AAR: A Falklands’ Patrol, or Cold-CoC-ing a penguin

Well, it has been a bit since my last blog entry that had any real substance, but I got two more notches on my New Year’s resolutions; I finished another book and got my first game in for the year! 

So first up, I just finished War of the White Death and have now started up The Soviet Invasion of Finland, 1939-40 (Soviet (Russian) Military Experience) by Carl Van Dyke.  If you want to know about the Winter War of 1939-40, I will highly recommend this book, War of the White Death, and the previous book that I was reading, A Frozen Hell.  You really need to read both and read A Frozen Hell first, then War of the White Death.  A  Frozen Hell gives an excellent political overview of the events leading to the Winter War, background of Mannerheim, and the Finnish view of the war.  War of the White Death was written using former Soviet documents and gives an excellent and detailed account of the war from the Russian side of the war.  Matter of fact the author deliberately avoids covering the same material in A Frozen Hell and states that one should read that book for the political & Finnish accounts.

On to the ARR of the game!

This was the first time that any of us played TooFatLardies’ Chain of Command (CoC), so it was a learning experience with a lot time of me sticking my nose in the book looking up things.  I limited who I invited because this was the first time with this system and I wanted Curtis T. & Steve H. as they have played a lot of TFL games before, and Glenn W. as one who has not played a lot of TFL, but has been reading up on various CoC reviews and AARs on other blogs so that he was rather familiar with the system.  We ran the game at the Wargamers’ Cave in IL (Thanks, guys!).   All in all, it is a good system and everyone was catching on how the dice worked and how to do things in the game.  Everyone commented at the end of the game that this was a better system than Bolt Action, which I am taking their word for it as all of them had played Bolt Action and I have not yet.  Unfortunately, as I was spending too much time checking rules as this was the first game and I am not confident with my memory to not look things up (but with repetitiveness, comes confidence and I plan to be repeating this system), I did not make notes of what happen in the game to give a detailed AAR.

While CoC is designed to be for WW2, it is open enough that it can be used for pre & post WW2 games up to a point and some people are already trying to adapt it for post-Colonialism Africa and Cold War era games.  So this first CoC game was using my Falklands conflict figures.  If you go back to some of my previous posts, you will find my stats for the Falklands weapons.  The scenario involved a platoon of British Paras probing an Argentine defensive position.  I used the British Paras rules right out of CoC as their tactics at the platoon level had not changed since WW2.  For the Argentine conscripts, I used the Soviet infantry rules, except I did not give them those national characteristics.  Instead I made one section “Die Hards” as in most of my readings, there was almost always one group of Argentine soldiers that would fight it out and only killing them would stop them from holding on their little bit of the islands.  I also made them Regulars to reflect one of the better infantry regiments, the RI 25.  I also ran the scenario in daylight hours to keep the game simple for spotting for now.

As mention before, a platoon of British Paras were to probe up an Argentine defensive position.  The Paras went light and were not carrying their Carl G or LAWs.  I have not figured the stats for the Carl G or the LAWs was the main reason for not including them in the scenario, but the Carl G was reportedly bad for malfunctions in the very cold climate in the Falklands with only the Royal Marines that had been in the Arctic Warfare training having minimum problems as they had been trained on the proper care methods.  I decided to treat the M79 grenade launcher the same as the rifle grenade.  The extra men of the Para’s platoon headquarters was not available as I assumed that they would be on other duties, wounded, or etc.  This was also the case with the support section for the Argentine platoon.

The Para platoon was being pushed by Steve H. (running the platoon leader and two sections) and Curtis T. (running the platoon sergeant and one section).  The Argentine platoon was being pushed by Glenn W.  It was easy for Glenn to run the whole platoon since there was enough support points that all three sections started entrenched and really didn’t need to move for the game.

The game started with the Argentine conscripts having a Force Morale of 8 and the Para’s with 9.  Unfortunately, Steve did not roll very well for the number of turns to move his Patrol Markers before the game began, (I guess the Argentine troops were using their night vision effectively that night).  So the Paras had to start farther back and had to cross big gap to try to push the Argentine conscripts on a hill.  Steve made good with one section right away for setting up a base of fire on one hill top.  Shortly later, he was able to get a second section on smaller hill in the middle of the board to also provide a fire base.  Curtis moved his section up the one flank of the main hill held by the Argentine conscripts.  For most of the game the Argentine conscripts stayed in their trenches and traded shots with the Para.  The Argentine sniper was especially a troublesome follow for the Para until the Paras finally spotted him and eliminated him in a rather overkill sort of way!

The game ended with the Paras not being in a position to push at least one Argentine section out of their trenches and hurting.  The Argentine conscripts were in better shape, but their Force Morale was in dire straits.  I did not keep any notes during the game, but I believe that the Paras had lost 5 or 6 men out of the 27 and the Argentine conscripts lost about the same number of men, with one being a section NCO, out of 34 men.  The Force Morales were at 8 for the Para’s and the Argentine conscripts had a 4.  The main reason for the major drop in the Force Morale for the Argentine conscripts was the one section NCO was first wounded and later killed.  It appears that he was the most beloved NCO in the platoon because both times that Glenn rolled for the effects of him being wounded, then killed, it was the worst result that could be rolled for the effects on their morale.

I really like what I saw with this gaming system and plan to revisit it again later this year.

Below are some of the pictures from the game with captions below them.

Be seeing you

Sapper

The British Commander signalling his troops forward

Brits on the move

Argentine conscripts are dug in to defend what is theirs

The Para section that was laying down supporting fire for the advance

The effect rolls for the hits against the Argentine sniper!

An Argentine section abandoned their trenches to move into a position to counter assault

Game end - the Paras elected to abandon the attack as the Argentine conscripts in front of them were "Die Hards"

Scenario for Two Hour Wargames: Péter and the Wolves

Here is a little treat for some of you!  Lately, I have been ‘cleaning’ up my computer files, mainly reorganizing and renaming files, to get rid of duplicate files and find things more efficiently.  Today, I came across this scenario that I wrote up years ago and forgot about.  I cleaned it up a little, but it is mostly unchanged.  I might one day update it to the work with the current Two Hour Wargames’ systems.  I never play-tested it, so if anyone ever uses it, let me know how it went.  Unfortunately, I probably never use it as I sold off most of my 28mm figures that would be needed for this scenario. 

Sapper

Scenario: Péter and the Wolves

Chain Reaction v. 2

Combat de Jacques André Portefaix et de ses compagnons contre la Bête du Gévaudan

Opening scene:

“Péter!  Péter!” could be heard through the dark Eastern European forest coming from a band of men carrying torches and weapons.  Even with the full moon shining above, the low lying fog was so heavy that even the light of the torches seemed surreal.

As the boy shivered in the cold behind a tree, he was not sure if they were the Gypsies that chased him into the forest or if they were men from his local village looking for him.  All he could see was the glow of the torches from the path that they were on.  At first he wanted to run to them as he thought he recognized one of the voices, but then he decided to wait until he could see them better.  As he waited, the fear swelled greater and greater in him as they approached.  He decided to run away and try to find a better hiding spot where he could see them, but they could not see him.

As he settled in his new hiding spot, Péter saw something moving in the darkness, off to one side.  It appeared to be something big and furry.  It look like a wolf, but is looked much bigger then any wolf he has ever seen before. It was moving very stealthily towards him.  It would move a little bit and stop while hunching down.  As terror froze Péter in place, he watched in horror at the wolf slowly crawling towards him.  His eyes darted over to the band of men calling his name and back at the thing edging towards him.  That is when Péter noticed that there was more than one wolf!  They were all closing in on him.

Péter decided that the band of men, even if they were Gypsies, were not the worst of fates.   That is when Péter screamed louder then he has ever screamed before…

Summary and Objective:

A band of men from a village are looking for Péter, a small boy that has gone missing in the forest.  Fearing that wild animals or a band of Gypsies may have done harm to him, they are going armed.  The villagers were also able to get the local police to assist in the search.  The object of the villagers is to find Péter and exit the gaming table.

Gaming Table:

The table should be heavily wooded with some hills and a few open areas.  At least one foot path should be present.  A creek and some rock croppings could also be present. 

Villagers:

Depending on the number of players, up to four figures could be “Stars” with the remaining being “Leaders”:  The Huntsman, the Police Sergeant, the Blacksmith, and the Mayor.  These men have a mob of other village men to support them.

Huntsman:  Rep 5; Armed with an axe and a crossbow.

Police Sergeant:  Rep 4; Armed with a black powder pistol and sword.  He also carries a lantern.

Blacksmith: Rep 4; Armed with a large hammer and does extra damage due his muscles

Mayor:  Rep 4; Armed with a black powder pistol and sword.

Mob: This should be a band of 10 to 20 men variously armed with clubs, muskets, axes, bows, pitchforks, torches, etc.  I suggest that no more than a quarter be armed with the same weapon.  Their Rep will be mostly 3, but a small number could be 2.

Péter:

Rep 2 and Unarmed; Base move is 8”.  Peter has special Reaction Charts (see below.)  

Peter sets up randomly on the board but no closer then 16” from the villagers and 16” of the adversaries.  There should also be a minimum of two “fake” Péter counters that will react as the same as the “real” Péter for reactions.  These are to force the villages to decide on their search options. 

Péter’s Reaction Charts 

Insight Chart for seeing the Villagers

2d6 – Péter is convinced that is a band of men from the village.  He will start moving towards them when he has his turn.  He needs not to take another Reaction test to identify the villagers.  If the villagers are under attack, Péter will either try to run to the closest villager not in combat or wait were he is at if he is not able to reach the closest villager in one move. 

1d6 – Péter is not sure if they are men from his village.  He will wait where he is at “Hidden”, and watch them on next turn.  If they are within one move of him, he will move away from them, but will not be “Hidden” for the next turn. 

0d6 – Péter is convinced that they are Gypsies!  He will move away from them and will be immediately “Hidden” after his move.  He will get to roll again for making another Insight reaction test for the Villagers.

Insight Chart for seeing the “Wolves”

2d6 – Péter is scared, but has some sense about him.  He will scream (can be heard up to 24”) and will run towards the villagers, if he had already identified them, or away from both if he did not recognize the villagers.

1d6 – Péter is frightened, but has some sense about him.  He can’t scream, but he will run immediately away from the “Wolves”. 

0d6 – Péter is terrified!  He can not scream and can’t move!  He will remain “Hidden.”  This reaction overrides any reactions on the “Insight Chart for seeing the Villagers.”

The “Wolves” 

Who are the “Wolves”?  Well, as the Game Master, you can have several different options... 

The “Wolves” are the Gypsies!  A gang of Gypsy bandits spotted young Péter after they committed a horrible crime to some lonely travelers in the woods.  They are after Péter to kill him and prevent him from telling the local police about their crimes.  They are wearing wolves’ pelts to disguise themselves and cause fear to lonely travelers.  When the villagers showed up to find Péter, they decide to ambush the villagers to plunder them or discourage them from pursuing their murderous little band deeper into the forest.

Another option is that the “Wolves” are really a pack of wolves!!!  The wolves are very hungry and desperate for food as the forest has been over hunted by the nearby villages.  So the wolves have taken to hunting men for food.  They will try to find Péter, but when they spot the villagers, they will try to kill the “weaker” ones from the “herd”. 

Finally, the “Wolves” could be a werewolf or a small pack of werewolves that were prowling the forest on this full moon night.  The werewolves caught the scent of Péter and were hunting him down for a meal, when they caught the scent of the villagers.  They will not attack Péter as they are more concern about attacking the villagers to prevent them from discovering their lair and because they are armed, whereas Péter is not armed.  If they are successful in killing the villagers or forcing them out of the forest, then they can go back to hunting down Péter.  In this scenario, you could also have the Gypsies be either a secondary group that may be either “good guys” or “bad guys” as well.  Maybe the Gypsies still want to kill Péter but now the werewolves are hunting them as well, or maybe the Gypsies were actually killing a werewolf in human form which was what Péter saw and now they want to help save him from the werewolves too!  If you go this route, only the "Stars" have silver / blessed weapons that can kill the werewolves.  Everyone else can only stun or knock down a werewolf.

Inspiration:

I have been thinking about running a similar scenario of a mob hunting down a monster as that could be an interesting game after buying the West Wind’s Gothic Horror line miniatures of the Transylvanian mobs and Eastern European Police.  Matter of fact, this scenario was designed specifically for those figures.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

Whimsical Wednesday

Sorry I still don't have anything to post, work has been eating my time and just not a whole lot of anything has been going on with me or my hobbies.

Anyway, I leave you with these pictures to think about...

It's good to be the bear!

Whimsical Wednesday...Are you ready for the end of the world, again?

Ragnarok: One Month Left Before Viking Apocalypse Ends Life on Earth

 

By Hannah Osborne | IB Times Wed, Jan 22, 2014

Link Source

 
There is just one month left before the Viking apocalypse is upon us, at which point the nine worlds of the cosmos will be destroyed in a cataclysmic event. Ragnarok, or the end of the world, will begin when the wolf, Fenrir, son of Loki, breaks out of his prison. A chain reaction will then take place, with the Midgard snake Jormungand rising from the sea and a wolf devouring the sun.

These events will accumulate in a huge battle, where the Gods, mankind and all races from the nine worlds will fight.

According to the Jorvic Viking Festival, which takes place in York every February, these events were prophesied by Odin, who had hung himself from Yggdrasill, the world tree, for nine days so he could die and be re-born with wisdom and foresight.

"The wisdom acquired by Odin allowed him to see the events of Ragnarok enabling him to plan for the end of the world, including rounding up all the Vikings heroes who died in battle to Valhalla, his great hall where they would feast and wait for the end of the world and the battle to end all battles," festival organisers explain.

When the world ends, the Sun's beams will turn to black and the weather will become treacherous: "Brothers will fight and kill each other, sisters' children will defile kinship. It is harsh in the world, whoredom rife - an axe age, a sword age - shields are riven - a wind age, a wolf age - before the world goes headlong. No man will have mercy on another," a prophetic poem says.

Normally, the Viking festival of Jolablot takes place every 22 February to mark the end of winter. However, this year it also coincides with Ragnarok. But will the world really end one month from today?

"No one can say for certain – we have only interpreted the myths as best we can. What we do know for certain is that the Vikings loved to feast and wouldn't want to miss an event like this!"

Some have even suggested Ragnarok has already happened, with prophecies being fulfilled in recent world events. In Norse mythology, it says: "Boundaries that exist shall crumble." Some have interpreted this as the global rise of social media and the apparent non-existence of internet security.

The Migard Serpent has also been linked to two giant oarfish that were washed up on a shore in California a few months ago.

The Jorvik Viking Festival is expected to attract around 40,000 people to York, with the celebrations running from 15 February.

Danielle Daglan director of the festival, said: "Ragnarok is the ultimate landmark in Viking mythology, when the gods fall and die, so this really is an event that should not be underestimated."

So don your helmets, bite your shield, and sound the horn!  We soon may have to fight side by side at the Rainbow bridge!  And to get your blood flowing...

Sapper

Update - February

Well, I have been busy with work mainly and have not been keeping up with things.  This entry basically an update for where I am at and what have I done.

On my reading goal, I am just over half way through "War of the White Death", but I have not been reading for the last week and a half.  I am hoping to get some reading in over the weekend.

Kickstarters / Indiegogo projects:  Currently I am support a few that I would like to mention here:

Machinas - Death Races in the Wasteland:  This is an Indiegogo project by Two Hour Wargames.  It looks interesting as it designed to be played in sort of minimalistic manner for space required.  While it is more in line of Death Race 2000, for weapons, I am hoping to use it more in line of chase scenes from Mad Max and The Road Warrior using 1/64th cars, as well as the opening scene from Quantum of Solace using 1/43rd or 1/72nd scale cars.  There is about two weeks left on it, so give it a look.

Knights of the Dinner Table: Live Action Series: This is Kickstarter project to do a live action show based off of the long running comic based around a group of role-players.  While this is not miniature wargaming related, I am also a RPG'er and find the stories quite funny.  Matter of fact, I still remember buy issues #1 & #2 at gaming store where I went to college in 1996!  I have been reading it ever since.  So you could say that I am one of the longest running fans.  This Kickstarter has made it to its goal to do a 60 minute movie, but still needs more funding to become a series.  There is less then two days left.

Ravenfell 28mm Fantasy Village: This is a Kickstarter by Fat Dragon Games to put out a lovely 28mm paper terrain village that can be disassembled and stored flat.  Well it is designed for fantasy gaming, it has a lovely Tudor style to it and can be used for historical gaming as well.  Since it will be pdf files, you can easily scale the printing and use it for 15mm or 20mm too!  There is about two weeks left.  If they can raise another $15K, they will be releasing a Viking village as well! (As well as tying into my Whimsical Wednesday too!)

For gaming purchases, I ordered TFL's Chain of Command: At The Sharp End campaign supplement, but have not had a chance to read it yet.  I also ordered some 20mm vehicles from Oxford Diecast and B.W. Models, but have not received them yet either. 
 

Finally, I broke down and bought into another 28mm project...sigh!  I pre-ordered the North Star / Osprey's, A Fistful of Kung-Fu miniature rules & miniatures, including the limited edition not Kirk Russell in a John Carpenter's movie.  I am planning to go more in the line of John Woo movies like A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled with the project.  I am also hoping that with a minor tweak or two, this would also work for James Bond or Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, or RocknRolla style movie games.

Oh!  If all goes well, I will be doing my first game of the year on 2/22...20mm Falklands using TFL's Chain of Command.

For a moment of Zen, here is the trailer for Hard Boiled:

Sapper

Book Review - 'Wolverines: Reflections on Red Dawn' by Ryan Lewellin

Hello, 

Well this is a brief review of the first book that really read this year as the previous book, A Frozen Hell, was about 90% read in 2013.  So in a nutshell, it is interesting and worth a read at least once, especially for the price.  Don't expect earth moving revelations about the movie, even the author will admit to that. 

Without go into a huge review, the author has 23 independent essays that cover various topics about his interpretations for the movie, Red Dawn.  The key thing is to remember that these are independent essays, otherwise it might seem that he is repeating himself at times.  But if one is read the chapters out of order or only to read those that interest the reader, it makes prefect sense why he repeated some things in some the different chapters.  Some of his observations were items I didn't catch before, like early on one of the actors was wearing a Star Wars hat and what it might have meant.  The author comes off as very well read and have watches movie for their content and not some beer drinking hillbilly who thinks Joe Dirt is Oscar material.  So his observations and interpretations are actually pretty meaningful.  I only caught one error in one of the essays, unfortunately I forgot to make a note of where it was, but he accidentally states only one time that it was Toni & Danny that survive the movie, when it was actually Erica & Danny.  But he has it correct every other time in book.  It was clearly an accidental editing error for that one sentence.

For the most part I agree with a lot of his interpretations, but will disagree (partially) in two subjects, that being the Communist invaders were oppressive baddies and about the meanings of needing of armed individuals to secure our freedoms.  Back when I was much younger, I would have agreed with him pretty much without question, now over the years of being jaded and cynical, I would disagree.  Basically, it not because I agree with the Communist invaders cause, but I don't see how they were any more different then some of our own or our allies actions in wars, although he does touch on Col Bella being human and sort of touches on it again about the invaders as a whole in another essay.  Quite honest, I am more impressed with Red Dawn's image of the invaders or the baddies being humans with different agendas vs the nameless and oppressive baddies in many other movies like Invasion, USA, (1952), War of the Worlds, or Saving Private Ryan for an example. 

If these are the armed individuals that are to resist the Communist invader, all I have to say is "Hello, Comrades!  May I serve you some vodka and put on my Red Elvises' album, 'Russian Bellydance' for you?"

As for the armed individuals, I actually saw it the reverse of when the scene of paratrooper prying the pistol out of the hand of a dead civilian after seeing the jingoistic bumper sticker about how some can take the owners guns away.  I have always seen the rights to bear arms by the individuals as needing to be well-regulated and trained, much in the line of the Minutemen or Alarm Companies of the 1700's or Switzerland today, or even the small mid-western towns' bank robbers reaction posses of the 1920s-30s, for the lack of better terms for them (if you would like to know more, I can type up a brief entry about that).  If an individual wants to keep military grade firearms, they must be regulated and trained, as a militia and be prepared to be called out to assist the government as needed.  But by not being regulated, the individuals can not be expected to be of any use to maintaining freedom or society (I am also lumping survivalists and what is called 'militias' today in with this).  By not have a regulated militia of citizens there was no serious threat to invaders, but just some untrained loser that dies alone. 

Anyways,  I enjoyed it and it is worth a read.

As a special treat, I am adding a YouTube clip of the Red Elvises' hit, "I Want To See Your Bellydance"

Sapper

Where There Is Discord Update

I am happy to announce that the third printing of Fifth Column Game’s, “Where There Is Discord”, is now available.  But I am also sad to say that they have already sold out!  I was lucky enough to have pre-ordered it months ago (maybe a year ago?) through Noble Knight Games.  So I am one of the lucky few to be getting a copy (I already got my email confirming that it has shipped)

I was not aware that it finally was released until late on Sunday when I saw my email from Noble Knight Games about getting their copies from Friday and asking for my payment.  I meant to post this on Monday, but I got too busy with work (like getting a promotion).   Today, I went to Fifth Column’s website to copy down the link for letting people know what the game is all about and saw that it was sold out!  That was pretty fast!  So if you didn’t get to order one already, you are probably out of luck.  But you still might have luck at Noble Knight Games (Link).

“Where There Is Discord” is a solitaire board game of the 1982 Falklands campaign, where you play the Task Force commander.  It has been highly rated by just about everyone who has played the game and it can be reviewed on BoardGameGeek.com (Link).  When I get home next, I will bring it back to where I am working to do a more formal review of it and post-game AAR.  But if you want to look at the official website for the game until then, it is at this link.

Riding on the high remarks and success of three printing of “Where There Is Discord”, I decided to pre-order though Noble Knight Games the upcoming Fifth Column’s game, “Codeword Cromwell”.  “Codeword Cromwell” is also another solitaire board game where you play the British defenders at the Battle of Birkham Stokes during Operation Sea Lion in 1940 (yes, it is a fictional battle).  What is really neat is that this game is the first public release from an actual training manual from the UK’s Combined Forces Military College used to train officer cadets in 1941!   Being a joint adventure with Fifth Column Games, this should be a pretty and well written solitaire board game.  Go to this link to see the official site for the game.

Be Seeing You

Sapper