The English Civil War - circa 1980s - Setup

Alas the League welcomes 2011 with the mother of all campaigns!

Our esteemed Cpl A. invited us to his not-so-humble domain a few weeks back to set up a map campaign reminiscent of a compromise between old school boardgames, a miniatures game and a roleplaying campaign.

The game opened up with a gorgeous full color map of England and Northern Ireland upon which the players placed tokens representing a series of strategic assets as well as US bases. Centered around the late 1980s the game was to develop England's position in the event of the outbreak of all-out war between the US and USSR blocks. Contingencies were also thought up tho, with accompanying nail biting, giggles and random brainstorming, as to whether the campaign may evolve into a post-apocalyptic or alien invasion/resistance effort.

The players were presented as the turns proceeded with colorful and beautifully developed "news reports" presenting international media positions and flashes concerning the international and domestic political occurrences. As these evolved and with a common budget to spend the players ordered various regions to be reinforced in turn and forces to be deployed about the map to arrest, the writer at least believed, a threat from without...rather than from within as we would oh so soon discover!

Particular domestic evolutions included

- The US garrisons its bases throughout England

- The English Socialist party rising to power by means of democratic elections and ousting the Queen

- The British navy abandoning the new regime and retiring to international waters forcing the English Socialists to welcome Red Germany's offer of support

- An assassination attempt on the Prince of England forcing him to seek refuge in the US and their becoming embroiled in the conflict in support of his return to power

- The Scottish nationalists pushing for independence and seceding from the mainland with support from a left-leaning France

- The Northern Irish and Midlands Enclave receiving an offer of support from the USSR to halt the spread of capitalism in Europe and place a foothold in the region as open civil war erupted in Belfast

Thus this was the situation of the game at the end of our set up turn (which to put things in perspective began at 10am and finished at 1am the following morning!)

To the north and housing most of England's oil resources lies Scotland (played by Military Dave), which is bordered almost entirely by sea and by the NME to the south. On it lies a US base to the west and its coast overlooks US waters to the West, USSR Navy seas to the North/NE and German occupied waters to the West. They are politically left-leaning national independents.

The Northern Ireland and the Midlands Enclave (the NME - controlled by yours truly, Comrade S) comprises most of the region's steel mills. Its western and southern-most borders are bordered by an independent Irish republic while the Irish Sea is controlled by the US. The Scots lie north, the Germans and USSR occupy the seas to the west, and its southern border is split between the Welsh and English. Two US bases lie on its soil.

Wales' (led by Steve the Taller) mission is the return of Prince Charles and the Royal family to the throne of England following their ousting at the hands of the English Socialists and have accepted US support to this end. Their land began as a slither of soil along the eastern coast of England bordered by the NME and English.

The English Socialist Party (the Tone), having been democratically elected to power, immediately removed the greatest threat to its continued rule and has since closed the air space above southern England to intrusion and strongly garrisoned its airports and ports. With the region's strongest standing army it borders French occupied seas to the south and the Welsh and NME to the west and north. As the largest current domain it also has to contend with two US bases in its area of influence.

Thus the stage was set for a - hopefully! - long and arduous campaign.

Given the political and diplomatic intricacies of the game posting to this forum should be restricted, please, to posting and commenting/blogging concerning the publicly available Borders Map and International News Reports only and considerations will have to be kept to a minimum as each player communicates with one another and the umpire (Cpl A) secretly. So know I for one will be reading this and invite the other players to, as well. If you don't want it known...don't post it!

I will however endeavor to maintain it updated as the turns evolve for our own group's posterity and invite the other players to post entries here concerning their own factions if they like/have time.

Godspeed us all and may the road rise to meet us as we move forth into a period of long and arduous conflict.

Yours in resistance and thank you for joining us in this oft-confused corner of the web

The League of Extraordinary Wargamers

Comrade S.