Tactical Combat at Gallabat

Saturday, November 19 saw the action of Gallabat, November 6, 1940. Using South Florida Miniatures Gamers member Mark Ritchie's minis and Tactical Combat rules (see here for a previous round), we reenacted this fight from British East Africa. I'm already familiar with it, from Field Marshal Bill Slim's witty account in his 1960 short story collection, Unofficial History.

The first part of this game has already appeared on Oriskany Jim's Youtube channel: 

So my poorly photographed account may not be as interesting! But I enjoyed the game and the miniatures very much. Here goes.

The entire field, several turns in - Gallabat fort has been
ineffectively bombed. The thin blue stream at right marks
the border between Ethiopia and Sudan.

From the Italian side.

With Mark GMing, we had three players a side. The Italians had some colonial infantry and assorted guns in and around the fort, a handful of camel-mounted lancers in the village at the crossroads, two armoured cars, and five CV33 tankettes and a CR42 Falco for reserves. There were also two emplaced guns, a 25mm AA gun, a 45mm and a 100mm Skoda off-table.

Against that, the British had five A9 and A10 infantry tanks, five Vickers light tanks, six armoured cars, and a smattering of Indian and British infantry mounted in assorted trucks and carriers. This meant four two-pounders (one of the tank guns could be exchanged for a CS weapon), one field gun, and a <bleep>ton of machine guns.

Our air support was this Fairey Battle in faint
brown-and-green camo; the first model of this
light bomber I've ever seen. Unfortunately, it could
not be used for strafing with its one MG, but we were
allowed two sorties.

This classic Fiat biplane was magnificently painted,
but oddly unpiloted!

More infantry and a couple armoured cars. Radios
are denoted by a metal ring antenna. The sandbags
at bottom could be placed as the Italian players desired -
mostly around the large buildings across from the fort.

CV33s, one with a flamethrower and another with a radio.

Indian infantry platoon, with Indian-Pattern carriers to left.

British armour. The front heavy tank has two sponson turrets.

More infantry, vehicles and field-gun.

The Italians placed roughly half their infantry and all their light guns in and around the fort, while the rest of the infantry and a couple machine guns went into the village and the lancers around the small huts. The Brits, with me as the armour commander, focused on the left flank, with a smattering of infantry and light vehicles on the right facing the fortress. I believe my theory was to sweep around the Italian right, using the buildings for cover from the fort's guns; in practice the relatively slow movement stymied this.

The first action of the game was a preliminary bombardment from the Fairey Battle, which aimed for the two guns in front of the fort but hit the fort instead. It cleared the parapet of infantry and did some damage to the wall, but left the guns intact.

A remarkably nice eight-piece fort. Visible are craters,
guns in the turrets and emplacements, and a couple
motorbikes. The red puffs denote damage.

The village of Gallabat, which I thoroughly plastered
with machine gun fire from the armoured cars.

Native lancers among the huts, cunningly made from
toilet paper roll and carved foam.

The compact but powerful British left.

The lancers charged and took out our only forward observer!

The situation in my sector was somewhat confused; I moved all units flat out, so could not fire at the lancers, whose only casualties came from their own artillery trying to drop a 100mm round on our field gun!

In turn two, I declared one of the tanks to be a close-support vehicle with a 3.7 inch gun, which I used to drop smoke in front of one of the Italian guns before the fort. I placed all the tanks hull down and left them there for the game, bombarding with their two-pounders. The armoured cars, on the other hand, rained fire on the village, killing one opposing armoured car and shocking and immobilizing the other with heavy machine guns. Tank machine-guns killed several gun crew. The Fairey Battle attempted another run on the guns, but only killed a few crew:

Our infantry used reactions to shoot up more of the lancers, but they were surprisingly still alive to cut us up. (In Tactical Combat, units can move their full distance, move half and fire, or reserve a "reaction" to fire and/or move in response to opposing actions. Not using these in our first turn was probably a mistake.)

On the British right, infantry advance towards the fort.

Close-up on the varied British vehicles, including the curious
Indian-Pattern wheeled substitute for the Bren carrier.

Field gun and prime mover,
with wrecked armoured car
in the distance.

The smoked fortress - yellow cap indicates that one
"puff" will dissipate next turn.

In Turn Three, Jim as Italian forward observer dropped a round on the CS tank, which the Italian players seemed fearful of. Hulldown protected it, but the gun was knocked out - though not before dropping another smoke round. I also managed to kill the second Italian armoured car, while our field gun and a mortar plinked away at the fortress guns.

Cars and infantry advance.

Indian infantry squad, with Bren gunner at right of
front line and a helmeted medic working his magic.

In Turn Four, the CV33s turned up, but neither side realized at first that the stream was actually the table edge, which meant the tankettes got to move farther and throw a lot of fire at the Brits. Had we caught that, I would have used my tank guns on them. Jim concentrated on our lonely fieldpiece, destroying the prime mover with a good scatter:

In Turn Five, I fired the tank guns at the tankettes - and missed every time. In return, I lost two armoured cars - one to the 25mm AA and the other to crew casualties. My .50 cal did manage to kill a tankette before it was knocked out. Our infantry suffered most - those on the left machine-gunned, those on the right bombarded.

Turn Six was the last, as we were all getting tired and a couple of us had to leave soon. The CR42 finally turned up and blew my cars to hell, while the Italian artillery caused more infantry casualties. My surviving vehicles wore down the crew of a gun whose cover had been destroyed earlier.

"Dio mitraglia l'Inghilterra!"

The result.

End result: a not unexpected British defeat - the historical result. Mark informed us that the last time he ran this scenario, the Italians in the village were wiped out; in our runthrough, seven were still alive, three wounded, but still manning their machine guns with gritted teeth.

I think the British loss was due (aside from the fact that I was commanding it!) to a lack of focus. We were concerned about the fortress guns' ability to hurt our vehicles, but at the same time put a lot of fire down on the village. Had we managed to bring down the fortress wall with our bombs (a distinct possibility!) there might have been a different battle.

The rules are well considered, though having the creator for a gamemaster simply telling us what to roll was immeasurably helpful. The miniatures and terrain were appealing. I'll always be happy to play another round - Mark has about a hundred scenarios ready to go!

The scenario and battlefield map.

Blogging 101

Well, this is my 101st blog post.

Huh.

What elements have been emphasized in the first hundred? Looks like 23 battle reports, 22 posts on solo gaming, 21 on books, 19 on colonial warfare, 16 on gaming at the library. Only ten on role-playing games and a handful of my favorite, The Sword and the Flame. I've done a lot of "one-off" and "two-off" games, mostly to test rules, but haven't had the chance to focus on anything. Even my Jacobite campaign has had a different ruleset for each game. Stand by for the next one, which will stand by that "tradition" but be a remote game - another thing I've tried a couple times but haven't gotten to do as much as I'd like.

I've done much less fantasy or roleplaying than I expected or hoped. Work in that sense has been... weird. The teens are always busy, and I'm no longer in the children's department so it's less easy to just walk over there and break out the dice. Gaming is mostly a relaxation after work these days. I spent a couple hours yesterday teaching a couple young boys to play chess; one was so enthusiastic that it was hard even for his dad to keep him on task. I'm unable to play conventional DnD partly because of my schedule, partly because my Friendly Local Gamestores are in the next county. I could try online, but Roll20 is pretty confusing.

Eighteen months of blogging so far. It feels like a chore sometimes, which is why I'm glad I didn't commit to a specific update schedule or theme. I do still have that Jacobite campaign to finish, and actually have committed to do so with a fellow on Facebook. Glory:1861 and Over the Hills and Far Away have... not gotten far. I should at least play the latter more frequently because it's more an RPG; the models rarely need to be set down.

It's less of a chore than work, though; or housecleaning. (Err...) A relaxing diversion when I get to it. Something I've noticed about hobbies; I have trouble starting. But once I've started writing, or painting, or whatever, I can go on for quite a while. Also like my gaming activities, I've found that even a little bit of something every day can make me feel better, or even kickstart the work. Just a sentence of writing, or one link.

My Thursday RPG program collapsed since there was always an event going on at that time. With their present lack of programming, perhaps I can get it going again? We'll see. A couple months ago, two of the players recommended switching to Mondays. Honestly, though, work has been, well, so much work lately that I haven't had much time to play, even though the Thursday program is still on the official calendar, and no one, including me, has really noticed. I play chess a lot on Saturdays, though; possibly because I brought in No-Stress Chess, a beginner's set for kids, I'm the go-to person for teaching new players, though the adults members of the club are happy to do it. I've tried a few chess puzzles, chess variants and gridded wargames, and turns out you really can't teach an old dog new tricks.

With the teens I'd like to try 40K or Fantasy again, better yet would be if I can get some painting done with them. I am increasingly of the belief that gridded games work better with newbies, so the Perrys' Travel Battle may also make an appearance.

I am considering a couple Civil War games for February, as now is the time to schedule and start promoting events for that period. The best choice would be the Fort Wagner game, except that Fort Wagner has been covered up repeatedly by supply boxes over the last month or so, and I've misplaced the figures I constructed for it. Another option is Olustee, but if I use Black Powder minis I will need some cavalry. Also something to represent a forested battlefield. I'm torn over whether this would be worth the effort - on the one hand I haven't had much success this year, but on the other if I could promote it heavily with flyers etc...

Another game postponed by missing minis was Picacho Pass. I've since rediscovered the figures, and like the library, next year's club events are currently under consideration. I'll definitely try to make more games next year, and hopefully the Orlando conventions.

Lots of plans. What will come of them?

No idea. See you soon!

Warhammer 40K at the Library

 It's been a loooong couple weeks at work. I've had to stay exceptionally late twice while votes were counted, delivered and reported. Yesterday, though, I stayed late by my own choice, because I was "getting my own back."

Wargaming is all about killing something, after all. It is an impressively useful hobby, for relaxation after a bad time. I needed it.

I've had the 8th Edition 40K starter set, First Strike, since it was published. It's handy because everything is ready to play and fits in a small package. It also has a series of basic scenarios to teach the elements of the rules. I'm looking for the Fantasy version.

I brought it into Youmedia (our teen tech lab) about an hour from the end of my shift. Despite the fact that I'd gotten four teens out of there two days before to do some coloring in the children's area (!), no one was interested in a more "mature" activity this time. Except Ivan, the staff member. Youmedia right now is understaffed, so has dropped most of its programming; I hope I can (ahem) use this to nudge my own programs into the kids' line of sight.

Speaking of LOS...

This is the first "scenario" in the starter set. It's designed to teach the movement and shooting rules. Three Space Marines are placed in three corners of the board, and two mini-units of three zombies are placed at the fourth. The goal is for the zombies to move off the opposite sides of the board; move off one, and the game is a draw; move off both and the zombies win.

It turns out to be a remarkably even match. Even once we added the "advanced" rules that allow the Marines to fire twice at half range, it was difficult to kill all six before at least one (or two) escaped. This is due primarily to the small size of the board, 22 inches a side. The zombies are slow, but since they don't shoot they are permitted to "advance" (what was once called the fleet-of-foot rule) an extra D6 inches. On average, they move 7" a turn and as much as 10", so can escape the board in three turns most of the time. With only three Marines to work with, it's hard to get in their way.

The next scenario looks even more unfair. It's all six Poxwalkers versus one (1) Reiver Sergeant, and it's meant to showcase the close combat rules.

You'll notice he has a bolt pistol and close combat weapon, so has extra attacks. (Aside - these are fantastic miniatures. Especially on the Plague Marines and zombies, there's a surprising amount of detail.)

Ivan, wanting to try the close-combat rules, charged the Marine into the Poxwalkers. As you can see, he did fearsome execution with his four attacks. Because the Poxwalkers were in two lines so that three of them were more than an inch away, only the first three could attack back. Six attacks hitting on 5+ is not much against four hitting on 3+, and the attacker in 8th edition gets to attack first (no initiative score). The above picture is the result.

Having done that, we both felt what turned out to be overconfident, and put all the figures onto the table, with some extra 3D-printed scenery. The Imperium is celebrating Ascension Day, I suppose.

This is where Space Marines' resilience slowed down the game.

The Reivers (lower right) tore apart the Poxwalkers (upper right) even in the cover of the trees. (Cover isn't really a thing this edition, only adding one to your armor save.)

But the Plague Marines were annoyingly difficult to kill. If you know anything about 40K, you already know this is their schtick, but it was ridiculous. With hindsight, I may have misinterpreted the armor save rules - assuming that the Disgustingly Resilient save (5+ even after losing a wound) was supposed to be rolled even after failing an armor save (3+ for power armor). In previous games, you chose one or the other, so that the DR countered anything that beat your armor outright. Instead, the Armor Piercing score works like Second Edition - it doesn't ignore armor, it reduces it. For example, the Plague Champion's plasma gun has AP -3, which means the Space Marines he hits need not a 3+ to save, but a 6.

He also has a power claw. You can't see the plasma gun in these photos, because it's held on his back by a spare tentacle (did I mention the minis are pretty cool? They didn't interest the teens, unfortunately).

On their side, the Primaris Space Marines have two wounds, so it takes a while to get through them. The power claw and plasma gun help by doing D3 wounds rather than the normal one, but I think we were both bored by the end. It didn't help that we got interrupted several times, a natural consequence of trying to play on the job. In fact, the game ended with the Champion's plasma gun blowing up and killing him - overcharging it does more damage, with a risk of rolling a one. This was fine early in the game - Ivan risked it several times to good effect - but at the end we may have both been hoping to kill him off. He killed a Marine with his final shot, at least.

I eventually realized that troops in close combat could run away, something that wasn't allowed in previous editions. Of course the enemy can always follow up, but being able to shoot at the Champion helped.

I also failed to notice until late that the Reivers had grenades - though they kept missing so it was a wash. The "unit cards" included in the box helped enormously and provide a thematic - if number-crunching - element.

So even though it took around an hour for the Marines to bring the Plague Champion to bay, it was useful practice that will enable me to run the game faster next time, especially if I can entice the teens.

The Champion was eventually on his own. Here he
battles the normal Marines.

And here the Reivers, with lots more attacks. His deadly
powerfist is visible.

And here he takes cover among the Xmas trees.

Thanks to Ivan for his patience and enthusiasm. We'll try it again one of these days.

Tired, just reading

The last couple weeks have been exhausting. It's election season, so my schedule is wacky - different days, coming in early, staying late. We also had a huge Halloween program - successful as usual, but a lot of hard work building a haunted house. I've been coming home and not wanting to game. After tonight, I'll be working seven days straight. Even under normal circumstances, it takes a little gumption for me to set a game and get playing. Maybe that's why I lean towards reading.

I've been hoping to run my Battery Wagner scenario at work, mostly because the model I built is not in the best shape and I want to use it before I lose it. My office is shared and crowded with assorted books, crafts and supplies, so the model keeps getting tossed around. Unfortunately, I'm missing the minis I assembled for it. Not even sure whether they're at work or home - I'm keeping an eye out for the foam sandwich-box I placed them in. My best bet of finding them again is to re-assemble the army, of course... I have time if I decide to run the game in February for Black History Month. Or did I separate them by side and put them in smaller boxes? Can't remember.

I worked at running a game of Bundok and Bayonet but keep finding excuses to put it off. Not enough light; too many cats; not enough dice. I do want to get it done in part because next post is my hundredth and it would seem appropriate. We'll see. Instead, I'll inflict my bibliophilia on the reader.

• I own a copy of the US Navy Bluejackets' Manual, issue 1943. An original printing, with 1,100+ Bible-thin pages, stains, and the original owner's name stamped inside the cover (WEINER M). It is not the sort of book to read straight through, but I'm doing it. Unlike other wartime books I've handled, it's not dry and crumbly, and quite small enough to handle easily. Currently in the early pages, which focus on discipline. I find it interesting that they state (two years before Nuremberg): "It is possible for an order to be unlawful bt it is not lawful for you to refuse to obey such an order." They weasel around this by pointing out that being directed to "compound a felony" or perform a criminal act would be an "abomination" to the Navy and you wouldn't be charged in a court-martial if you refused... 

        The next section is on service schools and self-improvement, and ships' libraries are briefly    mentioned. There was even an interlibrary loan service by which books (generally educational ones) could be sent out to ships for use.

• Driving to and from work, I've re-listened to The Hobbit, one of my favorites. As the genesis of much of fantasy gaming, there is a lot of inspiration and pure atmosphere to be found in it. And, as a children's book, it is simply charming and engaging.
• Wargaming 19th Century Europe, 1815-1878, by Neil Thomas, is eye-opening. I haven't been that interested in his rules, but his overview of the period and well-considered reviews of battles are useful for someone who hasn't looked at it before. When it comes to the 19th century, I've always focused either on the American Civil War or the colonial aspects of European armies. So while I don't expect to play (though the suggestion of small tables is tempting) I've learned quite a bit. I can understand now the appeal, for example, of the wars in Italy to Jon Freitag at the Palouse Wargaming Journal. Even if I want to try playing, though, I haven't the right miniatures - the closest I've got are the Little Wars Paperboys, which can provide Franco-Prussian War figures more suited to skirmish.
• Right now listening to a 40K novel, Dark Imperium. I haven't played 40K in ages and have been a bit dismayed by the changes in lore, but the novel (which covers the return of a ten-millenia-dead icon of the story) helps a little. I've always been more interested in story than gameplay anyway, and some of the available fiction is good in its own right, with no apologies for it being tie-in fiction. I've been talking at work with one of the teens about the Warhammer and 40K worlds, as he plays some of the video games, and it's rekindled my interest, at least to the point of painting and modeling - if I can manage to get that done between everything else! I've even considered joining Games Workshop's library-and-school outreach program, if only to give myself an excuse to run more painting programs. I'd have to promote them more assiduously, though.
• Like Wolves on the Fold, by Mike Snook, is an excellent "sequel" to his book on Isandlwana. In fact, it's more like the second part of a duology, as much of it is actually given over to discussion of "leftover" elements of the Isandlwana story, and other aspects of the war, including a potted overview and a short traveller's guide to the battlefields. I've really enjoyed his writing and will look out for more of it. Like some of my favorite historical writing, it also makes me want to visit Zululand and see the battlefields.
• What else? A Squadron/Signal book on German heavy armored cars and another (reread) on railway artillery. Phillip Bradley's Battle for Shaggy Ridge, a rewrite of an earlier book but excellent, on an obscure battle in New Guinea which, given the terrain, would be fine inspiration for a skirmish campaign. (It also makes me want to look up obscure planes, like the CAC Boomerang and Vultee Vengeance, which saw useful service in this theater but almost nowhere else.)

For my next post, #100, I hope it'll be more interesting than a catalog (heh) of books. If there's anything you'd like to see in future, I could use the suggestions. Have a good weekend, and if you're American, a good Election Day.