Wilderness add-on beta version for BGC

[Luciano B]

Wilderness add-on beta version for BGC

Contact me please if you are interested to test the game in a co-ordinate way.
Feel you free to post here suggestions, comments and report possible errors or bugs. Thanks for the collaboration.
Please note that as a beta version it is still a work in progress.

[rhondabrwn]

Thanks, I've downloaded it and will reinstall my old Chicamauga game and give it a try.

[Luciano B]

***Scenarios Descriptions***

- 01h Wilderness Historical (only PBM - "play by e-mail" - no AI scripts included)
May 5-6, 1864 - 100 Turns [ Historical ]

The Army of the Potomac crossed the Rappahannock on 4 May but was forced to stop in the Wilderness to wait for the supply train to catch up. That afternoon Hancock's II Corps bivouacked at Chancellorsville, Warren's V Corps was at Old Wilderness Tavern, and the cavalry divisions of Gregg and J. H. Wilson were forward at Piney Branch Church and Parker's Store, respectively. The Federals had detected some enemy activity along the road from Orange C.H. Lee, who had anticipated Grant's movement and had resolved to hit the Federals while they were in the difficult Wilderness terrain, had Ewell's corps on the Orange Turnpike, and A. P. Hill (minus R. H. Anderson's division) on the Plank Road. The head of Ewell's column was at Locust Grove, little more than three miles from Warren, while A. P. Hill was but slightly more distant from J. H. Wilson. Yet neither army seemed aware of the other's proximity. Longstreet's corps had been at Mechanicsville, and Stuart's cavalry at Fredericksburg; both were moving in to join the rest of the Army of Northern Virginia. R.H. Anderson's division (A. P. Hill) was near Orange C.H. At 6 P.M. 4 May Grant issued orders to continue the march at 5 o'clock the next morning through the Wilderness to the southeast. Burnside's IX Corps had also been ordered up from its previous mission of guarding the Orange and Alexandria R. R. Sedgwick's VI Corps was just across the Rappahannock. At 7:15 A.M. 5 May Warren reported a considerable enemy force on the turnpike about two miles from Wilderness Tavern. He was ordered to attack what Grant and Meade believed to be no more than a division. Crawford, whose division (3, V) had advanced to the Chewning farm, was ordered to hold his position, but to be prepared to send one brigade to support Warren. About noon Griffin (1, V) was ready to attack and Wright's division (1, VI) had been ordered to move from Spotswood to fall in on Griffin's right for this attack and protect his flank, but had not been able to get up in time. On the other flank Wadsworth's division (4, V) had been ordered to reinforce Griffin's south flank. To the south, along the Plank Road, the 5th N.Y. and 18th Pa. Cav. were left to outpost Parker's Store while Wilson moved with the rest of his division southwest toward Craig's Meeting House, but was repelled by Stuart's cavalry on the Catharpin road. Kirkland's brigade of Heth's division led A. P. Hill's advance along the Plank Road and drove the Federals toward Wilderness Tavern. Getty's division (2, VI), which had been marching southeast through the latter crossroads at 9 A.M., was sent to stop this enemy advance. At the same time Hancock's corps was ordered to halt in the vicinity of Todd's Tavern and countermarch to Brock Crossing. The stage was set.


- 01f Wilderness Balanced (only PBM - "play by e-mail" - no AI scripts included)
May 5-6, 1864 - 100 Turns [Hypothetical]

This fictional scenario is based on the assumption of a general Confederate concentration for the incoming battle. The rebel order of battle includes Breckinridge's command from the Valley, Lewis' brigade and some regiments belonged to Ewell's corps in detached duty in North Carolina, Pikett's division with Read's and Eshleman's artillery battalions belonged to Longstreet's corps detached at Richmond, Beauregard's command which includes the contingents collecting at Richmond for the defense of the capital, Mosby's command operating behind the enemy lines, and some unattached commands like Gary's cavalry brigade and the Maryland Line. Also the time of arrival on the battefield of some units which actually fought in the historical battle had been aniticipated.

[Luciano B]

***Screenshots***

Here some screenshots of the map (a large map indeed, 174 x 160 hexes).

The Main2 map as it appears in the game.

The Jump2 map showing in the red squared area the portion of the map included in the previous screenshot.

[Ashantai]

How big is that map? WxH?
 
Looks quite nice indeed!

[Luciano B]

ORIGINAL: Ashantai

How big is that map? WxH?

Looks quite nice indeed!

Thanks a lot Ashantai. The map is 174W x 160H.

[Luciano B]

ORIGINAL: rhondabrwn

Thanks, I've downloaded it and will reinstall my old Chicamauga game and give it a try.

Thanks rhondabrwn. Comments and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
If you wish we can fight a battle via e-mail.

[captskillet]

Is there anywhere to get ay of the old BG series (other than ebay)?

[Luciano B]

... comments, suggestions, questions?

[Caranorn]

I haven't actually played it, just downloaded it and took a quick look at the files etc. I don't have Chickamauga installed right now, so it probably won't be for a while until I get to test the Wilderness. Though it does look good.

[rhondabrwn]

ORIGINAL: Caranorn

I haven't actually played it, just downloaded it and took a quick look at the files etc. I don't have Chickamauga installed right now, so it probably won't be for a while until I get to test the Wilderness. Though it does look good.

Yea, same thing for me... gotta dig out Chickamauga and reinstall and I've had some other projects running at the moment. I will try it though as it looks interesting and big maps are "my style"!

[rhondabrwn]

OK, got Chickamauga installed and running. The last time I had it on I was still running Windows 98 so I was surprised to find that it wouldn't run under XP until I searched out the appropriate patch. Now all is well. I got the Wilderness scenario installed and am giving it a try.

Initial reactions:

1. Wow, I've gotten so used to the HPS Campaign series that I had forgotten a bit about the BG series (like the multiple phases) but I've gotten back into the swing of things now.

2. Again, probably because of the HPS Campaign approach, I would like to see a starting scenario set a day or two earlier, perhaps with the Union army making the river crossing. I'm feeling a bit constrained by the historical setup as my axis of advance (and rebel defense) has me pretty much committed. Not that the historical scenario isn't fine, I'd just like an earlier, more free form battle option. I haven't tried the alternative scenario yet though so maybe that will address some of my desires.

3. Great map... lots of room to maneuver though, again, much of it is essentially out of play in the historical scenario. I could see tons of different scenario options to utilize the entire map.

I've just played about 5 turns and am entrenching the rebels where possible and sorting out my deployment into some kind of line of battle with the Union. A little bit of skirmishing so far (I had also forgotten how losing 25 men at a clip really bites!).

I'm beginning to hope that Matrix is (or will be) doing a bit of tweaking on the BG series to add in a few HPS style enhancements. Probably too much to hope for, but I'll manage... I just have to step back again to the older game design).

Again, thanks for sharing this Wilderness battle scenario with us.

I might be up for a PBEM match once I sort things out a bit. Could be a long game though - as a teacher, I've got a pretty full plate and one turn a week would probably be optimistic until Spring and Summer breaks arrive.

[General]

I was just on Amazon.com looking to spend a gift certificate. They have Chicamauga used for $74. 88 and new for $179.95!!! Wow does that seem expensive!
They also have HPS Vicksburg for $29, I beleive. Is that a good game? I have never played the HPS series. Thanks for any feedback.

[rhondabrwn]

ORIGINAL: General

I was just on Amazon.com looking to spend a gift certificate. They have Chicamauga used for $74. 88 and new for $179.95!!! Wow does that seem expensive!
They also have HPS Vicksburg for $29, I beleive. Is that a good game? I have never played the HPS series. Thanks for any feedback.

Gee, I better sell my copy, eh? It never ceases to amaze me how much people will spend for stuff.

I haven't gotten HPS Campaign Vicksburg yet, but probably will. The whole Campaign series is awesome. You can get it for $29.95 at The NWS Online Combat Gaming Store

NWS offers good prices and really good service. Lots of folk here on this forum will endorse them. He always has the HPS games at a discount.

[Caranorn]

I wonder whether that high price is based on the fact that Chickamauga was originally only sold through Talonsoft, that is to say not in stores or available via any other avenue then direct order. It must be pretty rare. Still that price is shocking considering it's computer software which usually drops in price. It's not like board wargames where there is some justification to ask high prices for old non reprinted games (like Terrible Swift Sword for instance).

[rhondabrwn]

ORIGINAL: Caranorn

I wonder whether that high price is based on the fact that Chickamauga was originally only sold through Talonsoft, that is to say not in stores or available via any other avenue then direct order. It must be pretty rare. Still that price is shocking considering it's computer software which usually drops in price. It's not like board wargames where there is some justification to ask high prices for old non reprinted games (like Terrible Swift Sword for instance).

I'm pretty sure that I got my copy in a store. Back then, I wasn't buying anything online. In fact, nearly all of my BG collection was obtained out of the bargain bins for $10 (with the exception of the Napoleonic collection that I did buy from Talonsoft's successor, but that came later).

BTW... Happy New Year!

[Luciano B]

Thanks guys.

Note please that the add-on is fully playable only via e-mail at present, since no AI orders were scripted, so plaiyng against the AI your opponent will remain immobile.

The scenarios provided, both the "historical" and the "balanced" one start with the forces in the positions which actually occupied, but there's still enough room to manoeuvre, mainly in the "balanced" scenarios which includes many Rebel reinforcements arriving in various points of the map, forcing both players to cover almost the whole extension of the battlefield.

The idea of an encounter battle with both armies arriving in the battlefield, the Federals from the fords in the upper side and the Confederate from the left side of the map is very interesting, and be sure that this kind of scenario will be included in the first full release. I'm working also to enlarge the map on the left to cover the area of "Locust Grove" where part of the Confederate forces bivouaced the day before the battle, and also a bit on the lower side to include the area of the battlefield of Spotsylvania ...maybe a further enlargement on the right to include the battlefield of Chancellorsville will be interesting...

About HPS campaign games, obviously they are very, very good games, but I find in them something not coinvincing when compared to the old Battleground games; probably it is related to the oversimplified graphics of the 3D view of the maps when compared to the wonderful 3D views of the original BG games, and also the oversized scale of the 3D units icons is something that disturbs when I play HPS games ...neither the graphic mod-packs available resolve the problems in a definitive way: there's something in the hexagons dimensions of the 3D view that doesn't seem fully functional: the main 3D view seems really too large and the zoomed out 3D view too small; the sides of the hexes remanied however untyled because the graphic engine doesn't cover them; About the gameplay I have my personal opinion: the HPS system is great and works in a better way for small engagements, but for large battles involving armies with several corps the old Battleground system is smarter to play.

I really hope that a future development of the Battleground games may include some good improvements like the single man strenght-points and something like the "weak zones of control" as in the HPS games.

[rhondabrwn]

AMEN! to Matrix incorporating the single man losses! I think that is the biggest "shock" in getting back into the BG series. I had forgotten just how bloody it can be!

I agree comletely with the graphics in the HPS series. I have been satisfied with the graphics mods that I applied to Gettysburg though (still having problems with Shiloh).

Thanks for giving consideration to my suggestion for a more free form campaign style scenario with units arriving onto the map and not in predesignated starting positions. And a LARGER map! WOW! Sounds great to me.

Oh, and I've been playing using the "hotseat mode" as opposed to PBEM. It's faster and more convenient.

Oh, and here's a suggestion... you could extend the map back to Fredericksburg and create a Chancellorsville scenario. Any interest in that?

Are you planning to take this commercial in the future? I'm kinda thinking of how Tankerace turned his War Plan Orange Mod into a full blown Matrix game! Once the Matrix BG series is out, that could be a real possibility... especially if it turned into a "Battles in Virginia" package with Fredricksburg, Chancellorsville, and the Wilderness all wrapped up into one new game.

Oh.. and THANKS... I'm enjoying this!

[General]

Thanks for the info on HPS, my curiosity is peaked and I ordered Vicksburg.  I have only played Battleground Series Gettysburg and Shiloh, and  (Battle of the Bulge), so It will be interesting to compare HPS to them.
I bought mine at Comp USA about 7 - 9 years ago.  I remember standing there looking at the Battleground series thinking "darn, I want to buy all of them"!
Now I'm thinking "darn, I SHOULD have bought all of them"!

[Luciano B]

Thanks for the encuragement.

The enlarged map which I'm completing covers right now the area from Locust Grove on the left to Salem church on the right; and from Germanna ford in the upper side to Spotsylvania Court House in the lower side. At moment the map allows to recreate the whole battles of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania, and also the fight in the main battlefield of Chancellorsville excluding the diversion in front of Fredericksburg. A further step to cover the area of Fredericksburg is in my plans, but I don't know if it is better to complete what is at present under work or to extend now the project to cover all the battles which were fought in the area, including the battle of Fredericksburg and the whole battlefield of Chancellorsville with the area of the diversion at Fredericksburg.

Of course I'll be glad if my project may become a future further "official" game of the BG serie ...that's my dream:)