Decisions, Decisions

As mentioned previously, and many times at that, my WWII European Theater games are going to be of the very small skirmish variety as suits the state of the collection. While I may at some point like to field two undersized squads perhaps per side (the exception being the Americans who I have two full squads already - one in plastic from Toy Soldiers of San Diego, and one of W. Brtitain's Big Red One figures), for now, one squad would be quite enough. My hope is to play a campaign that produces a more personalized narrative, with characters and stories reminiscent of role-playing games and Commando comics, as compared to unit histories and Osprey books.

Compared to games featuring a platoon per side or higher, there are few systems designed for this level of play specifically for WWII. Yet, there is still an overwhelming amount of choice. At least from what I have seen, every minis game at this scale of game contains role-playing elements such as skills and advancement, and the primary WWII role-playing game that captures my fancy, Operation: Whitebox, supports minis-based combat. The difficulty is finding "the one" set of rules that fit me best (isn't it always).

This old chestnut.

I will add too that I don't want to do much in the way of building my own system, although I am happy to bolt on Mythic: Game Master Emulator for soloing interactions with NPCs.

While it's possible to go on a mad shopping spree and spend endless hours reading rules, I opted to limit myself to what I have on hand and could easily locate on my hard drives in the case of digital titles. 

In the end, I considered:

Five Men in Normandy: .30 Cal Edition

Nuts! Final Edition (it wasn't the Final Edition after all, there is now a 4th edition)

One Hour Skirmish Wargames

Red Poppy, White Feather

Please note, this is not a review, nor do I do a lot of comparing and contrasting. It's just to give my impression of the suitability of the rules to reproduce war movie type episodes or the kind featured in Commando.

My Testing Scenario

There is a particular small scenario that I play often - it originally appeared in Two Hour Wargames MG-42, which was a free preview of what would become Nuts! (the 1st edition). The same scenario appeared as Mission One in Nuts! 2nd edition. I rather like it - a small group of paratroopers, four in number, come upon a farm house with two German sentries. There is an MG-42 team and an NCO as well, that are randomly placed once the shooting starts. I decided I would use that as my test scenario.

One Hour Skirmish Wargames

I have had issues with One Hour Skirmish Wargames when playing scenarios of my own design or those not in the book - which probably speaks more about me than the rules. In fact, I quite love the rules and have found they give a great game when playing one of the book's scenarios. That said, when I played the above scenario some time back with them, I found the games unsatisfactory - almost too cinematic if that's a thing, with one figure moving leaps and bounds, firing and knocking out Germans, while standing in open ground under fire on the German activations, surviving and mopping up more Germans. 

Still, I gave them a try this time around, twice, just to see what happened. It was almost the opposite of my previous experience and these two games, besides being very quick, had two similar outcomes. The first saw the British dropped like flies, and a single German rifle figure went around and mopped them all up because they could not recover until the turn ended, which it didn't. The second, was over after a round of shooting - two figures knocked down and failed their recovery check, so the surviving paratroopers grabbed their wounded and fled the battlefield. Realistic, but not satisfying as a stand-alone game. In a campaign however, it would work fine.

More figures on the table per side would have changed the equation no doubt as well. So, I still love these rules - I just think they will work better for games with closer to a full squad or more per side.

Nuts! Final Edition

Nuts! required a quick review, as it's been a while, but I used to play it often enough. I really like the reaction system of Nuts! Final Edition (which I got on with a lot better than the one in 2nd edition). I believe I stopped playing them because I started to get into squad-per-base games and away from one figure = one man. But, needless to say, I forgot how much fun the rules could be.

Nuts! goes fast, despite rolling many reaction tests and checking tables, once you know the system. The first game, I don't think it lasted 3 turns and maybe 10 minutes before all of the Germans were out of the fight and that includes double-checking the rules. The second game went longer, with a similar outcome but much more dramatic, and good tactics (using my SMG to force the enemy to keep their head down) were rewarded. Nuts! "feels right' for gritty WWII, and giving squad members higher reps, and using the Star rules, can increase the "pulpiness" of the games - a necessity for the type of campaign I wish to play.

from a Five Men in Normandy game, British pops around the corner, SS fires off a snap fire and misses. British shoots and kills the SS soldier. The gamble paid off!

Five Men in Normandy .30 Cal Edition

Each game with Five Men in Normandy played considerably longer than any of the other systems, even when I no longer needed to reference the rules. While it doesn't have quite the level of automatic reactions of Nuts! the shock and kill dice results do force figures to do things other than stand there under fire like statues, much as the player might want them to. 

It feels more cinematic than Nuts!, being harder to kill someone instantly - SMGs, bolt action rifles, and LMGs only roll 1 Kill die each, and only a 6 is an instant Out of Fight result - so figures last longer generally. Yet, a figure moving into the open doesn't have much hope of just staying there - unlike One Hour Skirmish Wargames. Cover is treated differently than other games, so that took a mental adjustment, but once grokked it works quite well and feels right. (Cover doesn't change your ability to hit or kill a target, it gives them an option to duck out of sight if they are missed). 

I played five games once I had the rules down. Two were wonderful and war-movie like. Two were realistic, if a bit heavy on dice rolls that did nothing, and one, well, too much caution and poor die rolling took the wind out of the game.

Red Poppy, White Feather

Red Poppy, White Feather has some interesting mechanics, like the initiative system which is basically the same as Crossfire. It's a pretty deadly game too- I would say more so than any of the others I played.  It also requires a bit of setup for both sides, not just your own, to make it a fair fight (the training rolls really make individual characters out of the figures but also give them improved performance in the game). That said, not giving training to the enemy makes for a more pulp-like game I suppose. While I enjoyed playing it, it's not enough to convince me to invest more time with it for now. 

Two paras enter the house and the LMG tries to defend it to the end. With the gunner shot and killed, the loader surrendered. This is from Five Men in Normandy, but it happened in one of the Nuts! games, too!

Conclusion

Despite my love of One Hour Skirmish Wargames, after all was said and done, the decision came down to Nuts! and Five Men in Normandy, as I felt they gave me results that agreed with how I picture this kind of game, albeit at different ends of the spectrum.

The key area where Nuts! outdoes Five Men in Normandy is that Nuts! includes extensive vehicle rules and Five Men in Normandy limits it to transport vehicles for the most part. Not without reason mind you - the idea being that a handful of soldiers (say 4 or 5), generally isn't able to take on armor effectively once the fellow with the anti-tank weapon is killed. 

That said, I think there could be fun games where they do, even at great risk- like in Saving Private Ryan. Five Men at Kursk includes vehicle rules for armor, but I would have to buy them and possibly mix the systems together (from what I understand, Kursk is a more realistic game, Normandy is more cinematic/TV series) or extrapolate/make up my own armor rules from the Five Men in Normandy vehicle rules. It is still extra work, however.

Both Nuts! and Five Men in Normandy have systems for campaigns, character skills, and advancement. With the "Chocolate and Cigarettes" option in Nuts! Final Edition, very small, RPG-like, missions are covered - which Five Men in Normandy covers as part of the possible mission types in its main rules. I do happen to like the missions and the size of the forces in Five Men in Normandy better.

Honestly, I expected to come out in favor of Five Men in Normandy for this campaign. However, after playing a dozen plus games over three days with the same scenario, I believe the best approach for me is to use the campaign, missions, and character personality system in Five Men in Normandy while using the rules from Nuts! for the tabletop battles. 

Commando: For Action and Adventure

Previously, I mentioned my purchase of the Commando Comics Airborne Assault collection. It was very much worth the price. The book contains three stories, each with inspiration for small skirmish scenarios - the kind with a squad or less per side (alone or as part of a larger action). They read like gritty war movies with the benefit that you can more easily go back to them for reference.

My enjoyment of the book led to the acquisition of the D-Day: Fight or Die! collection, a near 800 page monster of 12 issues. It was an eBay score of $12, well under the price others were asking, with the benefit of helping a charity shop - a win all around.

Each of the stories I've read so far has been a font of ideas - both for characters (important when playing with a handful of figures) and scenarios.

I highly recommend both of these books to anyone looking for ideas for smaller scale skirmish games or even WWII RPG (like Operation: Whitebox). 

Eventually, I will acquire more of these Commando collections - the Desert Rats book in particular. From what I gather, there may be some individual WWI issues as well.  I did briefly consider a subscription as it's an ongoing publication, but the per issue price is beyond my means and that makes the collections an even better bargain.

Random Unplanned Purchases

A few weeks ago, I saw a sign in the nearby Barnes & Noble that everything was on sale for 25% off. A friend of mine, and a former employee of the store, posted on Instagram that the landlord wasn't renewing the lease so that store was going to be closing. That explained the sale.

25% off of retail pricing doesn't even put it into Amazon pricing let alone eBay pricing, so I made a mental note to keep an eye on the signage as these things tend to progress to deeper discounts over time.

Last week, another friend, knowing bookstores are my Achilles's heel, messaged me that everything was 50% off.

 A few days later,I had a chance to pop by on my lunch break. The sale was in full clearance mode - up to 75% off.

I should add that many of my friends are well aware of my mantra that "You're losing money not buying it" when items are on sale. So it was inevitable that money would start to jump out of my wallet with discounts like that.

Discretion and valor and all that, so I did my best to limit my purchases. I checked the magazines and while some of the history ones were interesting, they weren't in my current research areas (which sounds fancy, but just means WWI Southern Front and British airbone in WWII). The history books were disappointing - lot's of WWII titles, but nothing in my narrow interests. How many books about the Battle of the Bulge are there anyway?

The "big score" was Star Wars X-wing by Fantasy Flight Games, seen here still proudly in shrink wrap:

I've had this on my "I should check this out someday" list. At $10 USD for the set it was a no-brainer. In retrospect, I probably should have bought a couple of sets to have the additional ships and bits and bobs.

The other item that I picked up will no doubt be unsurprising given I am known for my cultured tastes:

I have long been a fan of SpongeBob Squarepants (I think I first started watching it in 2000 or thereabouts - the marching band episode was the first one I ever saw), so resisting this was neigh impossible for a fiver. 

You might be thinking - "he's off his rocker" - but seriously, the first 3 seasons are excellent, with the 4th being tolerable. Beyond that it definitely gets too over the top cartoony - undoubtedly some executive at Nickelodeon decided the show was too smart and needed to appeal more to children (seriously, watch the first season, it's not nearly as goofy as later seasons and a lot of the humor, while not dry,  is more sophisticated than the cartoony buffoonish-ness of later seasons).

In any case, my partner tolerates my singing "Striped Sweater" and "Krusty Krab Pizza" spontaneously during the day, so it's my hope I'll be able to convince her to play this with me (it helps that she likes the regular edition of Fluxx). My son,  though he dislikes anything not on a screen for the most part, seemed at least mildly intrigued by a game with a SpongeBob imagery (it's one of the cartoons we watch regularly together - at my behest. He'd watch YouTube videos featuring other people playing video games if he had his choice).

Full retail price for the two games would have been $60 USD, so not a bad haul for $15. 

I tend to prefer independent booksellers or eBay even, but I'm sorry to see the store close. A book store is preferable to 90% of the other stores likely to take that spot. I will pray for a Hobby Town or perhaps a craft store. Hoping for a dedicated game store is just a bit too unrealistic - though there are none in the city proper that I am aware of.

Up the Oxs and the Bucks!

 My latest Conte acquisition (the one I mentioned in the previous post) arrived the other day. This set is "Up the Oxs and the Bucks!" - hence the post title. My primary interest was the grenade throwing figure  as I had not seen it except as a single figure (for about what I paid for the set!). I seem to have scooped up all of the bargain priced figures on eBay, so my pre-painted collector figure buying *should* slow down again.

 

I did place an order with Irregular for their SS officer and an SMG figure, as well as a figure suitable as a French partisan to act as a contact/objective. I know I said I was resistant to painting the SS, but I already have some Classic Toy Soldier plastic "Elite" Germans that I can give a paint job to and save myself a couple of dollars. The figures from Irregular will fill in some gaps. 

Also pictured is the first building I have made in a good 8 or 10 years - and I'd only made two then. I realized if I was going to do some very small scale skirmishes - a squad or so per side, maybe less - I needed some buildings I could actually put more than two or three figures in. I was tempted to buy some of the BMC farm houses, and I still may, but I do like the feel of foamcore and at $1.25 per sheet, I figured it was worth a go.

This was intended to be taller but a knife slip meant some additional hacking was required. It wasn't supposed to be Tudor inspired either, but again, accidents had to be covered somehow! Thank heavens for popsicle sticks (a large quantity of which I acquired from the craft section at Dollar Tree late last year). The second floor is usable - thanks to an offcut of foamcore, so I can station figures upstairs or down (it's removable so i can access the bottom level).

The full height of the building. Kind of looks like every tavern in a fantasy RPG.

Up close my handiwork doesn't hold up to scrutiny, but at wargames distance, and given my need for glasses to see tiny details anyway, it works OK. I managed to salvage the house despite it not being what I set out to make. Just don't feel too put out by the lopsided windows. 

It was a good learning experience about what not to do, so hopefully the next one goes a little more according to plan (I can get two buildings at least from a single sheet of foamcore).

Eventually I will add a door in the lower left - not a cut out, but probably a drawing of a door glued in place - and maybe a roof. Maybe not, as I need to get inside somehow and I'll just end up taking it off during a game anyway.

My "goal" such as it is, is to be able to fill a good bit of my 38" square table with buildings for some house to house fighting.

Inspiration and Acquisitions

Having watched The Red Beret and rewatched A Bridge Too Far, I was motivated to find even more inspiration for British paratrooper missions. However, I was in the mood for something "pulp-like" for variety.

A brief search and I found that Commando comics would fit the bill and lo-and-behold they even have a collection of three airborne specific stories!

I'm looking forward to reading it, both as a source of entertainment and scenarios.

Also arriving today was the Valiant brand British paratrooper with PIAT. I *really* don't like painting camo, but the pre-painted paratrooper PIAT figures are exceptionally pricey and unlikely to turn up at a price I can afford. So, painting my own it is.

I will note that 21st Century/Forces of Valor (one of those) made a paratrooper with PIAT and it's easy and inexpensive to acquire (you can get the whole set of their British paras for under $20 usd if you are patient on eBay - note that they are sometimes mislabeled as British infantry as they are similar shades of brown, and no camo), however I find those figures run closer to 1/35. Conte (and the one or two King & Country figures I have), which makes up the bulk of my pre-painted British paras and Waffen SS metal collection, is closer to 1/30 but, while bigger, they mix fine with the Britain's WWII figures I have, which are 1/32. 

I can't see mixing the Forces of Valor figures into that - at least not in the same squad. Which means, if you're paying attention, I've provided a justification for buying them to form their *own* squad! 

That said, I was ready to swear off buying any more figures for a time, but I found a fantastic deal on a Conte paratrooper set I don't already have. So those are on the way too. 

Finally, this evening I commenced making some buildings out of foamcore acquired at Dollar Tree (which has increased its prices and the sheets cost $1.25). I also started working on low walls - using the same stuff - something I have meant to make for a long time. These scenery and terrain items are intended to fill the table up a bit more than I do for my other games as there will be fewer figures generally on the table. They will most likely be in my simple, toy-soldery style and not works of scale modeling art, as suits my aesthetic preference.

New Recruits for My British Airborne

Well, I hadn't planned to buy more figures, but while perusing eBay I stumbled on a Conte Bren gunner figure which I had not seen before. The price was right (Conte and Britain figures vary wildly in price, even for the same figure, so you have to just wait for one to come along that you think is reasonable  - I've seen figures I've purchased for $5 being sold for $99 and as "rare" when they aren't anything of the sort) and the same seller had a rifle figure available. 

And by buying both together, I'd save some on shipping. How could I pass that up?

 

 

They will join my existing British paratrooper collection. Of course, now I find myself looking at eBay for more bargain paratroops to join them. Hopefully my wallet survives!

I also wouldn't mind adding some more of the Conte or W. Britain SS figures and get both sides up to ten or twelve figures. That said, I can use my Airix / Matchbox / CTS Heer infantry as proxies when necessary. 

I could paint some of the CTS figures I have as SS, as that is what they are (they are sold as "elite" troops), but 1) I don't like the idea of painting them - they are the unequivocally the bad guys and I don't want to feel emotionally invested in them (my British paras are the good guys and while I haven't painted them either, I have found that by naming them - usually after Britcom characters - I feel fully invested in them) and 2) I don't like painting camo.

In any case, I picked up the Disposable Heroes/Coffin for Seven Brothers scenario book, Without Fortune: Fields of Battle, Arnhem 1944, in PDF from RatTrap for some ideas for historical scenarios for the figures. A bit dangerous no doubt, as I see force lists that make me think "Oh, I should definitely buy some more figures!"  I intend to pickup a related Osprey or two eventually as well,  at the risk of ruining my ability to play cinematic/pulp type actions. 

Apparently, I'm planning on making this a bigger part of my gaming than I thought.

Research, Loosely Speaking

I recently finished reading The British Army in Italy : 1917-1918, by John Wilks and Eileen Wilks. The obvious focus is on the British involvement in Italy, which is largely unknown by the general public. However, it's a well-researched, even-handed treatment of the last year (and a bit) of the war there, with the French garnering a bit of coverage, and with the authors going almost out of their way to recognize the Italian contributions to victory over Austria and their presence, small as it was, on the Western Front as well.

It's an easy read with plenty of details of interest to a wargamer and I recommend it highly. Warning: you will probably want to invest in some WWI British if you don't already have some in your Italian Front collection. 

Or maybe that's just me.

Turning to the second of the World Wars, I've decided to move my attention away from the Eastern Front (as far as figure gaming is concerned) - where it has been firmly lodged for sometime - and spend some time with my smaller European Front collection. I try to avoid gaming with the Americans much, as I feel they get an outsized share of attention in the media productions, so that leaves my British airborne. However, I know almost nothing about their exploits beyond repeated viewings of A Bridge Too Far and The Longest Day. 

As it turns out, there are only a few movies that feature them. (Most of my WWII research is just watching movies, not reading actual histories. WWI is almost entirely the opposite by necessity.) Last night, I watched 1953's The Red Beret, starring Alan Ladd. It's a little contrived to explain why a Yankee is in the British Parachute Regiment. And, like a lot of movies about war, there's a tired romantic subplot - although it does at least eventually serve some narrative exposition purposes in this one.

 

However, while it's no A Bridge to Far, and at times seems outright preposterous (the Germans just run in waves to their deaths like they never heard of machine guns before), it's entertaining and the two engagements it covers provide fodder for the wargamer. I wouldn't make a huge effort to watch it again, but if I turned on TCM and it was on, I'd watch it.