The Great War in Europe and the Great War in the Near East
Aide de Camp 2 Module

Game by: Command Magazine/XTR Corp.
Aide de Camp by: HPS Simulations
Module creator: Phillip Weltsch   pcweltsch@uswest.net
Produced by: John C Kincaid    jkincaid@primenet.com

Introduction:

Aide de Camp 2 was designed to bring board games into the computer age and allow for simple play by email function. This module was created for the Command Magazine games The Great War in Europe and the Great War in the Near East.  The game module includes all the counters and map sheets from the board game, however a copy of the board game is required for play.


Game Scenario Notes:

The gameset contains seven scenarios covering the war in various starting points from 1914-1918.  The scenarios that are named only with the year of their start are for The Great War in Europe only.  The combine game scenario covers everything that is needed for the play of the complete Great War series.  The Great War in the Near East scenario only covers the add on game.


Class and Piece Value settings:

The only piece value defined in the game is the units historic ID. So,  a German unit with the ID of 45th Infantry XX is the 45th Infantry Division.  All units have their piece Ids set to match the historic Ids contained in the body of the rules.

Class values are:
1. Attack Strength
2. Defense Strength
3. Support Strength
4. Movement

Though most of the units have unitary combat values, for game play purposes I have defined a defense strength for all units.  Thus, an Italian infantry division with a 2-4 value will appear in the game as a 2-2-4.  This was done to allow for use of the combat summary values, which will make odds calculation easier in the game module.

Game Play Notes:

1. All the original counters are covered in the gameset.  For those units that have a flip side, that side has been defined and switching the unit is as easy as selecting it and pressing the flip piece button.
2. Force pools handle reinforcements and set-ups for all scenarios.  The pools are defined by their turn of entry.  The gameset does have a turn track printed on the map, and uses the games inherent turn display.  All scenarios are set to start at the appropriate turn and advancing the turn record is as simple as clicking on next turn from the drop down menu or by clearing the replay and selecting the next turn option.  The current turn is displayed on the bottom right portion of the game screen.
3. The starting lines in all non-1914 scenarios are set on the map by the use of blank counters using national colors.  Therefore, in the 1915-1918 scenarios all fronts are defined by a string of blank counters.  British units deploy in those hexes marked by British colored blank counters and the French in those marked by blank French counters, etc.
4. A combat summary value is a function that allows the game program to do the bean counting for you.  Just prior to making the combat die roll the game will give you a summary of all combat strengths involved in the battle.  Assume that a HQ unit with a support of 1 supports two Italian infantry divisions with strengths of 2.  These units attack an Austrian division with a strength of 3.  The combat summary will look like this:

                                Attacker           Defender
          Attack                 4                      3
          Defense               4                      3
          Support                1                     0
          

As you can see, the game will include the sum of all values so you will have to ignore the extra ones.  However, it is a valuable time saver and a good addition check.
5. The event chits are handled by placing the chits into the appropriate event chit pool when they come in as reinforcements.  Then, you draw the chits from the pool by selecting it and using the random pull function to select a random chit from the pool.
6. There is a weather box on the map to help remind players when there is adverse weather conditions affecting one or more map areas.  There is a force pool that contains the weather chits.  When it is called for, take the appropriate chit from the pool and place it in the weather box.
7. Many of the Turkish units are back printed with the name of the front that they must be placed in.  These units have that front added to their piece ID names.  For instance, the Turk 3rd Cavalry Division has Syria printed in brackets, meaning that this unit must operate on the Syria/Palestine map.
8. Though the original game had forts and fortresses printed on the map, the gameset uses counters for all fortifications that have an intrinsic combat value.  This I did as a matter of personal preference because I kept forgetting that unoccupied forts still had a combat value.  When a fortification is destroyed, just select the piece and press the flip piece button.  The fortification will be replaced with a fort-destroyed marker.  Once done, this cannot be undone with the flip piece function, as the reverse flip has not been defined.



