Historical and Modern Wargaming – Where the "Fluff" is Real Life

[phaidknott 7023xp 1]

@oriskany Was watching your Force on Force videos and something you said struck a chord with me about how casualties are handled between regular and insurgent forces….

 

So perhaps you could count the “points” (if your game even has points costings) for the casualties in an AWI differently. British and Hessian (and possibly French) troops count as double (for example) as their replacements are an ocean away. Whereas the Continentals and Loyalist Militia just count their normal points when totalling up the points lost (thus it gives the Crown player a “push” to fielding Loyalist Militia on the table (I can’t even remember seeing a loyalist militia unit on an AWI table that wasn’t mine in 30 odd years of wargaming here in the UK)). Perhaps the later trained Continental line regts might also go into this increased costing for calculating casualties?

 

Anyhow thus you might see the Crown forces winning (as usual), but perhaps this ends up as a pyrrhic victory as the victory was too costly in men and materials (with the replacements being months away from getting to the US)?

[oriskany 60771xp 0]

@phaidknott – that’s actually not a bad idea at all.  Makes sense, given how often people compare the “mixed insurgency” of the American Revolution to more modern asymmetrical conflicts – The Continental Army and local / state militias can in some ways be compared to the NVA and Viet Cong, for example, with American Loyalists being compared to ARVN force in Vietnam.  A large part of why the British shifted focus south after Saratoga was an effort to leverage more Loyalists support and war burden (broadly comparable to America’s “Vietnamization” program) – largely because the “imperial” power was more worried about larger international threats (British vs. France, Spain, and Netherlands, the Americans vs. the Soviet Union and China)?

 

[oriskany 60771xp 0]

Thanks very much for watching and your support!

[oriskany 60771xp 1]

Savage Ambush at Xuan Dai (1968 Vietnam): 15mm Wargame – “Tactical Combat”

It’s time to go “in country” for a Vietnam War scenario in Mark Mitchie’s 15mm “Tactical Combat game system.  This is the Battle at Xuan Dai, part of what would very soon become Operation “Allen Brook” at Go Noi Island, Quang Nam province.

Elements of 2/7 Marines (reinforced by a platoon of 5th Marine Tank Battalion) have crossed “Liberty Bridge” onto Go Noi Island, intent on clearing this area once and for all.  They’re going to run into a carefully-laid ambush and vicious defense mounted by elements of 36th Regiment, 308th NVA Division and 44th Headquarters group, main force Viet Cong.

 

[phaidknott 7023xp 0]

Noticed with the “Force-on-Force” and with this last game that the US medics seem to have a MASSIVE (dare I say it almost game breaking) effect by just one man.

 

Perhaps it would be more realistic to limit that downshift on the wound type to only be useable once per turn on one casualty (rather than having an area effect with the medic able to aid as many casualties as appear in that radius as possible). Also a pet peeve (this is just me) about calling in off table artillery/airstrikes. Usually there’s probably the ONE chap on the table who can do this (FOO/FAO), and perhaps the platoon leaders being able to call in the company assets (like the 60mm mortars) and neither able to order the other. Plus that fire takes time to arrive (usually in most skirmish games we run it’s about three turns for the heavy ordinance, and two turns for the company assets). We copied the rules from the author of “Red Storm/Grey Steel” (Firebase games, sadly long OOP) that were written by an ex FAO in the British army (so we presume that he knows what he’s talking about). Tank’s can’t call in artillery strikes (unless it’s the company CO), and usually have extremely poor situational awareness anyhow (makes them very poor at spotting things like infantry in cover).

 

Anyhow probably some unwanted feedback on the rules themselves (we’re all “armchair warriors”, sometimes “keyboard warriors” as well). But enjoying the videos, so nice to see the historical games (and the preamble you do on the history of things before getting into the gaming is EXCELLENT) 🙂

[oriskany 60771xp 1]

Good afternoon @phaidknott – I’ll have to re-watch the Fallujah vidoe and make sure I didn’t misrepresent myself, but Medics in F0F don’t actually “heal” (downshift) any wounds at all.  They just activate a different wound table, which only slightly bumps the chances for an “OK” result, and slightly mitigates the chances for a KIA.  They don’t technically “heal” anyone, just provide a slightly better table for the dice rolls when it comes to assess how bad wounds actually are during the First Aid check (actually would be better alled a “wound assessment” phase).  Medics / corpsmen rush about, providing  immediate stabilization and triage for anyone is reach.  So I’m cool with the way they behave in FoF, especially given the ground scale of a 20mm game.

I take your point though, note in larger scale games like Valor & Victory Modern Expansion, the medic TEAM (a two man team, lead and assistant) can effect a single UNIT in a turn (which again, could be up to four men in a single hex).

The Marines were just getting some good rolls on their corpsman, and note they still lost the game by a comfortable margin.

FOO and FAO isn’t really a thing in modern Marine forces, at least not on this command echelon level.  NCOs are trained and briefed on this, and anyone close enough to the radio (PRC-77A1s in my day) can call it in, depending on who else is present.

Nowadays, a Marine rifle squad is no less than 15 men, with an assistant squad leader and a SSO (Squad Systems Operator), as well as three fireteam leaders and the original squad leader, bringing the total people who could possible call in a company or even an assigned battalion sized asset up to six personnel in a single squad.

FAOs / FOOs are largely a gaming convention (I’m looking at you, Flames of War), and when they appear in real military units we’re talking about brigade / division / or even corps-level assets, which this game certainly didn’t include (again, that Blackhawk and A-10 were there for narrative and “glamor shot” purposes).  🙂

There really weren’t any support missions in this game.  The Blackhawk and A-10 you’ll notice didn’t really do anything at the end, I just wanted to get the models on the table for some photos.

There wasn’t a “platoon” on the table.  That was a single Marine rifle squad with a couple attchments (SSgt with a PFC driver, GySgt with a LCpl driver) and a Navy Corpsman.  Nothing close to a full platoon (about 45+ men).  So if it would be “only one chap in the platoon” – there wouldn’t be any support missions at all.  Which is cool, in that F0F game there were no support missions.  🙂

Hope that cklears things up.

I take your point, though.  In our Valor & Victory games I usually only allow Leaders to call in support missions (usually 4 or so per company).

In our Panzer Leader games, any combat unit can call in a fire mission because that’s a platoon / battery based game, every single counter on the table has at least one 2nd Lieutenant a a staff NCO, up to a dozen regular NCOs.

[oriskany 60771xp 1]

Shootout at the Suez – 1973 Yom Kippur War (Part 1)

Join us for a 15mm game of “Seven Days to the River Rhine” by Great Escape Games.  This time we’re using the system to recreate a historical battle during the closing days of the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

Recovering from the shock and early defeats inflicted by a resurgent Egyptian Army, Israeli forces in the Sinai Peninsula have now crossed the embattled Suez Canal.  Establishing a bridgehead on the canal’s west bank, the Israelis are now maneuvering south to cut off the Egyptian Third Army.  Determined to halt this drive, Egyptian reserves had been mobilized to hit the Israelis in their right wing as they advance south to Port Suez.  So as they advance to cut off the Egyptians, will the Israelis be cut off in turn?

Units include elements of Egyptian 113th Mechanized Brigade (6th Mechanized Division) and 3rd Armored Brigade (4th Armored Division).  Their missions is to stop via flanking counterattack elements of Gabi Amir’s 460th Brigade (Adan’s 162nd “Ugda”) reinforced by elite light infantry of the 890th Paratrooper Battalion.

 

[oriskany 60771xp 1]

Greetings – here is the replay from last night’s stream, where we kit-bashed / scratch-built a VERY approximate “Gepard” SP air defense system for use with my Bundeswehr modern Germans in a game scheduled for this weekend.

We talk about the merits and flaws of missile vs. gun-based air defense systems in the modern battlespace, the new “Stand” miniseries, Picard Season 3, LOTR trilogy, and why the new “All Quiet on the Western Front” is in fact an insultingly terrible movie.

[oriskany 60771xp 1]

???????? ?? ??? ???? – ???? ??? ?????? ??? (???? ?)
Join us as we finish up our 15mm game of “Seven Days to the River Rhine” by Great Escape Games – recreating a historical battle during the closing days of the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

So far we’ve had an Israeli air strike go awry, long-range tank duels, and up-close RPG ambushes. At least one Israeli tank platoon leader is down, and is that the sound of incoming Egyptian artillery I hear?

[oriskany 60771xp 1]

Tank Brawl at Plycza – Barbarossa 1941 (15mm Wargame)
Operation Barbarossa was the initial Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, the largest single military operation there has ever been. In its opening week, huge Soviet tank and mechanized armies mount gigantic but uncoordinated counterattacks at German panzer spearheads, triggering some of the largest tank battles in history.

One of these is the Battle of Dubno-Brody, where huge numbers of archaic and ill-supplied Soviet armor are hurled at expert (but much smaller) German tank forces.

Part of this battle takes place at the village of Plycza, where elements of Soviet 34th Tank Division (8th Mechanized Corps) is counter-counterattacked by units of the 11th Panzer Division. Among the Soviet tanks are the monstrous T-35, a gigantic oddity of tank design that seems more akin so something you’d find on a Warhammer 40K table . . .

 

[oriskany 60771xp 1]

Wargame: Baltic Escalation! Russian Tank and Air Assault Guards vs. Bundeswehr Mech Brigade (P1)

Join us as we use the “Seven Days to the River Rhine” game system (Great Escape Games) to explore a “what-if” scenario we certainly hope never happens.  Current conflicts have expanded elsewhere across Eastern Europe, and the Russian Army has moved into Lithuania, making a bid to open a permanent land corridor to the Kaliningrad Enclave along the Baltic Coast.

Of course Lithuania is a NATO member state, thus triggering Article V of the NATO Charter, and a German Bundeswehr mech brigade is among the responding units.

Russian “VDV” Air Assault Guards have taken a key bridge over the Nemunas River, and are holding until spearhead elements of a Russian guards tank brigade can reach them.  But the Bundeswehr mech brigade is also driving hard for the crossing, intent on overrunning the air assault guards.  Who will reach the bridge first?

[oriskany 60771xp 1]

15mm “Gepard” (Cheetah) Self-Propelled Air Defense Systems (Flakpanzers)
Here is the edited replay of last night’s stream, where I build and discuss the Gepard “flakpanzer” SPADS that Blair Fenning sent me.

There are almost indispensible vehicles for your Bundeswehr modern Germans, to fend off the Mi-24 Hinds and SU-24 “Frogfoot” ground attack planes Soviet and Russian players will try to throw at you!

Hope you like it! Might make for some mellow listening while working on your own hobby or painting!

[oriskany 60771xp 1]

Baltic Escalation! Russian Tank and Air Assault Guards vs. Bundeswehr Mech Brigade (P2)
Join us for the fiery conclusion of our “what-if” wargame using Seven Days to the River Rhine, where we’re imagining a hypothetical Russian invasion of the Baltic States.

A key bridge over the Nemunas River in southern Lithuania has been taken by Russian VDV Guards air assault troops. A Bundeswehr mechanized brigade is among the responding NATO units, and they’ve now clashed with spearhead elements of a Guards Tank Brigade that’s arrived to relieve the hard-pressed Air Assault troops on the bridge.

It’s “A Bridge Too Far” – Russian Edition! Who will wind up holding the fateful bridge when the smoke clears?

[oriskany 60771xp 1]

Partizan Wargames Show 2023 

Special thanks to Damon Brentnall for providing us with a gorgeous gallery of high-resolution photos from the recent Partizan Wargames Show held on May 21 in Newark, UK.  These amazing tables (most of them created not by a single hobbyist but a whole club of wargamers) range through history from the Wars of Alexander’s Successors in the 4th Century BCE to the Entebbe Raid of 1976.

I don’t know about you, but I find myself inspired to push myself on table presentation after looking at what these hobby lords have accomplished!

[oriskany 60771xp 1]

Bloody Omaha – My Biggest Panzer Leader Game EVER! (Part 1)
Just how big can a game of Avalon Hill’s Panzer Leader get? How about a scenario encompassing the initial assault landing across ALL of Omaha Beach, 6 June 1944? That’s both 1st and 29th US Infantry Divisions taking on coastal defense positions of the Germans 352nd Infantry in a full-scale recreation of that legendary “Day of Days.”

The game is handled down to the platoon and section level, with historical locations of every German bunker plotted, along with the PLANNED assault sectors and landing waves. In all, this uber-game winds up with a gameboard encompassing 3000 hexes, 20 turns, 450+ units, and took 25 hours to play (boiled down into two 30-minute videos for you guys).

With all the miniature play we’ve been featuring lately, we wanted to get back to some more classic wargaming for those of you who enjoy this kind of content as well.

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