Pages

Wednesday 10 June 2020

Weather and campaigns: Initial designs for Operation Barbarossa weather charts

After playing around with various designs for my Operation Barbarossa weather charts, I came up with the following designs:

Arid


During the year, this type of terrain has:
  • A 50.0% chance of dry weather
  • A 29.7% chance of muddy weather
  • A 19.4% chance of snowy weather
Grass Steppe


During the year, this type of terrain has:
  • A 44.5% chance of dry weather
  • A 30.5% chance of muddy weather
  • A 25.0% chance of snowy weather
Deciduous Steppe


During the year this type of terrain has:
  • A 38.8% chance of dry weather
  • A 33.3% chance of muddy weather
  • A 27.8% chance of snowy weather
Coniferous Steppe


During the year, this type of terrain has:
  • A 33.3% chance of dry weather
  • A 33.3% chance of muddy weather
  • A 33.3% chance of snowy weather
Some examples of how the weather charts work:
  • It is June 1941. A D6 die is thrown, and the score is 6. It is dry in the Arid, Grass Steppe, Deciduous Steppe and Coniferous Steppe terrain zones.
  • It is November 1941. A D6 die is throw, and the score is 3. It is muddy in the Arid, Grass Steppe, and Deciduous Steppe terrain zones, and snowy in the Coniferous Steppe terrain zone.
  • It is March 1942. A D6 die is thrown, and the score is 4. It is muddy in the Arid, Grass Steppe, Deciduous Steppe and Coniferous Steppe terrain zones.
  • It is April 1942. A D6 die is thrown, and the score is 2. It is dry in the Arid terrain zone, and muddy in the Grass Steppe, Deciduous Steppe and Coniferous Steppe terrain zones.

10 comments:

  1. Bob
    Very reminiscent of Bruce Quarrie's approach. The individual tables seem fine, although I wonder about the strain of tracking the weather in such detail for an extended campaign.

    However more of a possible contradiction is now this interacts with your previous post on campaign turn lengths. In short, when are the muddy/dry/snow seasons? If tied to specific weeks/months then you will have long turns (muddy season) but, potentially dry or snowy weather, particularly given the variation across the map.

    Alternatively you can define the type of season according to the weather rolled (so it's muddy season when the weather is muddy). In that case, however, campaign turns will represent different amounts of time in different regions. That is manageable but seems to be a complication you could do without - unless,of course, you have a cunning plan?

    Also, out of curiosity, are you intending to run
    - just Barbarossa (say June to September 41)
    - Barbarossa and Typhoon
    - both of those and the Soviet winter counter offensive
    etc.

    From the detail in the weather considerations i presume it's at least the last of these, and possibly all the way through to '45. If so that's an epic undertaking with your turn lengths. Very interested to see how it continues to progress.
    Cheers
    Andew

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rumblestrip (Andrew),

      The concept is based on Bruce Quarrie‘s, but the breakdown of which type of weather Is affecting a particular type of terrain area comes from a website about Russian weather.

      I’m not sure if trying to keep track of each month’s weather in each area is going to be problematic. Only actually trying out the campaign rules in a mini-campaign will hopefully provide the proof (or otherwise) of the pudding.

      My intention is to start with my bath-tubbed version of Operation Barbarossa, with the hope that if it is successful, I can carry the campaign forward into 1942 and beyond.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  2. HiBob,
    A very methodical and accurate way of determing conditions - well done there Bob. Cheers. KEV.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kev Robertson (Kev),

      Cheers! Being able to draw on other people’s ideas was of great assistance.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  3. A great set of useful charts Bob. I don't think their use will add any great complication to your games. Cheers Greg

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Delta Coy (Greg),

      Cheers! I’ll be delighted if they are simple enough to produce the results I hope for without causing complications,

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  4. As long as you record the months weather die roll (eg "5") it will be very easy to keep track of the weather in each zone. This is no different to other Eastern Front operational board games.

    The attraction of fighting in the Ukraine becomes even more apparent!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Martin Rapier,

      That's exactly how I hope that the system will work!

      When you start to look at the terrain map of eastern Russia in 1941 and begin to factor in the weather, the decision to concentrate the mobile forces in the centre and south becomes very understandable. All those wide open spaces and better weather makes it a very attractive prospect!

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
    2. I was always amazed Panzer Group One got as far as it did. The terrain near Leningrad is awful and the roads non existant. I've done few operational and grand tactical games set up that way over the years.

      Delete
    3. Martin Rapier,

      It was not until I started to look at the geography and climate of western Russia as it was in 1941 that I began to see why things happened the way they did. The route to Leningrad is through difficult terrain, and I can see any campaign in that area developing into an infantry slogging match.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete

Thank you for leaving a comment. Please note that any comments that are spam or contain phishing messages or that come from Google Accounts that are 'Unknown' will be deleted.