Slitherine

I was replaying the Grand Campaign for the first time in several months, and I am still impressed by how well written the campaign briefings are, and how they, along with the scenario can create a kind of narrative that is beyond what you normally see in war games. I am up to Storming Stalingrad, and I really love how Feld Marshall Habermann's briefing is so casual, treating this just like any other battle. He tells you to basically just quickly finish this city off so you can continue your brilliant conquests. Of course, no matter how well you do, Stalingrad turns into a quagmire, and those brilliant conquests in the Caucausus are not meant to be. The briefing does a great job of showing how Germany never really expected Stalingrad to turn into the huge mess that it became. I think there is a lot of clever moments like this in the scenario briefings, and I don't think the devs get enough props for them.

Do you guys have any favorites?

monkspider wrote: Do you guys have any favorites?

the 1st USA one. 'Put down that champagne so that we can teach the Americans a lesson'!

- BNC

Every time I write down a briefing, no matter how good it is in my head, it turns into a garbled mess full of typos and strange layout!
It makes me appreciate the work that was put into the Panzer Corps ones.

I think that the Vyazma briefing mentions a passing storm.....

BiteNibbleChomp wrote:

monkspider wrote: Do you guys have any favorites?

the 1st USA one. 'Put down that champagne so that we can teach the Americans a lesson'!

- BNC

<p>Congratulations on your promotion <i>Herr Field Marshal</i>. Finally we answer to no-one on the battlefield!</p>
<p>But put down that Champagne and prepare yourself, our long voyage across the Atlantic is nearly at an end. With a fully unified Europe secure, High Command has ordered an invasion against our last enemy, the United States of America.</p>

<p>A perfect performance by you and your men, Herr Field Marshal! Your lightning fast strike has secured almost the entire Atlantic coastline of the United States in less than a month! We fully expect the surviving American leadership to surrender within the hour.</p>
<p>What do you mean there is an incoming air raid! It seems we have underestimated these Americans, take cover Herr Field Marshal, this war is not over yet!</p>

I enjoyed Bastogne.

<p><b>December 24th, 1944</b></p>
Greetings Herr General, I have some excellent news for you! Thanks largely to your advance, Bastogne is almost entirely surrounded and under immediate threat from the V1s and V2s you've repositioned. Under this spectre of annihilation, we've sent the American commander at Bastogne a demand to surrender, and we've just gotten our reply! With Bastogne and its hard topped roads firmly secure, our drive on Antwerp can finally resume. Now then, let us see what terms they have agreed to. The communiqué says...

...
To the German Commander.
NUTS.
-The American Commander.
...

What is this? I don't understand. Radioman! What does this 'nuts' mean? Ohh these impudent Americans, we will make them pay! If the Americans will not surrender their arms, we'll take them by force!

And some of the 'loss' messages were a lot of fun too.

So, you're the famous General we’ve all heard so much about then? Well you certainly made a hash of your last stand. My orders are to secure you and your staff until Churchill has bloody-well decided what to do with you. Move along, we’ve got a nice cell waiting for you, General!

Greetings, Comrade General. I trust my men have not treated you too... unpleasantly? Your defence of homeland was valiant, but ultimately futile before might of Mother Russia! It my understanding that you finally been, errr, persuaded to agree to unconditional surrender of forces under your command, or shall I bring Ivan back in room?
Da, da, it all be over soon. I have been told you will be tried as war criminal for butchery of countless Russian soldiers! I also been told you have already been found guilty. We Russians, we work fast you know, Fascist dog!

Those are all great! I forgot about the Bastogne one. These briefings are one of the things that make Panzer Corps so awesome.

Oh yea, I enjoyed writing these quite a bit. I wrote most, but not all, of PzC briefings. I missed writing them for 40k because it required a special GW sanctioned author. And I missed you in 40k testing too. Where have you been you SOB!?

Kerensky wrote:I enjoyed Bastogne.

Never actually made it that far with the West campaign. Dieppe murdered my guts.

- BNC

I didn't know you wrote most of the briefings yourself, you have a true talent! Sorry to miss out on the Warhammer testing. I always just hated the Warhammer universe, I know I lose some of my geek street cred for that statement. Count me in for Soviet Corps though.

monkspider wrote:I didn't know you wrote most of the briefings yourself, you have a true talent! Sorry to miss out on the Warhammer testing. I always just hated the Warhammer universe, I know I lose some of my geek street cred for that statement. Count me in for Soviet Corps though.

Aww. Officially I can't really respond to that. Unofficially though, I do have a BattleTech inspired name so... I understand.
As for Soviet Corps, your guess is as good as mine as to how that will turn out.

Kerensky wrote:
Aww. Officially I can't really respond to that. Unofficially though, I do have a BattleTech inspired name so... I understand.
As for Soviet Corps, your guess is as good as mine as to how that will turn out.

I myself played as teenager Battle Tech and even some P'n'P, so of course I know about Aleksandr Kerensky. The famous Star League general. Yet, everytime I see your name I think about Warcraft, and now I can't figure out why

Back when I played Warcraft I used the name Kerensky. Perhaps we've met

Dragoon wrote: I know about Aleksandr Kerensky. The famous Star League general.

I know him for stuffing up an offensive in Russia, 1917

- BNC

Talking about BattleTech: i know after FASA's demise, the rights to the IP are god knows where, but a BattleTech based game would be so cooooool. The systems with different weapons introduced in Armageddon seems almost perfect for it. A few changes and it could be a great engine for a BattleTech game ... a man can dream sometimes.

Tarrak wrote:Talking about BattleTech: i know after FASA's demise, the rights to the IP are god knows where, but a BattleTech based game would be so cooooool. The systems with different weapons introduced in Armageddon seems almost perfect for it. A few changes and it could be a great engine for a BattleTech game ... a man can dream sometimes.

I read that after Mircosoft took over FASA they licensed BattleTech to Wizkids so something like that, but only for the table top. This could mean that TT and video game are now seperate and latter still lies with MS?

Edit: Considering that MS gave a Shadowrun licence (Shadowrun Returns. Great RPG btww) to his original creator Jordan Weisman, maybe he got a license too for his other invention BattleTech.