Dunkirk (1958): Movie

I've watched quite a few shows and movies of late that I have failed to document - TCM had a handful of movies on June 6 that I recorded with more every Thursday since (and I'm slowly working my way through them). On top of that, I watched a few movies and Russian TV shows on Amazon Prime.

So far, of the movies I hadn't seen before, the stand out has been Dunkirk - the MGM 1958 version, not the more recent one. I would rank this among my favorite war movies even after just one viewing.

It's a wonderful film that I'm sure almost everyone but me has seen. The changes in perspective between home front and war front, until they merge together works very well. And of course, it needn't be said, but I found some inspiration for gaming while watching, thanks in large part to the zoomed in focus on a depleted section of British infantry.

If you haven't seen the movie, stop reading, and go watch it.

From a gaming perspective, I think there were 3-4 good candidates scenarios of the kind that would work with One Hour Skirmish Wargames or a similar 1:1 individual soldier type game, like 5 Men in Normandy, or Nuts! (the "Chocolate and Cigarette" rules). I'm in the process of working out the details, but won't have time to try anything until next week at the earliest.

In any case, I have maybe ten Tommies in 1/72, along with one Churchill tank, and ten Germans, with no vehicles; all are left-overs from my initial foray into war games some 15 years ago. I have but three British infantry in 54mm - Britains (not Deetail though) that I acquired for a song. So, I do not have sufficient forces to field my ideas in any case - and barring an ebay score (not without question) I'll probably proceed with proxies in 54mm.

A New Arrival

My copy of Advanced Squad Leader: Starter Kit #1 arrived a little earlier today- the cat hair in the picture was not included (it's just part of my daily existence, like water, food, and air).

While researching and working on my own rules, I often found myself looking into how ASL and similar games would handle this or that, and I figured, why not just go in all the way and really find out?

The Starter Kit has good reviews and support, so hopefully it's not too much of a hill to climb.

I am excited about this to the point that I am looking at cancelling plans in order to spend some time with the rule book!

Card-based Initiative and Long Runs for One Side

I have been contemplating how to deal with the possibility of a long run of cards for one side in my Company Fire rules (available in the side bar).

For those who are just joining us, my rules use a single deck of cards for initiative. One side is assigned red, the other black. A card is drawn from the deck and the side with that color can act. However, it doesn't mean they can necessarily do what they want without restriction: an odd card means the side can move (or fire with a penalty), an even  card means they can fire (or move if they pass a test), and a face card means they can move/fire as desired.

The enemy can opportunity fire during the other side's movement and they roll when being close assaulted but otherwise they aren't doing much.

German ATG Draws a Bead on the Approaching US Jeep.

 As a solo player, it's not really a problem - I'm doing something on every card after all - and in any case, you can just explain it away as momentum/luck was on their side. I think that's the way it's treated in Piquet and I don't think it's unrealistic in that respect. Realism doesn't always make for a fun game, however.

I can imagine if someone were to try this mechanism with two players one side would either be bored or frustrated by their inability to do much of anything except opportunity fire. Even as a solo player, it can be frustrating, as I tend to side with whichever side is doing poorly in the moment.
 
Here are two ways I have settled upon as candidates, although I have not decided between them.

Idea 1: Steal from Crossfire.

Crossfire is a big inspiration behind these rules - not that I've ever played it, I just like the idea of the rules, and the AARs are always fun to read. They *sound* like a game I want to play. Except they don't use a grid and I am grid-happy right now and want to play the 2x2 Crossfire Scenarios on a grid.

Anyway, one of the key things about Crossfire is that you have initiative until your opponent takes it from you or you give it up. You can have initiative for a long time but your opponent still gets to take actions and so isn't super bored waiting for you to finish rolling over them.

So for my rules:

If any attempted action fails - meaning a failed rally, no suppress/kill on shooting, a moving unit is suppressed or killed by opportunity fire, the attacker loses a close assault, failing a movement test - no further action may be taken on card by any remaining unit and a new card is drawn.

Long card runs are still possible, but any given card has a chance to end before all units have taken their actions. It doesn't necessarily take away the initiative from the phasing player the way Crossfire does - since the next card could still belong to the same side - but it may help make those long runs less boring for the other player. At the very least, it makes failure for actions have some severe consequences and adds makes the decision making process a weightier matter.

Idea 2: Steal from Advanced Squad Leader

I mentioned in my last post that I ordered ASL Starter Kit #1. I did some reading about it online and found a nice explanation of the turn sequence. One thing I liked was that the non-phasing side gets to take more than just reactive fire. So, why not do the same?

So:

Once all actions by the phasing player are complete, any of the non-phasing side's units that didn't opportunity fire or can't (in the case of light mortars), can fire, using the rules for individual units.

This is not a moment for coordinated group firing, but individual squads, teams, and vehicles can fire. Again, it doesn't prevent a long run of cards, but it does mean that the non-phasing player isn't just twiddling their thumbs, firing with one unit here or there in opportunity fire. Both sides will have a chance to act on every card in some way.

Idea 2b: Same as above with one other option.

I also contemplated allowing non-phasing units a choice of either moving (limited  to 1 space, and perhaps only away from the other side) or firing. I think that might be too much but I'll have to give it a try to really know.

Regardless, of where I land, I definitely need to play some more games to sort this out (not that I needed an excuse, but it's always good to have one!).

Bits and Bobs

This is sort of a random collection of updates - some recent acquisitions arrived and I've done a little more painting the last two nights.

First the acquisitions:

The Expanded edition of Charles Grant's "Battle" and Lionel Tarr's "Modern Wargaming Rules" edited by John Curry.

I received the Battle book today and I have only read the introduction - although I have read bits of the book as it appeared in Mecanno magazine thanks to the wonders of the Internet - and I am quite happy with my purchase - used copies of the original book go for more and since I'm not looking to collect first editions, the expanded edition  was the way to go for me.

The Tarr book (more of a collected works really) arrived Saturday and I have nearly read all of it. I'd have finished already but I keep going back and poring over what I've already read - so much inspiration to be found here. The price for this volume was on the opposite end of the scale of Battle, but the book is no less valuable. John Curry has done the world a favor with these low cost paperback editions of classic wargaming writing.

On a side note, today I purchased a copy of the reprint of Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit #1. I fear for my sanity, but I have been very curious about this game since I started wargaming (which was just 15-ish years ago, although I can't believe it's been that long)  and the price was right.

Last night, I got more time with my French - the first coat for the backpacks and rifle stocks, and a billionth coat for the helmets:

They almost look like soldiers.

Tonight, I worked on some Chinese Airfix knock-offs (well, 3, one of them is an actual Airfix):

For use with my rules, Morschauser, or the Portable Wargame.

There is touch up and some details, like rifle barrels and gas mask canisters, to finish, not to mention clean up of some sloppy painting. Also of note is the terrible job I did removing flash and mold lines from the knock-offs.

The base color, which has been roughly applied as a proof of concept, is Delta CeramCoat Green Tea. It was an experiment to impart a more toy look to the figures and I'm rather happy with the result. I'll be gloss coating them as well - along with the rest of the Germans and Soviets - which will undoubtedly raise some gasps from parts of the gallery.

My goal is to finish these up and start working on filling out my Soviet force with rifles (I have lots of SMGs). After breaking out the US for the Bloody Omaha campaign I realized my interest with my plastic 54mm collection is far more with playing games set on the Eastern Front of late - in no doubt due to all of the Russian WWII movies and TV shows I've been watching. The Tarr book was a good kick in that direction too.

Skirmish Campaigns: Grandcamp (Bloody Omaha Campaign, Game 3)

Friday night I fought the third and final battle of the Bloody Omaha campaign from Skirmish Campaigns:Heroes of Omaha and Panzer Lehr. The scenario is called "Grandcamp."

The scenario is set on June 8, as the 3rd Battalion of the 116th Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, made its way west of Point-du-Hoc and encountered elements of German 1st Battalion, 914th Infantry Regiment, 352nd Infantry Division.

The battle field. US enters from the right.

The US objective is to move from east to west (right to left in the picture) and either capture the farm or exit a portion of the troops off the west edge. If they can do both, they earn a decisive victory. The Germans win by denying the US their victory conditions, and earn a decisive victory if a certain percentage of their troops survive the encounter.

The Germans, off map, awaiting their deployment. 

The PL and the rifle squad held the farm (I played the scenario twice - this report is the second. In the first game my blinds were too random and the Germans were scattered in ways not logical for winning the scenario. I also forgot a few scenario rules, and that the MGs were light and medium, not heavy).

Converting the order of battle, the Germans have a Platoon Leader, a rifle squad (each man armed with a panzerfaust -8 in total), an MMG team, an independent LMG team, and a PAK38 and crew. Lacking a PAK38 model, I used one of my Britains guns for a "close enough" match.

US advance is underway and cautious.

The Americans had a PL in jeep, one Sherman, an MMG team, a forward observer for an 81mm mortar battery (10 fire missions), and a full platoon of three rifle squads - one with a bazooka.

The US got off to a slow start,with troops taking positions in the bocage trying to see any enemies using the next hedgerow for cover.

German LMG team fires on the American MMG.

On their left, some suspicious greenery turned out to be occupied by the German independent LMG team, who opened fire and pinned the US MMG.

Having revealed themselves, they became a target for the tank, who advanced with the PL in the jeep. A few rounds of HMG fire and the German LMG was suppressed - and then inexplicably I sent the jeep and tank to flank the farm, and moved the MMG up to support the infantry advance on the right (also heading for the farm), leaving the LMG team to try to rally (it took them quite awhile but I would pay for it when they finally did).

PAK crew opens fire on the Americans.

The Germans had a nasty surprise waiting for the American riflemen when they stepped out of the bocage into open ground - the PAK38 crew was pointed straight at them. One of the squads was suppressed (I kind of screwed up my own rules - ATGs can only damage a single unit, they don't damage all units in the space. It wasn't an issue here).

Firing from the safety of the bocage, the US rifles shot up the PAK crew with ease and then moved quickly, and recklessly towards the farm.

Tank assault on farm as infantry move up under fire.

The infantry advanced straight into the line of fire of the German HMG, located in the fields north of the farm. Simultaneously, the American Forward Observer called down fire on the farm - and would do so repeatedly for 8 fire missions.

The Sherman and jeep, far more cautious than the infantry, moved slowly down the road revealing some blank blinds and then set sights on the farm.

A shoot out between the Sherman and the Germans inside the farm began - and while the Germans did manage to score a suppression eventually with their Panzerfaust, it was too little, too late and once rallied, the tank's main gun suppressed them in time for a heavy mortar barrage to rain down and take them out.

Sherman destroys German barbed wire.

 The US infantry got hung up a bit German MMG and the rallied LMG that eventually made it to the fight. Amazingly, the LMG team ended up suppressed and then close assaulted, still won its close assault and destroyed their attacker.

It took some doing, and the US lost two squads and their MMG as casualties, but  once both German MG teams were suppressed, the remaining US squad occupied the farm, while the Sherman cleared the way for the US to advance to the west. The German position became untenable.

The US force continues their advance.

The US made it off the table and I called the game a US victory after 8 turns of the allowed 12.

Since they could not both hold the farm and exit enough troops to satisfy both victory conditions, it wasn't a decisive victory, but it was enough to win the campaign.

****
While playing I found a few problems in my QRS, so I took the link down while I fix those. Also, for the first time I had runs of cards for one side or the other near double digits. This is fine for me,as I play solo, but clearly it's not something that would fly for two player games.I need to think on that a bit.

Overall, the campaign was a lot of fun, my rules gave enjoyable games even though they still need tweaking. The vehicle rules worked well - although I feel like tanks should be more devastating, so there may be more changes there. That said, I'm looking forward to playing the Crossfire 2x2 scenarios some more, and vehicles don't make an appearance there, so it may be awhile.

The French Have Hats!

To my own surprise, I was inspired to paint again this week, and so here they are now, with helmets base-coated.

They are starting to look like soldiers.

I also did yet another coat on the uniforms - and still I see a spot I missed -  and the flesh.

Next, yet another coat (the 4th really) on the helmets plus rifle stocks and boots.

I'm taking this very slowly - it's a sideshow really, and I don't want to burn out before I finish the entire force I acquired.

QRS for Company Fire Available

EDIT: I found a few errors and missing things during my Friday night game, so I have temporarily broken the QRS link. Sorry!

Like it says on the tin, I wrote up a QRS for my grid-based WWII (arguably) rules - these include my vehicle rules, such as they are. They are linked over on the side-bar.

"Quick reference sheet" is a bit generous - they are two columns by 4 pages (2 sheets of paper front and back), and contain quite a bit more text than I originally imagined. They could probably stand some trimming but using them in my next campaign game will show me where the unnecessary fluff is (hopefully). So, to cover my bases, I'm calling it a draft document!

It was a challenging exercise and gave me some appreciation for the difficulty rules authors of far more complex systems must face when trying to distill the game down to a few sheets of paper.

If you decide to download/view them/or heaven forbid, play them, where the QRS differs from the current rules link, the QRS takes precedence, as it is based on the most current version of the rules, which still need tidying up before I share them, including adding some visually stunning graphics:

Illustration of which attacks qualify as being against front armor.