Ultramodern Wargaming – Ukraine 2024
Recommendations: 13001
About the Project
Lately, I've been running war games every weekend with members of the community via web conference. Players log on and play wargames with each other in real time, regardless of location, and we usually have at least a couple spectators as well. Many times it’s been Darkstar, but we’re also running wargames in Panzer Leader, Arab-Israeli Wars, and now Valor & Victory.
BoW/OTT community members @brucelea, @damon, @davehawes, and @rasmus have taken the plunge, leading battalions across thousands of meters of desert, starfleets in pitched battles across the heavens, or vicious firefights in the jungles of Vietnam, all without leaving the comfort of their home.
Hard-core, old-school command-tactical wargames can now be run (complete with spectators and recordings) in real time, with BOTH PLAYERS moving pieces across THE SAME virtual game board, thus maintaining player agency, speedy and instant results (no play by e-mail), interwoven turn sequences, any questions / feedback instantly received and addressed, and with the game being virtually recorded as it goes, a ready-made battle report can actually be created as we go.
All of this without the players having to install any new software on their computer, on any platform (PC or Mac). All that's needed is to agree on a time, a handful of dice, and a bellyful of courage!
Every weekend can now be a boot camp! All without costing me thousands of dollars in airfare, too!
Related Game: PanzerBlitz
Related Genre: Historical
This Project is Active
Seven Days to the River Rhine - Soviets v. Bundeswehr - Part 1
It’s old school 15mm badassery on a big physical table loaded with terrain … traditional wargaming at its best! Oriskany Jim sets up a game of “Seven Days to the River Rhine” at Das Krieg Haus, home of the South Florida Miniatures Gaming Club.
John Sowerby plays the West Germans and Jennifer Burdoo plays the Soviets in a 780-point game (8×4 table) set in a hypothetical 1988.
Can the German Leopards and Marders stem the flow or Soviet armor, or will the Soviet T-80Us, T-72Bs, and BMP-2s achieve a breakthrough for the glorious motherland?
Elessar2590 v. Oriskany - Game Video (Exercise Talisman Sabre 2023)
Here is the replay of Sunday’s awesome Panzer Leader game with elessar2590, where we played a scenario set in next year’s Exercise “Talisman Sabre.”
In this exercise, the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (1st Bn/5th Marines, reinforced plus air support, carried aboard USS America LHA-6) is landing along the shores of the Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Queensland Australia. In response, part of the 7th Brigade/1st Australian Division (including 2/14th Light Horse and 6th/Royal Australian Regiment) are deployed to counterattack and throw the Marines back into the sea.
The game includes up-to-the-minute Marine and Australian equipment, rules for hand-held mini-drones, off-board HIMARS rocket strikes, F-35Bs, and the newest in Australian armor and “Boxer” combat reconnaissance vehicles.
So it’s a “game within a game,” our Panzer Leader scenario attempting to take a look at how militaries conduct real-life wargame exercises at “one-to-one scale.”
Hope you like it!
Talisman Sabre 2023: USMC v. Australian "Battle" in Panzer Leader
Some of us truly play wargames at “one-to-one” scale, such as when the military conducts field exercises to test operational readiness and hone their command skills.
One such exercise is Talisman Sabre, a biennial exercise held with the US and Pacific allies like Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, and others.
In this session of Panzer Leader (modern expansion), Elessar2590 and Oriskany will sit down to play a “game within a game” – pitting the US Marine Corps against the Australian Army in a simulated landing in Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area.
Can Oriskany’s Marine Expeditionary Unit (reinforced battalion+) secure a lodgement against Elessar’s Australian Army response force?
Live Stream – 4PM East US / 9PM UK
Sitrep Podcast YouTube
Some of the Australian units to be featured in today's game.
Some of the Marine units. Relax, no A-10 Thunderbolts. Not a USMC aircraft.
Additional Marines
But the deadliest unit the Australians will face ... -5 to all Australian morale checks ...System crash - double post
Is anyone else having this issue?
Sitrep Podcast Episode (01 Oct 2022) - Gaming Urban Warfare
Join the Sitrep Podcast team for another episode of the Sitrep Podcast, where we discuss what’s new in the world of Historical Military Wargaming, go over what we’ve been doing in the hobby, and review some great hobby contributions from the Sitrep Podcast Community!
We also cover our weekly topic: “Gaming Urban Warfare” – One of the growing trends of modern warfare is the increasing frequency and ferocity of urban combat. Armies build whole mock cities for what they call “MOUT Training” (Military Operations in Urban Terrain) – but how do we realistically handle the complexities and challenges of urban warfare on our tabletops?
Live Stream – 11AM East US / 4PM UK
Sitrep Podcast YouTube
De Bellis Antiquitatis - Romans v. Seleucids
John Sowerby and Jim Dundorf sit down for a game of De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA) at Das Krieg Haus, home of the South Florida Miniatures Gaming Club. This time it’s the Seleucids vs. Republic-Era Romans, squaring off perhaps on the dusty plains of Syria in the First or Second Century BCE.
DBA is a light, fast-playing system that nevertheless covers a vast stretch of history with a subtle dimension to its rules, emphasizing the real-life tactics as well as difficulties and constraints of ancient and medieval linear warfare.
I don't know WHY this stuff keeps DOUBLE POSTING!!!
I posted it the first time, waited, watched, refreshed … it did NOT double post. I come back 20 minutes later and it’s now on there twice. WTF??
I have removed the second post. 🙁 🙁 🙁
Arena of the Damned - Playtesting and Demo Video
Here is the video replay of Sunday’s stream, where we ran some playtesting of a a new gladiatorial combat game set in Ancient Rome: “Arena of the Damned.”
In the stream we buzzed through the creation of a sample fighter, created a custom “virtual miniature” for the new gladiatrix, and tested the game in a quick exhibition bout.
The game system continues to be tweaked and polished, converted from a pure RPG combat system into more of a skirmish wargame – in order to more easily facilitate larger and more complex matches between teams of fighters.
Let us know what you think!
