Thank you so much for your support of our Kickstarter campaign. We just went over $10,000 and that means that we have reached 200% of our funding goal! We also hit our second Stretch Goal; the AI Adjutant:
Click on “Ask the Adjutant” to get the AI’s take on your situation. Links to stable web resources. “Your line is at risk of envelopment. This did not turn out well for Scipio Africanus at Cannae.” Optional graphic display of calculations, geometry, hierarchical classification system, etc. This was suggested by Rob Hansen, an old friend from grad school – and I think this is brilliant.
Do you have a suggestion for our next Stretch Funding goal at $12,500? Please write to me if you have comments or suggestions.
There are still 20 days left in the Kickstarter campaign.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1366362068/general-staff-game-of-military-tactics-and-wargami/description
This seems like an interesting simulation & game (with two different available “mixes” between the two), so I just pledged. For next stretch goal, I don’t have anything terribly original in mind at the moment – I know you mentioned the “top 30 scenarios, as voted by [some original DARPA version? Alpha tester?] players” – if that means you have additional scenarios partially ready, you could add the next couple down on the voting form to the program. Or you could pick some fairly obscure battles that /you/, personally, have chosen as either historically little-known but interesting incidents, or presenting novel tactical situations (that show off the engine’s strengths?)
But if I could just make one quick historical comment about the just unlocked stretch goal. Your sample is “Your line is at risk of envelopment. This did not turn out well for Scipio Africanus at Cannae,” which is a bit odd – yes, the Romans were nearly annihilated by a double envelopment that “pocketed” them at Cannae, and yes, Scipio Africanus was there – but he was at best a mid-ranked officer who was considerably more junior & less in command than we might think in comparing the responsibilities of similarly ranked officers in the modern world, as Scipio was primarily a Tribune due to his house’s noble status and working up the “ladder of honors”.
Scipio certainly proved to have a brilliant tactical mind, and that may have helped him both escape with his own life and possibly extract some soldiers from Hannibal’s trap. But that little message there makes it sound like Scipio was in command of the Roman Army, or planned its deployment. While our sources for exact details of ancient lives are often sketchy and unreliable, I think we can be near 100% certain this isn’t true; Varro and Paullus were the Consuls in charge of the army [and the sources may or may not be reliable in claiming that their alternating command arrangement caused t the disaster]. Shouldn’t you reference them instead? Or if you want a more ‘famous’ name just say this was the weakness Hannibal exploited to such good effect at Cannae.
Best,
DCM
My friend, Rob, from Grad School made the Stretch Goal suggestion. Rob is a computer scientist, not a military historian but I liked what he wrote and so I let it stay as is.