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Burden of Command - WW2 tactical leadership RPG

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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https://burdenofcommand.com





http://burdenofcommand.com/
leadership_rpg_section.jpg

tactical_section-v3.jpg


http://grogheads.com/interviews/15577

Tuesday Interview – Luke Hughes of Burden of Command
TuesdayInterviewSPLASH-Burden-150x150.jpg

The main brain behind the forthcoming Burden of Command has a chat with GrogHeads ~
Brant Guillory, 11 July 2017
When I hear “Burden of Command” I start to flash back to my days as a company commander, and being buried under a pile of 15-6 investigations, dental cat-IVs, and guys who couldn’t qualify with their personal weapons. I’m assuming the newly-announced “Burden of Command” game isn’t a game of competitive administrative duties. Give us the thumbnail insight of what we can expect in the new game, and why this one is more focused on the ‘burden’ of command than other similar games on the marketplace?

Damn, I can run but now I can’t hide. A real company commander, I’d love to know when and where! (ed note: nothing exciting – it was a National Guard HHC while the rest of the battalion was mobilized)

Now you are so right, real command is a lot of administrative tedium puncture by rare moments of terror. However, maybe not such a great game. Though the game “Papers Please” might teach us differently. What you can expect in BoC is not only the command and control decisions you associate with classic wargames (directing fire and maneuver, and the 4 F’s: find, fix, flank, and finish) but the morale oriented decisions we might associate with a classic tactical board game (ASL, Combat Commander, Band of Brothers, Fields of Fire).

Finally, and more unusually, you must take responsibility for the “preserve” decisions around the men’s physical and psychological welfare on and off the battlefield. They will look to you for the right mindset to adopt in the face of war. Novelist Karl Marlantes, who dropped out of his Rhodes Scholarship to serve as a 1st Lieutenant in Vietnam wrote “What It is Like to Go to War.” He argued that, like it or not, when you go to war you enter a spiritual journey because you are in the presence of death. You have entered the “Temple of Mars” as he so eloquently put it. Whether or not you or your superiors have prepared you for that experience, and for making life or death decisions is a different question. But the burden will be yours, prepared or not.

In sum, leadership in BoC is “Direct, Motivate, and Preserve.” And the burdens are many.

What’s the expected timeline for development right now? When will the first testers get their hands on the game, and when can the general public expect to start banging on the game?

Ha, I plead the 5th on that. “When it’s done right.” But I can tell you we are about halfway through the narrative side of the campaign and my current focus is iterating on the tactical play to “find the fun.” Finding that fun will *critically* require a lot of playtesting. The good news there is we have had a slightly overwhelming response in terms of playtest volunteers! 8-() A nice problem to have. I can say, so I’m not a total evasive weasel - that we expect to release in 2018.

When I first sit down with the game, what’s the first set of decisions facing me? As a new player, how does the game guide me through the new paradigm of decision-making, and gently (or not!) remind me which decisions are the important ones?

...
 
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DramaticPopcorn

Guest
This sounds suspiciously fucking good even without MCA

Well here I go getting hyped again :negative:
 
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Unwanted

Janise

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it looks like fucking garbage
there seems to be zero tactickewl gameplay
it looks like that survival game where you grind for plastic bags so you can hold wires and pocket lint in them...
only this one will have idiotic writing cause, really, 'i use myself as decoy' or 'let my men deal with that' is a lightyear below even choice-of games
 

Galdred

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
it looks like fucking garbage
there seems to be zero tactickewl gameplay
it looks like that survival game where you grind for plastic bags so you can hold wires and pocket lint in them...
only this one will have idiotic writing cause, really, 'i use myself as decoy' or 'let my men deal with that' is a lightyear below even choice-of games
Actually, one of the designers told me on the Steam forum that the game was mostly a tactical one(where you command a few platoons or squads?) on a hex map. The events can be triggered depending on the opponents nearby, the terrain, ...

It is pretty hard to judge before seeing a proper let's play, but it could be a pretty interesting mix of CnC and tactical gameplay, or just a glorified COYA, depending on the core gameplay itself.
 
Unwanted

Janise

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There is a tiny chance that they manage to meme Unity of Command, so that their tiny scale maps actually play tactikewl but from whats seen in the trailer, its gonna be straight grindy infantry clicker.
 

mbv123

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Will there be an Eastern Front DLC where I can rule through terror alone using blocking detachments and threatening soldiers about sending them to penal battalions?
 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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http://www.wargamer.com/articles/the-burden-of-command-an-interview-with-luke-hughes/

edit.
Wargamer: Burden of Command emphasizes many aspects of combat often ignored by other strategy games. What prompted you to begin this project?

Luke Hughes: Playing Crusader Kings II inspired the question: 'what would it be like to follow an officer's career through WWII?' Researching that idea I came across Karl Marlantes intensely personal book What It is Like to Go to War. Karl was a Rhodes Scholar who dropped out of Oxford to become a 1st Lieutenant in Vietnam. His book's core point is that when you go to war you embark on an intensely spiritual journey. Because, like it or not, your decisions are now life or death for your brothers. You have Entered the Temple of Mars. Burden of Command became an attempt to role play that leadership journey, learning command both on and off the battlefield.

...
Wargamer: So far we have only seen the basic elements of an infantry company in Burden of Command. Will support elements – such as armour, air support and artillery – make an appearance?

Luke Hughes: Yes! And historically accurate ones, or I will have to answer to Steve Overton ('Mad Russian' of Combat Mission renown)! Eventually, I believe the engine could support an armored company campaign as well. Think Steel Panthers revisited. Though there is something very personal about being grunts.

...
Wargamer: You mention chaos and that my subordinates’ actions are uncertain. If things go really wrong, what can happen?

Luke Hughes: The term SNAFU came out of WWII. Orders fail or get miscommunicated, guns jam, men panic, confusion reigns (FOW). In short, the description of most battlefield encounters! (well maybe not the men panicking so much). Those familiar with Advanced Squad Leader or the king of chaos the board game Combat Commander will understand. But insert even more kinds of chaos. We have a nasty minded "StoryTeller" engine watching all your actions in the background and looking to trigger chaos from a library of possible historic events when the dice don't go your way. Of course every once in a while the dice go your way giving you a positive event ;-)

...
 
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Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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http://news.mst.edu/2017/07/video-game-to-be-based-on-book-by-st-history-professor/
Video game to be based on book by S&T history professor
Posted by Greg Katski
On July 20, 2017.



A book by a Missouri University of Science and Technology history professor is the basis for a tactical wartime video game set for release in 2018.

Burden of Command follows the real-life missions of the U.S. Army’s 7th Infantry Regiment, also known as the “Cottonbalers,” during World War II, using American Courage, American Carnage, a book written by Dr. John McManus, Curators’ Distinguished Professor of history and political science at Missouri S&T, as its source material.

“It’s interesting because the game is partially designed around what I wrote in the book and the history that I covered,” McManus says. “It’s really kind of fun to see my own work come to fruition in this gaming world.”

McManus serves as a historical consultant to the game, and has been play-testing it for over a year. He says he looks at the game as an extension of his own work, and wants to make sure it is as historically accurate as possible.

“What I do when play-testing the different scenarios is really subject the game to rigorous historical inquiry,” he says. “I don’t consider myself to be a big gamer. My focus is on how it looks historically.”

To that end, McManus says the game stays true to his book.

“I think it’s pretty much the best I’ve seen as far as historic games,” McManus says. “It’s relentlessly authentic.”

More important to McManus, the game honors the sacrifices and heroism of the Cottonbalers that fought in World War II.

“Respecting the 7th Infantry and the veterans that were there was what was most important to me,” McManus says.


Luke Hughes, CEO of Burden of Command developer Green Tree Games, says he knows how deeply McManus cares about the 7th Infantry. He says that it is of the upmost importance that the game stays true to them.

“The thing I really like about John is that he cares about history, but John really cares about the Cottonbalers,” Hughes says. “He goes to their yearly get-togethers. He always thinks in their best interests. He has a deep respect for them. I think John was thinking the game would be good for the Cottonbalers and for history.”

The game, which will be available for purchase on Steam, a digital platform for video games, follows the Cottonbalers as they travel from North Africa to Sicily and Italy, Southern France, and finally Germany.

“These are missions that actually happened,” McManus says. “It’s the exact kind of situations these guys really dealt with starting in November 1942.”

As its title suggests, Burden of Command asks the player to control a captain in command of a company in the 7th Regiment. Every decision the player makes has an impact on the company, with decisions affecting the morale, stress, experience, trust and respect of the soldiers. Considered a leadership role-playing game (RPG), Burden of Command is single player and turn based.


“I think it’s a really good opportunity to look at the leading infantry regiment in the Army during World War II and get a sense of what that world of combat was like for them and the moral dilemmas that you would face as a soldier or a commander,” McManus says. “The game can be stressful in that sense because it’s very real. It’s not a ‘shoot ‘em up’ game. It’s more cerebral that that. The violence happens and it matters, because your decisions have consequences.”

Although the captain controlled by the player is fictional, the player does interact with soldiers who actually fought in World War II.

“(The characters controlled by the player) are not real-life people, but sometimes they interact with real-life people,” says McManus. “For example, the captain whom you play as has a lot of interactions with his battalion commander, a guy named John Heintges, who really was a battalion commander in Sicily and Italy and throughout much of the war and eventually commanded the whole (Cottonbaler) regiment later on.”

Hughes came up with the idea for Burden of Command while working as an artificial intelligence expert in Silicon Valley. He was also inspired by the memory and legacy of his father, Dr. Thomas Parke Hughes, a foremost academic expert in the history of technology and WWII veteran.

“I had the goal of developing a historically substantive game, or rather experience, based on what it’s like to lead an infantry company in World War II,” Hughes, an admitted history buff, says. “You can think of Band of Brothers or any World War II biography you’ve read, and it’s in the spirit of that.”

But unlike Band of Brothers, Hughes didn’t want to follow the journey of American soldiers at D-Day. So he did some research and came across the Cottonbalers, who have fought in every American war since the War of 1812.

“I needed a substantive, historically accurate story with details right down to the infantry members,” Hughes says. “That led me pretty obviously to John’s fine book.”


Hughes emailed McManus his pitch and the two have been collaborating ever since.

“He saw that I wanted to have at least some degree of authenticity,” Hughes says about McManus. “He also saw the game as a way to reach younger people.”

Indeed, McManus envisions using the game in his classes at Missouri S&T.

“I notice that the students that are interested in military history are sometimes first exposed to history through video games,” McManus says. “It’s cool because these games can excite their interest, but it can also be a little bit troubling if the history is wrong.”

McManus says that Hughes and the Green Tree team have kept him highly involved in the development of the game from the very beginning.

“I’ve had tremendous input all along the way, and that’s the way it ought to be,” he says.

For his part, Hughes says that McManus is always easy to get a hold of if the Green Tree team has any questions.

“John’s such a good guy,” says Hughes. “He’s always there. He’s always supportive. If you have questions, he’s there to answer them. He’s generally a kind, supportive guy with a lot of knowledge. He’s been tremendous.”

Photos contributed by Green Tree Games LLC
 

Razzoriel

Genos Studios
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Best of luck to the developer. It's quite a challenge to make a game based off a book, and it seems to be going with the correct ideas and mentality!
 

*-*/\--/\~

Cipher
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Did Avellone clone himself or something? :D Seems like he is working on every other game.
 

ushas

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Hmm. They sure talk about the (A)SL inspiration on several occasions. Seeing the sser's signature (late-thanks for the Phoenix Point interview :salute:), I wonder why they're not mentioning the Close Combat series though. Perhaps because that TB aspect...

As for the German side - from the facebook comments:
Q: Would you ever reconsider making a German campaign, too?

A: We would. There are a lot of good stories on all sides of the war, and we are interested in telling some of the more complex stories. The German experience is one worth sharing. For Germany, there are a lot of units where the war wasn't black-and-white, especially the SS foreign volunteers.

Just in case, there was also a short RPS preview some time ago (June 30th, probably nothing new):
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/06/30/the-flare-path-burden-of-command/
 

KoolNoodles

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"Our Inspirations: Band of Brothers"

*Puts Cpt. Winters on the cover* Yep....

Graphics do look kinda shit(at least, not much better than 15 year old CC). Here's hoping that palette improves. Maybe that's not the point though. Everything else sounds INTERESTING.
 

zool

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Messages
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I just hope you'll be given more than two choices during crisis events.

Multiple choices done right (from Spectrum Holobyte's 1991 Crisis in the Kremlin)

199511-crisis-in-the-kremlin-dos-screenshot-like-gorbachev-you-may.png
 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Bubbles In Memoria
http://burdenofcommand.com/blog

Hi, I’m Luke Hughes project lead On Burden of Command. Our two minute teaser video focused heavily on RPG aspects. But what about tactical combat?! While tactical details are still being worked out, today I can give you a high level impression by pointing to inspirations from cardboard. Hunh? Cardboard? Well IMHO a lot of creativity over the last few decades has come from the physical board game space (a future blog will cover digital influences). I feel privileged to “stand on the shoulders of giants” (well at least crouch). In this blog I will describe those influences and how they shape Burden of Command’s tactical design. The games below are by no means an exhaustive list, there are many other fine designs out there, these are just the ones that have had the most influence on me.
Most images below come from the marvelous BoardGameGeek site (check it out!).

SL-banner.jpg




Squad Leader (1977) is the “ur” WWII tactical game. It spawned the still passionately followed Advanced Squad Leader and deeply influenced most subsequent turn based designs. Mechanically, your fire your squads — their fire ideally enhanced by leaders — at enemies to cause “Morale Checks” which upon failing lead them to be “broken” (ineffective) or even “routed” till rallied by leaders. Random events like machine guns jamming or troops going “berserk” add unexpected drama.



Influence #1 On Burden of Command: Leadership is Compelling: Managing human battlefield psychology (morale) through leaders makes for interesting gameplay. We broaden that model by adding Trust and Respect mechanics and probably attentional ones (fixation, narrowed field of view under suppression, and surprise). John Hill further recognized the key RPG aspect:


“Squad Leader was a success for one reason: it personalized the board game in a World War II environment. Take the “leaders,” or persons, away from it and it becomes a bore. Though this may sound surprising, the game has much in common with Dungeons & Dragons. In both games, things tend to go wrong, and being caught moving in the street by a heavy machinegun is like being caught by a people-eating dragon. Squad Leader was successful because, underneath all its World War II technology, it is an adventure game, indeed Dungeons & Dragons in the streets of Stalingrad.”



Influence #2: Emergent Stories Through Chaos: Making the battlefield psychological, making leaders explicitly present, and including random events means the battlefield becomes it’s own unscripted story generator (e.g., “remember that time when my last squad went berserk and charged through three hexes of withering enemy fire unscathed too finish off the bunkered MG and win the game?”). Game designers call this “emergent storytelling.”

Ambush-Banner.jpg




Ambush (1983) was perhaps the first true WWII tactical RPG. You control a squad of individual soldiers with RPG like stats (e.g., ‘initiative’ and ‘perception’). Entering specific hexes can triggered narrative and gameplay events (see illustration above).



Influence #3: Integrate Narrative: Integrate narrative events directly into tactical gameplay for better immersion. Burden of Command extends this via a more general “StoryTeller Engine” that watches your battle and triggers event not only on entering a hex but also on a variety of other game play occurrences like unit actions (shooting, assaulting etc) and changes (morale checks etc).



Influence #4: RPG Creates an Immersive Battlefield: Deepen the experience of battleship leadership by making the player care about your men through classic RPG mechanisms (they persist and gain experience across battles). Making you think twice about sending those sprites (“That’s Dearborn!”) up that hill.

combat-commander-banner.jpg




In Combat Commander (2006; GMT Games) chaos is pervasive. The actions available to you (move, shoot, rally, etc) are strictly limited to the random cards you have drawn! Even what specific turn the scenario will end on is carefully randomized. A large set of randomly drawn events (e.g., “Sniper!”) spice up gameplay.



Influence #5: Pervasive Chaos Creates Depth: Pervasive chaos makes interesting decisions about uncertainty equally pervasive (e.g., “does my opponent have a Fire card left? Will the scenario end this turn?”). Burden of Command will emphasize leadership as a means to manage that chaos (the dreaded “RNG” in digital parlance).



Influence #6: And Deeper Emergent Stories: A larger set of random events deepens “emergent storytelling” and adds unexpected “plot” twists and turns in gameplay.



fieldoffire.png


Fields of Fire (2008, GMT Games) designer Ben Hull served in the USMC as an infantry officer and brings that experience to bear in a novel design emphasizing the authentic details of tactical leadership. Leaders receive randomized amounts of Commands to both activate and give squads specific actions (more, fire, rally, take cover etc).



Influence #7: Leadership is Always Limited Choice: Leadership should be a constant question of tough choices. For example, do I spend my limited command to rally or move forward to seize the objective before the enemy recovers from suppression? I can’t do both. A classic Sid Meier-ian “meaningful choice.”



BoB-banner.jpg


In Band of Brothers (2011, Worthington Publishing) firepower does not so much break or cause casualties to enemy units as suppress. Meaning that a suppressed unit is uncertain to act when requested (you roll a dice versus its current level of suppression to see if it acts). To finish an enemy typically requires more than firepower, you close with a suppressed unit to catalyze surrender. Which leads to realistic infantry tactics know as the “4Fs,” namely: “Fire, fix, flank, and finish.”



Influence #8: Suppression is King: Suppression is a key concept for the psychological battlefield, leading to yet more command and control chaos (will this suppressed unit actually act?). Burden of Command explicitly uses leaders to mitigate the strong effects of suppression. In other words, experienced men who trust and respect your leadership will often overcome their suppression.



CoH-solo-banner.jpg


Conflict of Heroes Solo Expansion (2015, Academy Games) besides its remarkable and dynamic AI, this expansion brings the “Push Your Luck” board game mechanic to tactical play by making when a given unit’s turn ends highly uncertain. Each single unit action ( a single hex move or fire) a card is drawn to see if the unit’s turn ends. Leading to powerful “push your luck” decisions like “do I try to make it that cover first, or play it safe and take my shot now, leaving myself exposed if the shot fails and my turn unexpectedly ends?”



Influence #9: Gamble on the Battlefield: “Push Your Luck” is a deeply appealing gambling like mechanism and adds yet more chaos (noticing a theme here? Burden of Command intends to adopt chaos with a vengeance but use leaders to manage and mitigate its effects. Don’t play Burden of Command if you want to be in control, play it if you want to lead in the face of chaos! Chaos makes for interesting decisions and good battlefield emergent stories!).



fire-team-banner.jpg


Fire team: Red Eclipse (TBA, Lock n Load Publishing) is a re-design of the original Fire Team game by our scenario lead Steve Overton (“Mad Russian”), who not only served in US Army but is a famed digital game scenario designer (e.g., Combat Mission). Leaders play a pivotal role in the game with their state determining how many commands they can give each impulse during the turn.



Influence #10: TBD: Steve’s design has only recently gone public and he has promised me a game when he returns from his current vacation. Given his role in Burden of Command and my deep respect for his talents I am certain Red Eclipse will have a strong influence over the design evolution of Burden of Command.



Putting it All Together

The following illustration summarizes how Burden of Command defines battlefield leadership. In a nutshell, the battlefield is a psychological landscape where Chaos creates interesting decisions (as well as emergent stories) that leadership mitigates through Directing (via an always too scare pool of command), Motivating (leaders influence morale checks, push your luck, suppression and more), and Preserving (RPG like preserving of your valued men across battles as they gain experience and you gain empathy).



chaos_lead.png


We would love to hear from you now! What are your favorite board/wargames? Which one of their mechanics you value most, and why? Do you think a particular aspect of modern conflicts has been underrepresented in wargames? And, most importantly, do you really need a formal question to talk about your favorite games?
Comments are available, social buttons are below, you know the drill!
 

ushas

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Messages
550
http://burdenofcommand.com/mindsets-and-crucibles

dev-blog-3-crucible-banner-1.jpg



It’s a miserable day in the fall of 1943. Your company has just taken a muddy hill in Southern Italy. Suddenly, you hear the clank of Panzers rolling up the slope towards your men.


tiger-second-1.jpg




Your company doesn’t have enough bazookas. If you stand and fight, your men might be slaughtered. If you give up the hill, you might expose other friendly units to a flank attack.

What do you do?



styles.jpg




One commander might try and hold the hill because they were ordered to do so. Another might refuse to sacrifice their men and withdraw. A third might even be relishing the idea of a fight against the vaunted Panzerwaffe. These are the different leadership styles we are trying to translate into gameplay mechanics.



jeep-lunch-cropped-1.jpg




Hello, we’re Allen Gies and Paul Wang, the writers behind Burden of Command. If you have seen our two minute teaser, you know that this game is about leadership. How do you create RPG mechanics which can faithfully depict the thought processes of someone who leads soldiers into battle?

Our answer is something called Mindsets.



Mindsets-3.jpg




In Burden of Command, Mindsets are a character’s attributes. Instead of measuring strength or agility, Mindsets reflect how a character thinks and sees the world around them. In addition, each Mindset also affects tactical combat. A Zealous officer is more effective when leading assaults, while a Compassionate officer will suffer fewer casualties.

All officers start with a Primary Mindset, which represents the way that character thought in peacetime. But war changes a person. As an officer is exposed to the realities of combat, their personality develops as a result. They gain certain new Mindsets, or reinforce existing ones through events we call Crucibles.

Take the following example:



insubordination-1.png


What would you choose?


This example is based on an actual event involving Lieutenant Ronald Speirs, of Band of Brothers fame. According to witnesses, Speirs shot his Sergeant in self-defense. Afterward, Speirs reported the incident to his commander, Captain Gross, who ruled the shooting justified after a short investigation (details here).

Like Speirs, combat will confront your officers with hard choices in Burden of Command. Some of these points will be scripted, while others will occur randomly or as a result of the player’s choices on the tactical map. We call these choices Crucibles, because they add or reinforce the Mindsets of the officer who goes through them, based on the choices you guide them into making. Over the course of multiple Crucibles, each officer will acquire a unique collection of Mindsets. These will shape both their leadership abilities in tactical battles, and their personal Journey as a character. In other words, your narrative decisions will explicitly craft your “character arc.”



journey-1-1024x592.jpg




The player’s choices can also affect subordinate officers.



example-1.jpg




Leading soldiers into battle isn’t just about deciding which unit goes where. It also means making hard decisions and living with the consequences. How will you decide when the bullets are flying and lives are on the line? How will your choices define you?

Crucibles, Mindsets, Journey. How will you bear the Burden of Command?


What Mindsets do you think you’d focus on if your were roleplaying? Please give us your thoughts on Facebook or Twitter, or leave a comment below. Try to include an obscure military quote. Patton and Rommel are too easy.





“Winning the men’s confidence requires much of a commander. He must exercise care and caution, look after his men, live under the same hardships, and—above all— apply self discipline. But once he has their confidence, his men will follow him through hell and high water.”

-Erwin Rommel, Infantry Attacks
 

Galdred

Studio Draconis
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
The decisions themselves sound interesting, but I am not a big fan of these metagame decisions that encourages you to pick depending on how you want to advance your character instead of which outcome makes the most sense to you in a given context.

That said, it could work if the stat adjustments are minor compared to the outcome of the decision, and if it works like PTSD (aka folly points), aka the most efficient decisions having a cost on your soldiers sanity and yours.

The last option is to have these purely as reputations: after all, people also do minmax their reputation willingly irl (ie, make decisions only because that will make them appear under a certain light).
 
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Space Satan

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Our Inspiration: Crusader Kings II:
After hard and intense fighting, your platoon managed to capture a german village, what would you do:
Intrigue: Report your commander above your superiors about your success and present commander as indecisive
Wroth: Burn the village
Gluttonous: Send your men to sweep the village and hog their rations
Lust: Let boys have some fun! Introduce those hun wenches to the seed of Freedom!
 

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Hmm. They sure talk about the (A)SL inspiration on several occasions. Seeing the sser's signature (late-thanks for the Phoenix Point interview :salute:), I wonder why they're not mentioning the Close Combat series though. Perhaps because that TB aspect...

As for the German side - from the facebook comments:
Q: Would you ever reconsider making a German campaign, too?

A: We would. There are a lot of good stories on all sides of the war, and we are interested in telling some of the more complex stories. The German experience is one worth sharing. For Germany, there are a lot of units where the war wasn't black-and-white, especially the SS foreign volunteers.

:bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce:
 

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