Iraq or Afghanistan?

[MaddogASU]

This is a great game, thanks for creating it. I'm looking forward to the update.

Any plans to move the game to a different battlefield? An Iraq or Afghanistan battlefield seems like a good fit for this game engine.

[Every Single Soldier]

Afghanistan already in the making ....

[MaddogASU]

Awesome!

[dafrandle]

is this the russian invasion or the fustercluck bush got us into

[Every Single Soldier]

The latter....

[Every Single Soldier]

Would like to do both tbh

[Dorb]

is this the russian invasion or the fustercluck bush got us into

Really want to go there...

[jack54]

Would like to do both tbh

is Mekong first?

[Every Single Soldier]

Right now we are working on Afghanistan, but real possibility we can do V'66 in paralell

[zakblood]

Afghanistan, hard country, harder people, poor terrain will make for interesting battles and fighting, looks forward to it commander

[Every Single Soldier]

Similar but very different to Vietnam

[Nijis]

Howzabout Afghanistan/the Northwest Frontier in the 19th century? Deliver mule trains with subsidies to buy off tribes to keep the supply routes open, send out disguised surveyors to scout the high passes, hunt for Russian agents... Guides, small but portable screw guns, big but hard-to-transport bullock guns, Punjabi infantry, Guide cavalry, jezail-armed clansmen who are your enemies one day and friends the next...

Obviously I realize that it's easier to come up with scenarios than to make games, but I'd love extending the intel/route security/logistics focused-system to a pre-modern setting. Make the games moddable, maybe?

[Every Single Soldier]

I totally get what you are saying

I actually want to do a boer war adaption, think about it, it was a COIN war, British troop, railways, wagon trains, blockhouses etc ( yes I am South African)

[Nijis]

For sure! The guerrilla stage of the war was largely about pinning the commandos in a smaller and smaller area, right?

[Rakkasan101]

Oh yeah! I think small unit actions in the 19th century are ripe for a good game to be made. The larger engagements as somewhat boring, but anything small and COIN would be amazing.

[Every Single Soldier]

Yes , the blockhouse and railroad (and concentration camp) strategy, the current mechanics in V65 are very suitable as it works on the HM of the local population and guerrilla type warfare, perfect, so I think after Afghanistan , the Boer war is a real possibility

[Nijis]

Excellent!

Out of curiosity (and I'm not trying to open a can of worms here) how would you handle concentration camp/scorched earth tactics -- ie, something that is now (and to a large degree also was then) considered a violation of the laws of war? Many games can avoid any direct reference to the targeting of civilians because they were not essential to military decision-making, while from my understanding depopulation of Boer civilians was an underpinning of British strategy.

I can think of several ways to handle..
1) Set the game at a time before such tactics were widespread, and thus disable it, or determine in advance that the challenge will be to win without such tactics
2) Figure enough time has gone by and treat British tactics as a product of their times, and include depopulation as an option - ie, like razing cities and enslavement in Total War. Depopulation is allowed, but probably it costs considerable political support.
3) Abstract it by allowing the COIN side to choose a posture (restrained to ruthless) that perhaps costs political support but restricts the utility of settlements to the commandos.

I'm curious about this because I've given some thought about how one would model a modern Middle Eastern failed state, and these kinds of issues come up. But I realizing that they can sometimes derail a thread, so please feel free to delete!

[Every Single Soldier]

These are real issue, and with the connected media of today it can be volatile

We faced these issue with the Vietnam War, it must be remembered that the SV government was pretty brutal and corrupt, how do you porter this in a game?

In my original design, I had torture as an infantry tactic in the villages to get Intel, also has propoganda and bribery to influence PP, took them out as maybe too controversial?

I personally would like to include such elements as they are representative of the times , but could create more controversy and damage the game itself. Very aware of this fact esp with the development of Afghanistan, it's just ended and how would the gaming public accept a result in the game where the U.S. / UK coalition loses ?

[Dorb]

I totally get what you are saying

I actually want to do a boer war adaption, think about it, it was a COIN war, British troop, railways, wagon trains, blockhouses etc ( yes I am South African)

The Boer war would be AWESOME! Now that is a place no war games go, and really need to. Last time I even got close was with Age of Rifles with Zulus.

[Every Single Soldier]

Definitely on my to-do list