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SP's Projects Blog

Tag: game report

  • Game of Drones: The first rotatsyia… Game Report.

    Pete S/ SP

    Last night Chris and I created a drone team and ran through the first rotatsyia for our team using the Game of Drone book that I recently reviewed.

    Ukranian Drone Operator, 2024.

    First up was generating the team which was achieved with a quick set of dice rolls. The key member of the team: the drone pilot themselves was a dreamer with 1 pilotage, 4 sixth sense and 2 Moxie- these can be spent at a rate of once per day to improve the chances in dice throws. The Navigator was fairly decent with a skill level of 5, Both the Sapper and Driver had the same skill level of 4 each. Not the best team that the random table could have thrown up but not the worst either. We then determined that we would be at the ‘Rolls- Royce’ bunker and generated an extra 10 support points to purchase equipment with.

    For equipment we went for a Toyota Stout truck- the basic model- a drone detector, a drone jammer, an upgraded antenna and some high-quality food. For drones we purchased two Mav recce drones, a Matrixe, a bigger recce, drone and a Classic small bomber drone which has the ability to drop two bomblets per mission. This was then rounded off with nineteen FPV drones that are used in one way suicide attacks. This brought us in just under budget and well under the weight restriction for carrying things in in one go.

    The rotatsyia starts with the vehicle infiltration- given our drone detector and drone jammer we got a decent bonus for this so arrived at the vehicle hide without incident. The advantage of being at the ‘Rolls Royce’ bunker is it is very close to the vehicle hide so we only had one risky roll to make for the foot infiltration stage. Again, this was concluded safely. Each game day starts with determining the weather- can affect rolls as visibility changes, getting the daily taskings- these are points of interest and potential targets that need to be recced that day, and finally what priority target we are given in the handover from the night time drone team. We had to recce 4 sites looking for mechanised targets, there was also an infantry team at one of them that needed to be taken out. The weather was clear, so it didn’t hinder us. We decided to start by using our Classic bomber to fly to the target and take out the infantry team. We passed the defensive Russian Electronic Warfare test, we were able to drop our bomblets, sadly both missed. The drone then safely made it back to base. We then sent out a Mav to recce the gully as part of our daily taskings. This was lost due to Russian EW. Our second Mav was then sent out and recced the gully finding no targets. It then flew to the soccer field to recce there but was lost to Russian EW. Feeling a bit unlucky we sent the Matrixe to recce the last areas, it found no targets at the settlement but was lost at the gully to the Russian EW. Now we had lost all of our recce drones in the first morning. We sent the Classic out and that successfully recced the soccer field finding no targets. Upon its return to base, we decided to launch a FPV suicide drone attack and the infantry target we had to take out. Although the navigator flying the Classic successfully got in position to guide in the FPV drone, the latter was lost to EW, as was the second one wee tried. At that point we decided to bring the Classic back to base and load it up as a bomber again to try a third time at the infantry group. This was successful and the infantry was taken out earning us 20 SPs. This took us to the end of day one of our rotatsyia, although we had to roll for changes in weather and random events throughout the day we suffered no ill effects.

    Day two started with hi8gh winds that meant we couldn’t fly any drones in the first early morning period. We were spared any daily recce taskings as we had no recce drones left. We did get another group of infantry that was to be taken out. This was easily accomplished the with bomblets from the Classic; this earned us another 20 SPs and ended the day. Day three saw yet another infantry group appear- again bomblets from the Classic put paid to them. Similarly to day one, days two and three saw no negative effects from the random events.

    Say four saw clear weather and an MTLB APC at the soccer field that needed to be taken out. A FPV suicide attack gave us the best chance of success so that is whet we launched. However, the Russian EW was too strong, and the Classic was lost before it could guide in the attack. This left us with no effective means of offensive action, so it was fortunate that the rotatsyia was ended on the evening of the fourth day. After a successful foot exfil and vehicle exfil, we arrived back at base with 60 SPs earned, these could be banked for victory point or spent. We desperately needed to build our stocks back up. We decided to upgrade the antenna again, get some high-quality food, then buy two Classic bombers, one Martixe recce drone and three Mav small recce drones. The drone team got five days rest and recreation during which we received a bit of media attention, and our driver was interviewed on TV. The next rotatsyia will start of June 10th. Chris and I will return to this campaign as soon as we get a chance.

    As can clearly be seen the Game of Drones book really does produce an excellent narrative that seems plausible and thematic from what is essentially a solo RPG set of mechanics.  Our drone team was lucky that we didn’t attract any negative attention from the Russians during our time in the bunker, out investments in drone detectors and jammers, as well as the antenna helped here. However, we were unlucky to lose so many drones to Russian EW, a cursory scan of defence news websites shows that this is also realistic. (There did not seem to be anything in the rules however on what did do if you lack offensive capability: does the rotatsyia end early?) The EW roll is an opposed 2D6 roll, the distance from the bunker is the biggest factor that helps the Russians, the further that the target is behind the front line in the Russian rear the stronger the EW is, also the inherent protection of the site factors into this too. As chance is lumpy, we were consistently unlucky here – losing four drones to EW, but we were lucky elsewhere suffering no negative attention. We never found anything during our recces either which would have generated extra targets for our team.

    Game of Drones, now that I have had the chance to play it is very much recommended. As an game experience it feels very authentic, as a game to understand how tactical drone warfare is being prosecuted in Ukraine at the moment it is invaluable. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to take the drone team out on their next rotatsyia soon.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

  • Game design and AAR- Underneath Grozny’s Streets

    Pete S/ SP

    [Minor update- still struggling health-wise hence little action here and on blogs in general as all my energies have to go on other things. Still, that is enough maudlin….]

    As I have mentioned on the blog a few times I have a regular monthly game down in Sheffield at Tapton Hall organised by Tim. This month Tim had decided to open invitations to the wider WD community as a calf session (WD’s yearly event is Conference of Wargamers- COW- a small COW is a Calf see….) as a result there were 25 ore so of us planning to attend so plenty of game sessions were needed. Accordingly, I chucked my name in the ring to do one. Over the years I see to have developed the habit of collecting scenario books as inspiration for games. Britton Publishers* do a wide variety set in the 20th/ 21st century; in their Grozny scenario book there is a very small skirmish scenario set in the sewers underneath Grozny. Whilst I have a3d terrain set of sewer sections that I could use the suggested map gave me an idea- to run it as a double- blind game. I bought the sewer plans from Wargames Vault and then got two copies printed out on advertising banner vinyl. The game sees six Russian Spetsnaz take on the Chechens, I allowed each side an allotment of points for them to customise the load out of their forces as they saw fit then let them stalk each other in the sewers.

    I needed a quick set of rules that I could remember easily, and players could pick up quickly. In the end I used the firing system that is often used in Nordic Weasel products and mixed with a few ideas from Space Hulk- one of the better GW games. I quickly scribbled some ideas down on Sunday afternoon and got a first playtest done the next day- thanks for the help Chris. Then on Thursday I did the game properly double blind for Bill and Evan- cheers guys. That gave me enough time to make some last-minute additions before going on the train down to Sheffield to run it the next day.

    Given the compressed time frame that I developed the game in it worked really well. Having three players on one side and two on the other worked well as each side controlled six figures. Given that the best game tactic revolved around setting up overwatch and covering avenues of approach kit selection was important.

    The game worked well and did what I wanted from it. I plan to expand the rules with different equipment for different scenarios (modern day, WW2- Stalingrad, Warsaw, Berlin).

    Cheers,

    Pete.

    * https://brittonpublishers.com/

  • Game report: Vietnam Crossfire.

    Pete S/ SP

    One of my favourite WW2 games is Crossfire. Although rather old now it still holds up as one of the better games covering infantry combat in WW2. It was, and still is, very innovative for its time with no fixed turn structure and no measuring needed. It has gone on to influence several other games, Red Poppy White Feather, and No End in Sight, both of which are worth looking at. 

    Martin R and I share I love of the system so went up a few weeks ago to have a few games. We used a pack of scenarios I got from the Balagan website, a fantastic resource in general too, and the Vietnam figures I had based up for another project, I’ll do a photo feature on them when I have the chance to get them all lined up.  

    We played through the first two scenarios a coupler of times, changing sides. We quickly got back into the rules again despite it being several years since we had both played them. Whilst the scenarios are small, with a rather spares table too, for a typical Crossfire table they have a surprising amount of depth to them. The defender has difficult decisions to make about deployment whilst the attacker has options in the line of advance but has to husband their resources carefully. It was a great way to spend a day gaming, one I hope to be able to repeat soon. Martin has done a write up on his blog here. It has inspired me to get more of my spare WW2 figures based up for Crossfire. As I type this the varnish is drying on some WW2 Germans. 

    Cheers, 

    Pete.

  • Game report: John A’s Cold War Game.

    Pete S/ SP

    In the afternoon after I had run my 5core: Brigade Commander game John A ran a playtest of the Cold rules that he has been working on.

    For a test scenario John had looked to the 1970s field tests done by the British Army known as the Chinese Eye exercises. This was a series of field test to generate data on tank engagements for Operational Research purposes. You can read about it here– a must read book for anyone interested in Twentieth century warfare imo.

    The rules are on a one-to-one basis for the tanks and fire team/ weapon team bases for infantry. We started up with a rather impressive battalion’s worth of forces arrayed on a broad front.

    How ever advancing over open ground into the teeth of Chieftain tank and Milan ATGM fire took a heavy toll on our forces very quickly.

    Whilst the game ended up very similar to the mythical turkey shoot it did give John’s mechanisms a good work out. I certainly look forward to playing the rules again with a more involved scenario.

    As it happens Martin R has written a blog report here on the two games that is well worth reading.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

  • The Other Partizan show: Newark 2023.

    Pete S/ SP

    A couple of weekends ago I went to the Other Partizan show in Newark with Bill of Under Fire. It is probably one of the best shows in the North of England in terms of the variety of games and traders in attendance. The only probable is it is held in what amounts to a large farmer’s shed so it got very loud and clatter-y when it was busy.

    Rather than do a general show report I want to write about the three games I played. Firstly, I played in the Wargames Developments game of the Great War in three turns. In each turn (1916, 1917, 1918) you get a full division and have to pick a tactic to use as you try to break through the three lines of trenches to end the war by Christmas. Each strategy that you pick from affects the chance of success, but you aren’t privy to the odds when you decide. A running total of casualties from each attack is kept. In 1916 and 1917 I managed to get to the second line of the trenches but was unable to get any further. In 1918 with the help of the tanks I managed to get to the final, third row and break the Hindenburg line. After each attack you roll for medals and recognition depending on your successes. I was fairly modest in terms of medals received, in the papers quite often and ultimately knighted for my efforts. Across all three attacks I lost at total of 20000 men, which sounds horrendous but is less than the average of 25000 men that a typical British division on the Western Front lost in that time.

    As for my second game I was very pleased to see my friend Rupe had made the trip down from Northumbria to put on a game. To go with his range of 1848-49 Hungarian Uprising figures that he releases as Keelman Miniatures he has done a great little skirmish board with a bespoke set of rules. The board is set up to refight a nighttime raid to take out a cannon covering a river crossing. There are raised walkways as well as significant swampy sections. The board itself is painted to look like it is at night so is mostly desaturated shades of brown.

    It looked great and was very atmospheric. The rules revolved around the concept of ‘will’. This psychological factor governed movement, reactions and firing. It could go up and down as the game progressed. The dice and card activation system gave a nice bit of command friction into the game, and the rules fit on to one side of A4 too.

    Hopefully they’ll be made available on the website soon as they are a great system for any black powder era skirmish game. I took on Rupe as the Hungarians against a mixed bag of defenders. I got to try out all of the systems in the game, shooting was not that effective at range as can be expected but melee was nice and decisive. Leaders felt important in the game too. I managed to get enough troops to cover the causeway to stop the defenders reaching the cannon in the end. A great game and I look forward to being able to play it again.

    Finally, I caught up with Chris of Not Quite Mechanised fame. I had missed his session on the NQM rules at this year’s COW, so he very kindly ran through a couple of turn with me. The game has been developed over many years so it has become a finely polished and fast moving set of grand- tactical/ operational rules. Fast play, simple mechanics and plenty of interesting player decisions so it ticks all the boxes for me for that level of game. I can see myself getting the rules printed out and trying it at home with my Crossfire based figures.

    So that was a great day out at Newark showground. Nice to chat with everyone and hopefully I’ll get to go back next year.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

  • Game Report: Drive to the East, run at Tapton Hall Sept.

    Pete S/ SP

    Tim G of Megablitz fame has been running a series of monthly get togethers. About 6-7 of us gather for an all- day game including a very nice lunch. We have covered a variety of periods, scales and games often playing 54mm toy soldier extravaganders in the best traditions of HG Wells.

    I decided it was time for me to put a game on and I had spoken to John A and we agreed to share a session with me doing the morning session and then John’s game running after lunch. I decided to do a 6mm ‘Cold War Goes Hot’ scenario set in the 1980s, using the 5core: Brigade Commander rules. I knew I had enough toys to give a big enough game and I knew the rules were fairly quick to pick up too so those that hadn’t played it would be quick to get up to speed. 

    I’ve put the scenario into my new scenarios page so you can download it.

    The game went really well. The changes that I had made to the activation system worked better than expected. The Soviet preplanning was fun- not much use in the game as they tended to shell the places the Americans hadn’t deployed in.

    The game swung backwards and forwards, mostly it went the Americans’ way with their extensive support chewing through the Soviet tank regiment.  However, on the opposite flank a run of bad luck saw the Americans lose a string of units.

    The surprise Spetsnaz assault on the HQ was defeated in Close Combat- much to everyones surprise.

    At this point the Americans decided to retire to the next line of defenses. At that point we broke for lunch. 

    The game went really well, I think. Nearly a division of Soviets attacking two brigades of Americans and we finished in just about two hours. If the players fancy another go I’ve got plans for more scenarios. 

    Cheers, 

    Pete.

  • A Friday’s gaming: 18th Century and Vietnam CSAR.

    Pete S/ SP

    I’m please to say that the occasional gaming meet ups on a Friday have become a regular occurance. I thought I’d share with you some recent pictures. We have a regular venue which has the added bonus of serving excellent food. For someone who always thinks with his belly this is very important.

    Firstly we trialed a set of 18th century rules that Tim has been writing. Great 54mm fun in the best traditions. Rifle fire was pretty nasty at short range and melee, especially involving cavalry, very deadly. Party poppers made a welcome return to represent grapeshot too.

    After lunch and after that game had been finished and packed away we set up for a quick Vietnam themed Combat Search and Rescue scenario. 1/72nd aircraft were used with 54mm infantry. The pilot was randomly located in a grid (we used the symbols on the carpet) and a Forward Air Controller had to coordinate the search and rescue as well as directing aircraft to try and stop the NVA overruning the downed pilot. A great little game that we got through twice.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

  • Powder Monkey Gaming.

    Pete S/ SP

    My home town of Huddersfield has a fairly big gaming scene. It recently got bigger with the arrival of Powder Monkey Gaming located just outside the town centre it is within a short walk of mine. There are loads of great tables set up for Sci Fi, fantasy, and historical gaming as well as a growing selection of games, figures and paint.

    I’ve been for a few games there already, it is a pleasure to play on their terrain.

    A quick game of Kill Team.
    Nicola and I tried out the Ravenfeast Viking Skirmish rules. I lost.

    We also had a WW3 game of Fistful of Lead… which I also lost.

    It is great to see a game shop so close and with the increasingly popular tornaments and events there I only hope that they grow from strength to strength.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

  • A selection of games in the style of H G Wells.

    Pete S/ SP

    I was going to do an update post but I thought you don’t want to just read about me maoning about my problems so I thought I’d do something more positive and tell you about something fun…

    … one thing I’ve really been enjoying recently is a series of large scale outdoor games run by Tim. As I’m sure most of you know the first widely publilshed book on wargaming was H G Wells’ Little Wars*. These were games played on the floor with traditional 54mm toy soldiers. There has been a recent renassiance of these games with the publication of Funny Little Wars and Little Cold Wars, these games use the same sort of mechanisms (occasionally a matchstick firing cannon gets up- graded to a nerf gun). The games are based around fun and enjoying some gaming time with friends rather than a serious military simulation, however it is interesting how ‘good’ a result, ie historically plausible, these games generate.

    Anyway enough waffle from, me on to the pictures:

    The first game I joined in with was the defence of Fort Fisher in the ACW. I was one of the Confederate defenders against the Union combined operation.
    The defences were manned but we were heavy on firepower but light on men. Still it was good funb firing the cannon at the ships as they closed in.
    The Union tried to run a ship aground and blow it up to disrupt us. It didn’t work so well but they did make a landing in the centre of our fort and overrrun a few batteries (our defensive grapeshot, represented by party poppers, caused considerable casualties). Ultimately the Union didn’t have enough strength to sustain the attack so had to withdraw.
    I played as the defending US forces in a game set in the early days of the Korean War in 1950. Task force Smith was hastily assembled to stop a North Korean armoured thrust south. With only 2 pieces of artillery and a few bazookas I only just managed to blut the attack.
    On the same day as the Korean War game we played a small scenario representing the British parachute assault into the Suez Canal area in 1956. Each platoon stand was represented by a piece of card and dropped from shoulder height as we walked past the gaming area.
    Although the troop quality of the British paratroops was much higher than the defending Egyptians they did have the advantage of starting in bunkers.
    A much bigger parachute assault that I took part in was the 1970s South African asssault into Cassinga. Seen here are the defending African nationalist troops.
    Due to winds over the drop zone (read that as being a bit breezy on the patio) the SADF troops were quite widely scattered. Ultimately their superior troop rating and a bit of air support won the day for them.
    We revisited Suez 1956- expanding the game to include the French parachute assault as well.
    Again the air support on hand was rather handy for getting the defenders out of their emplacements.
    We went back to the first day of the Somme to test out some different artillery rules. Due to rain we had to move inside.
    The Germans had three lines of defenses with the first row being very lightly held.
    There was an extensive air phases prior to the troops moving (I was the RFC player for this).
    As can be seen the British defensive fire was quite effective. Sadly, for the RFC at least, this was due to ground AA fire not from dogfighting.
    The guns line up for the inital pre- attack barrage: this was a set number or rounds/ matchsticks against the clock. The artillery came in three phases: inital stonk, box barrage to suppress and destroy, then a creeping barrage as the troops went over the top. As was to be expected the British pals battalions took very heavy casualties, even though they made it to the first German trench line. The fun of the game was in the pre- assault preparation phases, working through the air combats and the different sorts of artillery.
    It has become something of a tradition at these sorts of games that I provide a cake- usually a teaf loaf. The laidback, jovial nature of these games with plenty of breaks for tea and snacks, not to mention sandwiches has been a real tonic for me having not enjoyed gaming at home so much recently.

    So there you have what I’ve been enjoying gaming the most recently. I hope you found it of interest.

    I have got a whole pile of pics covering what I’ve been doing so I’ll put them out when I can in what will probably be a mixed up order.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

    * Robert Louis Stephenson had written a book on gaming earlier but it didn’t get anything like the wide reception Wells’ did.

  • Game Report: Cold War action in 6mm.

    Pete S/ SP

    One of the (many) facebook groups I’m on posted a link to a you tube video… it was an old British Army of the Rhine instructional video of how to defend against a Soviet attack in the early 1980s. I’m a sucker for that doctrine/ training type of thing so gave it a watch. It did give me an idea for a 5core: Brigade Commander scenario and, mindful of the current climate, decided to run it for Evan and Bill.

    Bailey has inspected the terrain set up and approves.

    The video shows the escalating attacks of a Russian division as it contacts a BAOR defensive line. The video ends with the Soviets forming up for a bigger attack in regimental strength. For the scenario I swapped Brits for West Germans (all provided by Evan) and let the Soviets (from the collection of Bill) deploy after the West Germans had set up. Bill picked two points of Evan defensive line and deployed a company, followed by a battalion 6″ back and the rest of the regiment another 6″ behind that at each point selected. If you watch the video you’ll see where I was coming from with this deployment. The objective for the game was the crossroads.

    The crossroads were the key terrain of the game.
    The Soviets deploy in depth from their chosen routes of attack.
    Leopard 1s further back in reserve.
    The Soviets push forwards

    As usual we used the Brigade Commander rules from Nordic Weasel. We three are big fans of the system and have built up considerable forces between us. We use a 50mm square base to represent a company and a smaller base for a platoon sized attached asset.

    The dug in positions protected the vulnerable Leopard 1s from the worst of the fire, but they were slowly forced back.

    With anti air support the BMPs push towards the crossroads.
    The West German defenders in the BUA.
    Airstrike: unfortunately the SU24 was driven of by the Gepard SPAA.
    In return the West Germans send in their Alpha jet with impressive results.
    The lone mechanised infantry company makes an attack against the German held BUA.

    The game swung backwards and forwards with the crossroads changing hands a few times. In the end, although casualties were very light on both sides, Bill had pushed Evan back from the area around the crossroads and had disrupted Evan’s armour so I decided it was a winning draw to Bill’s Soviets.

    I may do a urban skirmish game based on the final, defeated assault of Bill’s mechanised infantry company. Something for later on….

    Cheers,

    Pete.

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