Just a quick blog this week. As I have been back to work not much chance to work on the website. I have added some links to video tutorials on YouTube about and brief introduction to “Field Of Glory Digital, (which I will expand on an and refine later.

Two bits of good news on the scenario design front I have found additional source material including maps and orders of battle for my first post 1492 scenario the battle of Tondibi which was fought in March 1591 between an invading  Moroccan  army under Judar Pasha  and the forces of the Songhai Empire led by its ruler Askia Ishaq II. This means that this one will be appearing on the website sooner than planned.

Also I have now got my hands on European character versions of the Arabic words for right wing, left wing, centre, rear guard & advance guard divisions which will give my order of battle for the Muslim side in my forthcoming scenario for the battle of Tours in 732 AD a more authentic feel.

Finally I have now finished a further round of playtesting for my battle of Las Navas De Tolosa 1212AD scenario so should be able to get a further and hopefully a final reworking of it underway this week.

Having set this website up last week, I thought it would be good to get a blog going as well to explain and discuss the scenario design and other work I am doing for "Field of Glory Digital” (FOG PC) . Also, I thought I would use my first blog to outline my scenario design and other plans for the first quarter of 2012.

The scenarios available on the site as of now represent the scenario design work I have done over the last two years,  with the two scenarios featuring Anglo-Saxon armies, being my most recent creations.

Currently in play testing and due for another fairly major revision, (to balance it) before release, is a fairly large scenario from the wars of the Spanish reconquista covering  the battle of Las Navas De Tolosa fought on 16th July 1212 between a Castilian led  Christian army and the forces of theAlmohade Caliph,  Caliph Mohammed Abu Abd Allah assisted by some not very willing Andalusian allies. I aim to have this scenario available for download on the website by the end of the month, and will be putting it forward for inclusion with the "Oath of Fealty” module.

I am also currently working on the map and order of battle for my next scenario which covers the battle of Tours in 732 AD between the early Carolingian Frankish forces of Charles Martel (assisted by allies from Aquitaine) and A large raiding force  from the Umayyad Caliphate under the command of Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi the Governor-General of al-Andalus. I plan to follow this scenario with two others, one covering the battle of Lechfeld fought on 10 August 955 AD, (Germans verses Magyars) and the battle of Stamford Bridge fought on 25th September 1066. AD (Vikings verses Anglo–Saxons)

All 3 of these battles (which I will be putting forward for inclusion for the forthcoming “Wolves From the Sea” module) feature the arrival of reinforcements and / or  flanking forces once the major clash of armies  was underway. While the FOG PC games engine does not make allowance for this sort of thing as such I aim to use the “Impassable Hex” facility that does exist to create off map reinforcement boxes and movement paths to both delay the availability of reinforcements and to allow one side to choose to place a force in a designated location in the rear of their opponents during play. To prevent the blocking / misuse of  movement tracks by the wrong side I will be introducing powerful special static units to act as “Player Probity Guardians” (PPG’s) to protect the exits from deployment tracks.

Finally to get round the limitations of the information that can be placed in the text information boxes with individual scenarios I will be introducing for my own scenarios and making available for download, full colour “Order Of Battle” & “Designers Notes” templates in MS word which can be saved inside scenario folders (but outside the data folder) for easier scenario construction and viewing once a scenario has been finished.

Happy new year
Ian Leask