OP PLANS
Play at War, War at Play
Oh come on, that was a 70% chance to kill! Do as the dice do, kiddo!
OP PLANS, derived from the term "Operations Plans", is a Military Wargame designed, published, and distributed by the United Commonwealth Directorate-General of Defence, mostly through its various senior military academies. The game seeks to provide an accurate, detailed simulation of Military operations for the purposes of academic education for officers in the Armed Services. As such, the game in its dozens of iterations, volumes, and variants is mandatory practice for all students in such military institutions, turning the game into a common core experience across the armed forces.
Origins
The game in its current form was devised in the 140s, as the latest in a long and famous line of various Wargames across the United Commonwealth. In the 50s and 60s, over a century ago in the earliest days of the United Commonwealth's unified military forces, games used in the instruction of the military profession were varied and widespread. Eventually, in the 100s, attempts were made to codify and institutionalise the systems of Military education in general throughout the UC, which saw standardisation in curriculum and organisation for all Army and Navy academies. Following suit, each of the two services would birth their own unique Wargames and simulations catering to their separate needs and methods.
By Land...
The Army's main wargame was Quick March, devised by the General Staff School of Military Theory at the General Staff Institute. The game was basic in design and mechanics, offering only tactical level command at the Platoon and Company level initially, and so was limited only to lower levels of education. Future editions would be created, several dozen by the time OP PLANS would replace it at all levels, which would breach into such topics as force sustainment and supply, anti partisan and irregular warfare, and Warfare ath the higher echelons of the Corps and Field Army on the continental scale.... And By Sea
The Navy took a rather different approach, reflecting its unique culture and experiences. Its wargame, titled "On Sea and Shore", came into existence roughly at the same time as Quick March. However, while the former would gain its fame for focusing on small unit tactics and skirmishes before growing its scope, On Sea And Shore was, from the onset, a tool catering to the flag ranks and hopeful contenders for them. While the Army's boards might cover areas spanning a few provinces, the Navy's Maps, seen as often in Admiralty planning rooms as in its Fleet Academies, would cover half a World at their smallest, and it was common practice to simply use maps of all of the 12 Worlds regardless of the actual play area. The game, unlike its Army sibling, was seen as a serious method to teach lessons at the strategic level of warfare, at the meeting point of operations, diplomacy, economics, cultural and social environments, and even the climate. The Navy had always been more inclined towards such a perspective, owing to its inherently larger scale of action, and so priorised education on it accordingly.Combined Command
Ultimately, the time would come when the twin games would come together. The factors that caused their unity are many and varied, but it's easy enough to claim that the change in military theory to support concepts of "Combined Operations", occuring between all services at all echelons of military activity, led to the eventual decision to bring the games together. The creation of the Combined Services Staff Institute in 160 A. S. is often seen as the main cause of many future reforms and changes, OP PLANS not the least among them. It offered a place for Navy, Army, Marine, and the then "Army Aviation Service" officers to gain an education and develop and learn the theories of warfare that would see the UC through the oncoming Great Wars. From "Strategic Strike Theory" to "Geopolitical Effects", new theories and ideas were being made in this hothouse of thought, and it was realised a method was needed to standardise the testing and study of the new fields. Enter Commodore Katona Szilvia, United Commonwealth Navy. A long time pioneer of further integration between the Armed Services, during her tenure as a Senior Instructor for Naval Studies at the then still fresh CSSI she enlisted the help of her fellow faculty members, Colonels Anton Messer of the Army and Ngaio Tame of the Corps of Marines to create a game to help instruct their students, many of whom were the "bright young things" of their Services who they thought would have the greatest potential of materialising their vision in the future. The group set to work, and began by reviewing as many editions of existi g war games as they could. They immediately recognised that neither Service had a system which truly offered the experience they wished to create, the Army's being too small scale and technical to offer the full breadth of Military activities, and the Navy's so wide in scope it could hardly instruct on the actual act of fighting in war. Eventually, they found assurance in a rather strange place, from a person who almost embodied eccentricity.
The Civvie Street
It would be foolish to think military developments of any kind have ever happened in vacuums, and the field of war games is certainly not an exception For over a century, the civilian world had devopled its own games and pastimes that paralleled those in professional military usage, and the relationships was certainly a two way street. Accusations of copying were few and far between, for all parties recognised it was a mutual crime, and one that hardly hurt. Civilian manufacturers and publishers sold Chess as it had been since unknown times ever since the start of the Commonwealth, and way games used by the military academies were often simply purchased from civilians and used as they were. Eventually, as the military profession was honed and made unique, specialised games and systems were invented to facilitate their instruction, which would filter on through the grapevine towards private enterprise which would happily take them in and sell for all they could. The ever-present imprint of the military in the greater UC public would leave a market large and ripe for such products, and it is a common enough understanding, though an unstated one, that such publicisation occurred with military and government approval and tacit support. The games and ideas would cycle in and out of the two spheres of society on and on for a century, and by the time CSSI's club of firebrand sought for their own innovation, they would find a vast environment ready to cater.
The Piece On The Board
The character who would ultimately provide the needed assistance was one Sir Liam Gordon, founder and owner of the Gordon Publishing Company. A man who'd made his fortune and warned his knighthood as a celebrated novelist, adventurer, and diplomatic envoy for the UC at large, a resume once not terribly rare in the halls of the Diplomatic Corps, he settled down in his home state of the Kingdom of Albion to live out his years in relative retirement. To pay for such retirement, as well as the rather sizeable country estate he bought to live it out in, Sir Liam started the Gordon Publishing Company to 9verdee the profits and sales of his various novels, outlining his experiences across the 12 Worlds. During his service to the Crown and the Commonwealth, however, he had gained more than a little experience working with both Armed Services, and their various educational systems and methods, with wargames leaving the largest impression. Hence, he elected to expand his companies interests to encompass the sale of Military style Wargames to the civilian market. Initially, it had started as simply an excuse to get his hands on as many of the things as he could in attempts to convince his peers to join him in playing the games, but eventually the sheer financial value became hard for a financially acute man like Sir Liam to ignore. He started making and publishing games on a commercial scale, and eventually expanded his operation to include a proper manufacturing facility and workforce. He would, however, take a personal effort when it came to designing original games and editing procured ones, often spending weeks in his study devising ever more features and systems to include, though his own love of the field kept his spirits high. By the time he was approached by the 3 Officers, he had published a dozen original games, all historical systems detailing various campaigns and wars of the Commonwealth's past. In that time he had managed to acquire a reputation for sheer, mind numbing detail and accuracy on machanics so extreme his games had already been used in the schools of the actual Armed Services with no edits at all, though in a subordinate role to their own in house games. His latest published game, however, would bring his pedantry and bookishness to truly impressive heights. The game, titled simply Chainbreaker, was a full fledged simulation of the entirety of the 5 year long Chainbreaker War fought against the Fuhrati Empire which saw the near annihilation of the practice of Slavery in the 12 Worlds. A vast and bloody war, almost as vast would be the rule books and several dozen maps in which the game based off it would contain
Inspiration
The game was big. That was an understatement. By Sir Liam's estimates, which led to some shocked faces whenever he shared them, it would take a a maximum of 5 teams and a total of 25 players a full year, at minimum, to complete a full game of Chainbreaker. The rule book put the actual volumes of the Commonwealth lexus, already a vast and unwieldy horror show, to near shame, and we're thought to offer serious fire hazards to anyone who bought them. The maps were so exceedingly accurate only because they were carbon copies of official UC Office of Cartographical Affairs maps, and led to a legal row over their use. The mechanics offered in the game, all personally devised by Sir Liam himself since he couldn't convince anyone else to help his deranged plans, included such calculations as the "maximum marching distance and time" before breaking apart of all types of boot that would see service in the war, with modifiers for terrain type and season, and you'd best believe he calculated the weekly water consumption rate at the Company level. When Commodore Szilvia's team met Sir Liam at his estate, over a lunch serving of roast duck, and heard his description of the game, to calm them shocked would be to call euphoria mildly enjoyable. However, what really sealed the deal for the officers wasn't the sheer granularity of the game, but it's all encompassing scope and levels of customisability. The game did it all, they thought. For tactical instruction, the maneuvers of individuals ships and squadrons, or of Platoons and companies, could be accurately tracked and played out. Such low level actions took place within the same setting and board as far larger decisions, actions made at the theater commander's level and even political decisions by heads of state, including non participating powers. Local attitudes and feelings, espionage and sabotage, infrastructure and economics, concepts were made that allowed anything desired to be simulated and thought out. Ultimately, it was not just the details and scope that so attracted the CSSI professionals, but the fact they could carefully tailor it to their needs. Sir Liam was happy to tell them how the rules of the game didn't all need to be played at once. Over discussions and meetings that would continue for several months, including tentative uses of the game on official classes and wargame tournaments, it was seen how the game could be used to simulate a variety of scenarios. From teaching the basics of combined amphibious expeditions at the Corps echelon in all the minute detail, to fomenting debates about proper practice in the conduct of a trade blockade, the usage of a single commonly understood system through which rules could be added or removed at will offered an invaluable opportunity and platform for students from all Services and backgrounds to engage in the intellectual discussions that were hoped for. Theories could be put to the test within select parameters set within the rules, and have their details expanded at will to truly slesh out how they worked. Suffice it to say that the three officers were very happy with what they got. By the end of the year, the Combined Services Staff Institute had placed a contract with the Gordon Publishing Company to jointly design a game based off the mechanics and principles of Chainbreaker, but modified to fit the realities of modern warfare, and so, OP PLANS would be born.
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