Okay, who's still interested in this? And, do you want to play...

1. Blokes in Wellie's army, or
2. Tars in Nellie's navy?

Polls close whenever I get around to it on the 25th or 26th, Peoples' Republic of California time.

I'm still interested. My vote is for Nellie's Tars, but it's a close run thing.

It would be nice to play something along the lines of Sharpe's Rifles or the crew of a smaller Corvette or such. If I had to vote I would go for Wellington's blokes but would gladly play as sailors as well.

In reply to Davy Jones (msg # 12):

Harder to fit a female character in Nellie's Tars. Could always be a local ally in Wellie's Blokes.

In reply to Alyse (msg # 15):

Or a female passing as a male could be an option. I've also read somewhere that sometimes a blind eye was turned to seamen having wives on board & they were often just as bad as the Tars in port and scraps. Full disclosure, I can't remember where I read it, so it's possible that it was in a novel & may not be historically accurate.

I seem to recall hearing of a pirate who when caught revealed herself to be a woman, she then was spared death by hanging by claiming to be pregnant. (The authorities said pirates should be jolly well hung, well, this one wasn't...)
I'm 95% sure I've seen wives and/or ladies of negotiable affection secretly aboard ship mentioned in Sharpe's Trafalgar where the titular magnificent b'stard finds himself caught up in the battle on the way home from India just before he joins the 95th Rifles. Bernard Cornwell has always been fairly accurate about this sort of thing so it's probably true, or at least true enough for us, which is the best kind of true.

So far, we have 2 votes for an Army campaign, and 1 for a Navy campaign. OBorg commented, but didn't note a preference.

One of the first things that crossed my mind for a woman on a ship is as a surgeon or surgeon's mate. We'd be a few decades ahead of the first women med school graduates, but I think we can bend history a bit to fit. But, we can also run a non-official female member of the crew (a wife or sister of a crewmember), who just happens to be a heck of a sailor/gunner/etc. :)

Hopefully, Kilgs, OBorg, and/or one of the other commenters will note a preference...I'll hold the polls open another day or so.

I'd never heard of either of these systems let alone played them until this post, but I am an avid fan of the Sharpe books and movies and couldn't resist adding what I thought was an apt tidbit of info.
My problem with any military themed game is how to deal with a player just pulling rank to get their way; I dont know how either of these games deals with it but I could be convinced to throw a few bucks at the author on Drivethru RPG and find out...

Of the two, in my view the Army is going to allow for a more diverse set of characters. You have the classic Infantry or Cavalry officers on detached duties ala Sharpe, exploring officers and intelligence people like Hogan, Munro and Pyecroft, possibly a naval attache who finds themselves stranded on dry land, plus local guerrilleros and maybe a spy who - in the style of the Sharpe series - could be a woman, and not a woman stuffing a pair of socks down her breeches and trying to remember to fart a lot. (Yes, I've read Terry Pratchett's Monstrous Regiment)

I'm just posting a reply to see if this updates the last post counter on the thread and bumps it to the top.
I'm looking at this thread in both Firefox and Google Crom!! and its showing last post as 24th Oct 22:57 and halfway down the page.

EDIT; Nope, still showing the wrong date and hasnt been bumped.
This message was last edited by the user at 10:47, Mon 28 Oct.

Hmm...I've actually been haunting this thread from a distance for a while now...how hard are these systems to pick up from a place of complete ignorance, and what's their focus? I don't do tabletop for strategy wargaming, for instance. Is there an honour system? What kind of rating and rough rate of posting were we thinking?

@OBorg: that's a feature to stop one ad monopolising the board, not a bug, and you're thinking of Anne Bonney or Mary Read, who both did that. There were plenty of openly female pirates, though (including Ching Shih, the most sucessful ever recorded). As an archaeologist, I can confirm we have skeletal evidence of women dying on the battlefield from just about any war you could name; please don't doubt their existence outside folklore, they fought and died as well as anyone else.

You would maybe get away with the captain's wife or mistress being about in the Merchant Navy, but not regularly in the Fleet, unless she was being transported somewhere. On the army side, I'll mention that not all camp followers were there to provide reasonably-priced love, either: washerwomen, cooks/foragers, farriers and ironworkers would all be along as far as they could be supported, and might attach themselves more closely to a unit if they were particularly good at their job.

That doesnt quite explain the last post time being stuck but regardless, I got Modded for providing an example, then Modded for pointing out it was just an example not an advert. And the Mod never answered the question either.

Time to take a break from RPol.

tibiotarsus, this is a full-on RPG, and, outside of having a Napoleonic military theme, it is not a wargame by any stretch of the imagination.

The mechanic, for me, is the wonkiest part of the game, using playing card decks to emulate the random element of dice. Your attributes/skills, in most situations, dictate the number of cards you draw from your 54-card deck (2 jokers), trying to match the "Card of Fate," which is drawn from the dealer deck (52-cards only). How well your card draw matches the CoF determines your level of success (and, how many of each level of success overall, when that's important).

In combat, the number of cards you draw is based on the weapon you're using (plus any relevant talents you might have).

That said, for as wonky as it feels to me, the system works. And I think we can emulate it well-enough with the card draws available on RPOL.

The military hierarchy is overcome by the fact that, even as characters are of vastly different ranks (some officers, some sergeants, some rankers), all players have an equal hand in developing missions and mission goals. All players also have personal missions/goals, which include promotions, relationships, wealth generation, etc., that fit their position within the unit.

I do believe it captures the essence of the Sharpe TV show (and other military-themed shows and films) quite well.

As far as rating, I'd probably keep it to Mature (not Adult). I'm personally a fade-to-black writer when it comes to romance, so I'm not looking to do anything explicit. And I'm not going to go for gruesome descriptions of gore in combat situations. That said, bad people will do bad things, especially to helpless civilians.

Regarding posting rate, my general default is twice-a-week minimum; however, I believe in leeway when folks at least maintain communication about delays/being away. Honestly, I wouldn't be upset if everyone posts enough for me to provide a GM update weekly. (I know that can be too slow for some folks.)

That sounds odd, but fairly simple.

Deeply glad to hear about the rating and post expectations, and moreso for your reasoning. I am a very tired creature. If you have the vaguest semblance of a plot in mind (vague even to the level of 'if army, then we're taking a fort') then I reckon you may well have a player.
This message was last edited by the user at 22:09, Mon 28 Oct.

Peninsular Campaign Idea
PCs are members of a detached unit of the 2nd Battalion, 24th (The 2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot (and their Spanish allies), beginning in late November 1810. The unit's orders are to liaise with Spanish guerilla units in preparation for an opportunity for Wellington to go back on the offensive. (The story could start with a breakout, attempting to get past Masséna's Army of Portugal.)

Naval Campaign Idea
PCs are members of a Royal Navy frigate operating off the coast of Brazil and in the Caribbean, conducting operations against Froggy frigates, privateers, and the occasional American nuisance. We'll figure out how to get a woman aboard, if that's what's needed.

If someone wants to tweak/amend/offer alternate ideas, please feel free to add on.

Both sound fine to me. Trying to come up with a nickname for the regiment but I'm not having much joy so far.

Luckily, I've been able to get a basic character concept together that can fit in either game.

Whether 'tis the Peninsular Campaign or the Naval Campaign, I'll likely play a Spanish woman.

The 24th won't have a nickname 'til 1881, when it becomes the South Wales Borderers. :)

So, it sounds like we have a consensus for a Peninsular Campaign, with Alyse, Gremlin, helvorn, and tibiotarsus. helvorn, are you still interested in playing?

I'm fleshing things out and I'll start the game and invite you all. If y'all don't mind, I'd prefer to just start with the four of you in the game. We can look at recruiting later.

Sounds good to me. A more relaxed setup will give me time to research a bit, anyway.

I'm all in!

Awesome! I'm working on the game forum now.

We have 1 Spanish guerilla, so far.

Normally, the game breaks down numbers to 1 officer, 1 sergeant, and 2 rankers for four players. Alyse's character, however, will be outside the chain, so, is there any preference amongst the remaining three players as to whether you want to play the private, the sergeant, or the lieutenant?

My preferences would be the Sergeant or the Private. The concept I have in mind fits both, with a couple of fairly minor tweaks.

Could I be grounded Spanish cavalry? I could've been lost in some fast-moving night skirmish and/or patched up by the guerillas and rallied to the nearest Anglo-Portuguese banner if there aren't any meant to be nearby. If that's too awkward I'm happy to take whatever rank's left, I don't have any solid English concept yet.

Instead of being patched up by the guerillas, you could've been rescued and patched up by Wellington's forces; it would give you a reason to be so far from a Spanish army. Your last attachment to a Spanish force would've been Talavera, about 16 months before the campaign started, which means your character has been fighting with one of the Portuguese cavalry regiments in the Portuguese Division for some time.
This message was last edited by the user at 22:28, Sun 03 Nov.

Everyone has been added to the game. Let's continue our discussion in the OOC there. :)