Monthly Archives: October 2015

Mission Impossible?

Boardgames, Sessions, ,

Finished up my last play thru of the Luzon Scenario in The Damned Die Hard. Earlier sessions are described in a previous post. I played this scenario at least six (6) times, and in each playing the Japanese fail to make any appreciable progress towards Manila. Seems ahistorical.

However, there are administrative reasons for the first few failures.  Which is a polite way of saying I displayed some, well, incompetence.

I neglected to thoroughly read the scenario rules. Not the first time this has happened. For the first couple of games I missed the mandatory US setup adjacent to the Japanese lodgment at Lingayen Gulf and then the mandatory two (2) regimental equivalents (RE) “within two (2) hexes of 1718”.  These constraints prevent any initial defense in strength along terrain blocking the axis of advance towards Manila,

OK, tried it again, assuming that “within” was inclusive of 1915. Once again, the Japanese made little progress. However, in the middle of the night it dawned (no pun intended) on me that maybe “within” wasn’t inclusive. In these situations I go to Experten, and the Experten in this case is Tim. His response was that “within” was not inclusive.

OK, tried it again, this time with 2 REs of units back from the MLR. Same bloody result.

OK, tried it again, this time making the assumption that units shown in T/O as “Battalion Groupings” were not “Small Battalions” that have lower RE strengths and reduce possible GS air strikes.  Same damn result.

There are several reasons for this. One, the best odds the Japanese can get are 4:1 on 1915, the hinge of the US defenses. This assumes that none of the Japanese forces are disrupted in the mandatory check before combat. Second, the impact of airpower is minimal since the rules limit ground support (GS) to one unit per two (2) REs, excluding artillery. Given the scale of the game, the Japanese have only 4.5 REs (exclusive of artillery) in their hex. Third, while the Japanese movement advantage in rough translates to a +1 to their die roll, it is negated by the -1 for the rough.  So, it takes a six (6) to blast a hole in the US line.

 

Initial Dispositions - See Next Photo For "Corps" Composition
Initial Dispositions – See Next Photo For “Corps” Composition

 

Corps Composition - OK, It Was Dark And I Was Using My Iphone
Corps Composition – OK, It Was Dark And I Was Using My Iphone

So, why the angst?

A successful disruptive Japanese attack during the first critical turn is highly unlikely.  Any result less than a DE allows the US Reserve Force (two (2) hexes north of Manila) to move up after the attack and plug any gaps as well as reinforce the MLR. The ability of the US player to begin assembling Philippine divisons and a light armor cadre further reduces the chance of any Japanese success.

According to The Fall of the Philippines, the official history of the campaign. The Japanese made significant progress before Jan 1, forcing the US forces to retire to Bataan. I confirmed this in the West Point Atlas of American Wars, which has several maps on the campaign. Based on my experience and reading of the scenario and rules, there is just no way this can happen.

Oh Well……My, My….

All told it was time well spent. I enjoyed the opportunity to really dig into the rules and replay a scenario several times rather than a more typical “one and done”.

I’m hoping this familiarity with The Glory game system will hold me in good stead when I travel to Portland next week to play the Hong Kong Scenario in War of Resistance with Tim.

Red Actions! – Absolute Beginner

Back of Beyond, Miniatures, Review + Session Report

Started playing Red Actions! earlier this week. Since this was my first play-through, the scenario was simple, with just a few units, no machine guns, artillery or AFVs. I wanted to find out how the fire and manuever rules work and what their effects are.

Three Soviet Companies are tasked with taking a entrenched position on a ridge line. The Soviet force is comprised of regular, Cheka, and naval infantry companies. The opposing Chinese force consists of a regular company and conscript company.

The terrain is relatively open, with a wooded area to the east and rough terrain to the south of the ridge. I designated both the entrenched position on the ridge and rough terrain as hard cover, allowing a -1 column shift for the defenders. The intent for the rough terrain is to provide the Soviet force with some cover and concealment. The distance between the ridge and rough terrain allowed for long-range fire at one-half the fire factor.

The tactics are straightforward. The regular Soviet company is to advance and take cover in the rough terrain, and to then provide suppresive fire on the ridge. The naval company is to advance through the wooded area (providing cover and concealment) and attack the ridge from the flank. The Cheka company is in reserve.

The Chinese have their regular company entrenched on the ridge, with the conscripts in reserve behind the ridge. This deployment involved a trade-off. The regular company has a higher fire rating, but the conscripts are rated as a “Mob” and can only charge or fire without taking a special morale check. On a D6 role of 1-2 they will remain in place.

Terrain and Initial Deployments Looking North
Terrain and Initial Deployments Looking North
Chinese Troop On Objective and In Reserve
Chinese Troops On Objective and In Reserve
Soviet Sailors Begin Moving Into The Woods
Soviet Sailors Begin Moving Into The Woods

The first few turns saw sustained firing between the ridge and regular troops in the rough terrain. Both companies were pushed off due to retire results, but quickly returned to their positions. The naval troops worked their way through the woods, and began taking the reserve conscript company under fire. Due to the short range between the units, this developed into a firefight, with both units firing at each other at full strength during each turn, rather than the turn-by-turn long-range fire.

Growing impatient with this back-and-forth, and like an overenthusiastic Lieutenant at The Basic School, I ordered the Checka company to advance along the (Chinese) right flank or west side of the board. Double envelopment Little Schlieffen?

As this advance developed, the Chinese conscripts  sustained losses and were in bad shape morale wise, while the regular troops had retreated (again) from their trenches. The question for the Chinese was whether to fight it out, or retreat. Since I had not set this contingency up (delay/defend with turn limit), and had a good initial feel for rules and effects, I stopped the game.

Chinese Have Been Pushed Off Ridge With Cheka Preparing To Assualt
Chinese Have Been Pushed Off Ridge With Cheka Preparing To Assualt

I like this rule set.  I think the morale rules using terror markers, as well as other outcomes are very playable. Infantry fire at long range is not particularly bloody, but short range fire – and its accompanying firefights- can decimate a unit quickly. Although using 28mm figuures, I kept the 15mm movement scale because of the small size of my “big board”. This scale seemed to work just fine, and made working with the rules easier.  While some folks have mentioned having trouble with the conversational dialogue of the rules, I think they are just fine.

For those of you interested in reading more about Red Actions!, here’s some links that might be of help. I know this is an older system (more on that in another post), but it is good one that can be played without miniatures. The link to the website and rules is here. A couple of viable reviews are here and here. The always entertaining Edinburgh Wargamers have a portions of their site devoted to this period. While they use another rule set, it’s a great source of fun and ideas.

Irregular Wars

Miniatures, Renaissance, Sessions

Finished up my last game of Irregular Wars for awhile.  Another dust up between the Portuguese and Arabs.  This was a followup to an initial game, with the addition of chance cards and disease/mishaps.

The card draw effected the Portuguese.  They drew a weak leader, which is a -1 DRM to any rally rolls.  The disease and mishaps die rolls that take place for each unit right before the start caused a few units on each side to lose one resolve point.

This time the Arabs used their camel units to attack the crossbowmen manning the Portuguese right flank.  The crossbow fire was ineffective, and the camels closed with a +2 DRM for charge.  So, contrary to the  lessons learned in the initial game, camels can be effective.

The big take-away from this game was how an entire wing of your army can collapse after a series of melees.  This is a function of the game’s resolve (morale) mechanics.

When a unit’s resolve reaches one (1), it wavers.  A wavering unit must withdraw 1D3.  The opponent rolls for pursuit.  If allowed, it can contact the wavering unit again, receiving a charge bonus, if applicable.  If the wavering unit  contacts a friendly unit (no interpenetration in these rules), the contacted unit has an immediate loss of one (1) resolve.  When a unit’s resolve reaches 0, it scatters.  Any unit within two (2) movement units (2u in game terminology), suffers an immediate loss of one (1) resolve.  This can be quite a chain reaction, with waverers withdrawing into friendly units or being hacked at by pursuers.  Take a look at what happened to the Portuguese right flank.

DSC01187

In the top photo, several Portuguese units have already scattered.  In the next photo, the entire wing is gone.  However, you’ll notice the Arab center is in very bad shape, also.  Quite a game!

DSC01190

As reported earlier, Irregular Wars will come off the bigger table to make way for Red Actions!  However, it will be played this Winter, because it’s just too much fun.

Basing

Back of Beyond, Miniatures

Last week based up the recently purchased Afghan and Indian Army troops, as well as vehicles for the BoB campaign.  Relying on input from a helpful war gamer, used Noch flowers and grasses, as well as Woodland Scenics turf and talus.  The bases and magnetic base bottoms were from Litko.  This is a real upgrade from my usual metal DBA/DBR bases with a mix of green and brown flock.  Was it expensive?  Yes.  Worth it?  Think so, especially since this will be a low unit density game.

DSC01183

Matchbox Vehicles For Back of Beyond & Red Actions!

Aircraft & Vehicles, Back of Beyond, Miniatures

The PKZ-2 tender vehicle in the previous post is one of the Matchbox Models of Yesteryear series.  These can be purchased cheaply (if you’re patient) on E-Bay.  Bought several for the Back of Beyond Campaign, one of which is shown below.

DSC01185

The problem is that the series is not in a consistent scale.  There are a wide variety of vehicles, in a wide variety of scales.  This page summarizes them by model number, name and scale.  So what scale matches up best with 25/28mm figures?  This page from The Miniatures Page really helped.

Once purchased and primed, I sprayed the vehicles a military green, and then just went crazy with brown and green dry brushing.  Wood blocks and barrels purchased at Hobby Lobby and mounted on bases – pallets –  are cargo used either in vehicles, or on the ground as part of a supply dump.  Machine gun and cannons purchased from Pulp Figures (Bob Murch) mounted as required.

Infernal Machine

Aircraft & Vehicles, Back of Beyond, Miniatures

I plan to interject an element of Pulp into my upcoming Back of Beyond campaign. This will include not only Bob Murch’s Zeppelin Troops and Soliders of Fortune/Adventurers, but also special equipment.

My first infernal machine is a PKZ-2 helicopter tethered to a Matchbox truck. Built in late World War One and developed in Austria-Hungary, the PKZ-2 is considered the first helicopter. It reportedly flew 36 times, always tethered, but suffered from serious technical problems that precluded operational use.  The observer stood in the cupola above the rotary blades.

 

Helicopter

 

What if some semi-crazed revanchist brought the prototype to Central Asia?  If nothing more than PUB, it might also provide special observation capabilities to the owning unit(s).

Building this Roden kit was not fun. Lots of small bits. I always fool myself that this  will be a smooth process with impressive results. More likely this  is glue smeared fingers, increasingly vulgar language and a product  requiring way too much time and effort to look passable.  Here’s a review and photos of a PKZ-2 by someone who really knows what he’s doing.

Soviet Dawn

Boardgames, Review + Session Report, Solitaire

With an increasing focus on Red Actions! this month, it made sense to try out Soviet Dawn.  This is a solitaire game I picked up on EBay for a very reasonable price.  Originally published by Victory Games, this version was included  in GMT’s C3i magazine Issue No. 27.

Was able to play four (!) games this Saturday afternoon.  The back story as to why I was able to/did this would bore even the most avid reader.

This is a nice card-driven solitaire game.  Easy to set up, with simple rules and plenty of replay value.  A good review of the game can be found over at Web Grognards.

Game play is a real juggling act, holding off Germans, Finns, White Russians, Poles and Western Allies while trying to build international political credibility.  During the first game, I lost track of the Eastern Front, and allowed Moscow to be captured in just 12 turns (cards).

The next two games featured the blitzkrieg generated by the “Denikin Unstoppable?  Objective Moscow!” card.  This punisher allows the White Southern Army to advance towards Moscow until defeated.  A couple of bad rolls, and you are out of business, especially if you allow the Czar to be rescued when the “Czar’s Fate Decided in Ekaterinburg!” card is played.  This gives the Soviets a -1 DRM on all offensive roles.  Not good!

The fourth time was the charm.  I was able to shut down the Poles, Southern Whites and Finns, while getting some nice rolls on the Soviet Army Reorganization Table, and Political Level Track.  Was I lucky?….Sure, but it was nice to beat a very enjoyable and accessible game system.

Game play time is about 20-30 minutes, so with the easy set up, a fun game can be played very quickly in a small space.  I also liked the map.  Here’s an indifferent IPhone photo.

Soviet Dawn

Highly recommended!

 

 

Irregular Wars Chance Cards

East African Renaissance Campaign, Miniatures

Chance Cards were not used in my first play-thrus.  I was not familiar enough with the game to come to grips with how to use these cards playing solo.

I’m too artistically incompetent to put together a deck, and I missed out on the opportunity to request a custom made deck from the game’s designer.  So, I put together a numeric listing of each of the cards. The listing is divided into the 26 cards that are revealed right after being drawn, and the 26 cards that are held, and played when deemed appropriate.

For solo play, the cards  immediately revealed are not an issue. However, cards drawn and held for later play are problematic. How to incorporate some uncertainity/randomness?

My inital plan is to use a random number application (one that a range of numbers can be set) to “pick” the cards.

Step 1) Generate 3 numbers for 3 cards.

Step 2) If numbers are 26 or less, cross index from list to card description contained in the rules.

Step 3) If numbers are 27 or higher, that side has a random draw at the beginning of a turn whenever it chooses. This random draw will be from the cards to be played when appropriate list.  Again, use the app to make the draw.

While far from perfect, I’ll see if this solo fix “works”.

Irregular Wars Lessons Learned

East African Renaissance Campaign, Miniatures

Following based on several play-throughs using Portuguese and Arab forces. No cavalry, just camelry. I set up each game to be a slugfest in order to maximize repetitions through the rules. I didn’t use concealment, and line-of-sight was not an issue. Here are a few observations…

1) Shot is ineffective: Best at short range, but can be charged after firing at short range, and have a low melee strength. Have to shoot and then fall back behind melee effective units in order to reload.

2) Crossbows are semi-effective: High to hit number, but at least do not have to spend an action to reload because they use archaic weapons. Again, a low melee number, so vulnerable if melee effective units can get in close.

3) Because of 1) and 2), when opposing Europeans, get into melee as soon as possible, hopefully with a +2 charge bonus.

4) Use your native auxiliaries in rough terrain: No negative effects for movement or combat. They are particularly effective at flank attacks on pursuing units.

5) The CRT (which I like) creates situations where units are “stuck” in melee: Disengaging risks pursuit,with pursuers able to use their charge bonus.

6) Camels are ineffective against anything but horse: They’re “exotic”, and have a significant DRM for that, which is added to a charge bonus. However, their melee against foot is a lowly “2”.

DSC01182

Here’s what happens when you don’t aggressively charge crossbows, and allow them to skirmish, supported by native troops that can hover in rough terrain.  No Arab troops?  That’s right, they’ve been wiped out, and a camel unit has to now hold the left flank.

I’ll keep working with different combinations of unit types over the next few weeks.

My Fall Campaign

General, ,

Had time to think about projects during yesterday’s 6 hour drive.  Unlike Wavell, no drastic changes.

Irregular Wars will be ongoing.  However, it will be moved off the Big(ger) Table, over to the small board I built years ago for DBA.  I’ll continue to consult different sources in an attempt to construct a set of solo campaign rules.

Red Actions! will move to the Big(ger) (5×5) Table.    I have to finish flocking bases and paint up some figures, but can start playing in a week or so, once I get familiar with the rules.  As with IW, I’ll also work on campaign rules.

My board gaming focus will be Glory/War of Resistance.  Tim and I will start sometime later this month or early in November.

Other than that, maybe a one-off on a boardgame or two once the weather gets bad, and outdoor time is limited.