Showing posts with label blitzkrieg commander. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blitzkrieg commander. Show all posts
Friday, July 2, 2021
BACK TO CLUB GAMING
With the lifting of Covid restrictions the local game clubs are having face to face meetings. The South Bay Gaming Club is holding meetings at the church again and The Miniature Wargaming Society of Sacramento had a meeting at The Game Castle hobby shop in Sacramento. The community room at the Charmical library where they used to meet is still not available for public use.
The Game Castle had a 40K tournament last Sunday so the club was limited to three games. Two were in the private rooms and one was at a table in the main gaming area. There were a lot of well painted 40K miniatures being used in the tournament with at least two dozen players.
The three games were Command and Colors Napoleonics hosted by Roger, DBA hosted by John, and Blitzkrieg Commander 2nd edition hosted by Keith. I participated in the BKC game commanding the Russians in the river crossing scenario vs Mike as the German player. The setting was late war about early 1945. The river had four crossing points two fords and two bridges. There was minimal terrain with no high ground, several woods, and several fields. The bridges were in the middle with a ford near each flank.
I decided to have one force threaten the left ford and bridge, a second force threaten the two bridges, and the third force at the right ford. Mike was not as experienced with the rules and didn't realize that vehicles could not fire and move. His overall deployment was good otherwise with a strong force hidden in the wood protecting the ford on my right, another in the woods guarding the ford on the left, a third force in the woods between the two bridges, and some Tiger IIs and a Jagdtiger guarding the bridges.
I was able to get mutiple activations on the first couple of turns, moving and then firing. Though I took some loses from opportunity fire and for a while Mike had the advantage in losses caused, I was eventually able to turn his flank on my right as I came across the ford. My left and center forces concentrated on taking out enemy units on my left and right as my right flank force came across the ford and the bridge in the center right. Eventually Mike's loses caused him to take a check for exceeding his brak point. Though he passed is position was now untenable and he conceded the game.
I didn't take any pictures of the game, but Roger posted one picture of his Napoleonic game on the club's Groups.io forum
Sunday, March 15, 2020
South Bay Gaming Club meeting March 14
There were four games at the club meeting today. Form on the Admiral's wake (age of sale0 rung by Bob, American War of Independence in 54mm run by nick, WW2 air run by Chuck, and a fictional modern armor game run by me.
This was the battle of Salon de Companerismo had the Union Federal de Buena Vista first division fighting the first division of the Republica Democratica Popular de la Cucaracha. The UFBC first division had three combat brigades and one divisional artillery brigade. The combat brigades had one brigade with two tank battalions, two puma battalions, an engineer battalion and one artillery battalion, one brigade with one tank battalion, three puma battalions, one engineer battalion, and an artillery battalion, and one brigade with three boxer battalions and an engineer battalion. The divisional artillery brigade had three MRL battalions and one AA battalion.
The RDOC had a brigade with three tank battalions, one BMP battalion, and an raillery battalion. The second brigade had two tank battalions, two BMP battalions and one artillery battalion. The third and fourth brigades had one tank battalion, one BMP battalion, two BTR80a battalions and one artillery battalion. The divisional artillery brigade had three artillery battalions, one MRL battalion, and one AA battalion.
The rules used were Lightning War - Red Storm, which are available for free from LWRS group.io We did use some house rules for the game as we kept the ground scale to one kilometer per 10cm (four inches) instead of the recommended doubling for the modern period and changed the quality ratings by increasing them by 5 and using a roll of two dice instead of a single die roll for activating formations. The table was 24km square.
At the start of each turn two six side dice were rolled for each brigade and any modifiers are added. For this scenario there were none. Both sides were rated as good with a rating of 8 for all units except the RDPC artillery brigade. which was fair with a rating of 7 The die roll is used to determine the order of activation for each combat formation (brigades for this game). The score for each of the formations on both sides determines the order of movement for the turn. The highest score can move first or choose to move later in the turn. This gives the higher scores an advantage over lower scores as they can choose to move when it is to their best advantage. The next higher score now has a choice of moving or deferring their move to later also. The same applies to each formation in turn and can force the formation with the lowest score to move first. This process is repeated until all formations have moved.
Indirect fire is then resolved followed by direct fire. It is possible for artillery fire to disorganize a formation which would then cause it to only fire with half its combat factors. Artillery fire is not guaranteed as the unit calling the fire has to roll equal to or less than the artillery formations quality rating and calling divisional artillery has an additional negative modifier applied to its rating. Artillery fire is very good at disorganizing units, but causing casualties on armored units is difficult due to the save modifiers. Infantry in built up areas can also be very difficult to cause casualties on.
The UFBV used march and road movement to move quickly forward and gain a positional advantage over the RDPC. At first casualties were very light. The RDPC was advancing from the east and managed to occupy the town on the south center edge of the battle field. The UFCV advanced towards that town and prepared to storm it with a pair of infantry battalions. Artillery and direct fire had disorganized the DRPC defenders. If the UFBC could roll high enough for initiative on the next turn the two battalions would be able to move first and assault the defenders before they were able to recover from disorganization. They were able to do so and their assault drove the defenders from the town.
Attacks by the RDPC to the south of that town were halted and driven back In the center part of the table UFBV artillery and direct fire badly damaged another couple of RDPC battalions.
On the northern flank neither side was making much progress. Artillery and direct fire from a Leopard 2 tank battalion damaged another BTR battalion.
Combat had taken a full rules day of six turns. Both sides paused for the night and combat resumed in the early morning of the next day. At this point UFBV artillery and direct fire took a toll on RDPC units. By the end of turn eight the two RDPC brigades on the southern half of the table had two exhausted battalions with possibly more by the end of the next turn. It was judged a UFBV victory. We had played for about four hours with a short lunch break included.
We have tried several different rule sets including Fistful of Tows, Spearhead, Cold War//Blitzkrieg Commander and others. These played the fastest of all of them and were easy to comprehend and use. The rules are available for free from https://groups.io/g/LWRS
This was the battle of Salon de Companerismo had the Union Federal de Buena Vista first division fighting the first division of the Republica Democratica Popular de la Cucaracha. The UFBC first division had three combat brigades and one divisional artillery brigade. The combat brigades had one brigade with two tank battalions, two puma battalions, an engineer battalion and one artillery battalion, one brigade with one tank battalion, three puma battalions, one engineer battalion, and an artillery battalion, and one brigade with three boxer battalions and an engineer battalion. The divisional artillery brigade had three MRL battalions and one AA battalion.
The RDOC had a brigade with three tank battalions, one BMP battalion, and an raillery battalion. The second brigade had two tank battalions, two BMP battalions and one artillery battalion. The third and fourth brigades had one tank battalion, one BMP battalion, two BTR80a battalions and one artillery battalion. The divisional artillery brigade had three artillery battalions, one MRL battalion, and one AA battalion.
The rules used were Lightning War - Red Storm, which are available for free from LWRS group.io We did use some house rules for the game as we kept the ground scale to one kilometer per 10cm (four inches) instead of the recommended doubling for the modern period and changed the quality ratings by increasing them by 5 and using a roll of two dice instead of a single die roll for activating formations. The table was 24km square.
Indirect fire is then resolved followed by direct fire. It is possible for artillery fire to disorganize a formation which would then cause it to only fire with half its combat factors. Artillery fire is not guaranteed as the unit calling the fire has to roll equal to or less than the artillery formations quality rating and calling divisional artillery has an additional negative modifier applied to its rating. Artillery fire is very good at disorganizing units, but causing casualties on armored units is difficult due to the save modifiers. Infantry in built up areas can also be very difficult to cause casualties on.
The UFBV used march and road movement to move quickly forward and gain a positional advantage over the RDPC. At first casualties were very light. The RDPC was advancing from the east and managed to occupy the town on the south center edge of the battle field. The UFCV advanced towards that town and prepared to storm it with a pair of infantry battalions. Artillery and direct fire had disorganized the DRPC defenders. If the UFBC could roll high enough for initiative on the next turn the two battalions would be able to move first and assault the defenders before they were able to recover from disorganization. They were able to do so and their assault drove the defenders from the town.
View of the town on the turn prior to the assault on it.
Center of the battlefield on the same turn viewed from the southeast
On the northern flank neither side was making much progress. Artillery and direct fire from a Leopard 2 tank battalion damaged another BTR battalion.
Combat had taken a full rules day of six turns. Both sides paused for the night and combat resumed in the early morning of the next day. At this point UFBV artillery and direct fire took a toll on RDPC units. By the end of turn eight the two RDPC brigades on the southern half of the table had two exhausted battalions with possibly more by the end of the next turn. It was judged a UFBV victory. We had played for about four hours with a short lunch break included.
End of turn five. RDPC tanks would occupy the hill in the left center and their infantry would occupy the town to the left of it. UFBV infantry would advance up the road towards the town and the tank battalion on the road in the right center would advance through the town in the bottom center then deploy above it.
We have tried several different rule sets including Fistful of Tows, Spearhead, Cold War//Blitzkrieg Commander and others. These played the fastest of all of them and were easy to comprehend and use. The rules are available for free from https://groups.io/g/LWRS
Friday, February 1, 2019
The Gauntlet gaming convention
On the weekend of January 19th and 20th I attended the first Gauntlet gaming convention. This was a historical only gaming convention for miniatures and board games. It was held at what was once the officers club at former McClellan Airforce Base.
In addition to open gaming there was a Flames of War tournament on Saturday and a DBA tournament on Sunday. Both had at least ten participants. About 50 to 60 participants showed up for the two days, There were more present on Saturday than Sunday, though there were a few new arrivals for Sunday only.
I ran the battle of Trebia on Saturday using Scutarii. The game followed history with the Romans flanks being overwhelmed and the infantry being surrounded. It was somewhat questionable as to whether the infantry would be able to cut its way through the center before being broken.
Saturday evening I took part in the battle of Trafalgar as the French commander using Form on the Admiral's Wake rules. My first broadside scored a critical hit causing a magazine explosion, eliminating one British 74. Wind was to be a major factor for the game causing both first the Franco-Spanish fleet to end up in Irons. Then after most of the fleet was able to tack out of irons the wind shifted again putting everyone in irons except for one British ship. Half of us had to leave before the game ended in a draw.
Sunday I participated in a WW2 eastern front game as commanding the Russians. The rules were Blitzkrieg Commander 2nd edition.The scenario began with the Russians having broken through the German lines with the lead tank brigade attempting to exploit the breakthrough and a hastily assembled German kampfgruppe attempting to stop them. It was a close game with the Germans eventually halting the Russian advance after crossing 2/3 to 3/4 of the table.
The afternoon game was a small French and Indian War frontier skirmish using A Fistful of Lead: Horse and Musket rules. I had a settler, his wife, and four frontiersmen attempting to protect his cabin and fields from a raiding force of nine Indians. The Indians eventually overwhelmed the defenders, losing only a couple of braves.
Other games of note were Rorke's Drift on Saturday and Islandwahla on Sunday. In addition to the miniature games there were a couple of board games played on Saturday and Sunday. Photos of the games follow.
In addition to open gaming there was a Flames of War tournament on Saturday and a DBA tournament on Sunday. Both had at least ten participants. About 50 to 60 participants showed up for the two days, There were more present on Saturday than Sunday, though there were a few new arrivals for Sunday only.
I ran the battle of Trebia on Saturday using Scutarii. The game followed history with the Romans flanks being overwhelmed and the infantry being surrounded. It was somewhat questionable as to whether the infantry would be able to cut its way through the center before being broken.
Saturday evening I took part in the battle of Trafalgar as the French commander using Form on the Admiral's Wake rules. My first broadside scored a critical hit causing a magazine explosion, eliminating one British 74. Wind was to be a major factor for the game causing both first the Franco-Spanish fleet to end up in Irons. Then after most of the fleet was able to tack out of irons the wind shifted again putting everyone in irons except for one British ship. Half of us had to leave before the game ended in a draw.
Sunday I participated in a WW2 eastern front game as commanding the Russians. The rules were Blitzkrieg Commander 2nd edition.The scenario began with the Russians having broken through the German lines with the lead tank brigade attempting to exploit the breakthrough and a hastily assembled German kampfgruppe attempting to stop them. It was a close game with the Germans eventually halting the Russian advance after crossing 2/3 to 3/4 of the table.
The afternoon game was a small French and Indian War frontier skirmish using A Fistful of Lead: Horse and Musket rules. I had a settler, his wife, and four frontiersmen attempting to protect his cabin and fields from a raiding force of nine Indians. The Indians eventually overwhelmed the defenders, losing only a couple of braves.
Other games of note were Rorke's Drift on Saturday and Islandwahla on Sunday. In addition to the miniature games there were a couple of board games played on Saturday and Sunday. Photos of the games follow.
Zulus at Rorkes Drift
Napoleonic naval game, homemade rules.
Rorke's Drift being set up.
The Trafalgar game using Form on the Admiral\s Wake
Flames of War tournament tables
The Roman army deployed for battle
The Carthaginian army.
Jim the Roman consul watches as the Carthaginian army advances
Greg in front and Bud in back. Commanding the Carthaginians.
Roman left wing cavalry hard pressed by elephants and Gallic Cav.
Left wing of the Legions breaks.
Roman right wing cavalry and Triarii desperately attempt to hold back Elephants, Spanish and Numidian cavalry
Hanno's flanking force has arrived and advanced towards rear of Roman lines.
SUNDAY GAMES
The Blitzkrieg Commander Game
DBA tournament about to start. Mike, in red shirt, pondering his army list. Mike managed the convention, making sure the games had the tables they needed.
The Islandwala game.
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
CEase Fire Declared
A cease fire has been declared in the conflict between the Federal Union of Buena Vista and The Peoples\ Democratic Republic of La Cucaracha. Both nations have been at war with each other for decades. The current fighting began with an Invasion of Buena Vista at the Battle of Montana Libre
After La Cucaracha managed a narrow victory, Buena Vista counter-attacked at the Battle of Princepe de La Paz where Buena Vista was able to accomplish a significant victory
Buena Vista followed up its victory by advancing further into PDRLC territory and was met by opposing forces at the Battle of Carmichael Once again Buena Vista was victorious and continued its advance.
The forces of both sides met again at the Battle of Santa Clara Neither side was able to claim victory for this engagement.
The next engagement was the Battle of Marconi The PDRLC was again defeated and Buena Vista continued to press the advantage it had gained.
At the Battle of Ciudad Tiempo Pasado the PDRLC army put up a better defense and though it had lost the battle it was by the narrowest of margins., Enough damage had been caused to slow the Buena Vista advance.
The final battle was fought near the city of Saratoga. Here La Cucaracha was able to defeat the Buena Vista forces and force them to fall back. Unfortunately this records for this battle were lost during the Buena Vista retreat. At this point both sides were exhausted and agreed to a cease fire with Buena Vista having made some territorial gains.
While both countries have naval forces these consist of surplus frigates and submarines and are separated by the Panama Canal. The Republic of Dalmatia had sent a task force to aid Buena Vista, but was not able to engage the PDRLC navy before hostilities ceased.
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Return to Cold War Commander/Blitzkrrieg Commander
Tor the past few months we have been playtesting Fistful of Tows 3 to see how it played. We had been looking for a faster playing replacement for CWC/BKC. While FFT3 has some good ideas and a lot of additional data the indirect and direct fire mechanisms do not provide faster play than CWC?BKC.
The procedure for indirect fire in FF3 is to dice for the number of rounds available, determine if on target. roll for deviation if not, roll on snafu table if called for on deviation table, compare number of fire missions to gun caliber to determine attack number, roll on attack number table to determine effect for each target in burst area, targets roll for morale if called for..
For CWC/BKC the procedure is to roll for command to get the fire or not, determine if on target or not, roll deviation if off target. roll for damage to all targets in burst area, targets roll for morale if needed.
For direct fire FFT3 has the following procedure: roll number of dice for rate of fire, may engage more than one target if desired, make any terrain saving throws for hits, compare penetration to target armor to determine number of penetration dice per hit (if penetration rating is 3 less than target armor there is no effect), roll number of dice indicated, killing on any die with a 6 or making a morale check if no kill and any die is a 4 or 5. At effective range a 4 or higher is needed, at longer range it is 5+ and at close range it is 3+
The procedure for CWC/BKC is to roll the number of dice indicated hitting on a 4 or better in the open, 5+ for light cover, 6+ for heavy cover. The target rolls for saving throws for any hits based on their save number, if enough hits are scored the target is knocked out otherwise it tests to see if it is suppressed or may have to take a morale test if it is already suppressed based on the number of hits it received.
As can be seen that while the processes for both the indirect and direct fire are similar and tend to obtain similar results, those for CWC/BKC are less complicated than those for FFT3. The main difference is that vehicles with weapons that might not penetrate the armor of heavier vehicles might be able to cause a kill if enough of them score hits on a target in CWC/BKC. The usual result is most likely to be suppression.
BKC is currently being updated at Pendraken Models and CWC will be updated later. Since CWC was published there have been quite a few changes. A lot more information is available and known about both Warsaw Pact and other armored vehicles. Ammunition, armor, targeting and other systems have improved. New vehicles have been put into service and older ones have been updated. A while back I compared the armor values for tanks in CWC to more recent data that was used for the modern version of Command Decision on my post at Cold War Commander Hits and Saves The same source was also used to determine the armor ratings in FFT3 and the numbers are comparable.
I have begun a more thorough process of updating vehicle hit/save numbers for CWC. Due to the limitation of the hit save matrix used for CWC some values have to be adjusted to the closest value in the hit/save table. Wherever possible at least three hits will be the minimum for armored vehicles and five hits will be the maximum. The latest tanks with a high enough armor rating like the Challenger2, Leopard 2A5/6, and M1A2 will be 6 hits and a save of 3 instead of 3 hits with a save of 2. I do not expect any future vehicles to obtain a high enough armor rating at this time to warrant a better hit/save value. Though if they did it would be 4 hits with a save of 2.
The Russian tanks tend to have the most variants and changes. In the previous post I noted that Command Decision had twelve different variants of the T72. FFT3 has eleven primary variants designated by letter and number suffixes and multiple versions of those variants depending on type of missiles carried and date of service (improvements in anti-tank round penetration and/or armor). Other Russian tanks also have multiple variants and versions of those variants.
The procedure for indirect fire in FF3 is to dice for the number of rounds available, determine if on target. roll for deviation if not, roll on snafu table if called for on deviation table, compare number of fire missions to gun caliber to determine attack number, roll on attack number table to determine effect for each target in burst area, targets roll for morale if called for..
For CWC/BKC the procedure is to roll for command to get the fire or not, determine if on target or not, roll deviation if off target. roll for damage to all targets in burst area, targets roll for morale if needed.
For direct fire FFT3 has the following procedure: roll number of dice for rate of fire, may engage more than one target if desired, make any terrain saving throws for hits, compare penetration to target armor to determine number of penetration dice per hit (if penetration rating is 3 less than target armor there is no effect), roll number of dice indicated, killing on any die with a 6 or making a morale check if no kill and any die is a 4 or 5. At effective range a 4 or higher is needed, at longer range it is 5+ and at close range it is 3+
The procedure for CWC/BKC is to roll the number of dice indicated hitting on a 4 or better in the open, 5+ for light cover, 6+ for heavy cover. The target rolls for saving throws for any hits based on their save number, if enough hits are scored the target is knocked out otherwise it tests to see if it is suppressed or may have to take a morale test if it is already suppressed based on the number of hits it received.
As can be seen that while the processes for both the indirect and direct fire are similar and tend to obtain similar results, those for CWC/BKC are less complicated than those for FFT3. The main difference is that vehicles with weapons that might not penetrate the armor of heavier vehicles might be able to cause a kill if enough of them score hits on a target in CWC/BKC. The usual result is most likely to be suppression.
BKC is currently being updated at Pendraken Models and CWC will be updated later. Since CWC was published there have been quite a few changes. A lot more information is available and known about both Warsaw Pact and other armored vehicles. Ammunition, armor, targeting and other systems have improved. New vehicles have been put into service and older ones have been updated. A while back I compared the armor values for tanks in CWC to more recent data that was used for the modern version of Command Decision on my post at Cold War Commander Hits and Saves The same source was also used to determine the armor ratings in FFT3 and the numbers are comparable.
I have begun a more thorough process of updating vehicle hit/save numbers for CWC. Due to the limitation of the hit save matrix used for CWC some values have to be adjusted to the closest value in the hit/save table. Wherever possible at least three hits will be the minimum for armored vehicles and five hits will be the maximum. The latest tanks with a high enough armor rating like the Challenger2, Leopard 2A5/6, and M1A2 will be 6 hits and a save of 3 instead of 3 hits with a save of 2. I do not expect any future vehicles to obtain a high enough armor rating at this time to warrant a better hit/save value. Though if they did it would be 4 hits with a save of 2.
The Russian tanks tend to have the most variants and changes. In the previous post I noted that Command Decision had twelve different variants of the T72. FFT3 has eleven primary variants designated by letter and number suffixes and multiple versions of those variants depending on type of missiles carried and date of service (improvements in anti-tank round penetration and/or armor). Other Russian tanks also have multiple variants and versions of those variants.
Thursday, October 4, 2018
New additions.
Since my last post I have not been able to do anything with wargaming except some internet browsing. Things are back to normal now and yesterday I received some GHQ items I ordered. Fortunately they arrived a day earlier than scheduled and I spent last evening gluing turrets onto the hulls. Today I primed them with green spray primer and added the other two NATO camo colors. I am also working on the Lace Wars figures that I have. Getting them painted and based and determining what additional figures may be needed. So far the only infantry that I am going to need are a couple of packs of grenadiers. I may have enough cavalry. The only uncertainty is the number of Hussars that I may need.
There are 10 Leopard 2 Revolutions, 10 Pumas, and 30 Boxers. I was able to find painting diagrams for the Boxer and Puma by searching the internet and some help from people on The Miniatures Page.
T
Friday, July 27, 2018
Modern Russian Green
Often people obsess over the proper color to paint their vehicles. Sunlight and weather will affect paint colors. When painting smaller scales it is best to use lighter shades of the desired color due to the smaller figures not reflecting as much light as larger ones. I came across this photo of Russian BTRs showing the wide range of colors that could be used when painting modern Russian green.
Friday, April 13, 2018
Tank Drifting
Drifting cars has become a completion sport. Drifting tanks in the snow and ice is part of training in Norway and the US has taken part in that training. Some tank crews have also done it for fun and to demonstrate the abilities of their tanks. The following link is to YouTube videos documenting these and also some failures. The one with the Chinese driver is quite impressive. drifting tanks
Sunday, February 25, 2018
JWW2 Japanese Army and Visitors
Just complete another project. This is a WW2 Japanese infantry regiment with a supporting tank battalion. Test of Battle games has released a scenario book for the war in the Pacific called "Road to Tokyo". Hoplite Research has also released a scenario book on the same subject called "The Emperor's Finest". While the formation is scaled at one base = one platoon, I can upscale it to one base = one company for "The Emperor's Finest" scenarios.
The tanks. Lights on the left. 37mm medium next then the 45mm mediums.
The infantry. Three infantry battalions in front. Supporting guns and engineers in back.
After putting everything away, I noticed that a flock of migrating birds had arrived. They pass through in the early spring/late winter and late fall.
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Projects for 2018
Time to set some goals for the coming year. In no particular order I hope to accomplish the following items for the coming year:
Finish painting and basing 18th century armies (Duchy of Clove-Hamhock and Principality of Turanschlag). I will need to purchase some additional Hussars and maybe some grenadiers and heavy cavalry from Heroics and Ros. Got some new figures from a friend.
Finish painting and basing additions to American Civil War armies. Also print flags for them. Almost finished painting them. One of six unfinished items from last year.
Finish painting and basing the Carthaginian figures I was given.
Finish painting and basing the barbarian infantry additions.
Finish painting and basing the early Byzantine cavalry,
Finish painting and basing the Sassanian cavalry.
Finish painting space ships. About a dozen to paint.
Flock bases for Napoleonic armies along with any repairs that need to be done. Most boring project.
Place a special order with GHQ for a couple of replacement tank gun barrels, a 5cm AT gun and crew, and a 7.5cm AT gun and crew for WW2 Germans. WW2 done except for those items.
Add helicopters to the two fictitious modern countries (The Peoples Democratic Republic of La Cucaracha and the Federal Union of Buena Vista). Already ordered and on their way.
Choose a set of ancient naval rules for large fleet actions along with printing and basing ancient fleets. Might be the most time consuming project when cutting and gluing them.
Finish painting and basing 18th century armies (Duchy of Clove-Hamhock and Principality of Turanschlag). I will need to purchase some additional Hussars and maybe some grenadiers and heavy cavalry from Heroics and Ros. Got some new figures from a friend.
Expand Franco-Prussian War armies. Need quite a few additional figures from Heroics and Ros. Fortunately they are easy to paint.
Finish painting and basing the Carthaginian figures I was given.
Finish painting and basing the barbarian infantry additions.
Finish painting and basing the early Byzantine cavalry,
Finish painting and basing the Sassanian cavalry.
Finish painting space ships. About a dozen to paint.
Flock bases for Napoleonic armies along with any repairs that need to be done. Most boring project.
Place a special order with GHQ for a couple of replacement tank gun barrels, a 5cm AT gun and crew, and a 7.5cm AT gun and crew for WW2 Germans. WW2 done except for those items.
Add helicopters to the two fictitious modern countries (The Peoples Democratic Republic of La Cucaracha and the Federal Union of Buena Vista). Already ordered and on their way.
Choose a set of ancient naval rules for large fleet actions along with printing and basing ancient fleets. Might be the most time consuming project when cutting and gluing them.
Friday, May 5, 2017
Blitzkriegcommander III
I received the newest version of the Blitzkrieg Commander series a couple days ago. After Pendraken purchased the commander series I have been waiting for this to be completed so that they could then proceed to update Cold War Commander and Future War Commander to the format used for BKC II.
Shortly before receiving BKCIII I started noticing posts on The Miniatures Page, the Commander Series forums and the Pendraken forums about problems with the army lists and rules. The arrival of the rules confirmed these problems.
The army lists are vital as they provide the vehicle stats for playing. Some army lists are missing a number of vehicles that were included in the second edition. While in some cases there are years of service listed for vehicles they do not include the month they entered service. Armor values for PZIV drop off in army lists for later years. There are other items that have been noted.
The rules for recon units are contradictory and prevent them from being used in some cases. Forward Artillery Observers and Forward Air Controllers are now just listed as a Forward Observer. FAC's were not equipped or trained to direct artillery nor were FAO's trained or equipped to direct air attacks. By combing them as one item, all those army lists that did not have FAC's now do, even if they do not have the planes to direct. The scenarios do not have force ratios, the tactical doctrine rules that gave a bonus to CV for rigid doctrine units in the same formation are gone, field defenses are free?!?!?!, etc.
In BKC second edition Rigid Tactical Doctrine required formations be created at the start of the game and maintained throughout it. If the same order was given to all units in the formation then they received a bonus to their command role encouraging group action. Now any group of units in the same formation can be grouped together each turn and given an order with no bonus.
While there were some changes that might be good, there are a lot of unnecessary changes that have been made. The updating of the rules was entrusted by Leon of Pendraken to someone he felt was an experienced rules author. Instead of doing that the author made wholesale changes that were not needed. While there have been a number of rules questions raised on the Pendraken forums the author has not responded to any of them as of this time. Others on the forum have noticed that he has logged in, but has not responded.
There have been posts by experienced BKC players who have tried to play the new rules, given up after a turn or two, and reverted to using BKC II to finish the games.
I feel sorry for Leon that this has happened. While still listed on his site and at Wargames Vault the third edition is no longer available for purchase. Leon has also established a pole on the Forum requesting input on a way forward. I also regret that I did not have the time to volunteer and participate as a play tester. If I had I would have raised strenuous objections to what was happening.
There is a post on the Pendraken forum from one who participated from the beginning of BKC I through BKC II who also regrets not being able to participate in the update of the rules.
A bit of an update. I visited the Pendraken forums and noted that Leon has posted that they plan to do a reprint within the next two to three months. I hope that they are able to do a proper fix and not rush it. Leon's post
Shortly before receiving BKCIII I started noticing posts on The Miniatures Page, the Commander Series forums and the Pendraken forums about problems with the army lists and rules. The arrival of the rules confirmed these problems.
The army lists are vital as they provide the vehicle stats for playing. Some army lists are missing a number of vehicles that were included in the second edition. While in some cases there are years of service listed for vehicles they do not include the month they entered service. Armor values for PZIV drop off in army lists for later years. There are other items that have been noted.
The rules for recon units are contradictory and prevent them from being used in some cases. Forward Artillery Observers and Forward Air Controllers are now just listed as a Forward Observer. FAC's were not equipped or trained to direct artillery nor were FAO's trained or equipped to direct air attacks. By combing them as one item, all those army lists that did not have FAC's now do, even if they do not have the planes to direct. The scenarios do not have force ratios, the tactical doctrine rules that gave a bonus to CV for rigid doctrine units in the same formation are gone, field defenses are free?!?!?!, etc.
In BKC second edition Rigid Tactical Doctrine required formations be created at the start of the game and maintained throughout it. If the same order was given to all units in the formation then they received a bonus to their command role encouraging group action. Now any group of units in the same formation can be grouped together each turn and given an order with no bonus.
While there were some changes that might be good, there are a lot of unnecessary changes that have been made. The updating of the rules was entrusted by Leon of Pendraken to someone he felt was an experienced rules author. Instead of doing that the author made wholesale changes that were not needed. While there have been a number of rules questions raised on the Pendraken forums the author has not responded to any of them as of this time. Others on the forum have noticed that he has logged in, but has not responded.
There have been posts by experienced BKC players who have tried to play the new rules, given up after a turn or two, and reverted to using BKC II to finish the games.
I feel sorry for Leon that this has happened. While still listed on his site and at Wargames Vault the third edition is no longer available for purchase. Leon has also established a pole on the Forum requesting input on a way forward. I also regret that I did not have the time to volunteer and participate as a play tester. If I had I would have raised strenuous objections to what was happening.
There is a post on the Pendraken forum from one who participated from the beginning of BKC I through BKC II who also regrets not being able to participate in the update of the rules.
A bit of an update. I visited the Pendraken forums and noted that Leon has posted that they plan to do a reprint within the next two to three months. I hope that they are able to do a proper fix and not rush it. Leon's post
Sunday, June 12, 2016
The Nafziger Collection
In 2010 George Nafziger donated his order of battle collection to the
| http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/cgsc/carl/nafziger.asp so that it would not be lost if he passed away. In addition to the order of battle collection there are a large number of books available from http://www.nafzigercollection.com/ covering armies, tactics, and campaigns from 1300 through World War 2. Some of the books can be found on Amazon. I purchased "Soviet Infantry Tactics in World War II" and "Soviet Armor Tactics in World War II" both by Charles Sharp. Both provide detailed information on the tactics used by the Soviet army in WW2. Both are well worth obtaining if interested in the actual tactics used by the Soviet army, but the casual gamer would probably not be interested in them. They ;include information on the spacing between individual tanks and infantry when engaging in combat. Tanks were to have a spacing of 30 to 50 meters between vehicles in order to allow them to maneuver, while infantry would have about 6 to 8 paces (15-20 feet, 4.5 to 6 meters). I use 6mm figures (1:285 and 1:300). At 30 meters for the figure scale this would be 100mm/4 inches per vehicle or twice the width of the 50mm bases I use. 3mm would be about right for 1 vehicle per 50mm base while 2mm could be on a 30+mm base. I mount three to four infantry figures per base which is close to the minimum distance of 6 paces per man. The spacing for Soviet infantry is similar to that of other armies. The following site has information on infantry frontages and spacing http://balagan.info/infantry-unit-frontages-during-ww2 http://balagan.info/usmc-unit-frontages-and-formations-in-late-ww2 Steven's site has a lot of scenarios and other information for Crossfire and other rule systems. For modern unit frontages see http://18clovehamhock.blogspot.com/2012/06/warpac-and-nato-unit-frontages.html |
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Western Front Game Convention
This past weekend Randy's House of Games in Sacramento California hosted the Western Front Game Convention. The event had a wide variety of miniature and board games. The following are several pictures of the Gaming area in the back of the store.
Next are some pictures of the various games on Saturday.
The Battle of Marathon using Scutarii. Persians on left Greeks on right.
The DBA tournament
Saga
Battle of Kursk using Blitzkrieg Commander.
Treadheads, a tank skirmish game
Cedar Mountain, a boardgame designed and published by a local Sacramento Gamer.
Playtest of upcoming Jutland board game.
Battle of Zama using Command and Colors.
Another view of Kursk later in the day.
Battle of Callinicum using Scutarii. Persian commanders discuss strategy.
I will provide more detailed accounts of Marathon and Calllinicum in later posts.
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Encounter at Crazy Rodent - The Battle
From the Journal of Major Clouseau
11,10,3014 on Planet Crazy Rodent.
We have encountered the Panthari near the spaceship site. My battalion was able to quickly advance to the site and occupy it. One of my platoons located the opening to the spaceship, but as it approached the opening it vanished in a flash of light. The rest of the battalion took refuge near the base of the ship while the tanks from our brigade engaged the approaching Panthari armor under the command of General Burdine.
General Kavenkis moved his brigade to the site in order to prevent the Panthari from taking it away from General Lange's brigade and to keep the Panthari brigade of General Pamandanan from outflanking our brigade. On our left flank General Bratrovich was heavily engaged with the brigade of General Bacchetti.
Troops from my command were able to locate the controls for opening the spaceship causing a large ramp to lower from the side of the ship. Before we could enter, a gigantic creature/vehicle descended the ramp and turned towards the Panthari who had been shooting at the infantry from General Henshaw's brigade next to the buildings. Their fire had struck the buildings, but had not caused any damage.
The creature was a hideous green color, with two giant claws protruding from the front, a large stalk on top with a gigantic eye, several tentacles on the top, and hundreds of legs underneath. The creature emitted a blast of plasma destroying several Panthari tanks
While the creature was engaged with the Panthari, I ordered my battalion to enter the ship and secure it. Inside the ship was a large hold with several hatches leading to other parts of the ship. My troops dispersed through the ship looking for any members of the crew and the controls. We did not find any living creatures on the ship, though there were a few piles of dust in various locations. We eventually found the control room and by a stroke of good fortune were able to gain control of the ship, halt the creature, and secure the site.
The above is an account of the Future War Commander game we played on Saturday, October 11th at the Crazy Squirrel Game Shop at 464 East Bullard, Fresno. The shop has a large area set aside for gaming. There are a number of places within a couple of blocks for food. The vehicles from both sides were from the FASA Renegade Legion and Terran Overlord Government plastic cohort sets. figures are from various 6mm manufacturers. The Ogrethulu is from Steve Jackson games. Pictures of the game follow. The spaceship and buidlings were items that I had picked up at a convention many years ago. There were a few blunders during the game. One of them caused the platoon near the ship to take hits from enemy fire. As there were no enemy near enough to fire at the time it was ruled as the ship that did the damage causing the platoon to be eliminated.
11,10,3014 on Planet Crazy Rodent.
We have encountered the Panthari near the spaceship site. My battalion was able to quickly advance to the site and occupy it. One of my platoons located the opening to the spaceship, but as it approached the opening it vanished in a flash of light. The rest of the battalion took refuge near the base of the ship while the tanks from our brigade engaged the approaching Panthari armor under the command of General Burdine.
General Kavenkis moved his brigade to the site in order to prevent the Panthari from taking it away from General Lange's brigade and to keep the Panthari brigade of General Pamandanan from outflanking our brigade. On our left flank General Bratrovich was heavily engaged with the brigade of General Bacchetti.
Troops from my command were able to locate the controls for opening the spaceship causing a large ramp to lower from the side of the ship. Before we could enter, a gigantic creature/vehicle descended the ramp and turned towards the Panthari who had been shooting at the infantry from General Henshaw's brigade next to the buildings. Their fire had struck the buildings, but had not caused any damage.
The creature was a hideous green color, with two giant claws protruding from the front, a large stalk on top with a gigantic eye, several tentacles on the top, and hundreds of legs underneath. The creature emitted a blast of plasma destroying several Panthari tanks
While the creature was engaged with the Panthari, I ordered my battalion to enter the ship and secure it. Inside the ship was a large hold with several hatches leading to other parts of the ship. My troops dispersed through the ship looking for any members of the crew and the controls. We did not find any living creatures on the ship, though there were a few piles of dust in various locations. We eventually found the control room and by a stroke of good fortune were able to gain control of the ship, halt the creature, and secure the site.
The above is an account of the Future War Commander game we played on Saturday, October 11th at the Crazy Squirrel Game Shop at 464 East Bullard, Fresno. The shop has a large area set aside for gaming. There are a number of places within a couple of blocks for food. The vehicles from both sides were from the FASA Renegade Legion and Terran Overlord Government plastic cohort sets. figures are from various 6mm manufacturers. The Ogrethulu is from Steve Jackson games. Pictures of the game follow. The spaceship and buidlings were items that I had picked up at a convention many years ago. There were a few blunders during the game. One of them caused the platoon near the ship to take hits from enemy fire. As there were no enemy near enough to fire at the time it was ruled as the ship that did the damage causing the platoon to be eliminated.
Jeff, Brent, and Neal the Panthari Imperium generals.
Mike and Ron. two of the Federation Generals. Dave was the third Federation General
The initial turn. Part of Ron's command was able to quickly secure the site.
The engagement heats up
Jeff and Dave's forces exchange shots. Jeff's force has taken more casualties than Dave's.
The action near the site.
Neal attempts to outflank Mike's command. Shortly after this Ron was able to open the ship and an Ogrethulu came out of it. The first force it attacked was Brent's. Meanwhile Ron's infantry boarded the spaceship while the Ogrethulu was facing away. The Ogrethulu then turned on Mike's command after the lead elements of Brent's force were suppressed by a Federation artillery bombardment. Throughout the game the Federation artillery was more effective than the Imperium's. The game was called about 4:30. Ron had secured the spaceship, but his command had been broken. The Federation had achieved a Pyrrhic victory by capturing the ship and suppressing the Ogrethulu.
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