest of the Aegean demo of staff training, during planning.
Thomas Marrone is presenting the Fires plan. In the blue shirt at left if Rob Crandall of the Flashpoint Germany team (maneuver); Chris is to his left (intel), then Marshall Ellis of Empires in Arms (commander), Thomas Pope in the black t-shirt and hat (XO) with Bryan (future ops) behind him; I'm the balding guy on the far right.
Thomas Marrone is presenting the Fires plan. In the blue shirt at left if Rob Crandall of the Flashpoint Germany team (maneuver); Chris is to his left (intel), then Marshall Ellis of Empires in Arms (commander), Thomas Pope in the black t-shirt and hat (XO) with Bryan (future ops) behind him; I'm the balding guy on the far right.
- Attachments
-
- Origins08_..Planning.jpg (299.52 KiB) Viewed 786 times
RE: Origins 2008 *the Insider's View*
What, no photo of the Subway I got for you? [:D]
Once again it was a pleasure meeting James. The 2 hour session he was a part of to fight about wargaming was quite entertaining and I'd recommend it to anyone in the genre. Mr. Sterrett and Mr. Weuve kept the talk very interesting.
Once again it was a pleasure meeting James. The 2 hour session he was a part of to fight about wargaming was quite entertaining and I'd recommend it to anyone in the genre. Mr. Sterrett and Mr. Weuve kept the talk very interesting.
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James Sterrett
- Posts: 1619
- Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2004 4:03 am
RE: Origins 2008 *the Insider's View*
Tony, if I had a picture of it I'd post it... it was a lifesaver. [:)] (My demos didn't have enough of a break between them to get lunch - even at two hours between, there was enough setup, takedown, prep, and time overrun to prevent it. Tony kindly brought me a sandwich & soda from Subway.)
-
CapnDarwin
- Posts: 9773
- Joined: Sat Feb 12, 2005 3:34 pm
- Location: Newark, OH
- Contact:
RE: Origins 2008 *the Insider's View*
James put on one hell of nice training demo. I just wish the Origins folks would have promoted the affair more (at all really). The group that did play through them all did get better as the days went on. I hope to be able to do it again next year.
Great job James. [&o][&o][&o]
Great job James. [&o][&o][&o]
OTS is looking forward to Southern Storm getting released!
Cap'n Darwin aka Jim Snyder
On Target Simulations LTD
Cap'n Darwin aka Jim Snyder
On Target Simulations LTD
-
James Sterrett
- Posts: 1619
- Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2004 4:03 am
RE: Origins 2008 *the Insider's View*
ORIGINAL: Capn Darwin
I hope to be able to do it again next year.
Me too! [:)]
ORIGINAL: Capn Darwin
Great job James.
Thank you -- but it wouldn't have been possible without help. Thank you! [:)]
RE: Origins 2008 *the Insider's View*
ORIGINAL: Marc Schwanebeck
I'll post some shots when I'm back in Germany.
I know you're back now, so ... [;)]
Greetz,
Eddy Sterckx