Into the Valley

Warily, B company drove into the valley, keeping a close eye out for a Rebel ambush.

Suddenly the side of the hill erupted with fire. The tank and Recoilless Rifle returned fire while the infantry debussed.

#4 Platoon spread out, took what cover they could find on the edge of the road, and began a lengthy firefight with the Redcap trench. 

The Rebels were dug in and well camouflaged. (There are bits of 6 visible in this pic).

Seeing how ineffective #4 Platoon's fire was, #6 Platoon, straight out of training and eager to show their fighting spirit, didn't bother stopping to shoot but stormed up the hill with bayonets and grenades, into a deadly hail of bullets at pointblank range.  

With the 4th and 6th platoons and the HQ squad decimated, Major Hastee ordered a retreat and began composing a report in his head about how they had been ambushed by larger numbers of well equipped and entrenched Rebels. 

__________________________

Forces: 

Rebel Ambush party: HQ + Mortar+ 2 platoons @ 6 soldiers inc 1 w bazooka. All entrenched in the jungle on the hill.

Gov't Patrol: HQ + SP Recoiless Rifle, M3 76mm Tanks, APC w lmg, 3 platoons of infantry.

Simple One Page Rules written up the evening before with fixed move, roll to hit then roll to pin or kill/wound. They were OK with a reasonable feel, but a bit boring at times with too much die rolling for a small quick game, sometimes being very deadly  but usually indecisive as each side fired and ducked by turns, requiring too many turns with too much die rolling for such a simple encounter between small forces. Needs some thought. 

The disputed territory just beyond the ambush site. 

UN Ordered Out

Today, a United Nations standing patrol in the Little Plumtree Valley, was ordered out by a Ducal officer claiming that the Rebels had been breaking the treaty.

The Ducal Captain orders the UN advisor to withdraw while members of the newly raised 3rd Battalion move out on their first patrol.

Stayed tuned for updates as they happen.

A closer look at some of the new recruits.

 

Tomorrow's Forecast

Sunny with a chance of Soldiers.

I sure  hope they're right!

Deeds Not Words!

OK actually,  the surprise snowstorm yesterday led to me being recalled to the active duty list and pressed into service several times yesterday by the highest level of authority.  (She's not very big but....)

Turn 6. All troops are on table. The opposing infantry are bickering over the woods.

However, I had time to clear the table, ready for a new game. Of course, once I packed up the troops it seemed somehow wrong not to act on the idea of refighting the scenario in a different period. The 1950's lads hadn't been out recently....so I broke out The Portable Wargame, had a quick flip through and went at it.

Blue has been pushed back but the tricksy government forces prefer running away to dying for the autocrats while the Rebels seem to preferring dieing for The Cause.

It was a disaster! What?! Well, maybe not a disaster but things didn't feel right.  I reached for the book and checked the design notes, reread the rules more carefully and found my problems. Well, couldn't let it rest there so this morning, I reset and played again.

That is one of the joys of Solo wargaming, you can do 'do-overs'.

The brakes are on! The Rebels are exhausted but they hold the ridge and the enemy has been teetering on the edge of exhaustion for some time now. If they would JUST die instead of falling back!

 The scenario started the same. I assigned the Rebels (aka Redcaps) to "Red" and the Government (aka Green Helmets) to Blue.

The game that followed was not at all like the horse and musket one, except that at the end it was close, not as close but close. The odds of Blue winning outright were probably thinner but if the rather slow witted Blue Commander had been on top of his game, an attack plan that took more account of the rules, such as exhausted armies not being forced to withdraw, thus needing to be pushed off the hill unit by unit, they could have done it. The overly aggressive Red commander might have done better as well if he had focussed more on holding the objective though exhausting the enemy worked once those who had made it onto the ridge were forced back or destroyed. Of course if the random unit chart had offered up 2 tanks instead of 2 anti-tank guns, that would have helped too!

An exhausted Red clings to the ridge. Blue pours in fire and sends troops to infiltrate onto the hill hoping to be able to grab a toehold and drive the Rebels off with fire. Of course, Rebs just,  don't, retreat!! Eventually the Green Helmets are driven off or killed and their force is also exhausted. The Rebels have a few units on the ridge either out of range or line of sight and are happy to wait out 2 turns for the official victory.

OK, NOW I'm ready to clear the table and start a 3 game linked scenario solo minicampaign.

54's, ACW, 16thC  or Medievel Fantasy?  Hmm where should we go?

Assault on Hastee House Crossroads

The 60 Minute War, as it has come to be known, is over.

The captioned photos illustrate the flow of the battle while the rest of this article will be dedicated to comments by our technical advisor.

The Government First Brigade begins an assault on Hastee House Crossroads. Rebel reinforcements are rushing to reinforce their outpost.

This battle was actually the second attempt by the Government forces to sieze the crossroads. In the morning both armies, well versed in Developed Portable Warfare, were quickly going to ground under effective fire with very few units choosing to retire to a safe position. Once again, as we saw two years ago, in close terrain opposing troops would close in then take cover and could not be persuaded to even stick their heads up once in a while to shoot at an enemy in cover or to retreat but held on waiting to be rescued. Eventually at the end of the day the government forces pulled back after light casualties and no success.

The ruins of the village has been cleared but much time has been lost due to the stubborn defemce.

Once the troops had been fed and rested they were given a pep talk and ordered to forget their developed training and go back to their original, basic Portable Warfare training. The Rebels must have had a similar pep talk as the ensuing fight was fast paced and free flowing with much manouvring and hard fighting. By the time the UN team imposed a cease fire, both sides were near exhaustion after heavy casualties.

An attempt to turn the enemy's left flank has been driven back by accurate artillery and small arms fire but the armoured assault against the rebels has been forcing them steadily back.

Observers in the press corps all agree that the Government forces fought well and inflicted more harm than they received. The new upgunned tanks were disappointing though as they seemed to be unable to knock out the  enemy armour though they did manage to drive them back into the hills. Initially the enemy fire was just as ineffective but in the end their last tank was left guarding the crucial road while our wrecks were scattered across the field.

Some say though, that the fault wasn't with the tanks but that our crews were too brave and refused to pull back regardless of how effective the enemy fire was while the tricksy rebels would quickly retreat when fired on.

Both armies were nearing exhaustion when a UN observer intervened to inform the command on both sides that a new Ceasefire had been signed.  The Government controls the Crossroad but the battered remnant of the stubborn Rebel tank company still holds the East Road. 

Well, perhaps one of the shortest wars in history but who knows how long this ceasefire will last? A week? A Year?  We will have to wait and see.

___________________________
Technical Footnote: This game was played using the original Portable Wargame. Once again, (to my chagrin since I was one of those urging Bob to include a Pin rule) the Pin rule in the Developed Portable Wargame detracted rather than added to my enjoyment of the game, partly because it took yet more decision making power from me, something I used to applaud but now have reservations about from a gaming point of view but also because the game started to stall as more and more units were pinned and unable ro recover.

It was also played using my now usual system of an initiative deck with colour indicating who was to go first each turn.  I have gone from being an advocate of activation methods to being a critic of many such systems for a long list of reasons some of which were mentioned in an article in Miniature Wargames a few years ago when Henry was editor (or was it in Battlegames?  oh well).  Bob's card system works fairly well although I would be inclined to be more lenient and have it start with a chance of everyone acting but I didn't want to abandon my turn record and intitiative deck or go with multiple decks. So, I decided to try something different.

Since I have no idea what the activation deck really represents I decided it could include factors that apply to both sides. Therefore when I pulled the turn card, it not only showed who was going first but the number showed how many units each side could activate that turn with Court Cards and Aces allowing all units to act. Worked like a charm to occasionally have quiet spells and force difficult decisions to be made without slowing the game or being lopsided or having excessive effect on the game.

As of now the original PW and this Initiative and Activation deck will be my standard for this collection. Being organized, based and ready to go means that from now on it'll be easier to get this collection out when I'm in the mood.

Preparations Continue

The Green, or Government, forces are ready to go with 12 units. I've got a slight hiccup with the other side though since  it turns out that the Herald & Lone Star figures who are going to form the bulk of the Rebel infantry are actually rather green themselves, I had thought they were more khaki-ish like the Crescents were before I painted them. Oh well, the Crescents were smaller like the $ store figures I wanted to use in the Green army and its done now so it'll be the ragtag Government forces with a mix of obsolete and modern weapons and uniforms against a well equipped up to date Rebel force.  I smell foreign support in the air!

Not sure I have the Oomph (technical term) to refurbish the rebels before I play a game, especially since I'm now planning to leave the WWII Canadians intact and see if I can find them a new home. This'll mean eventually finding/making about a dozen replacements to reach the planned OB but there's no rush. I have sabots ready so they can play as is.

Green Army HQ, SP recoiless rifle and 3 infantry companies. I managed to make the Recoilless Rifle dismountable but aren't willing to do the work to allow the model to point directly at a tank which isn't up a mountain.

While I want the games to resemble a One Hour Wargame, ie quick and easy to set up, play and put away, I'm actually planning to use The Portable Wargame for rules since I'd like to have them as the official rules for one of my collections. I am, however, contemplating a few minor tweaks to suit myself.

1. HQ Company. Instead of having a commander who can join a unit and boost its ability to shoot etc, I'm going to make it an ordinary unit but with a range of 1. It will not be allowed to initiate Close Combat but will be allowed to defend itself if attacked. It will still have 6 SP's so it'll take more than 1 lucky roll to eliminate it but if the HQ is eliminated it will still have a big negative impact on Army Morale (Exhaustion). In order to give players a reason to have one, it will not be included in the army's (sic) strength for scenarios but will be a free extra. In addition if using the variable activation, each turn the HQ may add 1 to the activation if it has LOS to an enemy unit and in addition may directly activate 1 friendly unit within 3 squares regardless of whether it can see enemy or not. If it leaves the table it will be treated as eliminated including the loss of its remaining SP's.

2. Unit types. Given the toy soldier element of these armies, I am going to do a short capabilty chart for only the units that I will field and some of those units may have slightly different capabilities such as longer ranges for a generic artillery battery than its appearance might suggest. As an example I am thinking about taking the "Heavy" infantry idea from OGW to make a reinforced infantry company to replace straight MG units.

3. PIN. I am going to modify the Pin rule to allow Pinned units to retreat into adjacent cover as long as they don't move adjacent to an enemy.

4. Hit Effect Chart. Lastly, instead of using the Poor/Average/Elite hit chart which makes it easier for Elite units to retreat, while allowing Poor units to fight to the death if asked to,  I am going to just reduce Poor units by 1SP and increase Elite units by 1SP.

5. Armoured Infantry. These represent infantry with integrated armoured carriers that support their infantry in combat rather than being 'armoured taxis'.  These move like a tank and count as armoured against shooting but count as infantry when shooting and in Close Combat. They are likely to be Elite.

UN Observers Ordered Out as Peace Talks Break Down

It has been nearly 2 years since hostilities between the Red Badge Rebels and the Ducal Army broke out and were swiftly halted but it seems the two sides were largely using the peace talks as a cover for their efforts to organize and prepare for war.

UN peacekeepers pass a Red Patch outpost on their way to the border.

Will last minute peace efforts have any effect or can we expect hostilities in the near future?

To avoid confusion with the Red Patch Brigade's Khaki Drab uniforms, the Ducal army has just adopted Olive Green uniforms and equipment.

Solo Saturday Skirmish

There is something delightful about a Saturday with no obligations or commitments.  I decided it was time for a solo game. It seemed like a month or more since the last one but its actually only been 3 1/2 weeks  and 3 weeks with no game at all prior to Thusday's game! Not usual for me these days.

I had an urge to get my 54mm Britain's out but fresh from reading Bob Kettle's 1/72nd Cold War battle report, and the Archduke's 1/72 Western Desert Portable Wargame Sittingbad, it was on my mind that I had yet to try the Advanced Mid-20thC PW. I decided to grab One Hour Wargaming and my 1/72 Cold War forces and have a quick game.

An hour later I had my table cleared of the various bits of junk that seem to creep on it if left alone. An hour after that I had a scenario and forces selected and the game laid out. Finally I drew a card, looked at the table and thought "Nope! Not enough tiny little guys to get me interested."

Hmmm. "More troops?" Not what I had in mind.
"AHA!" Its been over 4 years since they've been out but I still have a box of Khaki 54's and a few tanks and guns in the back of the cupboard! Big enough to see and mid-20thC. Done!

The Red Patch Rebels clash with the Royal Green Helmets.

I had had an urge to do Sawmill Village but wanted something less familiar so I flipped open  OHW Wargaming to a random page and got: #16 Advance Guard. OK inspired by a PanzerBlitz scenario but essentially Not Quite Sawmill Village. Call it fate.

I didn't have a background for this conflict so I sorted out my Airfix and Atlantic WWII Canadians from the various Herald and Crescent figures, rolled up forces then divided the equipment. By the end of the game I had identified the Not-Canadians with their Red 1st Div Patches as some sort of Socialist Republican rebels leaving the 1950's guys to be the loyal defenders of the Duke of Somewhere's Commonwealth.

The Green Helmets had a CO, 3 infantry companies supported by a mortar, a Sherman and an SP Recoilless Rifle. The Red Patches had a CO, 4 infantry companies, a B.A.T and a Sherman. To claim victory one side would have to have sole possession of the town at the end of 15 turns. Both sides had an Exhaustion Point of 9.

The fighting rages near the 1/2 way point.

Before too long, both sides had rushed infantry into the town and they were locked in combat. In no time everyone was pinned. They couldn't move away or assault so all they could do is stick their heads up blaze away needing 6's to hit then duck back down. Then the Red Patch commander had the bright idea of outflanking a unit of pinned Green Helmets in the town and pushing them out of the town with an assault. It didn't work too well, they missed and were soon pinned down in the open by RR rifle and tank fire and wiped out in a few turns.  The Socialist tank followed in short order. Added to the losses in town the Socialist troops were exhausted by turn 10 but clung to their positions in town while the BAT did its best to remove the threat from enemy armour whenever they came in range.

Things look grim for the Socialists.

For most of the game the Ducal mortar had been pounding the town to little effect until the Socialists sent over a flag of truce to point out that they were in contravention of the rules of war which stated that Mortars could fire over adjacent infantry which were spotting for them but didn't say that they could fire over one town block to hit another.  The mortars had to pack up and shift to the flank but it didn't help their aim much after all.

Finally, as the clock started to wind down, every Ducal unit that wasn't pinned or destroyed was sent forward to try to get a line of fire on the last houseful of Red Patches. The BAT soon took care of that though and the Ducal losses also brought them to Exhaustion.  Only one Red Patch remained in town and only one turn to remove him by fire alone from the mortar and one battered company of infantry.

So close to a draw! With the last die roll of the game a 6 cut down the last Red Patch in town, leaving the town in the hands of the remnants of one pinned Green Helmet company.

So ended a close and absorbing game. There are still a few rules I need to get straight in my head or need to make a house ruling on. For example, a pinned unit cannot move, but can it change facing? For that matter, I seem to recall doing infantry drills for all around defence when on exercise and don't quite see why an infantry unit can't adopt such an all around posture if it doesn't move, at very least if it is defending a town block.

I was surprised to finally notice mid-game that the rule for infantry fire at tanks says they cannot "destroy" them, not that they can't inflict any hits at all.  Given the 1950's setting allowing them some AT defence at 2 squares seems reasonable. 

The other main thing I need to double check, then make my mind up on, is the effect of a retreat result on a pinned unit. I understand that a pinned unit cannot move voluntarily  although it seems odd that tanks can't withdraw under fire even though they are not exactly "hitting the dirt!"  Part way through the game I decided to double check the rule saying that pinned units can't be pushed by a retreat result   but suddenly couldn't find it. I'll need to look again more carefully (Update: found it! Its up front not in the 20thC rules themselves) but am leaning towards adopting a house rule saying that a Pinned unit may not move voluntarily but will obey a retreat result if otherwise able to. This will avoid the several situations I encountered where adjacent opposing units were both pinned meaning neither could retreat or rally until one of them was destroyed. It doesn't sit right with me that retreat, even under cover, would never be an option once you take a hit when close to the enemy so allowing an involuntary retreat seems like a good compromise. In addition, this rule makes Elite troops no better than Militia once they are pinned while adjacent. If I keep to the no retreat rule I'll have to borrow the basic game option of asjusting SP's up 1 for Elite's and down 1 for Militia.

In any event, I think I need to tidy these lads and their friends up and see about some new equipment  and a proper back story. To paraphrase MacArthur: "They shall return!".

The Published Portable Wargame Review: Last Post (sic)

Having played 3 games in 2 periods using both Sudden Death  and Roster options, I decided to test the rules robustness when tinkered with, after all, tinkering is what I do, even with my own rules!

The Mid-20th Century version seemed like the best starting point, not only because the table was still set but this version covers the widest time frame thus offering a good scope for fine tuning. It is also a period for which I don't currently have a set of rules, just various half tested ideas.

My starting point was to decide how many units I wanted to field and how long I wanted the game to last, then I thought about what aspects of the first game that I thought might be honed to suit what I wanted my game to feel like.

1955 2nd game. The Naryatrians decided to send the light armoured forces and truck mounted infantry on a sweeping left hook leaving the Naryatrian blocking force to the infantry and tanks of the main column. The tank duels continued for much of the game with tanks recoiling and manoeuvring to try and find an advantage or escape from disadvantage. 

For this last game I wanted the majority of my available forces on the table for a game that would last for two or more hours. Before getting more specific I sat down with some spare bases and started reorganising the rabble. Once done I played about a bit and decided that I could live with a pair of heavy tanks being a bit cramped in a square. The result was a similar number of units on table with fewer figures being left in their boxes.

In the previous games Sudden Death had felt a bit too sudden at times but my experience using the strength point system for the Zulu Wargame suggested that the planned game would take too long and that going from possibly sudden death to never sudden death would reduce some of the adrenaline factor. I decided to settle in the middle by giving all units 2 hits and counting lost units for exhaustion. This left the possibility that a unit could be eliminated in a single turn if it was fired at by two units.

I had meant to try giving some Elite units 3 hits while reducing some Poor units to 1 hit but once the game was underway I forgot! In the end I upped the Home Defence units to average and just gave the Elite units their usual willingness to retreat rather than die.

The Shermans were continually forced to retire to avoid being outflanked. The Naryatrian infantry soon ran into problems with too many men in too cramped a space. They didn't expect the local village defences to hold them up so long and ended up sending in human waves without having preplanned it. It wasn't pretty when support Roscian infantry and then the MG's in the Palm Grove opened up from a flank. 

The obsolete vs modern tank question still nagged at me so I tried a new angle. Already infantry, mg's etc cannot knock out armoured units by shooting though such units can do so in close combat. I just extended this so that armoured cars can only knock out other light armour by shooting and obsolete/medium tanks cannot knock out modern/heavy tanks using shooting. They have to get close. I also penalised light armour when fighting tanks in close combat. Special exceptions could be just that.

Lastly I decided to experiment with a Pin result to stop units that are pushed back from simply reoccupying their position as if nothing had happened. After much thought I decided to try having all units become pinned if they take a hit. They would then take a -1 on shooting and combat dice and be prohibited from moving adjacent to an enemy or initiating close combat. A unit which wasn't adjacent could remove the pin by not moving or shooting. Pinned units were marked with red bingo markers, casualty markers will look better.

No retreat! The Naryatrians are stacked up against the wall, held up by a stubborn stand of the Local Defence Force. Unseen here is a unit of Roscian paratroops flanking the village on the far side and an impassible oasis and water tank behind the upper left hand attacking unit.  

The forces for this replay were:
Roscia. 11 units + Commander

• On table: 2 Infantry.
• Reinforcements: 1 Elite Infantry with armoured carriers, 2 infantry, 1 MG, 1 Mortar, 1 Engineer, 1 Heavy Tank (Centurion), 1 Medium Tank (Sherman 76mm), Commander.

Naryatria. 16 units + Commander

• 1 Armoured car, 1 Patrol car (as  Armoured car but not armoured), 1 Heavy tank (T##wannabe), 1 medium tank (T34/85), 1 Heavy artillery, 8 infantry (inc 2 Elite), mortar, 2 trucks, Commander,

Just before the last push. The Naryatrians finally took half the village only to be driven out by a counter attack. Their light armour and truck mounted infantry have driven back the Roscian Elite armoured infantry and are about to make a push for the pass.

 In the end the game lasted about 2 1/2 hours (not that I had noticed, I had thought it closer to one hour until the hounds started hooting for their dinners and I checked the time ). The advantage swung back and forth with Roscia just missing a decisive win but managing to hang on for a technical victory, being exhausted but clinging to their positions with the Naryatrians having too little left to force the pass before the game was over. Most of their units had lost 1 stand already so the next hit would have brought them to exhaustion. Presumably Roscian reinforcements were now at hand or something but in any case turn 15 was next and even if the Roscians retreated at full speed and hadn't planted a minefield across the road, the Naryatrians had been pushed back far enough that even unopposed they couldn't reach the pass.

This balance and the fact that tactical errors caused as many or more losses than unusual runs of dice both contributed to my enjoyment of the game. Of course with a 4'x6' table and double the stands per square its not as portable as it could be but then it really has no where it needs to go. Of course the game would play the same with 1 stand units on my portable board.

End game. Once again the Naryatrian artillery has been deadly but this time their mortars also kicked in, finally clearing the town. Under pressure from an all arms assault the Roscian Centurions were forced back and finally destroyed along with their MG, Mortars and HQ bringing them to their exhaustion point. The Naryatrians hovered just above their exhaustion point but had the luck and space to allow units to fall back rather than being destroyed. However, early in the game I remembered that the engineers I had thrown in to make up Roscian numbers had the ability to plant a minefield. Leaving  the hard pressed infantry to hold back the enemy the Sappers hoofed it across the field wishing the government would build some of the truck kits that are in storage. The minefield was finished just in time to stop a mad dash for through the pass before darkness and Roscian reinforcements arrived. (ie Turn 15)

And so ended the long series of border wars between Roscia and Nariatria. The Naryatrian President was faced with unrest following heavy casualties in defeat after defeat and applied to the UN for arbitration. With the growing threat from the Republic of Lital, Roscia was only too glad to agree  so that they could focus on the real enemy.  Undisclosed sources report that Lital is buying up surplus equipment from the Naryatrian army and even recruiting their discharged soldiers to swell their ranks. There are real fears that some serious Portable Wargaming between Lital and Roscia could break out as early as this summer.

The Published Portable Wargame Pt 4b: The Fight for the Junction

As seen in previous post's pictures, the game began with Naryatrian recce forces driving hard up the road until they bumped into local Defence Forces.

Ignoring the threat posed by the arrival of Roscian reinforcements the Naryatrian light forces rush forward to try to seize the objective which is the pass at the end of the table. The lead vehicle spotted the defenders of the town and opened up with its HMG. (repeat picture from the previous post)

Initially I had planned to use 12 units attacking 8 using the standard roster system but my infantry units were in disarray after some fever crazed person cut up many of the bases last spring and while I wanted to get as many of my meagre force of 10 tanks as possible onto the table, the planned 2  model tank units looked rather cramped in practice. In the end I decided to up the number of units to 16 units + transports attacking 12 units. I had a feeling that using that many units with the roster system was going to make for a longer game than I was in the mood for so decided to try the Sudden Death option again.

The Roscians react. I'm not keen on the Roscian camouflage pattern but the Centurion hiding amongst the palm trees on the far right suggests it could be effective in the right circumstances.

The first shot of the game was fired by the truck mounted HMG as it rolled up the road and, despite needing a 6 to hit troops in cover while roaring up the road it destroyed the defenders of the first block of buildings.  (Queue the Rat Patrol theme!)

The invaders won the initiative on the first couple of turns and were first up to the low ridge across the road near the middle of the table. The Roscians had two obvious choices. Deploy all mechanised units to the right and race the enemy to the pass hoping that the town would hold up the enemy and that the following infantry could hit the main column in the flank or counter attack the head of the main column vigorously. A roll of the die selected the latter, aggressive plan.

While one Centurion platoon rushed ahead to the crossroads, the other deployed into cover to provide fire support from the flank. The armoured car and mechanised infantry were sent to relieve or retake the town and drive off the opposing light troops.

The town is secure. Clouds of swirling black Angora rabbit hair mark destroyed vehicles. Red dots mark the demise of Roscian infantry, casualty figures mark lost Naryatrian ones. 

A flip in initiative then offered the Roscians a chance to deal a heavy blow but the tank crew's faith in their  20 pounder guns was misplaced. Behind them though the town's defenders who had earlier been driven out of the town by heavy fire, managed to counter attack and take out the enemy armoured car using their obsolete WWII bazookas at point blank range.  (It felt a bit odd that they could rally and come back so quickly and easily. It was partly due to the initiative flip but I didn't want to stop and think about it.)    With the arrival of the elite Paratroopers in their Saracen backed up by a Saladin armoured car, the town now seemed secure while infantry support for the tanks was up.

Nothing daunted the Shermans shot up the Centurion tank at the cross road and pressed forward sending the truck borne infantry and mortars off road to the left to avoid the Roscian infantry and remaining armour. Behind the infantry, unseen by the camera, a pair of T34's has driven right to flush the remaining Centurion out of the woods and away from the road in case it should hit something at last. (Unfortunately for Roscia the dice heavily favoured Naryatria all game. It got to the point where I made them roll the same dice but even that didn't help! ) The Roscian infantry moved into the grove and spread out across the open and prepared to hold against what was coming.

Hordes of Naryatrian infantry race forward firing as they come.

For a turn or two the situation seemed to be stabilising. The T34's had flanked the last Centurion but it had withdrawn and then shot one to pieces. Then the Naryatrians  deployed their secret weapon: Indirect fire from Mortars and Heavy Artillery!  Turn after turn they dealt out indirect death with the blow of a single die! 6 then 1, 6 then 1. Suddenly the Roscian forces were decimated and Exhausted. All the survivors could do was hang on and hope while the infantry returned fire and the mortar opened up, hitting the last company of T34's badly enough to cause the crews to abandon their tanks.

As luck would have it, the last aggressive Roscian move had been to slip their armoured car through a gap in the line towards the deadly artillery. As the gunners hastily lowered their sights and gun barrels, firing wide in panic, the armoured car let loose with HE and machine gun fire.  Suddenly the Naryatrians had had enough!

 The pass was in sight but the Roscians were still blocking the way. Of their 7 AFV units only 2 were still operational and in addition to the loss of their artillery, several infantry companies had been shot apart including the elite Red Berets of the Lion Brigade. (Oddly enough every one of the 4 Elite units (Centurions, Paratroopers and Lion Brigade)  was killed by the first shot that hit it! I was left wishing on their behalf that I had used the roster system!)

Despite the cessation of hostilities due to exhaustion, the Roscian mission had been accomplished. The Pass had been held.

Instead of working on this blog post yesterday as intended, I found myself reorganising  and basing the infantry of both sides into 2 stand units. Further hopeful experiments with putting 2 vehicles in a square were unsuccessful though. Still, it was enough that a new game is on the table with some house rules to try out. That report by Monday!  

The Published Portable Wargame Pt 4a: The Set Up.

The mid20th Century portion of the Portable Wargame takes a stab at the nearly impossible task of creating a simple wargame covering a period of wide technological and tactical change. Inevitably there are compromises that must be made and just as inevitable that different wargamers will have different opinions on what is essential to capture the flavour of any given sub-period. Luckily the rules are quite responsive to  tweaks that do not run too counter to the spirit.

I wanted to do something that involved tanks but no longer have my old WWII armies. Micro-armour, 10mm, 1/72nd and 54mm forces, all gone, but I do have my 1/72nd fictional 1950's troops. I wanted something a bit bigger and more complex than the last test game so I decided to base a scenario loosely on CS Grant's Hasty Blocking Position scenario from Programmed Scenarios.

The main Naryatrian column rolls onto the table, 76mm Shermans and the motorised Rhino Brigade leading the way as Roscian reinforcements rush to cut them off at the crossroad.

There is one issue with the mid 20th Century rules that I have trouble getting over and that is Bob's decision to have  just two classes of tank: light and everyone else and only a difference in range between light tank guns and tanks. There are campaigns during WWII when the  opposing sides' armoured and anti-tank forces were well matched and fit easily into the given categories but there were also some campaigns where the opposing armour was very mismatched or where there was a great range in capabilities of antitank and tank weapons. One need only think of the panic in 1940 when an attack by Matilda  tanks could not be stopped by 37mm antitank guns and 88mm antiaircraft guns had to be pressed into service, or of the adage in Normandy that it took three Shermans to take out a Tiger.

I'm not a rivet counter and I'm not interested in minute differences in armour and armament but I want to include that tactical challenge of how to deal with a serious imbalance of capabilities.

The Roscian forces are equipped primarily with British and American tanks, Centurions, Pershings and Shermans (though apparently, based on photographic evidence,  the Naryatrians are now operating Shermans as well). The Naryatrians usually field a mix of T34/85's and T55's.  It goes against the grain to consider Shermans and Centurions as equal but my only options were to call the Shermans and T34's "light" tanks or bring in a house rule. I was initially going to use the roster system so thought about making the heavier tanks Elite with an extra hit point but that would just mean that other modern tanks would have just as much trouble taking out an opposing modern tank as would an obsolete WW2 tank. I eventually decided to arm the obsolete tanks with the same range 3 gun as used by light tanks. This meant that the modern tanks had a 1 area range superiority but once in range of each other, equal combat ability. Any other house rule would have to wait for a future game.

Roscian Centurions roll on. The tan vehicles ahead of them belong to a Naryatrian recce squadron.

 The scenario is "inspired by" rather than an accurate translation of Grant's scenario. In this case there is a road running towards a pass in some rocky hills with a T junction, a village and some scattered groves of trees. A Naryatrian surprise attack has broken through and a column of light armour and infantry is rushing to secure the pass. The village is held by local defence troops while  a column of regular army troops rush to establish a defensive position in the pass before the Naryatrians arrive.

The table grid was 10x14 squares.

The Roscian forces were composed of :
Local Defence: 2 units infantry
Column: 1 Armoured Car
1 Saladin armoured transports with MG carrying a unit of Elite infantry
2 tanks
1 mortar
3 infantry
1 HQ

The Naryatrian force was comprised of

1 armoured car
2 non-armoured cars (a portee recoilless rifle and truck mounted HMG. These aren't in the rules so I treated them like armoured cars except that they are vulnerable to infantry and MG fire and the HMG  can not kill tanks when shooting.)
4 obsolete (light) tanks
4 trucks
6 infantry
1 mortar
1 heavy artillery.
1 HQ

The last of the Roscian local defence troops try to get close enough to use their bazooka on the armoured car.

That's it for tonight. More tomorrow.

Fast and Furious Fifties

Boy, simpler is sure harder than complex when it comes to rules.

Nonetheless, I persevered. My first effort was to revisit the  20th C version of the Square Brigadier complete with Orders dice. I added a village for the blocking force to take cover in and scattered a few other bits around the table. The game was pretty good despite me losing but it wan't quite right and it reminded me that I have come to dislike the Orders dice concept. Back to the drawing board.

Near the end of Game 3. The Lilliputian  dice were HOT! on the first few turns and I despaired for Roscia but it all came right in the end. The Roscian Commander managed to sneak off with 2 decimated infantry companies, a damaged Centurion and an HQ. (It said units, not viable units...) The Heavy Weapons company is contemplating blowing up the BAT and making a run for it. The Green force also took a beating near the end and has lost 3 of its infantry units and the Pershing is 1 hit away from destruction. 2 out of 3 for Roscia.

The final game was a nip and tuck affair with a heart pounding, nail biting end. I'm ready for Minicampaign game 2 now. The  product of today's fevered brain is attached below.
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Fast and Furious Fifties

A simple wargame for Mid-20th C toy soldiers
10 Apr 2016

All measurement is in multiples of a convenient standard length. If using a grid then it is numbers of grid squares or hexes. If not using a grid then roughly equal to the frontage of an average unit. Basic units are "companies" of Infantry, Heavy Weapons or Tanks and Headquarters (HQ). 

1. Sequence of play. Assign red to one side, black to the other. Draw one card per turn. That colour goes first that turn.
1. Movement. The active Player moves units.
2. Defensive Fire. The inactive player may shoot with his units. 
3. Close Assaults The active player now resolves shooting by his units which are adjacent to the enemy but only by those which are adjacent. If the defender is eliminated or retreats then a unit which attacked this turn may occupy the ground..
2. Movement. 
1. Isolated Units. Units which are not within 9 of the HQ are considered isolated and must roll 4,5 or 6 on 1 die in order to move. 
2. Maximum Moves. Infantry: 2, Heavy Weapons and HQ: 2 in the open, 1 in bad going. Tanks:3 in the open, 1 in bad going.  
3. Attacking. A unit that moves adjacent to an enemy must stop and resolve close combat. 
4. Heavy Weapons. A heavy weapons unit which moves must be marked as being packed. It may not fire during its next defensive fire phase. 
5. Roads. A unit moving by road may add 1 area but may not move adjacent to known enemy 
3. Shooting.  
1. Line of Sight. Infantry and tanks must have line of sight and line of fire to target. Heavy Weapons must have LOS from themselves or from friendly unit that does not move. Units may turn as required to shoot without penalty.
2. Engaged. If a unit began its move adjacent to enemy it may only shoot at or be shot at by adjacent units. If a unit is adjacent to more than 1 enemy then it must split its dice.
3. Dice@Range: Infantry 3d@1, 2d@3, Tanks 3d@3, 2d@6, Heavy Weapons 3d@6, HQ 2d@1.
4. Difficult Targets -1d vs cover or if Infantry or Heavy Weapons vs tanks unless adjacent. 
5. Pinned. -1 die if pinned.
6. Effect. Each 5 or 6 is a hit.
7. Driven Back. A tank unit which is hit by enemy shooting may cancel 1 hit each turn by retreating a full move and becoming pinned.
8. Hitting the Dirt. An infantry, heavy weapons or HQ unit which is not adjacent to an enemy may cancel 1 hit each turn by going pinned.
4. Morale. Units have a base strength which is reduced by 1 for each hit which is not cancelled. When strength reaches 0 the unit is removed. 
1. Base Strength. Infantry can take 4 hits, other units take 3 hits.
2. Quality. Elite Units take 1 extra hit, Poor units take 1 less.
3. Pinned.  Pinned units lose 1 die when shooting and may not move except to retreat. The pin may be removed at the end of their movement phase.

Get'em up!

Well, one never quite knows what to expect. Last Sunday, a few hours after playing the first game of a 3 part miniseries using the new Elastolins, I was struck down by a nasty flu bug or similar. By Wednesday I managed to scribble a quick game report (click here to see the report or go to the Gathering of Hosts blog) but that's been it for hobby stuff for the week.

Today I finally felt up to playing something small, simple and seated. Seemed like a good time to break out my old card table set up and some little figures as well as being an appropriate time to give One Hour Wargames another try.  But which period?

A Roscian column makes it way down the road : 4 infantry platoons lead followed by the Battalion (recoiless) AT gun and a Centurion. Their mission is to press on and exit at least 3 units by Turn 15. If not slowed by the enemy the column could accomplish this in  3 turns. Some veteran gamers may recognize the infantry portion of A company. 
(Some veteran 20mm gamers may recognize the make of the infantry portion of the 1st platoon.)

It has been on my mind that after investing time and money in my 'game in a box' 1/72 modern (well they were contemporary when first produced) troops two years ago, they haven't been out since.  Fair enough, I've never tried the OHW WWII rules and these lads are just barely post WWII. Just the thing for today.  I decided to start one of Thomas'  suggested mini-campaigns. I rolled Scenario 6, selected 2 armies and then tried to figure out the best way to fit the game onto my 36"x30" board. The simplest way would have been to fudge the 6" so I decided to mark off an area of 27"x 27" ( or 9x9 3" squares) and reduce all measurements by 3/4. This  gave me a border around the edge to hold off table troops and gaming paraphernalia. I made a quick measuring stick marked with ranges and movement since my brain was still too fuzzy to calculate such things on the fly.

I rolled up 2 armies and, after consulting the curiously jumbled boxes, determined that the Green, or Lilliputian, Army would defend. This army once had a slightly different name but I was having trouble remembering it and since the infantry are largely CtoA copies of the old Britain's Lilliput version of the Herald Khaki infantry I decided that it will work fine. The meant that I would attack with my Roscian or Khaki Army.

At the end of turn 1 the column has taken significant casualties while deploying to attack a blocking force of 2 Green Infantry platoons. Green reinforcements have also shown up, a Pershing, a mortar, and 2 more infantry platoons.  By turn 2 almost every unit is firing with superb fire control, massing their fire for optimum effect. Units started disappearing ....fast!  (Note, the last row of squares is not in play)

Once again it took considerably longer to set up the game than to play it but from the time I decided that I wanted to play something through finding stuff and dragging it downstairs to finishing the game, it did take just under an hour. The Lilliputians did manage to put up enough resistance to slow the Lilliputian advance by 2 turns but it was all over by the 1/2 way mark of the 5th turn as the Roscians exited the board.

Lower die rolls all around would have helped prolong the game but that's dice for you. Having to defend with modern troops in the open, the only real hope for the Green army was the support of their deadly mortar platoon which came into action on Turn 2 and played a roll in all 3 destroyed Khaki units.   At least, not including the initial battleplan, there were actually 2 points in the game when I had to make a decision about moving or shooting. Once for each side.  The rest of the game was win the firefight or die.    If I should replay the game I'll probably let the blocking force infantry entrench.

By turn 3 the Green infantry blocking force had been eliminated and the Pershing was out of range of living targets so it rolled forward  despite having already taken heavy damage. On Turn 4 it took the  combined fire of the BAT and Centurion and the road was open.  The mortar, still firing for all it was worth, took out the BAT  but there was nothing to stop the Centurion and the 2 remaining Khaki Infantry from exiting the board. 

The temptation is strong to add some terrain, switch rules, then play it again. Maybe tomorrow.

Up 100

One of the main reasons for play testing is to see what ideas were off target and what was missed so you can adjust before playing for effect. 

Roscian forces deploy to seize control of a disputed area on the border with Lital.

I  didn't really have time to play a game on Sunday but I got a break mid afternoon and decided to see if I could rearrange a scenario for the 1950s game to fit on the 8x10 grid of 9cm squares. The tanks being too big to fit on the 3" grid. The first stab at it had led me to believe that the only option was to restrict these games to the full table but I suspected the layout was the real issue. By turning the game 90 degrees, bending the roads to the corners so as to prevent lead mechanized elements from reaching the center on the initial turn and by using terrain to restrict line of sight, it suddenly seemed doable. I set up a few units to check but of coarse I had to move them on for a turn or two to be sure, and that of course meant that they were engaged. I confess that I was quite surprised when my wife arrived home early, just as I was deciding that the Roscians had just lost yet another encounter, and commented on the dying embers in the wood stove we rely on. Ooops. 

Lital Pershings work their way through the palm groves in a bid to outflank the Roscian troops. The red counters are reminders that they have been getting the worse of a duel with some Centurions.

So as you might have guessed I was enjoying the game and finding it engaging but I also identified one major issue and a couple of small ones. The big one was that since I hadn't really planned on getting the Lital forces into action this quick, I hadn't figured out their organization and I hadn't stopped to classify any of the units on either side for use with TCSB so I had to wing it. The minor things included having forgotten to write in a road bonus and not knowing if the mechanized infantry and their apc should be 1 unit or 2, and realizing that I had no mount/dismount rule. During the game I realized that the way I was treating HQ units like a 19th C commanders was not sitting well.  Rating the various tanks was a real headache and having looked at various ways of representing the effect of heavy armour and various guns, I found myself getting confused and changing my mind mid game until I sat down  chose unit capabilities and decided to play it as written. That worked better.

Having lost 1 troop of Centurions and suffered severe infantry casualties in heavy street fighting, the Roscians pull back.

By Sunday night all updates were made and the rules are ready for more testing. I need to do some work on miniatures, background and organization of the nearly modern stuff and I want to get some more RCW figures painted (finally) so it might be a week or three. A game might be sooner but I am also nearly done updating the 19th C version to use the same sequence and methods of applying modifiers and determining  retreats and the 1/72 ACW lads haven't had a chance to try out their new bases yet.

A River Runs Through

The first draft of 20th Century Square Brigadier (aka Hats of Tin) is almost ready.  Working on a 7" tablet is mmmmm..... frustrating at times but getting easier as I learn new ways. Good for the little grey cells.

In the meantime I bought a dollar's worth of blue foam sheets and used some to make some river sections for the 9cm grid. 

I wasn't at it long before I decided I really wanted to include these rules in the Square Brigadier series using the same generic concepts, sequence and basic mechanisms but with different unit characteristics and particular or period rules. This is going to cause me a small amount of grief as while they all started with the same general ideas, this iteration looks better to me  from a practical game experience so that means more rewriting to align them again. 

It also didn't take long to realize that in that case, one set could be stretched to go from 1900 to 1960ish if using relative values and allowing for improvements in organization and communications as well as weapons.

Hopefully  a test game and the first draft tomorrow. Probably RCW since the Lital army only has enough painted figures for 5 infantry units and is having an internal fight over whether or not the ease of removing single figure casualties balances the logistic issues of tracking 3 score figures less than an inch tall and light enough to float on the wind and the cost and trouble of magnets and unit trays.