The Great War: Operational Command

The Great War — Operational Command

Inspired by my love of Norm Koger's The Operational Art of War, I wanted to make (with the help of AI) a much simpler version that can recreate the general feel of a wide variety of conflicts. Take command of armies across six decades of European and Asian warfare, from the unification of Italy to the collapse of empires. Eighteen historical campaigns play out on hex maps spanning land and sea, where you maneuver corps and divisions, mass artillery, run convoys past enemy fleets, and break — or hold — the line. (Designed for late 19th - early 20th century wars in mind, but could kind of capture the general flavour of other eras.)

The campaigns: 

• The Gempei War: Minamoto vs Taira (1180) (new)
• The War of the League of Cambrai (1509) 
• The Second Italian War of Independence (1859) 
• The Third Italian War of Independence (1866) 
• The Franco-Prussian War (1870) 
• The Sino-French War (1884) 
• The First Sino-Japanese War (1894)
•  The Liaodong Landing (1904) 
• The Russo-Japanese War (1904–05) 
• The Italo-Turkish War (1911) 
• The Opening of the Great War (1914) 
• The Eastern Front (1914) 
• The Great War in the Middle East (1914–18)
•  The Italian Front (1915, corps & divisional)
•  The German Spring Offensive (1918, corps & divisional) 
• The Hundred Days Offensive (1918, corps & divisional) (new)
• The Russian Civil War (1919) 
• The Greco-Turkish War (1919–22).

Rules in brief:

Each turn runs in three phases: Move, Combat, then Logistics.

In the Move phase, formations spend movement points across terrain — open ground is fast, mountains, marsh and rivers slow you or cost dearly. A column that enters a hex beside an enemy is halted in its tracks by the enemy's zone of control. Up to three formations may stack on one hex.

In Combat, attack an adjacent enemy hex. Both stacks pool their strength; terrain, entrenchment, supporting artillery, gas and air all shift the balance into an odds ratio. That ratio sets a column on a 2d6 combat table — higher odds win more often, but the dice always carry a tail, so a 3:1 assault can still be repulsed, a hopeless attack can fluke a breakthrough, and overwhelming force can still bleed in a bloody exchange. Heavy guns, gas and aircraft can also strike at range without closing.

Throughout, supply is traced back to your home edge along roads and rail; cut off, a formation withers. In Logistics, bring up replacements from your national manpower pool — if you can spare them.

Hold every objective to win the campaign. Let your national will collapse under casualties (for most scenarios), and you lose regardless.