One of the easiest forms of modding in SOWG is OOB creation – It’s relatively straight forward once you know the basics so I thought I would give some tips on creating your own OOB’s
What is an OOB - Order of Battle?
Okay some may scoff at this question but newcomers to the game may not know what this term means, basically the term or abbreviation means the order of an armed force which is participating or historically participated in a military operation or campaign. Generally it will show the hierarchical organization, command structure, strength, disposition of personnel, and equipment of units and formations of the armed force. Another term you will occasionally see is see is ‘Orbat’ this means exactly the same as an OOB it just the British army abbreviation of Order of Battle – What can I say Americans say ‘sidewalk’ we say ‘pavement’
What to do first?
I would recommend a couple of things. Firstly download the SDK (Software Development Kit) this can be found here:
http://www.norbsoftdev.net/forum/modifi ... er-16-beta
This fantastic guide gives excellent advice on how to mod the game including OOB creation – read this before attempting to create an OOB believe me it will save you countless hours of frustration trying to create an OOB blindly.
Next Steps?
You now need to decide what type of OOB you wish to create:
Personalising an OOB
This is when you fancy putting yourself (ie your own name) or a few friends into an OOB for a single or multiplayer battle I know for a kick some players have done this from time to time. I have done it myself it’s quite quirky to look at a screen and see your name leading a brigade or division forward!
Creating a Fictional OOB
This is when you create a non-historical OOB or a ‘what if’ scenario by adding in your personal choice of commanders or units to an army.
Creating a Historical OOB
This is to portray as accurately as possible the organisational make up of a famous battle or campaign. This is my own personal preference, for doing this you need to do three main tasks
1/ Decide which battle or campaign you wish to create.
2/ You need to thoroughly research the battle/campaign and events during the battle – What was the organisational make up of each Army? What were the Army/Corps/Division and Brigade Commander names? Regimental unit names? Unit capabilities? Types of weapons used by the armies? Numbers of troops involved? ect ect. This basically mean reading Books, articles and archival after action reports (or AAR’s - I will discuss research in further detail later on its absolutely key)
3/ Plan your OOB – This is also very important. Can you portray the campaign and battle with one OOB or do you need several OOB’s? Do you want to focus on one particular phase of a battle or campaign rather than the whole affair? How much information have you found out about said battle or campaign? Nothing worse than not doing the research and then half way through the creation of the OOB realising that you don’t know a commanders name or which regiment went in which brigade or division.
My recommendation if this is your first attempt at an OOB…… Keep it simple. Maybe choose a smaller battle that is also well documented and recorded, learn your trade before taking up the challenge of a massive OOB. Trust me your brain will melt, I picked the Battle of Franklin as my first OOB back in my TC2M forum days and I had an absolute nightmare!!!
Okay still with me and not run off? Research is my favourite part of OOB creation. When I was 11 years old I saw a documentary with Stacy Keach (starred in the mini-series the ‘Blue and the Grey’) and it was about the battle of Gettysburg (older forum guys will surely remember this). It was the first time that I even realised that America had actually endured a Civil war and I was fascinated and never looked back. I bought my first book about the war three days later and now have over 450 ACW books in my collection!(you don't what to know how many Napoleonic books I have! :blink: ) However since I start making OOB’s my knowledge of the civil war has doubled so if you are interested in the civil war from a historical point of view OOB creation is a fantastic way of improving your knowledge. I never use one point of reference for an OOB I generally find multiple references points and then make a decision based on the collation of the various pieces of information contained within these sources – you will find from time to time differences in accounts i.e commander’s names or what unit fought in which brigade or division – therefore it really helps to look at different sources to hopefully achieve an accurate piece of information for your OOB.
There are literally thousands of books about the civil war and picking the right books can be difficult I generally prefer to select a book that is focused on a particular battle or campaign you mostly find that the writer of these books has in-depth knowledge of that particular part of the war and you can gleam invaluable information – I recommend Brett Schulte’s site for giving you a good unbiased heads up on thousands of ACW Books and where to buy/find them:
http://www.brettschulte.net/CWBlog/about/
(You don’t have to thank me for the website plug Brett!)
If you can’t decide on a book to look at - Ask on the SOWG forum there are plenty of bookworms like myself who will give you advice. Now I’m all for supporting authors but some of these books can be expensive (I have a three volume book on Vicksburg that cost over £200) so you could also consider visiting your local library or visiting a local university or college, a lot of these institutions are now open to the public as well as their students and staff and hold a wealth of literature on the subject. Other institutions also hold a vast archive on the civil war and of course a lot of information is now freely available on the internet I have posed a few examples below:
http://www.westpoint.edu/history/sitepa ... 20war.aspx
http://www.vmi.edu/archives/home/
http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/m/moa ... ltext.html
http://www.archives.gov/
http://digitalcollections.baylor.edu/cd ... on/tx-wotr
http://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/land ... 15040coll6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_Civil_War
http://www.civilwar.org/
http://www.nps.gov/civilwar/index.htm
For an example on researching for my Petersburg campaign for TC2M I read over two dozen books and used well over 150 different reference points to create 22 OOB’s for the campaign….. I’m telling you it gets addictive!
After Action reports
These were written by the officers after an action was fought after war they were compiled into “War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies” one of the links above contains this record. It is huge archive and some of the information I have found reading these has been invaluable I recommend using these as sources of references for you OOBs here is an example from a small battle that happen in 1861 in West Virginia – The Battle of Rich Mountain here is an actual account by Confederate gunnery Lieutenant Charles W. Statham:
“Report of First Lieut. Charles W. Statham, Lee Battery, C. S. Army, of the engagement at Rich Mountain. RICH MOUNTAIN PASS, July 13, 1861.
SIR: I have to report that on the 11th instant, by your order, I moved with one gun and a detachment of twenty-one men to occupy this pass in Rich Mountain. We took our position about 1 oclock p. m. In less than two hours the enemy made their appearance in large column, six regiments strong, immediately on the hill south of the pass. We re-versed our gun, which was pointed down the pass, and prepared to receive the enemy in the direction in which he was approaching. In afew minutes the sharpshooters of the enemy commenced a fire upon us from behind trees and rocks at a distance ranging from two to three hundred yards, the body of the enemy being still farther. We opened upon the main body with spherical shot, which I cut at first one second and a quarter, and could distinctly see them burst in their midst. I knew we did good execution, as I could distinctly hear their officers give vehement commands to close up ranks. After firing this way some little time at the rate of near four shots per minute we forced the enemy to retire.
In about twenty minutes the enemy reappeared in a column of three regiments, advanced briskly upon us, when we moved our gun a little higher up the opposite hill and again opened upon them, and with our spherical shot cut as low as one second down to three-quarters. After firing rapidly for some time the enemy again beat a hasty retreat, when my men, including the infantry not yet in action, rent the air with their shouts, confidently believing that we had gained the day.
But in a short time the enemy again formed and renewed the attack with more swiftness than before, and soon played havoc with our horses. These with the caisson, ran down the mountain with drivers and all, leaving us with only the small amount of ammunition in our limber-box. We then limbered and moved our gun near a small log stable, behind which we placed our horses for protection. By this time our men were falling fast. Sergeant Turner, of the gun, had both legs broken and shot through the body; 1. I. Mays had his left arm splintered with a musket ball; Isaiah Ryder shot through the head, and died instantly; John A. Taylor had his thigh broken; E. Kerseyshot in the ankle; Lewis wounded in the arm William W. Stewart, badly wounded in the head and breast. This left me but few to man the gun. Captain De Lagnel, who was the commander of the post, having his horse shot under him and seeing our crippled condition, gallantly came and volunteered his valuable aid, and helped load and fire three or four times, when he was shot in the side, and, I think in the hand. He then ordered us to make our escape, if we could, but the enemy was too close, and his fire too severe, to admit of safe retreat to many of us. I was shot through the right hand, and am now a prisoner, with the following of my men: Warren Currin, B. H. Davidson, James B. Creasey, William H. Broyles, and R. W. Walker. The rest of my command made their escape. I suppose we killed and wounded of the enemy some three hundred or more.
I take great pleasure in saying that my command in this fight, both those with guns and those in the artillery, acted heroically, and deserve the highest commendation. Private W. H. Broyles was the last to leave the gun, and pricked the last cartridge that we fired.
I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,
CHAS. W. STATHAM,
First Lieutenant Lee Battery.
Capt. P. B. ANDERSON, Lee Battery P A C S”
Priceless information can be obtained by reading these excepts and you can’t get better information than from the people who were actually there, although exaggeration did occur he states that 300 union casualties were inflicted Union General Rosecrans’s states in another AAR that he suffered and I quote “Our loss was 12 killed and 49 wounded” – See what I mean about using several sources?!
I’ll talk about actual OOB creation in a later post – Currently I have just released the 1862 Peninsula Campaign and I’m now working on my biggest project yet “Atlanta” In the mean time if you need any advise drop me a line
Right back to Kennesaw Mountain AARs!
Zeke