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New to this community, question on creating a scenario.

Grognerd

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Been reading all the manuals (perhaps too much) been looking over some threads with a similar topic.

Basically I'm just a little confused, because I read about some things being hard-wired into the game. I think I have some mistaken notions about what the editors can do!

Can I make a scenario based on the battles at Guadalcanal in 1942?
Creating US Marine, US Army & Japanese establishments?

Where I'm at, learning the various editors, this is gonna take awhile! Ha!
 

john connor

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Jim Carravallah ought to be able to advise you here, since I believe he has already made such a scenario, or something eastern and similar. You should ask him about what estabs he has, maybe. He's usually generous. ;)
 

Grognerd

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Hey, Downloaded your Kursk scenario, will look at it tomorrow! Thanks for the reply, if he has already done something similar than it must be do-able.
 

simovitch

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The only things that aren’t modelled well are amphibious landings naval bombardment and fixed fortifications but these can be abstracted to some extent.
 

john connor

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Lol. That's a great reply, Simovitch. As in 'the only things.....' which just happens to be almost everything you might need for Guadalcanal....

I didn't think my Kursk scenario was still there, Grognerd. I enjoyed making the map, but I didn't do the estabs. I've found making the estabs to be the least interesting part and haven't really learned how to do it. I borrowed estabs from a guy called Chris, but they were not accurate (the Axis had panzerfausts, for example, which they certainly didn't at Kursk) so I took that scenario down, I thought. Because of the estab inaccuracies I wouldn't recommend it.

I suggest you PM Jim and ask him about what he might or might not have by way of marines and Japs etc.
 

Grognerd

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For Guadalcanal Amphibious operations would only effect Gavutu & Tanambogo Islands. The landings at Tulagi & Guadalcanal were unopposed, so units can just show up at the beaches. Naval gunnery can be simulated by reducing the airstrikes available to the Allied side. As Henderson field's only effect in-game would be to provide ground support.

As far as your establishments is concerned, don't be too hard on yourself. The "feel" of the scenario is much more important than every bullet and stick of butter being modeled. If the scenario works well, then it's a success.

As for Guadalcanal, the Japanese will be the hardest to establish the OB's and such. The Tokyo Express delivered a lot of men and material at night for quite a long time that is not well documented. We know what units were involved but not so much which parts of the units got delivered piecemeal over the course of the campaign. So there will be some grey area I will have to decide how to document. One more book is being delivered today, maybe that will help with this (I'm not sure). My references are reasonable. I have 7 decent books, several good web-sites and about 25 aerial reconnaissance shots of the area taken in 1942. Several campaign maps help also (a little).

I've always been interested in this campaign, as it reads over the course of 6 months pretty much "truth is stranger than fiction"!
 

john connor

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Sounds great. But definitely PM Jim as he would probably happily share with you, and he may already have estabs you can use.
 

Grognerd

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I'm kinda old so sometimes I don't quite understand the internet of things! Ha - When you say PM Jim, what exactly do you mean? I've searched this forum for the name but it does not show up. I hate to be dense, but that's the nature of things I'm afraid.
 

john connor

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PM: Private Mail. Find his name (Jim Carravallah) in a post in this forum (for instance, he last replied to the thread immediately below yours in this very sub-forum, called 'How can I make a complex map?' - he is 'jimcaravallah'), click on the name (it appears in the far right column there, for instance). His details will come up. Click 'start a conversation'.
 
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John, Thank you, you're very helpful!
Unfortunately, I don't have an Estab for the Japanese Forces, but attached is a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet showing a typical Japanese Force Structure.

Each successive tab in the spreadsheet builds from a Japanese Squad up through Army. I used it to calculate manpower requirements for building an old scenario depicting the Battle of Saipan in 1944.

The manpower numbers and weapons information is not necessarily what you need as the Japanese Army morphed from the structure of 1942 to the 1944 era which I used as a basis for the spreadsheet.

If you're interested in building a scenario, I'd suggest starting with the map, for Guadalcanal concentrating on the northern and western sides of the island, where most of the critical battles took place. East and West the island should be depicted from Cape Esperance to just east of the Tenaru River, and then as far south as Mt. Austin to capture most of the battles on the main island.

I had looked into building a series of scenarios on the Guadalcanal Campaign, and determined that after building the map, I'd need to break it into smaller pieces both because the campaign time far exceeds the duration of any Command Ops 2 scenario, and because Guadalcanal wasn't a constant stretch of battle over that period.

As you build the map, you'll get a good idea about how to break it up to address the various high points in the combat during the campaign.

I'd suggest enhancing your information on the battle with information from this site:

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/

It provides a significant amount of readings on the history and operations in World War II, broken down between the US Army operations and Marine Corps operations and highlighting various aspects of the campaign ranging from strategic services to soldier stories of combat. Embedded in the narrative is a good description of US Force structure, and enough information to cull a Japanese structure for the era you want to model.

If you want to exchange information, perhaps draw some interest from other users, and keep all your information in one place, I'd suggest you start a Guadalcanal discussion in the scenarios forum.

Hope this helps.
 

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  • Japanese Infantry Organization.zip
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Grognerd

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Thank you for the file Jim. I was going to PM you (eventually), I'm just starting to read the editors so I have plenty off time. I didn't want to ask you for data that you worked painstakingly to produce. As a new member I thought that might be a bit much. So I do appreciate your post here!

Been playing command Ops (both 1 &2) for quite some time. Just now decided to start reading the editor manuals. The map is where I planned to start.

Since Command Ops is not a campaign style game I thought about starting at the battle of the Ilu (Tenaru) River. Then Bloody Ridge, the October Japanese offensive and finally finishing up with the Army's drive to Kokumbona (through Mount Austen, the GIFU, Seahorse & Galloping Horse). Several Scenario's actually, trying to keep them below the 2000 sq kilometer thresh hold (maybe).

I do have every pertinent area of Hyper War website book-marked and I've read them over several times. Created a chronology/OB from it, that I modify with data from other sources.

My book list is about 10 decent books on the subject, just got "Guadalcanal the Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle" by Richard B. Frank today. I have one account from the Japanese side of things, a really old book I've had for 30 years. I think I've down-loaded every good aerial reconnaissance photo and map I could find, which was quite a lot actually, surprised me. Some very nice photo's showing the terrain very nicely. Elevation data may be hard to come by, not looked into that yet.

This campaign has always intrigued me, such a shoe-string operation, the whole thing reminds me that truth is stranger than fiction.

Again I thank for your data and I'll keep in touch with these forums as I progress - Oh and I will look into starting a discussion group. (As I figure things out)
 
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Thank you for the file Jim. I was going to PM you (eventually), I'm just starting to read the editors so I have plenty off time. I didn't want to ask you for data that you worked painstakingly to produce. As a new member I thought that might be a bit much. So I do appreciate your post here!

Been playing command Ops (both 1 &2) for quite some time. Just now decided to start reading the editor manuals. The map is where I planned to start.

Since Command Ops is not a campaign style game I thought about starting at the battle of the Ilu (Tenaru) River. Then Bloody Ridge, the October Japanese offensive and finally finishing up with the Army's drive to Kokumbona (through Mount Austen, the GIFU, Seahorse & Galloping Horse). Several Scenario's actually, trying to keep them below the 2000 sq kilometer thresh hold (maybe).

I do have every pertinent area of Hyper War website book-marked and I've read them over several times. Created a chronology/OB from it, that I modify with data from other sources.

My book list is about 10 decent books on the subject, just got "Guadalcanal the Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle" by Richard B. Frank today. I have one account from the Japanese side of things, a really old book I've had for 30 years. I think I've down-loaded every good aerial reconnaissance photo and map I could find, which was quite a lot actually, surprised me. Some very nice photo's showing the terrain very nicely. Elevation data may be hard to come by, not looked into that yet.

This campaign has always intrigued me, such a shoe-string operation, the whole thing reminds me that truth is stranger than fiction.

Again I thank for your data and I'll keep in touch with these forums as I progress - Oh and I will look into starting a discussion group. (As I figure things out)
You have a better foundation of information than I thought.

I ran across a Marine Corps Table of Organization I inherited from a user, I believe Chris Molinari who runs the Sharp Edge Gaming site, who had been doing a Marine Corps mod for CO1.

It's attached.
 

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You have a better foundation of information than I thought.

I ran across a Marine Corps Table of Organization I inherited from a user, I believe Chris Molinari who runs the Sharp Edge Gaming site, who had been doing a Marine Corps mod for CO1.

It's attached.
I also found a US / Japanese Force List for Saipan, 1944 vintage.

It may help you with the echelon structure of the two forces.
 

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  • US_Japan Force Lists.zip
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Grognerd

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Thank you again for your help. Believe me every piece helps! I've got a pretty good handle on the Marines and Army forces and their organization but the Japanese are the real challenge.

Been reading that new book today - Wow what a power house of information! Not everyday you read about the battles with all the pilots of the planes named (for both sides). Very detailed.
Hopefully I can glean some information on the Japanese arrivals & OB. Their OB is sort of clear (mostly), but since they were delivered in dribs and drabs at night by the Destroyers and APD's it's rather hard to pick out who arrived when and where and how many ...
It's about 4 inches thick so it may take a few days to read once over.
 
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Thank you again for your help. Believe me every piece helps! I've got a pretty good handle on the Marines and Army forces and their organization but the Japanese are the real challenge.

Been reading that new book today - Wow what a power house of information! Not everyday you read about the battles with all the pilots of the planes named (for both sides). Very detailed.
Hopefully I can glean some information on the Japanese arrivals & OB. Their OB is sort of clear (mostly), but since they were delivered in dribs and drabs at night by the Destroyers and APD's it's rather hard to pick out who arrived when and where and how many ...
It's about 4 inches thick so it may take a few days to read once over.
These may help:

http://www.friesian.com/history/guadal.htm

http://pwencycl.kgbudge.com/oob/jap_1.htm
 
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