Starships!

Again as part of the Traveller project I needed a model to represent a Free Trader and found this (right) Surcouf class Destroyer which passes muster. I thought I might as well get something to represent an aggressor (pirate or Imperial) if required and the Tshwane class Heavy Cruiser looked suitably menacing.

Who knows I might finally get around to trying out Full Thrust.

Mystery SF Figures

Needing some figure to support a Traveller RPG idea I'm working on I remembered some figures (25mm), painted and unpainted sulking around in my Striker box. No idea where they came from - possible the original Games Workshop shop in the early 80s, but I finally painted up the unpainted ones.

If anyone knows who manufactured there's I'd love to know, the adventurer figures in particular are great sculpts.

Here's the unpainted ones as I retrieved them from the Striker box.

Kings of War Playtest

Basileans left and Albion right

As well as being on the hunt for a set of Medieval Rules I like I'm also after a set of "fantasy" rules for when my Dark Material project finally gets going. Kings of War seemed popular and getting good reviews so I thought I'd give it a try.

Albion Handgunners await the battle

Presentation

I bought the "Gamers Edition" - which is for players and stripped of the world lore. 144pp softback, full colour and lots of pictures. However only 24 pages are the rules, the rest are Army Lists. Layout is OK, following the turn sequence of Movement, Ranged Attack, Melee Phase and Nerve. The rules are strict IGO-UGO.

Basilean Currours and Billmen

Set-Up

I've now got enough figures for 7 units a side (16 figs per unit except the Currours): 3 x Ranged, 2 x Bill, 1 x DMAA, 1 x Currour. I used Polemos ECW to randomly set the terrain (still not happy with a generic terrain set-up either), and randomly diced a scenario from KoW getting No. 2 Loot where 3 loots items are placed down the centre line, and the winner is the side controlling most at the end of the game (Turn 6 or 7). I also randomly generated the "stance" of each battle, which also effected what balance of units it got. That ended up with the Basileans attacking centre, with support on their L and hold on their R, and Albion attacking Basilean L, supporting centre and holding Basilean R.

Albion Archers

How It Played

(All flanks are Basilean)

Albion was quick off the mark on the L, taking the first loot despite constant arrow fire from the Basileans. They then pushed on with their main force to take on the Basilean Billmen defending the stream (not a good tactical or strategic move) and took til the end of the game to dispatch them, whilst the loot was shuffled off to the rear.

Basilean Archers

In the centre the Basileans got there first, but was taking damage from the Albion handgunners. A battered group of archers escorted the loot back, whilst the DMAA and Billmen went after the handgunners and finally routed them.

The melee about to develop by the ford, Albion on L, Basilean on R

On the R two archer units faced off against each other - with a hill in the way and the loot on the hill and both on hold orders. Both got bored and legged it for the hill. The Basileans got their first but the Albion archers were advancing and firing, chasing them down the hill and then into melee - which Albion won. Taking the loot from the Basileans the Albion archers tried to beat a retreat but the remaining Basilean units in the centre swung R to be ready to taken them in the flank - but that exposed their own flank to the remaining Albion billmen in the centre who, in the last turn of the game, charged the Basileans, routed them and by stopping them from seizing the loot from the archers secured the game for Albion.

The fight in the centre developing

Rules Impression

Very much a fast play set of rules, only 1 or 2 DMs for shooting, no friction and solid IGO-UGO - so a unit can advance, and attack (even melee) before the enemy can fight back.  It's also very much bunch-of-dice, typically rolling 8-15 to hit, then 1/3rd of those to damage, then another 2 for Nerve - too many for me. Very restricted movement as well (any pivot is a whole turn). Damage also does not affect effectiveness, so even with 10 damage your fight as though full strength, although your chances of rout are almost 100% the next time you take damage.

Albion billmen about to pounce on the exposed Basilean flank

Ouch - that's a lot of damage - double dice (so 24!) for flank attack

Probably fine to introduce someone to the game, particularly if coming from Warhammer, but not really for me.

The search continues.....

Platoon Mega Playtest: Part 11 - Bolt Action:Reality Check

The "pillarbox Panzer" has its target partially masked by smoke

That's all the rule sets I want to test, so as a finale I played Bolt Action again but with various house rules to hopefully give more realistic ranges, better balance between rifles and MGs, and fixes to indirect fire and smoke amongst other things, I've christened as Bolt Action: Reality Check.

Presentation

3 sheets of A4 QRS covering pretty the whole of the BA rule book and incorporating my changes. Hardly needed to check the real rulebook at all.

British advancing in line from top to bottom

Set-Up

Operation Martlet Scenario 6: The Last Ditch at Ruaray, the final Op Martlet scenario, again with open ground to a mix of wood and buildings giving a good defensive position. The Germans lost their IG, and the Brits lot the 4th Section and UC but gained an MFC as the mortars were going to come in handy!

The Panzer IV lies in wait

How It Played

The Brits just went for it initially, No. 1, 2 and 3 sections in line abreast, moving rapidly across the open ground so they managed to get rounds on target in their first turn. It was then a slogging match, each Section paired against a German Gruppen.  The Cromwell came out to give support, and Panzer IV countered, and got its tracks blown off for the privilege - but became a very useful turreted strong point. Despite smoke coming down No.1 Section began to suffer the most and soon routed, followed by No. 3 Section. The Germans were taking some losses, but had the benefit of cover. With only No.2 Section left and that suffering the Platoon was pulled back. Round 1 to the Germans.

Smoke on the crossroads doesn't save the Brits

The Company commander still had to get his objective though, so the Mortars put down a round of fire on the German position, putting 2-3 pins on most units, and killing the sniper hiding in the farm attic. No. 2 Platoon was then sent forward, again rapidly moving across ground in line abreast and into rifle range. The weakened German Gruppen had to spend a turn recovering pins, and given the order of the dice this meant the Brits got 2 rounds of fire in before the Germans could respond. Again the weakness of the German Gruppen was telling as they couldn't inflict the same damage as the brits, despite taking No. 2 Section  Commander out. 3. Gruppen on the German L was first to go, then No. 2 Gruppen fled, and so finally the Zug pulled back, the Panzer IV firing HE at No. 1 Section which had gone to ground behind a hillock to cover the withdrawal. Game over, Campaign over, the Brits had got the the Ruaray cross-roads on the second try.

No. 2 Platoon moves in to clear the now empty crossroads as the Germans exit stage right

Overall

This played really well. The openness of the terrain meant that it was lacking some of the manoeuvre of the first Bolt Action game, but all the results seemed realistic, and 2 Platoons to unseat 1 defensive Platoon seems reasonable. All my changes worked well too, and this has certainly ended up for me as my go-to Platoon set. Next to try it for SF and Modern, and then next year at Company level. I'd give it 9.5 I think.

Platoon Mega Playtest: Part 10 - Contact: Wait Out!

Having ripped everybody else's rules apart, time for my own!

Presentation

Although I have a 43 page A4 rulesbook (few photos) I played exclusive off the 2pp A4 QRS.

Set-Up

Operation Martlet Scenario 5: Winning Your Spurs again with a mad advance across open ground.

How It Played

No. 1 Section on the left (fm British), No. 2 Section on the right. As No. 2 Section got to about 100 and crested the hummocks, failing to spot the 2. Gruppen in the hedgeline, 2. Gruppen opened fire and wiped out No. 2 Section (they got 3 activations - one for reserved overwatch, one for normal that turn, and one early next turn!). The Cromwell and No. 4 Section moved up to replace but the Panzer IV cam out and after Panzer and Cromwell bounced a few shells off each other it was the Cromwell that took a fatal hit.

On the N flank No.1 Section went to ground behind the hummocks as soon as it came under fire - suffering far less than No. 2 Section. Even with No. 3 Section and the UC coming up in  support the German defensive line was going to be a tough nut to crack and so the Pl Commander lost patience and called in an artillery barrage from the Battalions Direct Support battery. Couple of turn later it arrived and although slightly long, decimated (accurate in this case) the German position, 1. and 2. Gruppen gone, 3. Gruppen badly mauled and the Panzer button-down. The Brits could have walked onto the position but I called game over.

Where did all the Germans go?

Rules Impression

I certainly have more DMs than the other rules tested here - but not too many I think - and the niceties are there to cope with systems right up to 2020. I did realise I was missing rules for direct HE, but everything else was covered with random activation, randomised movement if running, and smoke.

But it didn't feel as good a game as my last 1985 outing of them. Partly the scenario is a real tough one, but also this was PL+ where as that was Bn+, and it was hard to cope with the fire factors at bolt-action rifle group scale, and the 30m grid seemed to make a huge difference when the HE came down.

In terms of that barrage though a Bolt Action one would have covered a similar area, and seeing as I rolled double + three times (so 1:9 chance three times) I'd have had 6s all the way through on BA - so probably a similar result (although may have been in pins and rout, not elimination). Also just thinking of the rec outside my old house which is a similar size (~ 200m x 150m), having a platoon lying there and a 25pdr battery shoot arriving in the field I can believe that not many would walk away - so maybe not as off as it seemed.

What I didn't try was shooting for suppression - doing a quick check on that No.1 Section could probably have readily got suppression and the odd damage, so No. 3 could have charged through, so it may have been possible.

At the end of the day though with a British Pl going 1:1 with a German Pl in defence and no cover the German's are pretty much bound to win without some deus ex machina!

Overall

Not as good a run out as usual for CWO, but they are really more intended for Company up (that's my excuse!). Looking like Bolt Action - Reality Checked might become my preferred Pl set, be interesting to see if I can stretch that up to Coy in the next round. Overall, a disappointing 6.5/10 I think.

Raid on Pebble Park

For the second night running it was night-ops in Chanzori as Lupus Company tried to keep the ILR Assault force occupied whilst its fellow companies engaged in bigger battles on its flanks. For tonight the target chosen was a LARC (assault flyer) pad based in the old Pebble Park.

Lt Chapais took two sections along and no heavy weapons. The opposition were two sections of ILR Assault troops - better armed and armoured than his own. Chapais sent 2 Section rifle group right to provide a diversionary attack against the main entrance, with the gun group on a roof top ready to provide covering fire to whoever needed it. 1 Section would go left flanking and in through a back entrance, hopefully less well guarded.

ILR security patrol, heading for the corner where the EDF will emerge

Unfortunately two ILR guards randomly headed towards that same entrance and the EDF emerged straight into their line of sight. A brief firefight saw 2 dead rabbits, but the alarm had been raised and the main ILR force came streaming out. 2 Section managed to catch a few as they headed for the main gate, but then got bogged down in a sporadic firefight.

ILR stream out, three of their number downed by 2 Section

Chapais drove 1 Section forward, taking the Rifle Gp round to the left of the pad, whilst the Gun Gp went right. Unfortunately the access ramp was on the far side. 1 Section came under fire from emerging Assault Troopers, but Chapais and two troopers held them off whilst two other trooper bravely legged it for the ramp, and made it up to the LARC.

1 Section holds off the ILR whilst 2 critters make it up to the LARC

A nice shot of the 1 Section firefight - note two out-of-ammo markers!

Setting the charges!

A random throw then showed that the EDF needed 2 activations in undisturbed contact with the LARC in order to set the charges and then blow it. The demolition team got one activation, but needed one more. But the ILR Assault Troopers had managed to kill the two critters with Chapais, and Chapais, now wounded tried to hold them back but his gun jammed and he was soon down too. Two ILR rabbits dashed forward, up the ramp, and charged into the EDF critters setting the explosives. The first round went one all, but the second round saw both EDF critters pushed away from their explosives. One of them, nursing a wound, thought better of the fight and left off the platform and ran for cover. The second bravely fought on but succumbed in the third round.

Two ILR charge into the back of the EDF demolition team

Any chance of blowing the LARC was now gone. OC 2 Section took charge, and ordered a withdrawal. His team had been fighting off ILR coming round both sides of a container, having a lucky break when a grenade failed to explode, but had inflicted enough damage on the ILR that the ILR section was temporarily stunned. 2 Section, and the Gun Gp of 1 Section slipped back into the dark and off the board.

Demo team pushed back, and effectively game over

A great game, and a real nail-biter as to whether the EDF would blow the LARC. The EDF suffered from 2 Section Gun Gp having blocked LoS to the action the whole time and never firing a round, and even 1 Section Gun Gp was poorly utilised. Had the ramp been in any other configuration (randomly chosen) it could have been a very different game. EDF suffered 4 losses, ILR 5, but an ILR victory as the EDF failed to blow the LARC.

TTS - Bolt Action Trial Run

Nick and I finally got round to doing some lockdown wargaming last night - and in honour of VE Day decided to give Bolt Action a try on Tabletop Simulator.

It's a credit to the TTS system that Nick hadn't played Bolt Action before, but since TTS is "just" a table top simulator I could walk him through the rules just as though we were playing over a physical tabletop. We used Zoom for the audio so I could guide him through the "find a server" process, and we stayed with Zoom through the game.

This was very much a learning by doing game, and was only my 2nd BA game, and we are using the first draft of my BA house rules - Bolt Action Reality Check (BARC). I could even use TTS's PDF feature to put the rules in there for him. We got through couple of turns pretty well - just the armour facing off, and we'll continue with the infantry fight hopefully later in the week.

It must be said that this particular table (Normandy Farm) looks absolutely stunning and kudos to whoever did it. The pics of the figures moving through the long grass look almost realistic (real world, not wargames table), and there's no argument about line of sight when you can zoom into eye-level with a figure! We're also playing on a 3" grid (my standard for BARC) which removes any measurement which may slow things down a  bit more in TTS.

Anyhow, here are some pics form the game so far - reinforced Pl on either side. I've shrunk the figures ( from a TTS BA "pack") down from ~ 30-40mm to 20mm.

Brits advancing through long grass to the hedgeline

Long shot of the table from the German side

 

Brits reach the wall. Dice nicely for scale. Great "sculpts" too

Nice shot showing the way the ground clutter hides most of the troops 

Germans emerge from the lane - not Brits just visible top left - got LOS then!

Tabletop Simulator

One of my aims during the lockdown was to get some remote wargaming done, as well as solo and campaign gaming. I've cast my eye over virtual tabletops (VTTs) in the past, mainly 1st gen like Vassal and 2nd gen like Roll20, but those are all very much 2D platforms. Tabletop Simulator (TTS) and Tabletopia are very much 3rd Gen and 3D based - although still short of my ideal 3D/VR set up - see http://newconverj.blogspot.com/2019/11/virtual-reality-wargaming.html.

We had a good game of Codenames at work on TTS for a virtual going-away do, and I started looking at what proper wargaming kit is available - initially for WW2 and Napoleonic.

For WW2 there's quite a bit of Bolt Action stuff - which is ideal given how well its scored in my tests. But of course since this is a VTT rather than a game platform, the models and just models, so you can play any rules you like. I've collected all the models and gizmos I need for a game (models are probably bigger than 28mm), and so just need to give it a go.

I've spent a bit more time getting the Napoleonic side sorted. Command and Colours seems to dominate (the inevitable equating grids with simplicity) but there are also some "Black Powder" armies which give a good range of nations but have some odd gaps and oddities (all gun crews have sabers drawn) - but of course these are all free and done for love so shouldn't criticise!. Again figures are more like 40mm, so have been painfully through all the British and French figures I could find and reduced them to 20mm and rebased them (virtually) for SLS. I've also uploaded some activation cards, and created the SLS dice - using the custom component options.

To move the troops around (typically 6 bases per unit) I've made some semi-transparent movement trays, and the figures "stick" to them nicely. Only issue is you can't rotate the tray - if you do the figures stay facing forwards! That's really the only glitch.

French line ready to attack, Bde cards out for reference

So all ready to go and hopefully Nick and I can find time over the next week or so to give it a try.

Highlanders wait in line to receive the French attack

The Household cavalry rests awaiting orders

Oh yes, if that backdrop looks familiar it is Hougoumont. I took some 720 degree photos when I was staying there with Nick and Alan a few years ago, and they import straight into TTS as a backdrop. So we can do our Napoleonic wargaming inside Hougoumont, or even out on the field of Waterloo itself!

Platoon Mega Playtest: Part 9 - Monty Gunner Who?

This was something of a late entry being a set of private rules developed by one of the guys in the ACP164 campaign which he has graciously let me playtest. I'll only post this if he's OK with it.

Presentation

29 page word document. Simple layout, no pics, but it is a private set so same state as most of mine. Sensible structure though.

Set-Up

Operation Martlet Scenario 5: Winning Your Spurs. This is a delaying action with the Germans holding a shallow spur line and the British advancing across mostly open ground. I randomly added some of my felt "humps" which block line of sight for infantry but not for tanks. Both sides are reduced in force from the previous scenario, the Brits losing the 6pdr (no great loss) and the German's the Pak (but keeping the IG).

A pretty empty table - Germans at the bottom end

How It Played

The Brits went for a 4-square approach, 2 up, 2 back, either side of the road. The Germans waited til thee Brits were in close range and then 1. Gruppen in the hedgeline on the N side of the road opened up. No. 1 Section went to ground and the OC brought in smoke to cover them. Meanwhile No. 2 Section moved forward S of the road and came under similar fire from 2. Gruppen. The Cromwell moved up to support No. 2 Section but the Panzer darted out for cover, and tried to get a quick shot in before the Cromwell but failed. The Cromwell fired and hit the Panzer IV tracks, and a second shot took it out completely. Meanwhile No. 2 Section Gun Gp and the UC Bren team (now midway down the road) concentrated fire on 2. Gruppen MG team in the copse and eventually silenced it.

The Panzer IV moves up to engage the advancing Cromwell

With more progress being made on the S side No. 3 Section was switched S, and supported No. 4 Section who were passing through No. 2 Section to assault 2. Gruppen. This must have taken the Brit OC's eye off the ball as he forgot to stoke the smoke, and as it cleared the IG and 1. Gruppen hailed fire down upon No. 1 Section who were routed.

Fresh smoke to protect a shattered No. 4 Section as 2. Gruppen pull back

Back on the S No. 4 Section took a lot of damage on the way in on their assault, but just got the better of the melee (although on checking the rule both sides may have eliminated each other!), pushing 2. Gruppen back behind the spur. 3. Gruppen had swung round to the road to protect the German L flank, 1. Gruppen considered a similar swing to come down on the flank of 2 and 3 Sections, their own front now bring clear, but initially thought better of it.

No. 4 Section just didn't have the oomph to push on to the road, and fire from 2. and 3. Gruppen was enough to force them back to the shelter of a hummock. 3. Gruppen pushed their LMG team into the copse, but the Cromwell and No. 2 Section soon took them out. But 2. Gruppen then snuck a Panzerfaust man into the copse who, despite taking hits, managed to put his round through the hull of the Cromwell, effectively putting it out for the rest of the game.

With 1. Gruppen finally swing round and bringing enfilade fire down on the UC and No. 3 Section, and the IG also putting HE into No. 3 Section the British situation was looking dicey and although neither side had reached breakpoint the Brits decided to call it a day.

Rules Impression

The main rules mechanic is a deck of playing cards, with red=good, black = bad. For shooting its typically 4 cards, +/- extra cards as "DMs", and a hit for each red, with saves likewise dependent on drawing reds from 1 or 2 cards.  A really nice and fast mechanism. Activation is by a unit deck - IABSM style, and there's also a hand of 3 "special action" cards for commanders to use and refill. On activation a unit can either take 1 activation, or gamble and draw 2 cards and get an activation for each red - there's even an option for 3! Damage is in two stages, hits that reduce capability, but once they are "full" you start taking morale hits - which might cause a fallback or worse, and once a threshold is reached (typically 4 hits and 4 morale for a rifle group) then the unit is destroyed.

Where the rules fell down a bit was in tank/anti-tank fire. It roughly 5 cards to hit, then 5 cards to penetrate, 4 cards to counter penetrate, 5 cards to locate the hit, and 5 cards to assess damage - 24 cards to end up with just a bent sprocket wheel! Melee is similarly card heavy. In contrast HE is spot on, with cards giving accuracy and distance.

Overall

The core mechanic is really good, and very tempted to use it for some of my own rules. With some mods to the anti-tank and melee it would make a superb set for newcomers, or oldsters fancying a different sort of game. Seems inappropriate to give it a score since it's someone's own set, but with a few tweaks I think I'd rate it as at least as good as Chain of Command.