More Modern Musings and a Framework.

There is a long way to go but I've decided enough things to start.

Another day, another Roscian border post, this time on the Lital frontier, c 1964
but who is that coming down the road?

A. The game must work for both small scenarios on a small board and larger scenarios  on the full table, whatever its final size,  and must use a common board with other gridded games. The 3" grid squares are a bit too small for some units  but the experimental 9 cm squares seem to work for all the periods and units that I'm considering for use on a grid.   I would like to find room for a slightly larger portable board but for now I will plan on a minimum board of 8x10 squares. Any increase will be gravy.

B. I will stick with platoon sized units but the larger grid will allow 2 units in a square allowing concentration and combined arms but of course with increased risk from area fire. It will also allow me to use a rough scale of 150 to 200 yds per square or 5 or 6 squares to a km. To put it another way, if I ran the Kennetcook river down 1 edge of the main table and put my house on the Belmont Road on the middle of one edge, Newport Landing would go in the far corner with the  Avondale road turning and running up as far as Poplar Grove. That allows me to picture what I'm looking st in terms of ranges, movement and terrain.

C. Abstraction. When dealing with units vs individuals it can be hard to abstract things like rate of fire, accuracy, training doctrine,  armor protection,  casualties, morale etc into simple but reasonable rule mechanisms. Luckily I have given myself the advantage of using fictional armies which will make it easier as I can level out equipment,  training and doctrine if I choose.

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Overview

Sequence of play will be igougo with a command dieroll to activate company headquarters or individual platoons. Activated HQs can activate any unit within 3 squares  (Counting orthogonally).

Activation will allow a unit to move or shoot or move and close assault or go into over watch allowing reaction fire during the enemy turn.  Any unit subjected to a close assault will get a defensive fire after movement but before the enemy roll. Each activated unit or group of units will resolve movement and fire before the next one starts so HQs are important to coordinate attacks.

When a call is made for area fire from mortars or artillery, fire against registered target squares  will be resolved immediately.  Against other targets a marker indicating   ranging shots will be placed but the fire will be resolved next turn. Unless registered the fire may wander when it comes down. Area fire and air attacks will be made against all units in the target square. I'll need to figure out a method for calling air support.

Combat Effects.  My first instinct was to fallback on the old roll to hit then roll for effect but I do like the simple elegance of the Memoir single roll. I will probably reduce the number of hit results though and since I don't have the nice dice with pretty pictures it will rely on numbers. I think a loss of dice to shoot to the rear.

Morale. Elite units will be able to take an extra hit and ignore 1 retreat. Some units may also get an extra die when shooting. Poor units will take 1 less hit than normal and will retreat 2 squares for each retreat result.

The first appearance of the Lital army on a tabletop.

Alas that's it for now.  I need to get another test game of the latest Macduff on the table in preparation for Huzzah but the Lital Wars will return in a few days.

Modern Musings

I know, I know the 1950s/60s is no longer considered modern by most people but compared to Greeks and Persians the designation stands.

As soon as I started looking at rules I realized there was a major problem,  I don't know what I'm doing.  Not in either sense. What are my units; sections, platoons or companies? What is the scale? Who is the player?

Looking at Memoir is not much help since it explicitly does not have one, units might be anything from squads to battalions depending on the scenario. Its about feel and the different uses of the arms and how they work together.  Its also a fun game. Both of these are objectives that I applaud but that's easier said than done.

Out of habit, I called my units platoons and operated them in company groups. When I first started gaming WWII all the rules  I used were at a low level where a tank was a tank and a group of 10 to 20 infantry was a platoon. Things at that level made sense except for the time factor, I never trained as an infantryman but between being in the Black Watch cadets and doing Basic Officer training, one picked up a bit and I can remember getting to do the  occasional weekend exercises, humping through the bush with an FN rifle and a tinpot for a hat. Just enough to know how confusing it can get even when everyone is firing blanks not real bullets and aren't really trying to kill you.

I think Panzer Blitz was my first exposure to a game where a tank was a  unit etc, not that I played many games. There was probably a link somewhere between that and designing home rules in the 80's where units were platoons but I can't think what it was, maybe CD although I hadn't played it yet. Anyway, looking at the gridded game, if each unit is a platoon, each square is probably  around about 100 yds and a 20pdr tank gun can easily fire across the table if it had LOS. That's definitely not the kind of game I want to play.

If as seems logical, I promote units to companies, I hit the snag, I haven't studied that level of command and 20thC warfare enough, have no personal knowledge and have no rulesets to crib from! It will also cause some severe visual disconnects between the 20mm models and a small playing board. I'm not sure yet if that will help or hinder!  Anyway, after reading a little about a couple of Korean, Indo-Pakistan, and Sino Indian battles, I think its the right level. Its goung to take some thought to do that as a game of army men without rosters or too many markers but is the task I see before me.

A Hasty Attack (with tanks)

Winter has been dragging on, as it does, and to dispel the looming threat of cabin fever I decided a quick, minimal preparation game was in order, preferably something using at least something from my Christmas present.  The Green infantry aren't quite ready so the Naryatrians were up again with a shiny new T34 and a new Pershing. Since they won the last two games, they are pressing the attack and the Roscians are dug in on the defence.

Last year I built a portable, gridded, game board so I could play downstairson occasion. Due to various things including uncertainty about the sort of games I wanted to play and the size of grid, leading to a lack of portable terrain, I haven't used it much this winter but I'm hoping to fix that. The previous "modern" (aka 1950's/60's)  games have been played on the upstairs table partly to  gain maneuvering room, partly for optics esp range vs model size. This was leading me towards 8 infantry or 2 vehicle/gun platoons. With my decision to refocus and keep the sideshows small, I decided to try downsizing the 1950s onto the small grid using 4 man or single vehicle platoons. It'll mean a surplus of unpainted 1/72nd plastic figures for now at least but they are cheap, they keep well and  don't take up much room.

The armies deploy. 

I wanted to play, not work on figures or terrain and certainly not muck about with rules so I made a few quick decisions in my head and improvised as I went. The cards worked well enough last time but not well enough to warrant planning on taking them downstairs and finding room for decks and hands. Instead I grouped up to 3 platoons into companies and rolled 1d6 per turn to see how many companies could be activated. I basically used the movement and combat  from Memoir but counting diagonals as 2 for shooting with movement being orthogonal only.

The Roscians were dug in with 2 pillboxes and 2 trench lines (aka old 15mm horse and musket redoubts) in lieu of not yet constructed foxholes. They had 3 platoons of militia (3 figs), 6 of regulars, 2 mortars plus an HMG platoon and a recoilless rifle manning the pillboxes.  There was a platoon of Centurions off table  which could be activated on a roll of 5,6.  The Naryatrians had 3 platoons of elite Lion Brigade Commandos (5 figs), 6 of regular infantry, a mortar,  a truck mounted rocket launcher, 2 mechanicals and 2 off table tank platoons in reserve, 1 of 2 T34s, 1 with a single Pershing.

The tanks arrive as the Roscian right flank collapses.

The game rolled alone at a good pace with a good mix of player decision and random frustration for command control and the usual no guarantee combat results so with a bit of tension and excitement.

The end of the prolonged tank battle. Black 'smoke' marks each hit. Destroyed tanks are flipped over until they get in the way. 

To sum up, it was a fun game taking a little over an hour to play a very simple situation. It left me wanting to play more but also wanting to fix a few things since I'm not really playing Memoir any more. I liked the way the company activation worked and I have an ample supply of officers and radio men now. I've never liked the short range and the 'diminishing with range' effect of the artillery. I suspect it has to do with the flex-scale of the original game but artillery that only has twice the range of a rifle platoon and has to get with rifle range to be effective but against which entrenchments are of no value, just doesn't feel right to me. I also don't like the ability of long range infantry  fire to chip away at tanks and the possibility of moving up and close assaulting someone with no defensive fire.  The ranges look a little short when the tanks engage, but keeping ranges down helps make the board feel larger so I'll think about that one. All easily fixed but I think I'll start with looking at my Russian Civil War rules and see if I can make them compatible to ease the strain on my brain.

 Over all, I think this has good possibilities for a quick evening's game in the wreck room but I will need to rethink the Lital front.  The lower number of figures is good but I need to work on a back story that will let me play over green but open fields. Too many tall trees on a small, portable board are a nuisance, especially when the ones on the edge look tasty and fun to chew (to the dogs not me).  Terrain that is easy to store and  transport is what's needed so production needs to resume on matching roads,streams and hills plus buildings and woods etc. The question still needs to be resolved though, do I work with the 3" grid and flocked terrain.meaning the figures for the portable game should be flocked to match, or should I see if I can make a board big enough to work if using 9cm squares, painted to match the table upstairs for maximum flexibility of terrain pieces and figures.

The situation at the point where the Roscians were forced to retreat. A narrow victory for the attackers, only a few more actual hits vs retreats would have stopped them.