Everyone enjoying the new teamwork?

[Haerthorne]

Sounds to me like sadness over not getting elected :P

I actually love our Queen and am happy she got elected.

But man, I've been in politics for long enough.

-long hardboiled sip of whiskey-

Too long.

[Gustav Kuriga]

Nope 5. There was a guy who said he could marshal but preferred VM.

That's exactly the guy you want as marshal. Confident enough to be there to take the position, but not actually wanting it out of ambition.

[Sacha]

That's exactly the guy you want as marshal. Confident enough to be there to take the position, but not actually wanting it out of ambition.

If you're referring to me here, please don't make me Marshal, I'm barely active enough to warrant a VM position :p

[Haerthorne]

If you're referring to me here, please don't make me Marshal, I'm barely active enough to warrant a VM position :p

Yeah, I've been considering that.

[Indirik]

Nope 5. There was a guy who said he could marshal but preferred VM.

According to my notes, I had at least 10 volunteers for Marshal/VM. Six only wanted, or preferred, VM spots. I had 4 armies to staff, so 8 positions. Then a couple people left. So everyone who volunteered for a position has one.

At this point, it hasn't been long enough to really tell how things are going to go. Everyone in the military council *wants* to cooperate and work together. So much so that no one is being assertive and taking charge. Everyone comes up with an idea and says "Should we do this?" And the no one says "Yeah, let's do it!" So, lots of ideas, but no one making the final call. That's where we need to get better.

[Qyasogk]

Everyone comes up with an idea and says "Should we do this?" And the no one says "Yeah, let's do it!" So, lots of ideas, but no one making the final call. That's where we need to get better.

Shouldn't that be the role of the general? I think the amount of work needed to organize and run our large complicated structure has been vastly underestimated. I'm not sure our current general is up to the task. But then, it may be an impossible task for anyone.

[Indirik]

That really depends on what is being discussed. If the question is "what region do we take next" then sure, it's the general. But "what formation should we use" is the marshal's call.

[Constantine]

Or are *all* of the SI realms imploding due to internal strife, massive egos, and tough guys who insist on death duels every time someone crosses their eyes?  ::)

I was enjoying it very much until some people started spilling it OOC.  :-\

[Wolfsong]

IMO, the role of the general is to manage all of the armies. In most realms, where there's only 1-2 armies, that means very little and they usually end up stuck doing diplomatic work with other generals instead or, if there's no alliances in place to take advantage of that, basically taking over as a Super Marshal. "Go here." "Do this." etc. - with the marshal just picking a formation to fight in, or assigning line settings as given to him by the general. What the general does in a realm with multiple armies is, IMO - again, organize. He orders armies to one sphere or another (not necessarily specific regions, but target areas) and gives them general orders - to raid, to be aggressive, to seek out the enemy army, to lay ambushes, etc. He determines who refits, and the roles of each army, but leaves the specifics up to each marshal.

The marshal, in turn, must be proactive and aggressive. They must be capable of taking these broad orders and - with a large degree of autonomy - going out there and accomplishing them. If they're told to raid in X duchy, they should plan with their vice-marshal and then go and do that, splitting their own army or not as needed. If they need to join up with another friendly army assigned to their target area to defeat or defend against a larger force, then they should do that immediately without needing to wait for the general's say so.

The general is a staff officer. They assign broad targets, and receive reports on effectiveness and accomplishment from their marshals, replacing and promoting as needed.

[Indirik]

I want you as my general!

[Ketchum]

Nope 5. There was a guy who said he could marshal but preferred VM.

Oh... ::)

IMO, the role of the general is to manage all of the armies. In most realms, where there's only 1-2 armies, that means very little and they usually end up stuck doing diplomatic work with other generals instead or, if there's no alliances in place to take advantage of that, basically taking over as a Super Marshal. "Go here." "Do this." etc. - with the marshal just picking a formation to fight in, or assigning line settings as given to him by the general. What the general does in a realm with multiple armies is, IMO - again, organize. He orders armies to one sphere or another (not necessarily specific regions, but target areas) and gives them general orders - to raid, to be aggressive, to seek out the enemy army, to lay ambushes, etc. He determines who refits, and the roles of each army, but leaves the specifics up to each marshal.

The marshal, in turn, must be proactive and aggressive. They must be capable of taking these broad orders and - with a large degree of autonomy - going out there and accomplishing them. If they're told to raid in X duchy, they should plan with their vice-marshal and then go and do that, splitting their own army or not as needed. If they need to join up with another friendly army assigned to their target area to defeat or defend against a larger force, then they should do that immediately without needing to wait for the general's say so.

The general is a staff officer. They assign broad targets, and receive reports on effectiveness and accomplishment from their marshals, replacing and promoting as needed.

Yeah, that is the role of General, spelled out loud and clear. So when you want sign on dotted line for General position? ;)

[Wolfsong]

I've been the general in that position before. It's fun, but it's not... nearly as fun as being a marshal. So if I have a choice, I think for now I'd love to be a marshal again. But hey, if people need generals, why not?

[Penchant]

I've been the general in that position before. It's fun, but it's not... nearly as fun as being a marshal. So if I have a choice, I think for now I'd love to be a marshal again. But hey, if people need generals, why not?

Your style of being a general is not a common one unfortunately. I believe thats the way the general should be too, and the best example I have seen of it is Enzo Solari in Thalmarkin.

Personally I feel like too many don't understand the proper roles: General is strategy, Marshal is tactics. General gives broad orders to work on the bigger picture while Marshals deal with the details.

Too often I see the General giving out orders constantly, basically just being the realm's marshals except they maybe send the orders to the Marshals who then send it to the armies. With more than 1 army it can start to lead to burnout as the General and regardless of the number of armies, it makes the Marshal position suck because you aren't actually commanding your army, you are at best a parrot instead of a commander.

[Jens Namtrah]

This has been a problem for years, though. I think we even once tried out getting rid of the ability for Generals to send orders to Marshals at all (or something similar), to encourage the idea above, but it didn't work out.

(We also tried getting rid of red papers completely, but that was for different reasons)

I consider the General role to be even more than what was outlined above - real war is won through logistics, and a General should be concerned with enough food, provisioning stations, treaties to refit in key cities, good RCs, checking the lords are keeping the militia up to scratch - plus all the things above. Played right, he doesn't have time to give orders every turn.

It's a role for a detail-oriented person

[Indirik]

The general can only play the strategic role if there are people capable of being, and willing to be, marshal. Marshal is one of the hardest positions to fill with competent people.