Badge idea

[plloyd1010]

A while ago, when I was hot-n-heavy into the formation editor, Vince (yup it's him again) asked me about the 12th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division's appearances in PG. I presume Vince went on to build a mini-campaign for the 'Bull' division. That's exactly what the formation catalog was intended for.

With that and the project in general, I got a dumb idea. What if there was a Veteran's badge for fight with a unit a certain number of times? Get stars for extra scenarios. Perhaps tags for enough usage of sub-formations. I know it's a 'look at what I did' sort of thing. Sometimes though, it might be nice to see a wall of medals and badges.

[vulcan558]

A while ago, when I was hot-n-heavy into the formation editor, Vince (yup it's him again) asked me about the 12th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division's appearances in PG. I presume Vince went on to build a mini-campaign for the 'Bull' division. That's exactly what the formation catalog was intended for.

With that and the project in general, I got a dumb idea. What if there was a Veteran's badge for fight with a unit a certain number of times? Get stars for extra scenarios. Perhaps tags for enough usage of sub-formations. I know it's a 'look at what I did' sort of thing. Sometimes though, it might be nice to see a wall of medals and badges.

I would definitely be interested in this. I have been toying with the idea of playing all of my Grossdeustchland scenarios consecutively, and perhaps my Wiking and 2nd Panzer ones as well. It would be pretty cool to follow, for example, GD through France and then the Eastern Front. And for me at least, it's far more 'do-able' than completing a whole game.

[plloyd1010]

I was also thinking that solitaire plays would probably not count. Otherwise I would have badges for the US 9th infantry and 3rd armor, along with the German 12th & 89th infantry and 9th panzer all at once.

GD goes all the up through the wonder weapons for 1946. Not bad for a Berlin guard unit.

[vince hughes]

Peter,

Those are the sort of things I DO like to do. For example, against Alan, along with other minor projects, we have played through Hohenstaufen's (9thSS) battles in BSS, Elsenborn and even one in RtB. I will say that when you fight through a Division's battles, you get a 'feeling' for that unit as you try to gain them the best results. Annoying thing about 9th SS is that there are very few books about them. I have Michael Reynolds volumes in the books I do have and their name crops up elsewhere. The big one for these guys will be the BN scenarios where they look as if they will take a pummelling from OBA and perhaps one day, some kind of Arnhem offering where they will appear also.

277th VG and as you say, 12th Wild Buffaloes are two others I have been trying to play the scenarios of in date order. One must be mindful that when doing these replays, there is no concern about play balance but instead, you just take what comes (like they did).

[armyduck95]

I love the idea...

A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.

Napoleon Bonaparte

[plloyd1010]

For me the badges and ribbons are cute. Nice to get but not something I am really interested in working for. In my mind they do serve as a structural guide in what to play next.

Just for Vince, I award these unofficial badges:


Of course, everything depends on how much Drew wants to code and parse the data base. Still there is no criteria getting the badges yet either. Has anyone thought about that? Would it be based on the the number of appearances in the series? or in individual collections? What is the minimum number of plays? Does the minimum number required vary by appearances in in a player's collection, in the series, or not at all. Do multiple formations dilute the count?

[vince hughes]

Peter,

First of all I thought "Get the badge when you play all their scenarios" but it came to me pretty quickly that these are far to varied in numbers. Some might only get 1 appearance and others 20 or 30 ? So that would not be fair.

Then I was thinking, possibly 10 plays with the same Division would be more realistic and would thus remove the need for badge creation art for those Divisions with less than 10 scenarios (cos thats gotta be a research chore in itself). To 'enhance' a badge from 10 plays, perhaps a 'outlining' with blue or red or whatever after 15 plays and a gold outline after 20 plays ?

Thanks for the badges shown Peter. Under my own rules above, I'd only qualify for the 9th Hohenstaufen so far. I knew of the 9th Hohenstaufen and 12th Wild Buffaloes badges, but had not seen the 277th VG badge. It must pertain to a cathedral in a German City somewhere. Certainly not Koln and I don't think its Ulm (although that is a black cathedral but the spire does not look long and pointy enough). It must have something to do with the city they were formed in but wikipidia credits their creation in Hungary? Not so sure on that entirely as they were one of the Divisions announced in Goebbels speech referencing the Volksgrenadier inception (don't confuse them with Volksturm units folks).

The old Wild Buffaloes are pretty cool in name and badge. If one didn't pre-reference 'The Wild Buffaloes' with 'German', you'd think it was a US division being named.

I'm currently looking to see who would be brave enough to take on the BN Hohenstaufen scenarios with me. They'd be pretty bloody games in that the 9th have a 9/8 morale in these particular scenarios, but this seems to be in place to compensate for the absolutely voluminous amounts of OBA that will be piled down on them. I'm pleased with my record with them so far, the 9th SS Hohenstaufen under my command have Fought 10, Won 7, Drawn 2, Lost 1. (thats better than World Series qualification win numbers heh heh).

277th Volksgrenadier are Fought 3 Won 3 and the 12th Wild Buffaloes are Fought 6, Won 4, Drawn 2.

I'm earning these badges with results and not just being there !!! LOL

[plloyd1010]

I was thinking something like 10 for a division too. Perhaps 4 or 5 for a regiment. For transitional units, like GD & SS divisions, qualify for the larger formation.Some you could knock off quite quickly. The 442nd RCT, US 1st Marine, UK 7th armoured, ect. The Soviets don't seem to have a lot of special unit insignia, but we could come up with something.

I think you mean these guys Vince:

34th Infantry division. They are a national Guard unit from Minnesota. Participated in Torch and fought up through Italy. The 100th (Go for Broke) Infantry battalion was one of its components for a time.

We still need to hear from Drew on this notion.

[zaarin7]

Well Vince if my PC was up I'd be happy to play through the Hohenstaufen scenario's.

[vince hughes]

Well Vince if my PC was up I'd be happy to play through the Hohenstaufen scenario's.

Make it work, make it work