FIRST TRIAL. UNTITLED 21ST CENTURY ANTI-INSURGENCY WARFARE

For quite a while I’ve been quietly toying with the thought of adapting Battlegroup’s WW2 rules into something more modern and more skirmish-like. I’ve had some ideas about designing a game for modern anti-insurgency warfare, using the battle rating counters system to help create a game where the enemy were genuinely hard to find and attack, whilst any losses for the modern ‘western’ forces would be very costly. Basically, a game that was not really a stand-up fight, but one were the enemy was intermingled with civilians, it was hard to differentiate the two and thus difficult to unleash all that modern precision firepower.

The forces would be completely assymetrical. One would have everything, satellite communications, laser guided bombs, tanks and helicopter gunships, etc, and the other would have, well, a few guys with AK-47s and RPGs, the occasional technical buggy and a lot of places to hide.   Standard tabletop wargaming doesn’t generally lend itself very well to this sort of warfare, because, as a battle, games are about killing the enemy. This kind of warfare isn’t. My idea was that the modern ‘western’ forces would have to fight under heavy restrictions, and they would have to be commanded carefully. As well as winning the fire fights, they would have to do it ‘right’, they can’t afford to do too much collateral damage (or lose men and equipment) for fear of losing the war for ‘hearts and minds’, both locally and back home. Thus, despite having the best of everything equipment-wise, they would have to fight with 1 hand behind their backs. No dropping 500lb laser-guided bombs onto the locals!

The intriguing challenge is to make this work as an entertaining set of rules. Rules which basically made it impossible to fight weren’t going to be much good as a entertainment. There would still have to be a fight, just a more even one, where a few casualties to the anti-insurgency forces could mean quickly losing the battle, not on damage inflicted (they would surely be killing far more of the enemy), but on public opinion.

Anyhow, I set-to with the plan of creating a really tricky challenge for the western player, as well as keeping the game’s tension very high, so they genuinely didn’t know what the insurgents had waiting for them – whether than old van was a civilian vehicle full of pensioners on their way to market, or packed with C4, or whether the old man on the mobile phone was calling his wife to ask what was for tea, or reporting a patrol’s position for a surprise mortar strike, etc. The game would have to include civilians as well as the fighting troops. These would be battles fought over people’s homes, and destroying them (or the inhabitants) just wasn’t allowed.

Now, whether it can be done, and still kept as a fun skirmish-level game, I’m not sure. But I have some ideas, many involving Battlegroup’s BR counters (and some different ways of using that mechanic), so I thought it was time to put my copious first notes and BG rules adaptations to the test.

Here are few shots of the first run through. It was a small game, featuring a single 8-man patrol which had to check out a report of suspicious armed-locals gathering at a buildings for a meeting. One idea I’m toying with is having games set at different sizes (small, medium, large) which can restrict access to equipment and support options (so just main battle tanks don’t show up in small games),instead you only get a few guys and maybe the light vehicle they are in, scaling up to something that looks more like a war-fighting army – up to and including an MBT or APC, etc. Alongside this, games would have a threat level, how dangerous the area is or active the local insurgents are. So, a high threat level would mean a larger more dangerous insurgent force and more helpful (to them) locals, but in return for the extra enemy threat, the victory conditions and how much firepower can be used are relaxed too. A single patrol in a unthreatening area can’t just unleash an airstrike, it’s not allowed. But, in the heart of enemy territory, with a active and aggressive foe to fight, then airstrikes, artillery, tanks etc, these can come into play. Small games in high threat areas would include special ops missions, when the SEALS or SAS come into play.

For this first game, a basic (and quick) firefight, it would be small forces with a low threat level, the bottom of the scale.

Here are few shots of the trial game in progress. The 8 man patrol (using my Australians) had to make their way through the buildings to investigate the suspicious gathering (the insurgent player chose which building was the meeting place). The patrol were on foot, with no extra fire support (like mortar/artillery/helicopter gunship fire etc) except for an emergency medical helicopter evacuation  on stand-by (in the form of a Blackhawk – that wouldn’t be fighting, just swooping in to whisk away casualties – one idea being tested was that casualties have to moved off the table. Leaving guys lying bleeding out is very bad for the westerners – the insurgents don’t worry about such niceties).

 The battlefield (from watching recce drone). Target house is at the bottom (5 gathered insurgents just visible in courtyard). Patrol will be approaching from the top and have to cross the irrigation ditch. 

 The patrol arrives, well spread out in case of an ambush or IED. Any building could hold an enemy. 

 A possible look-out (or innocent inquisitive civilian - hard to tell which, just don't shoot him until you know).

 Another possible look-out, no doubt right in the sniper's crosshairs. There was a third too.

 A suspicious parked van, it could have been an IED (but wasn't - phew!). 

 The patrol's sniper, on covering fire behind, watching the buildings as the others moved up.  He just got to lie there all battle. His one clear shot pinned an insurgent behind a wall - must have been close.

 The CO gives the orders, 'cover this alley'. Then led the way forwards with his radio op. 

 SAW guy and rifleman, got those covers covered.

 The target building. 

 The first insurgents, now warned of the patrol's approach, make their way behind the buildings and along the ditch's bank, well out of sight.

 A lone rifleman heads for the corner to cover that approach.

 The dangerous RPG guy takes aim. His first shot triggered the fire fight, and missed badly. 

Then all hell breaks loose!

 The other foot bridge approach is well covered by insurgents.

 The look-out (actually he was just a civvy, but left in place as a decoy).

 Face to face, the CO peaks around to see an approaching enemy, who then fired a burst and ran back to the other corner. The burst missed the CO, lucky man. 

 The two face off along the buidling, assault rifles blazing. The insurgent was pinned by the CO's return fire, but not harmed. 

 The SAW gunner sits tight, lurking down that alley is the RPG guy, so he was given no peace by a steady stream of bullets. Area fire only pins, but is far easier than aimed fire to hit targets (and a SAW is good at it). 

 The CO checks his radio op, who ran to get a clear shot at the pinned insurgent, but was hit in doing so. The CO then arrived, rolled for the severity of the wound, and found his mate was OK, saved by his body armour and back in the fight. 

 The only insurgent casualty, cornered and shot down in a crossfire at pb range. 

 Getting all technical, it never showed up... good job given the patrol had a Javelin missile launcher waiting on overwatch.  

 Blackhawk (not down for once), as unrequired med-evac. It was never called upon, so stayed off the table.This shot is just because I just finished painting it.

In all, the insurgents were a 5-man team, including an RPG launcher and a few grenades (all with AK-47s). They also had a local spotter/look-out, but he was disguised as 1 of 3 civilians on the table, and the patrol didn’t know which (if any, they could all just be civilians as a bluff). The insurgent meeting would only be allowed to activate once the look-out spotted the patrol. In support (off table reserve) they had a chance of a technical racing to their aid. The Ozzy patrol was not allowed to open fire (on anything) until it had been fired at first. Until then, all they could do was move (if cautiously) towards the target building.

The patrol was well equipped, it had a SAW, a sniper, a guided anti-tank missile, a satellite radio and was led by an officer (useful for better command and control). All the men also carried extra ammo (useful when ammo rolls came into play – I wanted ammo to be a limited resource – so you need to be careful shooting, or have some form of quick resupply – like a quad bike and trailer). All the men also had advanced body armour (better than just normal body armour). The insurgents don’t get this, and that means they die easier when hit, but it costs them far less morale for their losses, even 1 man down for the patrol would be big problem (hence the Blackhawk on stand-by).

For a first run the game played OK, but with a lot of tweaking as we went, and about two sides of A4 as new notes on what worked, didn’t work, might work, other new ideas and the general pain of having civilians in the way during a battle (that’s going to require a lot of thought, because wargames in which fighting is too difficult don’t really do what it  says on the tin – there was to be some war in this game).

Most pleasingly, after the firefight broke out (the dicker saw the patrol straight away then scarpered - he has only got a pistol), casualties were very low. 1 of the 6 insurgents was severely wounded in the fire fight, the others all escaped (after spending a lot of time pinned) when their BR broke. The patrol lost no-one, despite a big scare when the radio-op went down under AK fire, but when he was checked out (by the officer who heroically ran across the open ground to reach him), he was OK, his body armoured saved him. The guide anti-tank missile was bit overkill in this game, but the Javelin’s only shot missed and landed in the irrigation ditch with no harm done to anyone or anything. The RPG launcher guy only got off one shot, which also missed, before being pinned down by furious SAW fire all game. The SAW gunner tore through his ammo, but his area fire kept that RPG silent.

A game with such low casualties is another aim of the rules. Realistic levels of losses in wargame? (Almost unheard of). It’s very early days, but I shall keep this WIP bubbling away and see if it cooks up something really good (and different enough to current rules) to be worth producing and releasing. Much work has still to be done, but the ideas behind the game are sound (I think).

'Outrider' Post-Apocalypse Action

It's been the summer holidays, so not much time for gaming admist the extra days of childcare... but we have played a few games of Outrider (print and play rules for post-apocalypse car wars). The rules have proved a hit so far, with the younger players anyway. I have a few reservations (like, out-and-out speed seems to count for little compared to mobility and armour, which means be slow and heavy over plain old fast). Fast cars generally fail their manoeuvre tests more often and thus aren't in the right position to fire as often, and the armoured beasts seem to resist fire so well it takes a lot of shooting to destroy them. So it's a double-whammy, you final get your faster cars into positon to fire, and it bounces off! Not sure the game has the balance quite right (imho), but we will fix it with a few house rules.

The basics are good though, and I like the manoeuvre cards and path they make. Making the cards did take about 6 hours though. In all, the 'free' online game cost about £15 in printing and mounting card... I think I'd rather pay £20/25 and just buy it.

Anyway, here are a few shots of one game in action, my outlaws vs the 'green machine' mercenaries. We are also working on (well thinking about) a simple campaign system for upgrading cars and drivers with experience, and seeing destroyed vehicles re-appear as re-worked battle damaged versions. For now we are just mastering the basics of movement and firing. It scratched the Mad Max itch anyway.

My two bandits close in, lead buggy and tarmac hugging wingman.

 Manoeuvring off the road (borrowed from Pitch Car). Mercenary speedster leading, heavy armoured van in support.

 A short move, very easy to control. Red counters mark cards you will also shoot on, up to three playable in a turn.

 A complex manoeuvre path, but my buggy is good at control. Failure would most likely mean the path ends prematurely on a card before the last one. The D12 (the best dice in the game) is rolled for the overall path's target number, for the highly-mobile (but fragile) dune buggy.

The armoured van makes a rear-end shunt with its ram.  Green arrows mark the vehicles that are in motion. No green arrow, then you are currently stationary (an easier target, but you can then reverse).

My buggy, in trouble between both the enemy cars. His wingman turned out to a be slow trundler and couldn't keep up. 

The helicopter view. The black base on my car means the vehicle is a 'roadster' (a house rule), far better when on a road than in the desert. 

The buggy bugs-out, enemy still in hot pursuit.

 The buggy having swerved away, the van refuses to be shaken, a maximum three shots this turn from its big cannon saw the buggy pounded and wrecked.

Pulling a U-turn to go head-to-head with my last car, guns blazing (and missing), but I won that duel, but could not then face down the armoured beast that is the van - so I fled the board and conceded the day, caution being the better part of valour and all that... and I had only 1 damage point left.

The cars are all scratch-conversions using the bits-box, large amounts of superglue and Hotwheels toys, mounted on car bases (they are important in the rules). Next time, we'll give the cops a run out.

Soldiers of God with Michael Perry

Earlier in the week I introduced Perry Miniatures to Soldiers of God and ran an intro game for Michael, on his very nice desert terrain boards with his superb Crusaders collection (a hard day's work that). The game went down well, with Michael taking command of the Crusaders and conducting a left echelon attack with his Knights supported by Turcopoles, whilst I fougth with the Saracens, using Advance and Harass, horse archers on both flanks. All the miniatures are from the excellent Perry range (as are many of mine).

Michael picked up the rules quickly and, after a couple of hours, his attack had narrowly broken my force, his Knights proving themselves some seriously tough-hombres as they battered their way forwards, being in melee from turn 1 until the end of the game. My horse archers struggled this time, I didn't see many Loose! action cards... but the repeated Rally cards probably kept me in the fight far longer and made the game closer than it felt. I always felt under the hammer on this one.

Here are some shots of the game in progress. You can see more pics on the Perry's fb page.

https://www.facebook.com/perryminiatures?fref=ts

Soldiers of God is now available from Perry Miniatures, in the books section of their website.

www.perry-miniatures.com

 The Saracens lines, horse archers left and right, infantry, archers and ghulam in the strong centre.

 The Crusader's right, men-at-arms backed by archers (and the bishop in command)

 Here they come! The Crusader's hammer-blow from their left, Knights and Turcopoles behind.

 In command in the centre, heroic action by this command stand would prevent my horse archers getting behind the centre and causing chaos.

On my right, the horse archers gallop forwards to torment the Knights, but this time in didn't work.

 and on the right, the same, skirmishing  light cavalry make easy work of the dried river bed.

Oops, the Knights move far faster than I thought, an extra March card and a Charge at the gallop sees them quickly catch my leading horse archers in an uneven melee, which by luck they later managed to withdraw from, battered but still in the fight - just.

 In their place, my first Ghulam unit wheels to face the oncoming Knights. 1 point of disorder gained from galloping into place.

 On the march, infantry slowly closing in the centre.

 The Knights and Ghulam smash into each other in a big cavalry fight on my right, and my Ghulams held up well, for a while, bu were always losing the fight.

 On the other end of the line, my horse archers lap around the Crusader's right flank, and their archers quickly manouevre to face them. The fierce archery duel would cost me a light cavalry unit for his archers and the bishop's comand stand, a good trade.

 Overview of the field, the centres still closing cautiously. The Turcopoles have launched flank attack on my infantry, which didn't go too well for them.

The Ghulam vs Knights melee continues, both spending cards to keep their men in the fight. In the end, my Ghulam broke in a gory massacre (not helped by some friendly fire missiles I threw-into the melee in desperation), but it was too late to save the day anyway.

My forces broke, with the Crusaders having just 2 morale value left. A defeat and my winning run is ended at 9 games!.

Soldiers of God, Out Now! Hurrah!

The game has now hit the stores, available from North Star, Warlord Games, Gripping Beast, Plastic Soldier Company, and Perry Miniatures will be stocking in a couple of weeks (busy men the twins, but I'll catch-up with them eventually).

Ran a game at Gripping Beast last week, a rather stonking Saracen win, with some seriously good dice rolled by Darren and Martin never getting a break. You know it's not your day when the enemy plays 'Confusion' and takes the great card you were about to play off you. Martin did well not to cry. 

Initial responses have been excellent. I've had a first battle report sent to me, another crushing Saracen win... but the guys playing down at Entoyment in Bournemouth loved it and are now furiosuly painting Arab infantry.

I'm pysched for game myself... time to play and Crusaders and show the infidel some real steel and holy fury. I'll play the game as a intro-session and write it up for new players (or prospective ones) to read up.

Articles for the game will be appearing shortly in WSS and WI magazines, in the next few months. A scenario for the Battle of Arsuf in WSS, a basic intro to the game in WI. Hopefully, a tactics/ how to play article will follow in WI too, but I'm still writing it.

For the hell of it, here is the game's advert. Please feel free to spread it (and a good word) around the internet, on forums, blogs, etc, word of mouth is the best form of promotion and I can't really get involved in that, mainly because I obviously think the game is ace, or I wouldn't have published it.

Updating the US Army

I've have had a few weeks off painting, post my big push to get my 8th Army project finished. But, as a creature of habit, the urge to get the brushes and paints out never goes away for long, and tele is mostly utter rubbish in the evenings. I have, like most, a list of 'stuff' I'd like to do as long as my arm, but I restrict myself to one major project a year, which I try to actually get finished and gamed with. Only then do I allow myself to be distracted by the many other shiney things.

So, looking through the plastics/lead/resin mountain, what should I do now my major 2015 project was complete? Well, every few years I like to go back over my older armies, to rejuvinate them, update the models, fix the broken stuff, re-paint the rough stuff(!), add a few new units for the missing stuff and generally spruce it up with more stowage, etc. Both my American and Russian WW2 20mm armies are looking a bit battle-worn. They bear the marks of being dragged to many wargames shows and 'away day' games. Paint chips, bent barrels and broken wheels, etc aplenty. So, with 'BG Wacht am Rhein' looming large on the horizon I decided it would be worthwhile giving my US army some TLC. The Russians will have to wait.

So, auditing the existive US forces, I have decided the old Airfix half tracks have now done 20 years tabletop service, and that is long enough. They aren't bad, but the models are small. I should replace them with nice new PSC ones. The old passengers and stowage could be salvaged and reused, with some new ones added too. In all, I have 6 to do, before moving on to other M3s variants, like my radio half track, supply half track, M21 mortar carrier and M16 AA. First, the basic troop carriers, enough for an armoured infantry platoon (4), an extra squad and an engineer squad.

Following that, I'll look at retouching all the infantry that jump out of them, with a bit of re-basing too. I also want to add a Sherman Calliope for late war battles and a 90mm AA and M4 tow (I think only Milicast make one of these) as ad hoc anti-tank defences in the Ardennes. There actually isn't much my US collection doesn't already have. Maybe a few British allied tanks, like a Crocodile, for Fall of the Reich games - oh yeah, a big flamethrower would be sweat.

I've been working on the replacement half tracks this week, and they are now done. Here they are, fresh from Detriot and ready to roll.

 The first three, pigments brushed on.

 'Pudgy', the platoon command vehicle (marked by the aerial) and the guy with binos spotting.

 The second three (they are actually different).

 Platoon MG section's track, marked with an extra .30cal

 Squad transport, passengers are from all sorts of places, SHQ crew, PSC plastics, others I don't even remember any more. In all, 48 blokes to crew these.

What they are replacing, one of my old Airfix kits, now being retired (and sold at a bring and buy at my next show). Perfectly presentable just not as good as the new ones.