Skirmish Rules Testing: Part 1 - Setup and Danger Close

I've been wanting to find a good set of modern/SF (even WW2) skirmish rules for a while now. By "skirmish" I mean typically less than 10 figures a side (i.e. about a section or a party of adventurers + opposition) where:

• 1 figure = 1 person/being/bot
• Ground scale = figure scale
• A "turn" is probably less than a minute
• Firing and most other tests are per figure not per unit/element
• Damage is per figure not per unit/element
• Damage is probably gradated(?)(light/serious) and probably located (arm/chest etc)

Ideally I'd also like to use them for RPG play too - mainly Traveller scenarios.

Over the last few years I've tried Force On Force (just at edge of definition), Chain of Command (definitely out of definition), and Skirmish Sangin (OK but v complex turn sequence, and general high complexity).

So now I've decided to "blitz" it and play as many as I can lay my hands on (cheaply or free!) and give them a go. I'll also be throwing some old favourites in there! Of course the upshot is I'll end up writing/updating my own, but we'll see.

So as to have a consistent evaluation I've decided to use Colin Phillip's "Protect the Film Crew" Skirmish Sangin scenario from Aug 18 of MW. The main change is that I've positioned 10 spawn points around the battlefield where each of one of the 5 the insurgents will start, rolling for each when required (eg successful British spotting roll or tempting target!).  Of course being me I'm also modding all rules to play on the 4cm hex grid of my nice new desert cloth. here's the set-up, with the Brits ready to move across the river bridge at the bottom left, and insurgents in a holding pen bottom right. Small spawn point markers just visible - mainly on rooftops.

The Brits have two fire teams, each SA80 (comd), SA80+UGL, SA80 and Minimi LMG. The media team is an unarmed cameraman and reporter, and interpreter with AK47. All allies have body armour. There are 10 insurgents, one with PKM, one with RPG7, rest with AK47, none with body armour. Generally the insurgents have lower ability, and leaders have higher ability than their troops.

So let's get to it!

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Danger Close

Presentation

Nicely presented double sided A4, laminated, and that's the whole rules. Seem well laid out, although some detail in the small print (e.g. grenades). £5 for laminated, £1.50 for PDF from Empress Miniatures.

How it Played

The Brits didn't make it as far as the T junction before they spotted insurgents on the roof NE of the T junction. That team then turned out to be the RPG one. Despite intense fire from the Brits an RPG tore into the road before the smoke could be put up. The RPG missed the trooper on the road but hit just by the right hand wall corner where the TV crew were sheltering - not a direct hit but the blast was enough to kill the camera man and severely wound two of the soldiers. Oops. 

The death, wound and shock carnage after the first RPG!

The smoke cleared quickly, but by then the Section Commander had got on top of the building SE of the T Junction and took out the RPG man. 

RPG man goes down!

As the team prepared to extract the casualties the insurgents opened up form the next building E and from the field edge further E. One of the UGL guys kept pumping smoke to try and protect the open flank whilst the casevac got underway but one insurgent team moved S along the field edge out of the smoke and inflicted two more serious casualties.

With RPG loader finally killed the Section Commander pulled everyone back to the casualties and men started sprinting back to the bridge carrying their wounded comrades. Fire from the other building was ineffective but the OC and his No 2 took one of the pair out. Then the OC called in off-table support and managed to get the Sniper and HMG in the same go, the former taking out the second of the building pair, the latter taking out one of the insurgents that was boldly trying to move through the scrub towards the mosque. 

Laying down the smoke

The Brits managed to clear the rest of the casualties, the insurgents now had 4 dead and two running away, so ENDEX was declared. The dead cameraman wasn't going to go down well on the evening news, but the Brits had no other permanent losses and 4 insurgents killed.

Rules Impression

Given that (because?) the rules are just two sides of A4 they played well and quickly, gave generally good results and overall I was pretty impressed and would certainly play them again. More specific comments:

• AP allocation and use was good
• Spot and fire mechanic and  DMs  good
• Simple use of radio to communicate and call-in  good,
• Shock  good - like the way it disappears after a test
• RPG  lethal!
• Appears to have no AP for RPG7 reload
• No UGL firing rules - just treated as grenades (no grenade range either - strong arms!)
• Would have though that the off table SF HMG would have a beaten zone rather than point target

One thing that did strike me was whilst I'm generally in favour random activation its doesn't work well in this sort of setting. In fact by prioritising the high S&D characters (the commanders) you actually get the reverse of what you want which is where a) units move by pairs and fireteams and b) commanders probably hang back til they see what is happening. Will have to build that in to mine. May be less relevant for an RPG, but even then you'd want to co-ordinate.

There may also be a general case for a more involved spotting sequence, for instance:

• Just because I can see someone on a roof top doesn't mean I can shoot at them - do we need rules of engagement?
• How does the guy on the rooftop know he's been spotted so he can take evasive/first action - interrupts?

ENDEX!

Overall

I'd give Danger Close 8/10 - a really good value set of rules which play well and give a realistic result!