Thanksgiving Battles with G Company

Next up for my extended weekend of ridiculous amounts of gaming, were games featuring my multi-figure based WWII Eastern Front collection. You know, the ones I post all the time lately.

Thanksgiving evening saw a return to The River with G Company, not once, but twice!

The first game was a complete rout as the Soviets decimated the Germans with HMG fire and artillery, including taking out their Forward Observer, leaving the Germans without smoke to cover their advance. It was a bloodbath and ended in a handful of turns (it was that bad).

The second game things went a little better for the attacker, but in the end, the Germans took too many losses to continue.

First game setup.

From the first game. Germans have no smoke - the FO was eliminated - and so must cross without any cover. It didn't go well.

2md game. A Forward Observer - having crept onto the bridge -  finally gets the smoke he requested. In the background, the Germans pour across the river, shielded by smoke from the HMG fire coming from the pillbox.

Brutal close combat ensued shortly after this was taken.

On Friday ("Black Friday"), the German advance tried again, this time with The Hill.

The first battle went to the stalwart defenders who drove off the Huns.

I set it up again - because why not? - but this time, after three games in less than 24 hours, I was feeling vaguely dissatisfied with the G Company turn sequence, which works well for me and isn't complicated, does look complicated and requires the solo gamer to change hats almost every other step.

In addition, I have been noticing that the artillery in my games just never even comes close to using the number of fire missions available. So, the mechanics were the same but the turn sequence was a greatly simplified, traditional,flexible (units can move/shoot in whatever order suits the battle plan, but can't split their actions with another unit - although the enemy can fire in reaction)  IGO-UGO, and artillery calls/arrival was available to both sides each turn.

The result was a much faster playing game that didn't involve as much mental side- switching for the solo gamer. I jokingly call it "G Company: Toy Solider Edition".

Whether I continue to use the simplified turn sequence, the artillery rule change may well be brought into G Company, as I felt it made it more fun - ordinarily, the limit on fire missions is theoretical - one side never gets enough opportunity to call in a lot of artillery (off-board heavy mortars),  but now the limit was quite real and required decision making to best use those resources..

Incidentally, the Germans had their first victory of the SoloCon celebration. Now, the attacker has won The Hill scenario about half the times I've played it, so I'm not convinced the rules changes had anything to do with it, but it does merit some more play testing.

The Hill in all its glory. There's a LOT of open ground covered by the Soviet HMG.

Defenders of the Motherland.

A Soviet sniper takes aim at a German NCO.The polka-dotted strips are the mines.

Germans cautiously advance under cover.

German right engages the Soviets on the Hill. On the German left, sort of visible in the background, left, 2nd platoon advanced around to flank the Soviets.

The victors in Game 1 (the German force was devastated and forced to retreat)::

 Contrasted with the end of Game 2:

This photo was staged after the battle. The final fight was a close assault scrum on the hill.- with units from both German platoons, and the mortar team - that eliminated the remaining Soviet units, save the PL and the FO.

Friday evening, I moved fully in the direction of simplified gaming, but up a level (platoon per base), with Morschauser's Modern rules, with some modifications, and a OHW scenario. But I'll spare you and post that later!

Shiny Soldiers Fight at Firefly Church

This afternoon's kick off to my Thanksgiving SoloCon feature a skirmish between the forces of Ginland and Vodkia near Firefly Church. As I'm in something of a food coma right now, I'll leave the pictures to tell the story.

Rules used were In Good Company (available from the Lone Warrior website).


On an unrelated note, I started the day off by watching "Is Paris Burning?" - about the French resistance in Paris just prior to the liberation of the city. It's long but not at all drawn out and absolutely worth a watch.

Vodkia Gatling and Crew

Resplendent in their glossy glory, may I present this Vodkia Gatling gun and crew, on their way to a demonstration for the Emperor and other dignitaries of the latest improvement in infantry warfare.

The two similar looking figures are my conversions.

I can now field identical forces for Firefly Church 

With two more figures (mounted though, so perhaps that counts as four) I will achieve my initial goal of this project, which was one unit of infantry, one unit of cavalry, one gun, and one "personality" figure per side. I am planning to expand it to include two more units of infantry (one per side) in the next year - I have the figures, but as always, it's about making time to paint them.

Thanksgiving SoloCon Plans

As I noted the other day, I am planning to do something of a "Thanksgiving SoloCon" this year - a multi-day event where I play as many games as I can fit in between sleeping in late and watching too many movies.

Like any good convention, I need a schedule of events of some sort, but as this is a solo gaming convention, I have latitude with start and end times or even if any particular idea makes it to the table at all.

That said, a plan is helpful if only to prevent option paralysis in the moment.

So here are some of the ideas I have and any notes I have made to jog my memory when I'm stuffed to the gills with pumpkin pie.

54mm Medieval with One Hour Wargames -  Ideally, I'll play a 5-game mini-campaign of OHW scenarios. I  have worked up a very thin backstory for imagi-nations on the island continent of Tempus, and the on-going war between the armies of Sol, King of Dies, and Luna, Empress of Nox, in order to provide some context and also add some fun to the write-ups. Whether I play one game or five, this will be an on-going thing. I have already been searching ebay for figures I consider suitable for Sol, Luna,and their vassals.

The Gatling glossed and ready to go.

54mm Colonial / Imagi-nations: Provided the Gatling crew is completed, and they should be,  I'll return to Firefly Church (I don't have enough units to pull off Hook's Farm in the entirety) with a small skirmish between Ginland and Vodkia forces. Rules will be In Good Company -but rather than removing fallen figures to the hospital they will stay in place, as in OHSW, to recover or not. If their unit has moved on, they will have to catch up.

ASLSK Scenario S2 - War of the Rats. My ASLSK posts probably aren't why you are reading this blog- after all the blog title implies figure games and ASLSK is just counters - but  I am really enjoying the game ,possibly because of, not despite, the heavy cognitive load (for me) it imposes.

ASLSK #2 - acquired before I'm ready to even crack into it because these boxes have a tendency to go out of print, and I've been seeing the prices rise. In the background, you can see my 18-year old fur baby, Pumpkin.

But, of course, who would I be if I didn't play some 54mm WW2?

With ASLSK scratching the complexity itch, and with ASLSK and my own rules handling squad-per-base games, I have a desire to play something simple and at a higher level, and there is no better way I can think of than Morschauser's Modern rules (true, I do have some amendments I want to try). As I figure it, Morschauser's rules are a platoon per base, and that makes them perfect for playing a One Hour Wargame scenario (which I have used them for, many times in the past) or even a conversion of something from Flames of War or IABSM.

Likely, but dependent on time, I  have it in mind to play The River again, with G Company, but on an 8x8 grid (play test games "online" showed the extra squares made for a different challenge), and either The Hill or, if I can get enough simple ruins together, The Village, with Company Fire, again in 8x8.

Finally, I'll break out One Hour Skirmish Wargames using my unpainted Toy Soldiers of San Diego winter Germans and Soviets.

The wild card of the 3-day-ish extravaganza is a return to The Library Book (The Quests of Brin the Barbarian rules). It really depends on whether or not I feel the story is served by the big bad being one of the few existing painted 28mm figures I haven't already fielded or if I feel the need to paint up something new to wrap up their quest into the goblin cave.

So, obviously quite a lot there, but 3 days and 3 nights to work with and my only responsibility is to feed the dog and cats. Worst case scenario, anything I don't get to will make its way to the table during one of my regular gaming sessions - and as a backup, I have two weeks off at Christmas this year by some miracle (actually no miracle, I just never take time off and have a lot saved and will lose it soon if I don't take it).

So Much to Do, So Little Time

Next Thursday, just a week from today, is Thanksgiving, here in the US. For the first time in eight years, I'll be spending it by myself (don't cry for me, Argentina) and so I am planning on turning it and the days immediately following, which I'll also have to myself, into a solo wargaming celebration of sorts. There is more to come on that front to be sure.

In the meantime, in between bouts of brainstorming what I'll put on the table next week, playing ASLSK, making rules tweaks for G Company and overhauling close combat for Company Fire, I have been working on my Gatling crew and another figure pair:

Clearly these are WiP.
The camel rider will be the "general" for the Gintanian army. An eccentric individual, he insists on riding dromedaries into battle regardless of geographic location. The camels don't seem to mind, most of the time.

And then there is this:

Soviet figure soup.

Contrary to popular opinion, the above is not an indictment of my culinary skills. This is the first stage of the figure preparation process - a soak in white vinegar and water.

For the curious, there are four figure manufacturers represented above: Marx, Airfix, Armies in Plastic, and "Supreme" (primarily Italeri knockoffs).

The "Supreme" (it's in quotes because I'm not sure that's really the manufacturer or a distributor or what) figures are the pre-paints (suitable for playing with as they are, but they don't really fit in with the rest of my Soviets, so...).

I purchased a pack of these a few years ago - they supplied my Soviet mortar and ATR. Recently I picked up two packs from Little Green Men (exceptionally fast service and low prices) to supply two more ATR and mortar bases. I also will be combining Supreme SMG figures together to form a three-base SMG unit.

The Marx figures + three of the Airfix figures will form an additional three base rifle unit (or additional bases for my existing three three-base units).This will use up nearly the remainder of my Marx Soviets.

One of the Airfix figures is an SMG figure that will be the basis for my attempt to make a Soviet flame thrower figure.

The AiP figure is a Cossack and will function as the general of the not-Russian colonial army.

A Wee Play Test

I set up a small(both in space and scale of figures, 1/72)  test game on my kitchen table last night to try a few things rules-wise for G Company: two platoons of USMC attacking a Japanese platoon with MG support.

The Japanese MG and their PL.

Two squads and PL of one USMC platoon.

 "Terrain" was haphazardly dropped onto the grid and in the end, it totally looks like it, but despite this, the games were very enjoyable (I had time to play four times) - and for some reason the Japanese always rolled well in close combat, as if they were channeling their historical counter parts.

The same USMC squads advance cautiously to close with the enemy  (Japanese unit in background is disordered and MG doesn't have LOS)

Scene from the middle of one game, where nearly everyone was disordered. Terran looking like it literally fell into place Which it pretty much did.

No quarter asked, no quarter given.

I decided that:
1) I am satisfied with the current turn sequence (as available in the sidebar) and that my other ideas, while they could be made to work, added nothing for my tastes.
2) That said, adding an opportunity fire phase for "Side A" at the end of the turn added some interesting decisions with minima record keeping issues and will be part of the next update.
3) Close combat might be too brutal.
4) I missed these 1/72 figures- it's been a long time since they've been out (almost inspired to paint up the USMC troop additions I picked up 6 or 7 years ago and primed but never painted). If you look too closely, they look to have fuzzy plastic bits, and that's because I had no idea what I was doing when I was trying to remove mold lines back then (I still barely have any idea).
5) These figures probably need some refurbishing.

Retaking Vierville (again) and a Turn Sequence Idea for G Company

Last weekend, I returned to Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit #1, the first scenario, yet again.

Scene from Sunday night's game.

Two or three turns in on Saturday night, I realized I messed up the reinforcements for the US and so stopped after 2 or so turns (plus it was super late). Sunday night, the game was going well, I finally gave infantry smoke grenades a try, and I felt like I really had a grasp of the turn sequence, but I ran out of time to finish (it was looking pretty solid from the US perspective and not so great from the German). I still had to look things up, although far less often, and I suspect games will play faster soon enough.

Speaking of looking things up, it's been said many times before by may others, but I feel the need to add my voice to the chorus: for reference at the table, the rule book is pretty unhelpful - it's not written or laid out for quick reference (it took me almost 30 minutes to find the rule that explains how infantry units can deploy smoke).

Rule book aside, I enjoy the game quite a bit and look forward to having some time soon to play the scenario to completion (for only the second time).

**** EDIT: I have tried several play tests of my ideas for a change for G Company using The River scenario and Google Draw, (so I can do it in between tasks) and the verdict is, at least as I initially conceived it as Prep Fire Phase / Movement / Fire Phase, this method doesn't work particularly better than the original method nor is it noticeably more fun. It may even be less so. I leave my musings below for posterity's sake. I think perhaps Side A unit by unit activation (or all units in gird space) might work a la Portable Wargame et al.  More testing to follow. *****


Playing ASLSK did cause me to think more about my own turn sequence in G Company which probably comes as no surprise to anybody.

And yes, the possibility exists that I'm overthinking / over-complicating G Company but here we are.
 
So, I'm currently testing a "prep fire" phase - although not in the same way as ASLSK, just as an option to give Side A a choice to fire then move or move then fire with any given unit. In this way, the side that wins the draw has a chance to disorder the enemy to prevent reaction fire, and then take advantage of that fact in the same turn - something not possible as it is now. As the rules stand without the change, the enemy will always have a chance to rally before they get a chance to move. - which either keeps units in place longer, or exposes them to danger (and favors a defending force that doesn't have to move much).

However, I do think the current sequence adds a degree of friction that is lost with this new idea (the enemy has a chance to rally before you get to move again and so the rally rolls at the start of the next turn take on added meaning) and that I'm not so sure is worth losing. Particularly as the current game plays well

More thinking and more testing to be sure.

Russian Gatling Crew Progress

As I promised myself, I have started work on my Imperial Russian Gatling gun and crew. 

I have two poses I can use for the crew (that is, they are leftovers from those that will form the infantry units), and neither is particularly suited for the task. The one has their rifle held up by their face, and upon removal, I discovered that I'd have to sculpt a portion of the face - no thank you. 

So here is the pose I am working with:

Before is on the right, After is on the left. It makes no sense, but there you are.

And here is the current state of things:

I have some more filing to do on the one on the left so the green-stuff doesn't bulge Popeye-style. And yes, the arm on the right-hand figure looks insanely long, but that's the camera angle.

For the figure on the left, the bent arm was cut at the elbow and then green-stuff used to account for the now extended elbow.

For the figure on the right, the original arm was lopped off, shoulder included, just under the blanket roll (or great-coat, whatever that is). The new arm came from the much trusted Soviet Marx grenade thrower pose. I added green-stuff to the hand because in comparison to the AiP hands, the Marx hand looks like it came from a small child.I also had to green-stuff the arm to better match the AiP uniform appearance.

I hope to have this gun and crew ready to go shortly.

Old Man River (Crossing)

Nov. 8th, 1941, two platoons of Company G prepared to cross the Volvo, near Village K, where the river is both bridged and fordable. Recon had indicated prepared Soviet defenses North of the river, including a pill box overlooking the bridge. Company G was ordered to take the building and woods East of the road.

Soviets scanning for enemy activity.

2nd platoon, to the East of the road, came under fire upon arrival, and one squad suffered heavy casualties from Soviet fire from the woods north of the river. The German 1st platoon in the buildings West of the road, was pinned by MG fire from the pillbox.

The German force arrives on table.

Soviet fire wreaked havoc on the attackers and it was with great effort that the German 2nd platoon aided by the engineer made the first of repeated efforts to ford the river.

Engineers and a squad from second platoon under fire from Soviet defenses.

Although smoke had been called, it failed to arrive (and eventually the request was outright denied) and with the German attempts to ford the river via the woods on their right faltering, first and second squad from 1st Platoon attempted to cross the bridge to take out the enemy MG.

Soviets in the house opposite the bunker have clear sites to the oncoming Germans.

Soviet MG fire was ineffectual but the rifle squad  in the house opposite the bunker managed to push back the German advance.

At close range, with a target in the open this should have been a slam dunk for the MG. Instead they rolled a 1 and a 2. Disciplinary action will not doubt follow this loathsome performance.

Meanwhile, German 2nd platoon managed to get a squad across the Volvo, but the engineers were held up by Soviet mortar fire which forced them back into the woods south of the river.

What would have been a two vs two now doesn't look like it's going to go so well for the Germans.

The bridge assault ended in disaster - smoke was called again and again, and NEVER arrived -  with one squad force to retreat to the building south of the river and the other decimated in the open on the bridge by the Soviet rifle squad in the building to the north..

Disordered in the open,  and targeted by Soviet heavy mortars, it was just a matter of time before the German squad was eliminated.

A brutal encounter played out in the woods on the East of the battle - the German squad managed to eliminate their opposite number, but the Soviet mortar crew proved a more tenacious lot and were left in control of the woods.

The Germans were outnumbered, but all units were disordered (I removed the dice for the photo op) so there was still hope that they could eliminate both Soviet units. It was not to be.

With 2nd platoon eliminated, the engineers held up in the river, and the remaining squad from 1st platoon forced back south of the river, the Germans abandoned their assault.

An indisputable Soviet victory.

Some thoughts:

Rules were my own G Company.

The scenario is The River from Crossfire Small 2x2 Scenarios. I set  it up on a 3' x 3' square, with 6" grid paces (so, 6 x 6). Game time was an hour and a total of 10 turns. I could have called it at 7 or 8 but I wanted to see if the Germans couldn't swing some kind of miracle.

This was the first game I've played in awhile where the objective was just to play a game and not test rules mechanisms. It was most enjoyable that way. I had almost forgotten what that's like! I also got to field the Soviet MG, the German engineers, and the German FO in their first games (although none did anything worth bragging about - indeed all seemed to function like new recruits, despite being "regular" troops in game terms).

Of course, I still found some things with the rules that need tweaking or clarification.

First and foremost, the artillery rules, which use a mechanism I came up with early on in the process and was rather enamored with, aren't really fun, given the way turns work. Between the uncertainty of when a side's card will come up with and then a dice roll to verify arrival, off-table fire is hamstrung beyond use. I have already changed them to something more fun from a game perspective (meaning it will actually arrive eventually) and will try them out the next time I play - hopefully they'll be ready for the next rules update.

The green chits all over the board are potential minefield markers. I have been at various times satisfied and dissatisfied with this method. Mostly, the aesthetics bother me. I have decided a more toy-like / game-like approach, where the minefield is clearly visible to all from the start is a better approach for G Company which is intended to be a "lite" game. Once played with a few times, I'll add them to the rules proper.

I really need rules for fording a river. - not because I can't make them up on the spot, I did, but because I don't want to have to reinvent the wheel every time I play this scenario.

Playing with Table Layout

The title for this post, while accurate, is a bit misleading. Allow me to explain.

While editing G Company today - fixing a spelling error and some other typos - I started to think about different ways to present the same information to the player (9x of 10 it's just my future self, so it might seem moot, but I do like to share with others in case someone might find some use in them). It probably doesn't help that I'm reading a book on tabletop game design and I'm in the process of putting together another set of rules ("back of postcard" type. I just enjoy the exercise of it all - this one probably won't be terribly robust - it's more to try out some concepts).

Soviets overrun Company G as they try to hold onto Village M.

Here is how I have been presenting the table for shooting. In play, it works well enough, although I think the math, minimal as it is, can get annoying when there's a lot of shooting.

Shooting:

All weapons roll 1d6 to hit, except for MGs. MGs roll 2d6 and keep the highest value.

-1	Shooter is disordered Target in cover
+1	Half-range or less
	4+ hits

MGs jam on two natural 1’s.
Weapons teams may not move and fire in the same turn.


*****
Since there are only a handful of modifiers, I thought why not just present the target numbers and their associated conditions instead? Indeed, when I created the original table, I created the modifiers by figuring out what values would hit in what situations. So, here's what I came up with (the weird spacing is a Blogger thing):


Shooting:
All weapons roll 1d6 to hit, except for MGs. MGs roll 2d6 and keep the highest value.

Roll	Hits when
3	Target in open, shooter good order, 1/2 range or less
4	Target in open, shooter disordered, 1/2 range or less Target in open, shooter good order Target in cover, shooter good order, 1/2 range or less
5	Target in cover, shooter disordered, 1/2 range or less Target in cover, shooter good order Target in reinforced cover, shooter good order, 1/2 range or less
6	Target in reinforced cover, shooter disordered, 1/2 range or less Target in reinforced cover, shooter good order

MGs jam on two natural 1’s.
Weapons teams may not move and fire in the same turn.

*****
This is really the only table this applies to in G Company, but I think it raises an interesting question. Is one way better than the other? Faster? Easier? 

I'll have to try it in a game to see if I feel it makes any noticable difference for good or ill.

My German Force

In addition to working on my Soviet officer, I recently completed a small number of Germans that, for the most part, make my force "done for now". For now meaning, I can field all of the units required for the 2x2 Crossfire scenarios, and then some, and I need to purchase a bag or box of figures to finish the next bits I want.

First up are the Engineers - the two rearward figures are Matchbox and are among the first I painted years ago, the running figure is a Classic Toy Soldiers figure from their Elite set:

Engineer base - two flamethrowers and a guy who came with a broken rifle that I cut off.

Here is a figure I am designating as a Forward observer, from the Classic Toy Soldier German artillery crew set, and I managed to fix one of the UltimateSoldier/21st Century mortars:

Forward observer and three mortar bases. Bulky mortars are BMC.

I decided to base the LMG "teams" with a third figure to either treat as rifle squads (since the LMG is assumed anyway) or to use as independent LMGs if and when the scenario calls for it (as some of the D-Day scenarios I ran did).

The prone figures have been painted for years - from back to front, the prone figures are Airfix, Matchbox, Matchbox. The standing figures are all Classic Toy Soldiers pulled from my "I don't know what I'll do with these" box - the figure in the back is one of their older, no longer produced, German infantry. I feel it bears a resemblance to the Marx poses, and its skinniness works well with the Airfix, while the newer figures work better with the chunkier Matchbox.

Three rifle squads with prone figures.

Finally, the whole lot -which was hard to get into the picture. There are twelve infantry bases, three SMG leaders, two MG bases, three mortar bases, a sniper (also recently completed - just forgot to give him his close-up), a commander figure, and an engineer base:

Kampfgruppe Kitzentable

In addition to a few more MGs (more of a want than a need), what's clearly missing are anti-tank infantry weapons (I have a panzerfaust figure, a panzerschreck figure, and will convert a figure to a PzB 39), but I will need to make a purchase of either some Matchbox or Airfix Germans (probably clones) to fill those bases out, and there's no rush.

Before I do that, I'll get the Soviet engineer base together - that way they can be the attacker in those 2x2 Scenarios. After that, three more Soviet rifle bases, so they have an equal number to the Germans, particularly because some TO&Es suggest that, at least on paper, the Soviets had four squads per platoon.