Ambush Valley

 Here are some photos from a 28mm Vietnam game we played at the club last month. The game saw us moving up the river to try to rescue some hostages from the far end.

The rules were Ambush Alley and the figures and terrain are from someone else's lovely collection

Afghantsy

Last weekend was our club Open Day and I put on a 28mm game from the Soviet Afghan War using the Force on Force rules.

The scenario was a sweep and clear operation by Soviet forces designed to flush out an eliminate Mujahideen fighters who had been attacking the Soviet's supply convoys.  The Soviets had a motorised infantry platoon in three BTR-70s and the Afghans had three small teams on board with variable reinforcements arriving during the game.

We played the game twice with the players swapping sides and then determining the overall winner based on the total points from both games.

Here are some photos:

Fallujah, 2004

At our club Open Day back in June I got a chance to play our next Show game, Pete's 20mm scenario in Iraq using Force on Force with a few minor amendments.

As you can see from the photos below the game looks fantastic and is the result of a huge amount of work during lockdown by Pete to scratch build pretty much everything other than the figures and vehicles (both of which he painted too).

It was a fun game with the players playing the US forces against the Umpire.

Here are a few photos:

First Look: Classified (Force on Force)

The latest supplement for the Force on Force rules dropped through my letterbox this morning.  This one is entitled Classified: Special Operations Missions 1940-2010 and, as you might expect, covers special forces missions from the second world war to the present day.

The book is in the standard Force of Force style and runs to 136 pages.  The introduction starts by talking about special operations and wargaming, explains what makes an operation "special" and then addressed the differences in this book from the other supplements.  This is followed by new rules for special operations forces and then there are three scenario sections covering historical, generic and "Hollywood" operations.  A selection of current special operations forces (US, Russian, European, Canadian, Israeli and Asia-Pacific) are then described along with a miniatures guide and a glossary.  The bok finishes off with a bibliography and the book artwork references.

The scenarios sections contain 9 historical, 6 generic (including two mini-campaigns) and 3 "Hollywood" ones:

Historical

• Raiders on Makin Island, a USMC island raid 17-18 August 1942
• Heading Toward Extraction, US LRRP north of the DMZ, Vietnam 1969
• Fighting the War of Attrition, Egyptian commando raid on an Israeli convoy, Sinai 1970
• The Battle of Mirbat, Communist rebels attacking the SAS, Oman 1972
• Bulldozers Lead the Way, 75th Rangers, Grenada 1983
• Price of a Vendetta, Speznaz holding off the Mujahideen, Afghanistan 1986
• SEALS on the Tarmac, US Navy SEALs attack Noriega's jet, Panama 1989
• Cross Border Incident, US raid on Al Qaeda, Syria 2008
• Night Raid, US Ranger/Afghan forces raid on Taliban high value target , Afghanistan 2012

Generic

• Gone to Ground, a CSAR mission on the edge of a nation in political turmoil
• Homecoming, a rescue/counter-piracy mission
• A Night's Work, a terrorist training camp assault
• Brave New World (A Mini Campaign): three missions - snatch and grab; recon and hostage rescue
• Ocean Oil 982, an oil platform assault
• Princes of Persia (A Mini Campaign): four missions - "blow up stuff", kill or capture, secure a base of operations and direct action

Hollywood

• Force 10, an Allied raid on a German coastal gun position, 1942
• Bungle in the Jungle (Solitaire), a drug raid in Central America, 1980s
• Hunters Hunted, US Navy SEALs vs Mexican Drug Lords, 2012

The section on current special operations forces is more of an overview and general description rather than sample organisations as the forces for these types of missions tend to be put together on a case by case basis depending on the specific needs and availability.

This book covers quite a period but provides plenty of interest and inspiration for smaller special forces games.  I'm certainly keen to try a couple of these out!

Wargaming Weekend: From Russia with Love

Our next game was a chance for some more Cold War action but with my new Mongrel Soviet and BAOR figures.  To make things simple I adapted one of the scenarios from the Cold War Gone Hot supplement to suit the figures available and we used the Force on Force rules.

The scenario three fire teams and a sniper team from the BAOR holed up in a West German village behind the Soviet lines.  The Soviets have deployed two squads to winkle them out of the village.

The BAOR objective was to withdraw without taking many casualties whilst the Soviets' was to eliminate the threat.

The Soviets advanced from the south and the east towards the village.  The southern group were spotted by one of the BAOR fire teams who attempted to engage them; however, the Soviets got the drop on them and a firefight ensued.  A another group then emerged further along the woods and were spotted by the sniper team, who opened up.  Unfortunately this drew a hail of fire in which the observer went down.

Meanwhile the eastern group were advancing under cover of some woods.  But one of their fire teams was spotted by another BAOR group (with a GPMG) and engaged - taking them out of action.

With the Soviets keeping the initiative they kept the British under pressure.  One Soviet group emerged from the woods to the east and, with covering fire from the group to the south charged toward one of the BAOR positions.  Having already taken some casualties they were in a desperate state and decided to use the Karl Gustav!  This made the Soviets reconsider and the charge faltered at the edge of the woods.

With three of the British positions under attack the remaining fire team decided to move to help the south eastern position withdraw given then casualties.  They moved rapidly across the crossroads into the buildings despite coming under some Soviet fire.  The position was then evacuated under more fire and the withdrawal began.

With the Soviets advancing more cautiously now, it took them a little time to realise that the pigeons had flown the coup and this gave the BAOR the change to slip away.  However, as a result of the considerable casualties they had taken the victory was really the Soviets'. 

First Look: Bush Wars

Bush Wars is the sixth supplement for Force on Force and, as you might have guessed from the title, covers conflicts in Africa between 1960 and 2010.  The book runs to 144 pages plus 6 pages of Fog of War cards (9 per page).

After a brief introduction the book has five sections covering various periods of conflict in Africa each with its own overview and set of scenarios.  This is then followed by a large range of sample unit organisations, vehicle information and a brief miniatures guide.  It's finished off with a glossary and acronym guide (essential for Africa), bibliography, artwork references and the Fog of War cards.  The book is in the standard style we have come to expect from Osprey Force on Force, full colour with various illustrations and photos of miniatures.

The conflicts covered are:

• The Congo Crisis, 1960-66
• The Portuguese Colonial Wars
• The Rhodesian Bush War, 1964-1979
• The South African Border War, 1966-89
• Recent conflicts focussing in particular on Operation Barras in Sierra Leone

The organisation section provides units for each of the conflicts.

Overall this looks like an excellent addition to the Force on Force library and I am really looking forward to reading through it properly.

It's currently available from Amazon at a decent discount from the £14.99 RRP:

Wargames Weekend: Flight to the West

Our first game on the day after Salute was another outing for Force on Force this time using the Cold War Gone Hot supplement. The scenario was a follow up to a game we played just over a year ago (it's scary how quickly time passes) which was played using a tweaked version of Nuts! Lenin has painted some more Mongrel BAOR for me and this was a good chance to get that larger force onto the table.

19th August 1986
Nr. Hessen, West Germany
Having failed to retake the bridge at Arlosen, the remnants of the British 5th (Volunteer) Battalion of The Queen's Regiment, are ordered to withdraw to a new defensive line.
BAOR Mission: Break through any Soviet blocking forces and exit to the west.

Replicating our previous roles I took command of the BAOR platoon and Lenin the Soviets. The terrain was woods and low hills with the road running away to the west over a small river. There were a couple of buildings, a barn ahead to the left of the road beyond a small wood and a house just over the bridge.

I decided on a relatively cautious approach. I had the men dismount from the vehicles and sent a section forward to each flank, advancing by bounds to clear the woods on either side of the road. These cleared the sections then advanced from the woods to the barn, on the left, and to some more woods on the right. I then had the Saxon advance up the road accompanied by the third section on foot.

Things were going well, if a little slowly, as the section on the right was held up advancing through the thick underbrush. At this point the centre section came under sniper fire from the house ahead. They returned fire but in an attempt to put more fire down I, rather rashly in hindsight, had a fire team and the Saxon advance to give fire support. This moved it forward ahead of the wood line to the right and into the line of sight of a Soviet unit on some high ground across the river.

An RPG round came winging its way toward us and the Saxon was disabled (fortunately the crew were able to bale out unharmed). Fortunately a drainage ditch provided some good cover for the fire team from the accompanying small arms fire. I had the section on the right advance through the woods and engage the Soviets on the hill.

The section to the left, having cleared the barn, advanced to the next wooded area between them and the river. Meanwhile firefights were going on between the Soviet sniper team and my fire team from the centre section and between the right section and the Soviets on the hill.

The section on the left cleared the woods but on emerging from the far side were engaged by another Soviet group in some more woodland over the river.

Eventually my greater weight of fire on both the left and the right began to take its toll but the sniper team were proving rather too resilient for my liking. I decided to advance the other fire team from the centre section but, in doing so, revealed a third Soviet group in some woods farther to the right. Fortunately the fire team made it to some cover only sustaining a single casualty and began to return fire. That team didn't have either a GPMG or a bren so they decided to use the only heavy weapon available to them - a Carl Gustav. This extra weight of fire made all the difference and we were slowly making headway.

At this point the turn limit for the game came up and, when we totted up the victory points, it was a Soviet win by two points. I had been let down by only using ranged fire to engage the enemy rather than pinning them and advancing to close combat. Lenin kindly pointed me to some training videos on YouTube which are handily from just the right era!

Force on Force provided a fun game and once you have a feel for the mechanisms and numbers of dice to roll it moves along very easily.

First Look: Cold War Gone Hot

Hot on the heels of Ambush Valley comes the fourth source book for Force on Force but the first covering an conflict that never actually happened.

Unlike Ambush Valley, Cold War Gone Hot is focussed more on scenarios.  In its case there are 22 of them.  They are split into three groupings, Col War Fears, Cold War Realities and Cold War Fantasies to suit the approach you wish to take to this alternative history.

Cold War Fears is based on the views held at the time (irrespective of whether these were based on fact rather than speculation).  So you get a Soviet and Warsaw Pact with significantly superior numbers of forces and worryingly similar capabilities to the West.

Cold War Realities is based in the real world following the release of hard facts after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the break up of the Soviet bloc.  The scenarios in this section also focus on a somewhat more aggressive NATO in order to spice things up.

Cold War Fantasies is based more in the world of Holywood than the real one, taking its inspiration from films and fiction set in the period.

The balance of the 120 odd page book contains special rules, unit and vehicle information etc.  It is a useful reference work if you are interested in a counter factual conflict in the 1980s that's for sure.

Currently at Amazon for only £9.71: Cold War Gone Hot: World War II 1986 (Force on Force)

First Look: Ambush Valley

Ambush Valley is the third source book for the Force on Force rules and covers the Vietnam War.   The book is over 180 pages packed with useful information on a wide variety of units which were involved in the conflict.

There are around 20 pages of the book taken up with new or modified rules for Force on Force (including special rules for civilians and for boats) but the remainder of the book is full of data which aren't FoF specific.

This is a great resource for anyone interested in information on the forces involved in Vietnam and given the volume of data is great value.  It is much lighter on scenarios though, with only six being included, and so is more useful as a reference work rather than for game ideas.

Available from Amazon for only £9.71: Ambush Valley: Vietnam 1965-1975 (Force on Force)

First Play: Force on Force

Our final tabletop miniatures game of the week was a chance to get the new edition of Force on Force to the table along with my Mongrel Soviets and Afghans.  I decided to try a asymmetric engagement as I thought this suited the forces better so we still need to try a kinetic game in order to properly try the rules out.

The scenario was adapted from one kindly published by [insert] (the adaptations were largely due to the fact I didn't have the vehicles).  Lenin, as Soviet commander, was required to identify, isolate and neutralise the Mujahideen forces in the compounds.

The basic concepts behind the rules are fairly straight forward; however, the way they have decided to cover all the aspects in each section of the rule book makes them a little daunting at first.  We weren't phased by the reaction based approach as we are both very familiar with the Two Hour Wargames rules which use a similar approach.

The scenario did not start well for the Soviets.  Their first fire team advanced cautiously from behind a field of crops into sight of a group of Mujahideen concealed within one of the compounds.  This resulted in my group opening fire and causing enough casualties to effectively eliminate the Soviet fire team.  The other half of the Soviet squad then advanced to try and extract the casualties and a similar thing happened.  This rather gave us pause as, if this was going to be repeated each time the Soviets came into sight there was no way for them to get a team onto overwatch and hence be able to make any headway at all.  In fact I had rolled rather well for all the tests and firing rolls on both occasions (which happens some times despite my reputation!) so we decided to reset the game and try it again.

 The second time I rolled somewhat more normal dice which gave the Soviets the chance to fire first and get a team into position.  This completely changed the situation and we both breathed a sigh of relief that it was simple chance and not any failure of the rules themselves (although it is something to bear in mind with small groups vs large ones when designing scenarios!).

With the Soviet left flank engaged they also began to advance on the right.

 When they came into sight of the main compound another fire fight broke out, with the Soviets getting the drop on the Afghans again.

With things going well for the Soviets some Afghan reinforcements arrived.  This gave the Soviets pause but didn't prevent them from rushing and taking the first compound on the left flank.  The Afghans now concentrated in the larger central compound.  The Soviets brought up some reinforcements for an assault.

The Soviet launched their attack and quickly secured a foothold in the buildings on the edge of the compound.  A firefight broke out between the Afghans reinforcements and the Soviet ones but the Soviets quickly got the upper hand.

Even with more reinforcements arriving directly in the compound, the Soviets, now in position, make quick work of them and secured the entire compound.

The game was a lot of fun and so we will be giving the rules some outings in order to test the other aspects of them, particularly the kinetic (regular vs regular) engagements.