CthuluWasRight
Fresh Meat for the SV Grinder
- Location
- Canada
[X] Ilse Volta (Anne-Marie's suggestion)
[X] Plan Fuck Schabler
[X] Plan Fuck Schabler
Last edited:
Strategic Arms Quest 3/2: Armor Edition
- Thread starter 7734
- Start date
- Original
Himmelhand
Giant Sinkhole 2020
- Location
- Midwestern US
[X] Ilse Volta (Anne-Marie's suggestion)
[X] Plan Ignore Schabler
[X] Plan Ignore Schabler
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
Your lack of comment says less "he's an idiot" and more says "I'm scared of him" which is kinda a bad prescident to set while you're still waiting on the promotion board to make your new shiny rank permanent.
Okay, how do I put this politely... no. Schabler didn't run a "conventional" campaign or even one "by the book". You have, in character, read the book before and after the Great Pig War, and at no point does the book think what Schabler did was a good plan. What he chose were nominally safe plans that concentrated his firepower and shock value, so that if he ran into a field army he could crack them like a walnut. If you think this worked operationally, then take a look at the updates again please.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Himmelhand
Giant Sinkhole 2020
- Location
- Midwestern US
[X] Ilse Volta (Anne-Marie's suggestion)
[X] Plan Fuck Schabler
I concur. Vote changed.
[X] Plan Fuck Schabler
I concur. Vote changed.
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
4th Volta was the regiment of Askari that Chiku raised and outfitted since you picked her as an Advisor.
TortugaGreen
Constantly out of the loop
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Ilse Volta (Anne-Marie's suggestion)
[X] Plan Fuck Schabler
[X] Plan Fuck Schabler
Contest 5: Interim Posting
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
With the new Ilse Volta added to your family and Anne-Marie went back to house shopping while you finished up your war deployment, you got ready to get things done in true Irromic style. Mostly this involved tying up loose ends, shaking hands, and getting your Good Boy slips signed by all and sundry. Aside from the usual victory tours, parade inspections, and official photographs, the most important thing you did was sit in and on the Boards of Review.
A Board of Review was one of the older Irromic traditions, dating back to the Mittlebergen campaigns in the Unification Wars. The old way of doing it had a dozen officers around a campfire with wine and meat, discussing what caused victory and defeat, but now it was a way to fish out good ideas and shoot down bad ones. For most of them, you were just an onlooker, but you did get to participate in the Reviews of Holn, Schabler, and even one centered around yourself.
Holn's Review was a fairly short affair, with the board consisting of yourself, Field Marshal of Afrika Ronald duBoren, four of his colonels, and six assorted staff officers from the Empire proper. Things got started with a view of the initial retreat, and Holn lashing out against the fact North Force took three months to muster up, by which point he was penned in behind fieldworks on the south of the Zambezi. After that you got to pitch in, mentioning that the total lack of riverine back-end was what actually kept Holn in the dark- once you'd organized a proper riverine brigade, things proceeded much more cleanly. It wasn't hard to praise Holn's decision to end the war with the rather punishing advances he'd taken, since it would have taken Schabler a year to reach M'banga and possibly another year to siege it into surrender. In return, Holn was appreciative of your work getting him the tanks and infantry units, and was quite happy to have gotten native units. According to him, he'd never have been able to advance on M'banga as fast as he had without the light logistical burden of the lighter colonial regiments as composed to the heavier units from the metropole. The tanks he was less pleased with, since while they worked they were also a massive logistical burden. That said, they worked on tearing the middle line wide open on his right, and he was confident they would have rolled over the fieldworks in the third line too. Most of the line officers were happy with the field performance, even if the metropolitan officers spent most of it scratching their heads and shrugging.
Schabler's board had roughly the same composition, and went far worse. He'd dragged his feet getting North Force off the blocks, and every time he tried to defend himself with the concept of insufficient supply you ripped into him. He was a metropolitan officer through and through, but he'd screwed up his research and tried to apply norms formed from the campaigns in the Werserlands instead of the very well-researched normatives of a highlands campaign that the Dars-el-Salaam War College put out. Even the metropole officers couldn't defend him after the disaster at the highland prairies near Rourke's Creek. Fifteen thousand WIA and two thousand in change KIA, in large part by friendly fire, due to using normative tactics wholly unsuited for the terrain? There was no covering that up. Post-battle analysis provided by the War College Afrikans showed that it was probable the infiltrating forces had been eliminated or beaten off in the first six minutes- the remaining hour of fire was soundly on Schabler's own head. The colonial officers, meanwhile, ripped into him for not letting them deploy as they saw fit, citing dozens of instances where they couldn't maintain contact and had insufficient beaten zones, forage zones, security zones, and supply zones. By compressing the group as tightly as he had, Schabler had nearly choked his units to death, and it was the quiet threat of mutiny from the local support that was the only thing holding his supply lines open that got Schabler moving. You personally suspected it was also a threat of getting a grenade under his bunk that put Schabler off his ass, but that wasn't something you'd say where a Field Marshall was watching. The end result, a court-martial for Schabler, was neither unexpected nor something you'd possibly miss.
Your personal review wasn't a disaster, but it wasn't covered in roses. Giving anything to Schabler was seen as a mistake, and more importantly the impromptu Fourth Volta was something that was going to catch you flak since it was entirely indigenous and therefore a total wild card on terms of adoption. The recommendation against a permanent armor detachment was taken well, since it meshed with what Holn had seen and what the number-crunchers had spat out. The recommendation to recruit Askari for the formerly-Irromic Only units was certainly a head-scratcher, but when you explained they wouldn't need to be taken home and that the old 'citizenship by spilled blood' clause would cover them got everyone from the metropole interested. Manpower was still very thin on the ground at home, and the Bamberg's Fourth expected to need at least fifteen years to come back up to full strength. With Oberstleutnant Gremory, the leader of the unit in question, amicable, it was decided to allow a depot company to set up shop in the Volta region to feed into the Fourth Bamberg for the foreseeable future. The formalization of your other "specialist forces" projects was also green-lit, this one with much more ease. Permanent riverine and mountain troops would make the frontier much less permeable, and more importantly prevent a lot of the costly accidents on this campaign.
At the end of it, they pinned on the Oberstleutnant ribbons with aplomb, and it took a minute for you to realize you'd actually done it. You'd made staff officer. After collecting the best of your Afrikan staff and several local Askari as a semi-private bodyguard and housekeeping staff (an old tradition of staff officers who'd proven themselves in Afrika) you promptly got in a steamer, and went home. Anne-Marie was delighted to see you, and so was the rest of your family when you saw them next. Dad was proud, Mother was estatic, and your good-for-nothing brother had finally bit the bullet and settled down in the family castle so you could stay in Luneburg as a teacher at the War College. Life was good.
VOTE
During the Interim, what do you teach at the War College? Choose one from each column; this will influence who you can pick for future specialists for contests.
100s level (For scrubby young lieutenants)
[] Basic Logistics (112)
[] Small Unit Tactics (104)
[] Integrated Operations (143)
200s level (For people who volunteered)
[] Armor in Warfare (264)
[] History of Military Mathematics (203)
[] Conflict in Afrika (257)
300s level (For up-and-coming staff officers)
[] Operational Arts (301)
[] Integration of Technology (326)
[] Specialist Unit Command (328)
A Board of Review was one of the older Irromic traditions, dating back to the Mittlebergen campaigns in the Unification Wars. The old way of doing it had a dozen officers around a campfire with wine and meat, discussing what caused victory and defeat, but now it was a way to fish out good ideas and shoot down bad ones. For most of them, you were just an onlooker, but you did get to participate in the Reviews of Holn, Schabler, and even one centered around yourself.
Holn's Review was a fairly short affair, with the board consisting of yourself, Field Marshal of Afrika Ronald duBoren, four of his colonels, and six assorted staff officers from the Empire proper. Things got started with a view of the initial retreat, and Holn lashing out against the fact North Force took three months to muster up, by which point he was penned in behind fieldworks on the south of the Zambezi. After that you got to pitch in, mentioning that the total lack of riverine back-end was what actually kept Holn in the dark- once you'd organized a proper riverine brigade, things proceeded much more cleanly. It wasn't hard to praise Holn's decision to end the war with the rather punishing advances he'd taken, since it would have taken Schabler a year to reach M'banga and possibly another year to siege it into surrender. In return, Holn was appreciative of your work getting him the tanks and infantry units, and was quite happy to have gotten native units. According to him, he'd never have been able to advance on M'banga as fast as he had without the light logistical burden of the lighter colonial regiments as composed to the heavier units from the metropole. The tanks he was less pleased with, since while they worked they were also a massive logistical burden. That said, they worked on tearing the middle line wide open on his right, and he was confident they would have rolled over the fieldworks in the third line too. Most of the line officers were happy with the field performance, even if the metropolitan officers spent most of it scratching their heads and shrugging.
Schabler's board had roughly the same composition, and went far worse. He'd dragged his feet getting North Force off the blocks, and every time he tried to defend himself with the concept of insufficient supply you ripped into him. He was a metropolitan officer through and through, but he'd screwed up his research and tried to apply norms formed from the campaigns in the Werserlands instead of the very well-researched normatives of a highlands campaign that the Dars-el-Salaam War College put out. Even the metropole officers couldn't defend him after the disaster at the highland prairies near Rourke's Creek. Fifteen thousand WIA and two thousand in change KIA, in large part by friendly fire, due to using normative tactics wholly unsuited for the terrain? There was no covering that up. Post-battle analysis provided by the War College Afrikans showed that it was probable the infiltrating forces had been eliminated or beaten off in the first six minutes- the remaining hour of fire was soundly on Schabler's own head. The colonial officers, meanwhile, ripped into him for not letting them deploy as they saw fit, citing dozens of instances where they couldn't maintain contact and had insufficient beaten zones, forage zones, security zones, and supply zones. By compressing the group as tightly as he had, Schabler had nearly choked his units to death, and it was the quiet threat of mutiny from the local support that was the only thing holding his supply lines open that got Schabler moving. You personally suspected it was also a threat of getting a grenade under his bunk that put Schabler off his ass, but that wasn't something you'd say where a Field Marshall was watching. The end result, a court-martial for Schabler, was neither unexpected nor something you'd possibly miss.
Your personal review wasn't a disaster, but it wasn't covered in roses. Giving anything to Schabler was seen as a mistake, and more importantly the impromptu Fourth Volta was something that was going to catch you flak since it was entirely indigenous and therefore a total wild card on terms of adoption. The recommendation against a permanent armor detachment was taken well, since it meshed with what Holn had seen and what the number-crunchers had spat out. The recommendation to recruit Askari for the formerly-Irromic Only units was certainly a head-scratcher, but when you explained they wouldn't need to be taken home and that the old 'citizenship by spilled blood' clause would cover them got everyone from the metropole interested. Manpower was still very thin on the ground at home, and the Bamberg's Fourth expected to need at least fifteen years to come back up to full strength. With Oberstleutnant Gremory, the leader of the unit in question, amicable, it was decided to allow a depot company to set up shop in the Volta region to feed into the Fourth Bamberg for the foreseeable future. The formalization of your other "specialist forces" projects was also green-lit, this one with much more ease. Permanent riverine and mountain troops would make the frontier much less permeable, and more importantly prevent a lot of the costly accidents on this campaign.
At the end of it, they pinned on the Oberstleutnant ribbons with aplomb, and it took a minute for you to realize you'd actually done it. You'd made staff officer. After collecting the best of your Afrikan staff and several local Askari as a semi-private bodyguard and housekeeping staff (an old tradition of staff officers who'd proven themselves in Afrika) you promptly got in a steamer, and went home. Anne-Marie was delighted to see you, and so was the rest of your family when you saw them next. Dad was proud, Mother was estatic, and your good-for-nothing brother had finally bit the bullet and settled down in the family castle so you could stay in Luneburg as a teacher at the War College. Life was good.
VOTE
During the Interim, what do you teach at the War College? Choose one from each column; this will influence who you can pick for future specialists for contests.
100s level (For scrubby young lieutenants)
[] Basic Logistics (112)
[] Small Unit Tactics (104)
[] Integrated Operations (143)
200s level (For people who volunteered)
[] Armor in Warfare (264)
[] History of Military Mathematics (203)
[] Conflict in Afrika (257)
300s level (For up-and-coming staff officers)
[] Operational Arts (301)
[] Integration of Technology (326)
[] Specialist Unit Command (328)
Last edited:
TortugaGreen
Constantly out of the loop
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Basic Logistics
Because we've spent a fair amount of time working this, we're definitely qualified to do so, and better logistics is always good.
[] Small Unit Tactics
This would be dumb, as we have shit-all experience in this.
[] Integrated
Maybe? Integrated what? If it's combined arms stuff, a good choice.
[X] Armor in Warfare
A solid choice, which speaks to our running pretty much every tank competition yet, and the Big Old Whitepaper we put out.
[] History of Military Mathematics
A more general class, which we have less experience with to my knowledge but is applicable to a lot of things
[] Conflict in Afrika
We just got off a posting there, so we can probably teach this one fairly well.
All of these are solid options though.
[] Operational Arts
Not sure what this is, so I won't comment on it.
[] Integration of Technology
Very general, probably about things like radios and aircraft and shit. Good stuff.
[X] Specialist Unit Command
Also very general, but something that's becoming relevant and so could use solid teaching.
Because we've spent a fair amount of time working this, we're definitely qualified to do so, and better logistics is always good.
[] Small Unit Tactics
This would be dumb, as we have shit-all experience in this.
[] Integrated
Maybe? Integrated what? If it's combined arms stuff, a good choice.
[X] Armor in Warfare
A solid choice, which speaks to our running pretty much every tank competition yet, and the Big Old Whitepaper we put out.
[] History of Military Mathematics
A more general class, which we have less experience with to my knowledge but is applicable to a lot of things
[] Conflict in Afrika
We just got off a posting there, so we can probably teach this one fairly well.
All of these are solid options though.
[] Operational Arts
Not sure what this is, so I won't comment on it.
[] Integration of Technology
Very general, probably about things like radios and aircraft and shit. Good stuff.
[X] Specialist Unit Command
Also very general, but something that's becoming relevant and so could use solid teaching.
KhazintheDark
May or may not be insane...
- Location
- Not where you are. Probably.
The question is which options are most important for each group and which are we good at.
100s level (For scrubby young lieutenants)
[][100]Basic Logistics (112)
Explains how to do logistics, not why.
[][100] Small Unit Tactics (104)
Arguably the most important for them but unfortunately we don't have that focus.
[X][100] Integrated Operations (143)
Primitive combined arms, we're only just getting started on this but it'll be needed. Will also allow us to potentially develop a test case for a mobile warfare doctrine before we retire. Will likely cover using gunboats to patrol rivers and block crossings, aircraft for reconnaissance and milint, drifts slightly into C3 but will also emphasise that everything has specific jobs.
200s level (For people who volunteered)
[X][200] Armor in Warfare (264)
There is very little history of this but what there is we've pretty much been part of. So while we're somewhat experts it's by dint of vaguely knowing how to use something nobody knows how to use. Will become increasingly important.
[][200] History of Military Mathematics (203)
Did you know that there's an equation for how long a division can fight for based on factors such as how quickly it can kill enemies, it's mobility, ability to entrench, supply, fatigue and a host of other things? This will be a history of how warfare has changed from an economical and strategic standpoint. Important but we aren't truely exceptional.
[][200] Conflict in Afrika (257)
Important if they're serving in Afrika, would help those who went there but it isn't our speciality, we do know what can go wrong and what works however.
300s level (For up-and-coming staff officers)
[][300] Operational Arts (301)
Literally the thing that makes modern warfare 'War' rather than a bunch of discontinuous battles as it was when proportionate attrition was the only way to measure who was winning. Unfortunately, while we have insight into this it isn't our speciality. It does however include the high-level economics of war such as capturing resource areas and the planning the strategic path for objectives.
[X][300] Integration of Technology (326)
Something we are uniquely placed for and likely to be a rather important thing for staff officers. During WWI tactics and strategy revolved around the rapid progression of technology, it broke down because officers at all levels still considered 'men go to battle by rail then fight there' a viable thing. To put this in context, the Saxon forces at Hastings in 1066 were defeated (essentially) by Norman cavalry tactics. The advent of motorisation and mechanisation is almost literally a direct comparison.
[][300] Specialist Unit Command (328)
We ordered their formation and know of some of their uses, that's better than a number of staff officers. The exceptions are those who actually command forces like France's alpine divisions (formed in response to Italy's alpine divisions). Essentially, staff officers might know that a division is specialised for a terrain and task but not how to use them in that task. We know some but not all.
100s level (For scrubby young lieutenants)
[][100]Basic Logistics (112)
Explains how to do logistics, not why.
[][100] Small Unit Tactics (104)
Arguably the most important for them but unfortunately we don't have that focus.
[X][100] Integrated Operations (143)
Primitive combined arms, we're only just getting started on this but it'll be needed. Will also allow us to potentially develop a test case for a mobile warfare doctrine before we retire. Will likely cover using gunboats to patrol rivers and block crossings, aircraft for reconnaissance and milint, drifts slightly into C3 but will also emphasise that everything has specific jobs.
200s level (For people who volunteered)
[X][200] Armor in Warfare (264)
There is very little history of this but what there is we've pretty much been part of. So while we're somewhat experts it's by dint of vaguely knowing how to use something nobody knows how to use. Will become increasingly important.
[][200] History of Military Mathematics (203)
Did you know that there's an equation for how long a division can fight for based on factors such as how quickly it can kill enemies, it's mobility, ability to entrench, supply, fatigue and a host of other things? This will be a history of how warfare has changed from an economical and strategic standpoint. Important but we aren't truely exceptional.
[][200] Conflict in Afrika (257)
Important if they're serving in Afrika, would help those who went there but it isn't our speciality, we do know what can go wrong and what works however.
300s level (For up-and-coming staff officers)
[][300] Operational Arts (301)
Literally the thing that makes modern warfare 'War' rather than a bunch of discontinuous battles as it was when proportionate attrition was the only way to measure who was winning. Unfortunately, while we have insight into this it isn't our speciality. It does however include the high-level economics of war such as capturing resource areas and the planning the strategic path for objectives.
[X][300] Integration of Technology (326)
Something we are uniquely placed for and likely to be a rather important thing for staff officers. During WWI tactics and strategy revolved around the rapid progression of technology, it broke down because officers at all levels still considered 'men go to battle by rail then fight there' a viable thing. To put this in context, the Saxon forces at Hastings in 1066 were defeated (essentially) by Norman cavalry tactics. The advent of motorisation and mechanisation is almost literally a direct comparison.
[][300] Specialist Unit Command (328)
We ordered their formation and know of some of their uses, that's better than a number of staff officers. The exceptions are those who actually command forces like France's alpine divisions (formed in response to Italy's alpine divisions). Essentially, staff officers might know that a division is specialised for a terrain and task but not how to use them in that task. We know some but not all.
Tiny_Dic
Carbon Cringe Lifeform | Hyperborean Coomer
- Location
- My Room
100s level (For scrubby young lieutenants)
[X][100] Integrated Operations (143)
Primitive combined arms, we're only just getting started on this but it'll be needed. Will also allow us to potentially develop a test case for a mobile warfare doctrine before we retire. Will likely cover using gunboats to patrol rivers and block crossings, aircraft for reconnaissance and milint, drifts slightly into C3 but will also emphasise that everything has specific jobs.
200s level (For people who volunteered)
[X][200] Armor in Warfare (264)
There is very little history of this but what there is we've pretty much been part of. So while we're somewhat experts it's by dint of vaguely knowing how to use something nobody knows how to use. Will become increasingly important.
300s level (For up-and-coming staff officers)
[X][300] Integration of Technology (326)
Something we are uniquely placed for and likely to be a rather important thing for staff officers. During WWI tactics and strategy revolved around the rapid progression of technology, it broke down because officers at all levels still considered 'men go to battle by rail then fight there' a viable thing. To put this in context, the Saxon forces at Hastings in 1066 were defeated (essentially) by Norman cavalry tactics. The advent of motorisation and mechanisation is almost literally a direct comparison.
[X][100] Integrated Operations (143)
Primitive combined arms, we're only just getting started on this but it'll be needed. Will also allow us to potentially develop a test case for a mobile warfare doctrine before we retire. Will likely cover using gunboats to patrol rivers and block crossings, aircraft for reconnaissance and milint, drifts slightly into C3 but will also emphasise that everything has specific jobs.
200s level (For people who volunteered)
[X][200] Armor in Warfare (264)
There is very little history of this but what there is we've pretty much been part of. So while we're somewhat experts it's by dint of vaguely knowing how to use something nobody knows how to use. Will become increasingly important.
300s level (For up-and-coming staff officers)
[X][300] Integration of Technology (326)
Something we are uniquely placed for and likely to be a rather important thing for staff officers. During WWI tactics and strategy revolved around the rapid progression of technology, it broke down because officers at all levels still considered 'men go to battle by rail then fight there' a viable thing. To put this in context, the Saxon forces at Hastings in 1066 were defeated (essentially) by Norman cavalry tactics. The advent of motorisation and mechanisation is almost literally a direct comparison.
Fezzes
Knight of King Stannis Baratheon
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
[X] Integrated Operations (143)
Why do we even have an option to teach small unit tactics? Is it a trap option?
[X] Conflict in Afrika (257)
We just ripped Schabler a new asshole because he didn't know how to fight in Afrika, I think we should get on teaching people how fighting in Afrika actually goes down.
[X][300] Integration of Technology (326)
The one we're probably best-placed to teach, and by far the most relevant one imo. The march of technology in the modern age redefines warfare practically every few decades. Falling behind is unacceptable.
Why do we even have an option to teach small unit tactics? Is it a trap option?
[X] Conflict in Afrika (257)
We just ripped Schabler a new asshole because he didn't know how to fight in Afrika, I think we should get on teaching people how fighting in Afrika actually goes down.
[X][300] Integration of Technology (326)
The one we're probably best-placed to teach, and by far the most relevant one imo. The march of technology in the modern age redefines warfare practically every few decades. Falling behind is unacceptable.
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
Fixed this, its now Integrated Operations, or if we were talking about a community college Communications and Composition I
NothingNow
Corpse Wrangler
- Location
- Tampa
[x] Basic Logistics (112)
[x] Armor in Warfare (264)
[x] Specialist Unit Command (328)
[x] Armor in Warfare (264)
[x] Specialist Unit Command (328)
Whiskey Golf
Being of Editing & Technical Assistance
- Location
- Chained to my desk
[X] Small Unit Tactics (104)
[X] Armor in Warfare (264)
[X] Operational Arts (301)
I'm biased because i'm choosing the things I feel would be interesting to teach
[X] Armor in Warfare (264)
[X] Operational Arts (301)
I'm biased because i'm choosing the things I feel would be interesting to teach
Himmelhand
Giant Sinkhole 2020
- Location
- Midwestern US
[X] Basic Logistics (112)
[X] Armor in Warfare (264)
[X] Integration of Technology (326)
[X] Armor in Warfare (264)
[X] Integration of Technology (326)