My BAOR Boardgame - AAR

As previewed earlier I managed to buy SPI's BAOR at the end of last year - and then instantly worked up my own counters and rules for it in order to have a late 80s scenario and to "own" the rules. Set up was on election night, and I've just finished the first 12 turns (2 days game time) and reached a convenient point to call a halt (with ~250 counters and ~2 hr game time turns (~45 mins real)) this is a BIG game).

The Soviets have destroyed the British 1st line of defence along a line Hanover-Goslar, apart from a small para hold-out in Hildesheim - but not for insignificant loss themselves. There's now a bit of a shaky defence line before the Weser with remains of 4, 7 and 20 Armd Bde, and 24 (Airmob) Bde (me!) has just been flown in to plug a gap in front of Minden. Then it's up to 3 Div dug in along the Weser itself.  11, 12 and 22 Armd Bdes are all goners. The RAF has been doing  pretty well and the Soviets have been losing air superiority fighters.

The para hold out in Hildesheim despite desperate night-time house-to-house fighting

To get a clearer picture of the current state (I may resume later in the year), here is the same map as above but with only Infantry, Tank and Bde/Div HQ units shown.

So key thoughts so far:

• The rules are actually working really well. Tweaking as I go along but giving the sort of game I wanted and without the "predictability" of the CRT and SPI style factors (its all D10+DMs)
• Not had time to really try the command point/bde activation, just playing IGO-UGO
• Not remembering to use EW, either for CP or to support attacks. Need on board not in side bin?
• AIR working OK. Was too powerful initially but have backed it off a bit. Don't think I really need the air base granularity, but am using a refuelling box so each Sqn only flies every other turn.
• FIRES again been backed off and now OK. Have both AIR and FIRES as phases before movement/combat as forces you to remember to use them, and possibly a bit more realistic. Does add time to turn though but think I'll keep (particularly if streamline elsewhere). Not tried CB yet. Soviets (and even BAOR) do seem to have too many Arty units so may keep to Regt level.
• AD working OK, but ranges need to to realistic as people flying NOE, and too many counters. May incorporate AA rating into Regt/Bde HQ (each unit also has organic rating).
• Far too many engineers - counters everywhere! Again may abstract into HQ or to Regt level. Think the mine breaching rules OK. need a "tidy up" for passed fields.
• Not really using recce, so again counters everywhere but no use. May only put on table if using fog-of-war rules (which I'm currently not)
• Put the last few together and next time I play there'll be far fewer counters so easier to see what I'm doing!
• I deliberately avoided a "flipped" counter model as I wanted more damage granularity. But most units are Strength 3; when they get to 1 they take a morale test and leg it unless well dug in, so realistically only using 3 and 2 - so why not flip? Will think about it.
• Really like the 4 turns day, 2 turns night model. Units take fatigue if they have to move/fight at night and haven't sleep banked (in theory). Even though not fully playing it does make you think a lot more about resource management.
• Soviets really haven't got a 2nd wave to push through, guess next time I need to get 10th or 12th GTA ready!

One thing I do want to do is reread Third World War and other counter-factuals to see how close my rate of advance (Hanover line in 2 days) and damage (50% front line Bdes) matches theirs.

So pretty pleased really. I might look at doing a Bde/Div level version (NATO Division Commander anyone?) , with pretty much the same rules, and then with the more streamlined version for the Corps game. I can then use that to drive miniatures games as the scope here is just too big for that. The rules should also work for WW2 and other campaigns, something to try next year!

SpaceX In-Flight Abort Test

Some wonderful pictures and a great test by SpaceX for the In-Flight Abort test of Crew Dragon. They're now looking at the first crewed flight 2Q20.

The main booster goes bang, well after Crew Dragon is clear.

 I was on a train back from London but managed to watch the livestream for all the crucial moments.

Crew Dragon Draco thrusters fire up

Britain's Royal Marine Band

A year ago last November I blogged some pictures of the old Britain's Royal Marine Band that I'd had as a kid and which had spent the last 45 years being knocked around in a box. They were very much the worst for wear and only 10 of their number being suitable for parade.

In December I finally got around to trying to restore them - having checked on eBay first that they weren't worth anything! I managed to get all but one (hidden at the back, pretty much arm-less) back to some semblance of order. The plastic was exceedingly brittle, and any attempt to refit things just ended up in bits breaking off, so there are some pretty gaping shoulders and odd arm positions, but with a bit of glue and a lick of paint I think they're now looking a lot better.

Space Plans for 2020

Space exploration continues to frustrate me ever since my Countdown poster (or was it Brooke Bond Tea Cards) promised Humans on Mars by 1980! But momentum does seem to be gathering again and 2020 looks like being a good year. Things I'm looking out for are:

• SpaceX's Starship making its 200km hop some time in Q2, and possibly even an uncrewed orbital flight by end 2020. That will be awesome as Starship seems to open up space in a way that SLS/Artemis totally fails to do.
• Crewed Dragon does its in-flight abort test some time this month hopefully, and then starts flying crew to ISS well before the end of the year.
• Boeing Starliner does its in-flight abort in Q1, and if it doesn't have to repeat its failed IS docking flight also gets crews to ISS by year end (and perhaps even if it does have to).
• Another crewed Chinese flight in preparation for their space station?
• India tests its Gaganyaan spacecraft in an uncrewed mode
• Nasa launches Mars2020 and ESA luanches ExoMars
• The UAE may launch to Mars, as may China
• China does a Moon sample-return and India re-attempts a moon landing.
• Virgin Galactic takes paying customers to the edge-of-space, and Blue Origin takes its first crews a little further,
• NASA CLPS progresses ready for the first two deliveries for NASA payloads to the Moon in July 2021.
• And SLS/Artemis may get EM1 on a circumlunar test flight (although latest rumour is that even this might now be pushed back to 2021!)

It still seems to me that SpaceX is going to just leave NASA standing when it comes to the Moon and Mars. Here's hoping they manage to do it safely!

 

Preparing for BAOR 1988

When I started to resurrect my 1/300th Cold War Gone War wargaming a few years ago I was keen to have some sort of campaign game to give context to any battles. I then discovered that SPI did a BAOR game (I have their Next War, but that has Div/Bde units and ~10-20km hexes, and I wanted Bn's and ~2-3 km hexes (ie a table) - which is what BAOR has.

I set up a eBay search on BAOR and kept my eye out at shows but to no avail. I managed to find hi-rez scans of the map and counters, and a copy of the rules. I was on the verge of getting the map printed at A1 when I found a copy of the game (less the magasine and the glorious cover above :-( ) on eBay, so now have the proper map.

Of course being me I wasnt happy with the rest of the game. The counters were more like 1983/84, whereas I wanted 87/88 - when I was in BAOR. Also the rules, whilst they used Fatigue for partial damage,  use the standard ratio based CRT of almost all SPIs types games. I can't say I get along with this model, as every game SPI I've ever played comes down to getting enough points together to just make a ratio threshold, and you lose all sense of what the units are.

I'd been looking for a set of "operational" level wargame rules for a while. I thought that Rommel might fit the equation but it just wasn't what I wanted. I found FreeHexBlitz on the web, and thought it a pretty good start, so I started working up my own rules, the key elements being that each unit has:

• A size rating, effectively companies/squadrons, which gives how many D10 you roll
• An attack rating, based on the type and quality of kit
• A defence rating, based on the type and quality of kit

A key decision was that ratings are relative to the norm of the day, rather than trying to work out any details of armour, penetration etc.

Of course all this meant that I needed to create over 200 counters. Luckily I found this YouTube video by RK who had two great ideas which worked really well:

• Use the Panorama feature in IfranView to join images exported from PPT into strips, and then join the strips into sheet. Very simple process
• Use Self Adhesive foam sheets to give the counters more depth than card and make then easier to manage

So SPI map out, my rules play tested over the last couple of weeks, counters made, and all ready to go in time for Election Night!

Battle of Vimeiro AAR and Over the Hills Playtest

Having picked up the new edition of Over The Hills in the Kickstarter earlier in the year I finally got this set to the table, having heard good things about the 1st Edition.

The scenario I chose was Vimeiro, as it was due in my decadal battle series (if a year late!) and there was a nice scenario for the southern part of the battle using OTH courtesy of the Devon Wargames Group.

It was also my first chance to try out my new foam mats, and fight on 10cm squares instead of 10cm hexes (I converted OTH readily for the purpose).

This was the starting deployment, looking S, French on the left.

Four tiles to my 2:1 standard, the Mk1 top right just as underlay

The Battle

Only a brief summary. The French "came on in the same old style, and the British repelled them in the same old style". With only a battery apiece there was little time for preparation so the French columns piled into the British lines on the hill and got beaten back. The British followed up and inflicted more casualties, breaking one Brigade.

The lines clashing. Puff = 1 fatigue

On the French right (bottom of top picture) the cavalry tried to take on the advancing British but the terrain was too complex, the British formed square and the Cavalry went home. A final showpiece British vs French cavalry charge achieved little. At the end of Turn 8 (suggested scenario end-point) the French had 27 fatigues, only 3 off the Army break point, the British had about half that, so a clear victory for the British.

British Light Dragoons - Airfix conversions ~30yr old. Yes I know not Tarleton.

The Rules

I suppose the problem I have with OTH is that they are a very standard set, and as such I naturally think that my "standard set" - Steady Lads Steady - are better, and most of the changes I'd make to OTH would just make them more SLS like. This is in contrast to say Snappy Nappy or Et Sans Resultat where the mechanics are different enough that there is no direct comparison.

30+ yr old brittle Airfix Highlanders get a rare outing!

That said OTH played pretty well, and certainly prefer them to Black Powder or Liphook, but perhaps not to Francis Long's. I need to retry GdA/GdB and Shako for further comparison.

The only thing I particularly liked was the Skirmish ratings as a way of abstracting skirmishers. Did also give me some ideas for better use of Generals in SLS.

French Grenadiers flanking some 95th

Things I was less keen on were (and may just be me misreading rules):

• The whole movement segment things, just more data to remember
• Shot from artillery impacting Skirmishers, only getting the line behind on 50% chance follow through
• The ease with which units could recover Fatigue, so many units stayed at full strength
• The rules layout, things were often quite buried and not helped by having melee rules about 3 times for the different situations (Inf vs Inf, Cav vs Inf, Cav vs Cav)

So glad I've played it, but not one I'd turn to again out of choice, but happy to play at a club (who might understand them better!)

British Light and Rifles - again 30+ yr old Airfix conversions. Even stovepipes!

The Grid

Worked really well. There are dots every 10cm, but even up close I sometimes had to hunt for them. Units could still manoeuvre on diagonals and wheels - although there wasn't much scope for that in this game. Looking forward to using them in ECW next.

Spot the grid?

Last Ever Napoleonic French Foot in 20mm?

Bold statement I know - but by my calculations we now have enough French troops for Waterloo at ~1:33, assuming my count of my brother's figures is right!

Next year I only have a 3 cavalry units to do (Empress and Carabiners), which are really more about improving very poor early Airfix conversions than filling gaps - and then that will be the Cavalry done too, and Artillery also already there. My focus in 2020 will then switch to support Nick with British allies, and restarting my own Russians so as to better fight other battles.

These last figures are two battalions of Young Guard Voltigeurs, and a one of Young Guard Fusiliers.

The Army Painter Varnish/Dip was getting a bit dense and stale by this stage, hence the heavy-handed look. Will be switching to their wash next year.