HOW THE SPECIAL CAMPAIGN WORKS

Q: How are the victory conditions different than the "normal" campaign?

A: The winner of the BLOODY BATTLES campaign is the first side to either:
Win 3 battles in a row - or -
Accumulate a total of 60 points

Q: How do we accumulate points?

A: Each phase of the campaign has defined objectives with a deadline. Objectives met at the end of each frame are scored by side.

Q: What's a phase?

A: The campaign will be played out as separate "Phases”. Phases will run two or three days each- the longer ones reserved for weekends. Two day phases have 5 ground objectives and 1 air, while the three day setup will have 7 ground and 1 air. Each of these objectives has a points value:
Ground Objective:  3 points
Bombing (air) Objective :  4 points

Either side might hold an objective for any amount of time during each phase of the BLOODY BATTLES campaign, but the winner is the side that holds the objectives at the end.

The campaign has been designed so that there are a minimum of 6 phases, allowing all the tiers of equipment to make it into supply. Each phase is independent of all other phases, if the Allies win a current phase the map moves east to where the next one is held. If the Axis win a phase, the next one will be west of the one they just won. Consider each phase a battle determining where the next one will be fought, and nothing else.

Q: Can we fight anywhere on the map or are we locked into certain towns?

A: Objectives for each Phase will be clearly indicated before it begins. Where you fight is up to you. There will be no restrictions. The objectives will dictate the play space. For instance if the objective is to capture Sedan there would be little sense in placing an AO and fighting in the Zeelands. You are free to do so if you wish, but you will most likely lose the objective and the phase.

MORE ABOUT PHASES

Q: During a phase, we capture towns to the east (or west), and the next phase starts. Will we lose those towns?

A: Each phase is independent of all other phases, when the Allies win the current phase we move the map east to where the next one is held, there is no "crossing the map" between them involving fights, if the Axis win a phase, the next one will be west of the one they just won. Consider each phase a battle determining where the next one will be fought, and nothing else.

Q: At the end of a phase, will brigades be fully re-stocked for supply?

A: Yes.

Q: Will all brigades be available for use during each phase? - What about when the Americans come in?

A: You will not have access to the full 9 ground divisions for a phase. The number is likely to be 3 divisions. It is our intention they be used for nothing but the achievement of your primary and secondary (and any other additional id applicable) objectives. Doing otherwise will risk you losing that phase if your opponent applies all his forces to that end.

MORE ABOUT OBJECTIVES

Q: Will the objectives be announced for each phase prior to initiating bloody battles?

A: Yes, but remember, they change according to how the win/loss sequence goes and the complete choice or variety of choices might not be able to be planned in advance.

Q: Is the air war disconnected from the rest of the game? Bombing factories gives points to your team, but does not affect the event in any other way?

A: Nothing suggests bombers or Airforce cannot participate in standard Operations, or in lieu of the ground effort. This adds an interesting twist for the Air Community. As Silky put it "The air game works best when it's high alt long distance RDP runs, escorts and interception. This will encourage that."

MORE ABOUT TIERS

Q: How are Tiers of Equipment set up for the BB event?

Over the course of the event, each phase will see a change in the equipment line-up rather than a straight time variable like a continuous campaign employs. This is due to the start stop timeline that the event employs where "time" is in 2 and 3 day chunks, rather than stretched continuously over 1 to 3 months as regular campaigns are.

In summary, we saw Phase 1 employ tier 0 as it's equipment make up since this represents the "start" of the war. Yes we added 5 Daimlers to the British infantry list but that was matched by 5 actual tanks on the German infantry list that the British didn't get. We always want it to be as fair as possible, but each side can never have exactly the same equipment because Brtish tanks are not German tanks and so on. When the Daimler was first created it was intended to be a tier 0 vehicle but it never made that debut as we found we got more variety in the campaign progression of equipment by making it a tier 1 vehicle. Outside of campaign play we can try different things to see how they go.

Phase 2 saw some tier 1 stuff added to the tier 0 list. In Phase 3 we'll strip out the tier 0 stuff and add more tier 1 equipment in it's place. Phase 4 we'll strip out some tier 1 equipment and add some tier 2 stuff. By Phase 5 we'll be solidly in tier 2 and Phase 6 will be seeing tier 3 make it's debut. It will follow what we think is the best and most expedient manner to handle the need to vary equipment along a timeline progression that is divided up into start/stop chunks during the event. That automatically means it won't be the same as during a regular campaign, but the difference is chiefly time related not actual equipment related. Each "tier" still comprises the same equipment it has in the past.