Alan R. Arvold "Divided Ground" Scenarios Thread

[Warhorse]

Woohoo!![:D]

[dudalb_slith]

I am hoping that Alvin converts his scenario for Modern wars:Middle East.[&o]

[berto]

Now officially called:

The Campaign Series: Middle East

Or more formally:

The Campaign Series: Middle East 1948-1985

No more "Modern Wars" anything. That's history!

[Crossroads]

Ode To Arab-Israeli Wars I, II and III

From Design Notes:

Ode to Arab-Israeli Wars is a collection of the original 24 scenarios that came in the game. These have been converted to Divided Ground standards so that these scenarios may be played in that format. As there have not been any previous scenarios submitted to the Games Depot based on the situations from this game, these will be a first. One may ask why I am doing this. Well to pay homage to this game that was clearly the inspiration for the creation of Divided Ground. Just as East Front was inspired by Panzerblitz and West Front was inspired by Panzer Leader, so too was Divided Ground inspired by Arab-Israeli Wars. And as with my Ode to Panzerblitz Series I have established a consistent set of standards of conversion from the board game to the computer game.

These scenarios are not for everybody. If you want to play Divided Ground, just go to one of the several dozen fine scenarios that the game has, both those with the game and those that are on various websites on the Internet. But if you want to play Arab-Israeli Wars on the computer, then try one or several of the 24 original scenarios which came with the game, which I have presented here.

Download links:

[*] Ode to AIW I
[*] Ode to AIW II
[*] Ode to AIW III

[Crossroads]

Ode to Arab-Israeli Wars IV

A Design Note from Alan:

Ode to AIW IV consists of ten scenarios from the 1967 War. I created these back in the Eighties for the game Arab-Israeli Wars but by the time I submitted them to the General Magazine for publication, Avalon Hill was no longer supporting the game. So they languished in my files until a few years ago I adapted them for Divided Ground. However by the time they were ready, Games Depot was no longer taking submissions so they were never posted anywhere.

Now I present them for posting with the Blitzkrieg Club.

Download link:

[*] Ode to AIW IV

[Crossroads]

OK you Divided Ground disk owners out there, now I am officially jealous!

Another week ticked off from await for the Middle East game launch, and what a week it is, for it brings you the Avalon Hill's Arab-Israeli Wars scenarios for some serious gaming fun.

Included in AIW IV are ten brand new scenarios, never seen anywhere before today. Get them while they last!

Again my sincere thanks to Alan for sharing his work with the CS community [&o]

PS please please PLEASE convert these to CS: Middle East! [:)]

[Jafele]

ORIGINAL: Crossroads

PS please please PLEASE convert these to CS: Middle East! [:)]

Agree. [&o]

That would be another good reason to buy CS: Middle East.

[Crossroads]

Ode to Arab-Israeli Wars V (Fourteen scenarios)

Ode to AIW V includes fourteen scenarios covering the 1973 war by Alan R. Arvold.

Download link:

[*]Ode to AIW V

[Crossroads]

Divided Ground - October War (Fifteen scenarios)



DESIGN NOTES FOR ODE TO OCTOBER WAR

By Alan R. Arvold

October War was a game by SPI that came out in 1977 in the magazine “Strategy & Tactics”, in issue number 61. It was SPI’s answer to Avalon Hill’s game “Arab Israeli Wars”. It was a tactical armored wargame that dealt with battles in the 1973 “Yom Kippur” War. As I have converted the scenarios from “Arab-Israeli Wars” to Divided Ground, it seemed only natural that I do the same with the scenarios from “October
War”. So here we go.

The Mapboard

The original mapsheet was a generic representation of various types of terrain in the Middle East. Depending on the scenario being played, certain terrain types and/or elevation levels were ignored on the map. So what I did was make a master copy of the original mapsheet on Divided Ground, then for each converted scenario, made a copy of the master and made what changes were required by the original scenario instructions to it. Thus each scenario will have its own mapboard. The scale of the original mapsheet was 200 meters per hex, but I kept the scale on my Divided Ground maps at 250 meters per hex. As it turns out it did not make any difference in the comparative play of each game. The distance between each height level is 25 meters.

The Orders of Battle

The orders of battle for each scenario were rather simple, just armored vehicles, both tanks and APCs, and dismounted infantry and support weapons. The only organization was by force, be it battalion or brigade level. Converting these to Divided Ground was not a problem. However I did add Headquarters and Leader units to each side for command and control, and for supply as well. For the infantry I added Machinegun platoons as in October War all of the infantry units are assumed to be reinforced with machineguns from their company or battalion machine gun platoons.

For support units the Israelis had self propelled ATGM’s mounted on jeeps and the Arabs had dismounted Sagger Teams and 100mm AT guns. For artillery in October War both sides have off-the-board artillery which is assumed to reach anywhere across the map. This was easy to
duplicate in Divided Ground. However the Israelis have self-propelled 120mm mortars mounted on APC’s while the Arabs have off-the-board 120mm mortars. Naturally I gave the Israelis self propelled 120mm mortars mounted on halftracks as these are what they really have in the 1973 War.

For the Arabs I found that the 120mm mortars in the off-the- board set up do not range across the board and that the Israelis can stay out of their given range since it is obvious which side of the board they would be set up off of, so I gave the Arabs on board 120mm mortar units and the appropriate transport unit in those scenarios where they have them. In October War, airstikes were just one time artillery attacks for each strike, however in Divided Ground I gave actual airstrikes to which ever side had them in a given scenario.

The Scenarios

There are fifteen scenarios in October War, thirteen that came with the game and two more which were published in Moves magazine #32. The time scale of a turn in October War is two minutes, compared to six minutes in Divided Ground. To convert I merely divided the number of turns in a given October War scenario by three (rounding any fractions up) to get the equivalent number of turns in Divided Ground. Now one would think that the units in Divided Ground would move three times as fast as those in October War but as it turns out, units move about the same distance on the map in three turns in October War as they do in one turn in Divided Ground. In scenarios where the defender is given Improved Positions in October War, I gave the same number to the defender in Divided Ground. In October War the defender is given minefields in some scenarios, to
which they also received the same number in Divided Ground. In October War minefields come in three levels which easily correspond to the 1-1, 2-1 and 3-1 minefields in Divided Ground. One of the scenarios in a night scenario, again I made sure it was a night scenario when I converted it.

The scenarios are either simplified versions of real battles or part of the two three-scenario semi-historical campaigns in October War. However I made them each into individual scenarios, each with its own set of victory point levels.

Conclusion

I hope players find these scenarios fun and quick as they are really not much more than that. Still, another Middle East tactical game has been converted to Divided Ground.

---

Download available HERE.

My sincere thanks to Alan for again sharing his work with the CS community [:)]

[Crossroads]

So this is it for Alan R. Arvold's extensive work on the Divided Ground scenarios. In his parting words on the subject:

For over ten years I have created and corrected scenarios for Divided Ground. But all this work would not have been possible if it hadn't for the efforts to two gentlemen, Chris Pearlberg and Paul Adaway. These two people separately came up with the multiple game patches that transformed Divided Ground from a broken incomplete video game into the working game that it is today. Sure, Divided Ground isn't perfect and still has some minor issues, but thanks to these two guys I have been able to get round these issues and produce these scenarios. Together I think that the three of us collectively saved Divided Ground from oblivion.

But we must go forward. Middle East is coming out in less than a week and it should give the wars in the Middle East the full attention that Divided Ground should have given them. As Middle East gains in popularity, Divided Ground will start to fade and finally goes to its well deserved rest. I look forward to converting my scenarios to Middle East and I am sure that a lot of players will be looking forward to playing them.

Thank you so much for what I consider extensive mapping of military history. I am looking forward to your contribution with the CS:Middle East hopefully for a long time to come.

Meanwhile, on behalf of the CS community, I take a bow:

[&o]

[Crossroads]

I believe that all this comes up to some 50+ historical scenarios and for another 50+ board game scenario conversions.

Edit: Yep, 107 (!) scenarios on my disk at the moment, and that's excluding the Ode to AIW V set I misplaced somewhere.

[Jafele]

Excellent news!!!

Special thanks to Alan. [&o]

[Crossroads]

Fourteen new scenarios that make the Ode To Arab-Israeli Wars V, covering the 1973 war, were added to the placeholder post in the previous page (after Ode to IAW IV).

That's 121 new scenarios for you Divided Ground Aficionados! [:)]

Meanwhile, CS: Middle East is good to go live on Sept 24th. There's the box art now released in the forums, HERE


Yay!

[Crossroads]

For anyone new to this thread, here's a quick way to locate them all:

Go to Blitz Wargaming Club Scenario Search Page -> LINK

Enter:

[*] Ladder: Campaign Series
[*] Game: Divided Ground
[*] Author: Arvold

Then, you should see something like this:

[Crossroads]

And worth repeating his parting words with sharing his extensive work with us:

For over ten years I have created and corrected scenarios for Divided Ground. But all this work would not have been possible if it hadn't for the efforts to two gentlemen, Chris Pearlberg and Paul Adaway. These two people separately came up with the multiple game patches that transformed Divided Ground from a broken incomplete video game into the working game that it is today. Sure, Divided Ground isn't perfect and still has some minor issues, but thanks to these two guys I have been able to get round these issues and produce these scenarios. Together I think that the three of us collectively saved Divided Ground from oblivion.

But we must go forward. Middle East is coming out in less than a week and it should give the wars in the Middle East the full attention that Divided Ground should have given them. As Middle East gains in popularity, Divided Ground will start to fade and finally goes to its well deserved rest. I look forward to converting my scenarios to Middle East and I am sure that a lot of players will be looking forward to playing them.

[Warhorse]

Yeah, Baby!![:D]

[Crossroads]

All, the Chinese Farm scenario set has been updated with a revised map file. Please download again for the latest version.

[*] Download available HERE

---

[Crossroads]

I have received a set of revisions to following Divided Ground Scenario Sets from Alan:

[*] Chinese Farm
[*] Ode to Arab Israeli Wars I
[*] Ode to Arab Israeli Wars II
[*] Ode to Arab Israeli Wars III

^^ See for download links in the previous page.

In addition, Alan made quite a few CS Middle East scenario conversions to Divided Ground, while getting familiar with the latest offspring of the famed Campaign Series. They can be downloaded here:

[*] Divided Ground - CS Middle East Scenario Set


If you guys spot anything please let me know. Enjoy! [:)]

[Crossroads]

Oh but there was more!

13 brand new Ode to Arab Israeli Wars scenarios by Alan can be now downloaded from here:

[*] Ode to Arab Israeli Wars V

[Crossroads]

Updated 6/05/2016; Revised Mapboard D maps from Alan. Please download again for the latest versions

[*] Ode To Arab-Israel Wars I
[*] Ode To Arab-Israel Wars II
[*] Ode To Arab-Israel Wars IV