Category: Wargaming

For several weeks, while running, I’ve been thinking hard about some new ideas for WWII skirmish gaming.  If these ideas work out, I can see applying them to multiple “modern” skirmishes, such as cowboys and sci fi.    I’m trying to get at a number of important issues:

1. I wanted to avoid having individual soldiers target individual soldiers across the table.  That slows a game, leads to gaminess, and provides unrealistically good control of distribution of fire.
2. I wanted cover to act as cover.  In most games cover reduces your chance of hitting a target.  While this is mathematically indistinguishable from what I’ve decided to do, it didn’t quite seem right at the skirmish level.
3. I wanted fire to be at areas, rather than individual soldiers, but I wanted team leaders and squad leaders to have an impact on distribution of fire by restricting the size of the target area.
4. I wanted activation to be randomized, but I didn’t want only one person playing at a time.
5. I wanted movement distances to be somewhat randomized.
6. I wanted the game to work for either a “realistic” skirmish game or something more cinematic.
7. I wanted it to be quick and fun without becoming simplistic.

So, lets start by defining the attributes of each figure.  These attributes are indicated by the acronym GAMER:

• Guts:  the “morale” of the figure.  This can either be a unit attribute or different for each figure.  Ratings are green (worst), regular, and elite (best).
• Accuracy:  the ability to hit a target with a firearm or thrown object.  Ratings are trained (worst), veteran, and expert (best).
• Melee or Might:  the ability to damage an enemy in hand-to-gland combat.  Ratings are trained (worst), veteran, and expert (best).
• Endurance: the ability to take damage before being incapacitate.  In a “realistic” game Endurance is three, but for more cinematic games Endurance can range from two to eight.
• Reaction:  the ability to react first or more quickly than an opponent.  Ratings are slothful (worst), average, and cat-like (best).

Activation and movement are based on Guts.  When a unit activates, a d10 is rolled for its movement speed, but there are minimum distances depending on Guts:

• Green: 3:
• Regular: 5″
• Elite: 7″

Movement over linear obstacles costs 2″.  Movement through rough terrain halves the movement speed.

Activation is done by rolling cards and looking for your Guts.  Cards have Green, Regular, and Elite on them as well as being numbered from 1 to 6.  There are several of each of the 1 – 6 cards.  Two in each color are black.  Up to three in each color are red.  All of the red cards and black cards are usable by elite units.  Only two (of three) red cards and both black cards are useable by regular units.  Only one red card and two black cards are usable by green units.  There are additional activations cards for close air support, indirect fire, heroes (in a cinematic game), and other events.

In my next post, I will discuss how fire combat is resolved.  We played it last Friday night, and the players seemed to think it worked pretty well.

My buddy Sam Fuson hosted “FusonConII” at the War Horse Farm in Gettysburg yesterday.  Dave Wood, Chris Palmer, and I ran games.  Most of the gamers were Sam’s friends and co-workers, but Duncan Adams (of the HAWKs) came along as well.  Among those attending were a couple of husband and wife pairs, a couple of father and son pairs, two brothers, and a niece and uncle pair.  There were sixteen gamers, all told.  The plan was for Dave, Chris, and me to run four games.  Chris ran two back-to-back GASLIGHT gamers, Dave ran a Look, Sarge, No Charts: Napoleonic Wars game, and I ran a Look, Sarge, No Charts: World War II game.

Dave was play testing his Battle of Laon (1814) game as a play test for Cold Wars.  Dave wanted to show how you could easily  make use of an old 25mm Napoleonic collection to demonstrate that the barrier to entry for LSNC: Napoleonics is low.  You can see from these pictures that the old 25mm Minifigs, originally mounted for Empire rules, look very nice placed on magnetic “sabot” bases.

Dave didn’t remount any of his old figures.  They were mounted on metal bases three or four figures across.  He stuck two of those “strips” of figures onto a magnetic base and then also affixed the LSNC: Napoleonics label to the magnetic base.  With a minimum of effort Dave was able to pull his old Minifigs out of mothballs and put on an enjoyable game.

This shot show how the “sabot” bases for cavalry look.

Dave and I are working on a series of 1814 scenarios.  I ran one of mine, Vouchamps, last Friday night at our club meeting.  He ran Laon yesterday.  Vouchamps needs a little tweaking, but Laon went very well.  It was a near run thing.  When time ran out and we counted casualties, the Prussians had lost 6 bases, and the French had lost 5, while retaining possession of the road that would be used later to facilitate their retreat.

After lunch, I set up a six-player Poland 1939 game using LSNC: WWII and my 10mm figures.  The game was supposed to be a Germans attack to seize a town along the Polish line of communications.

Instead, Duncan in the Polish center went on the attack with his horse-mounted cavalry.  Duncan smashed through a German infantry battalion.  Then he got greedy and tried to run down a German anti-tank gun.  He took some casualties, and his heroic cavalry ran for cover.

Meanwhile the German armor was trying to push their way across a river.  There were three bridges, and the crossings were only lightly defended by some Polish armored cars.  The German armor seemed hesitant to take casualties and did not advance aggressively.  As a result, most of the German armor was still on the wrong side of the River as Duncan was smashing the German center.  It doesn’t happen often that a player is completely wiped out, but in this game Alicia’s (orange sweat shirt) entire German infantry battalion was reduced to a single anti-tank gun section.  The game was a convincing Polish victory.

While these two historical games were going on in one room, Chris was running his two GASLIGHT games in the other.  I didn’t get pictures of Chris’ first game, but check out his blog (link at the top of this page) for his AAR.  This game was a Burroughs-only Mars game.  (Typically we do a Verne, Burroughs, Wells, etc. mashup.)

Even Sam’s bride-to-be got into the act.  This picture was taken just before a great white ape crawled out of cave and attacked one of Sam’s units in retribution for Sam poking fun at the GM’s singing.

The Harford Area Weekly Kreigspeilers present our annual gaming day yesterday, 15 September in the Havre de Grace Community Center.  It was a huge success, with a number of firsts:

• A new, larger, better-lit venue
• A Flames of War tournament (with 18 of 24 available slots filled)
• Expanded food service for lunch (hot dogs, drinks, chips, candy, and other snacks at a reasonable price)
• Record attendance (which was exciting, given a new venue and the threat that folks from Northern Virginia wouldn’t drive to Northern Harford County.
• Record number of dealer tables (Age of Glory, On Military Matters, Lost Battalion Games, and The War Store (Havre de Grace)).  All dealers reported a successful weekend and said they would return next year.
• Record number of games for kids, including a table dedicated to kids all day
• Record number of kids (6 or more youngsters who stayed all day and played in a wide variety of games)

This year’s attendance was 104, which does not include the HAWKs.  In HAWKs tradition, we pushed as many players as we could into games run by non-HAWKs who supported our convention by offering to run games.  I do not think that any GM who came to run a game didn’t have enough players to run it.  We cancelled two HAWKs-run games to ensure this was true.  There were no players turned away from games; everyone who came to Barrage was gainfully employed all day.

We think that the number, breadth, and quality of games were about right this year.  We need about 20 more gamers next year to fill all games.  If everyone brings one more friend next year, we’ll achieve that goal.

As is HAWKs tradition, we try to encourage younger gamers.  While previous Barrage game days have always features a large number of games for kids, this year we dedicated a table to kids games.  These included:  my War Rocket spaceship game, Rob Dean’s Hannibal game, Eric Schlegel’s ACW game, and Geoff Graff’s Lego pirate game.  In addition, Ken Frost ran the Lego pyramid game for which he won an award at Historicon 2012.

People often think the HAWKs are a much larger group than we are.  There are really about 12-15 regulars.  What makes us appear bigger than we are is the large percentage of folks who run games.  Just about all the HAWKs are active GMs in HAWKs meetings, in local gaming events, and in large HMGS East conventions.  What makes the HAWKs work is a dearth of hierarchy and bureaucracy.  Barrage is not an event run by a “convention team.”  It is a group effort in which everyone contributes to they extend they are able and comfortable.  Whether its organizing the event schedule (me), organizing the dealer area (Duncan), handling the back end logistics (Geoff), running games, setting up, tearing down, making sure non-HAWKs games are filled, donating food and supplies, working the registration desk, or whatever needs to be done, HAWKs manage Barrage in a decentralized manner with a minimum of fuss, angst, control, or organization.

As a new feature, we think we’ll offer a small number of Friday night games next year as well.

We are checking with the Recreation Center now to see when it is available for next year, but we’d like to do it a week later in September to avoid potential conflicts with Antietem and Defenders’ Day.  We’ll publish next year’s date as soon as we confirm it.  We hope to see each of you next year.

Two nights before Barrage, I still had people signing up to run games.  In fact, I was worried about not having enough tables.  This GASLIGHT War of the Worlds game was one of those last-minute additions.  I think this was the first time these guys had run GASLIGHT at a convention, but by all accounts it was hugely successful.

This was a really interesting game.  When the game began, the players’s force were on these big tiles.  Because of the fog, the players didn’t know who was on their left or right.  As the game progressed, tiles were moved, and the table was finally filled in with additional tiles.  It’s a very interesting concept from some of the nicest people in the hobby.

Aerodrome is popular with both kids and adults.  My kids go to conventions largely just to play this game.

Tank debuted this game at Historicon 2012.  He built a representation of a cowboy train that is large enough to move figures around inside it.  The game is a cowboy Blood and Swash game.  People can run along the roof of the train, fight inside, and even gamble.  This has become a crowd favorite.

We want to maintain the friendly, low-stress feel of Barrage, but the new venue provides room for growth.  In this picture you get a feel for the size of the main room.  There is a second room about half this size.  With enough growth we have flexibility to move tournament play into that room or put large, mega games in there.   We will grow slowly so as not to sacrifice the local nature of Barrage.  We need to add about 20 more games next year.

From left to right:  Geoff, Eric, Steve, Duncan, me (seated), Dave, Kurt (Charlie Brown shirt), Don, Chris (seated), Mike, Greg, and Tank (kneeling).  Missing from the picture are Rob, Ken, Norman, William, Don S., Bruce, and Jennifer.  My wife, who worked the food service with Jennifer most of the day, took the picture.  You’ll be hard pressed to find a more active, friendly, or productive gaming group anywhere in the world.

This weekend was Historicon 2012.  This year Historicon was held in Fredericksburg, VA.  This was the first time in the new venue.  While there were good and bad points to the new venue, in general, I think it was fine.

I ran seven games at the convention:

• Northwest Frontier by GASLIGHT (Thursday evening)
• Austrians vs. French using LSNC: Napoleonic Wars (Friday morning)
• HAWKs kids’ army giveaway game (Friday evening)
• Mars by GASLIGHT 20 player extravaganza (Saturday morning)
• Prussians vs. French using LSNC: Napoleonic Wars (Saturday afternoon)
• Russians vs. French using LSNC: Napoleonic Wars (Saturday evening)
• Blood and Swash pirate tavern fight (Sunday morning)

I was generally happy with the way all the games played.

In the Northwest Frontier game, the British were trying to rescue Wee Willie Winkie from the Pathans in an open-field battle.  The Pathans, however, were only holding her to lure the brigadier into the open so they could kill him.  The game ended up being very close.  The climactic action occurred on top of a rocky outcropping, where control of Winkie changed hands four times.  In the end, it was the Sikh cannon crew which had no targets due to the ongoing melee, that captured Winkie for the last time and secured a victory for the British players.

The Mars GASLIGHT game had 21 contingents / forces with various objectives.  The scenario was a mashup of Verne, Bourroughs, Wells, and others.

A funny incident occurred when a Russian tank was blown up.  It was hit by a cannon from the Prussians, who rolled a critical hit on the tank.  One of the female hussars’ helicopters was in the burst radius of the exploding tank.  The helicopter also rolled a critical hit and exploded.  Several of the female hussars were killed in the explosion as well.

In the end, several players accomplished their missions.  The game was set up so that many players had competing objectives.  It was a wild and crazy game.

Keeping a 21 player GASLIGHT game moving takes some energy.  Chris and I were constantly yelling the names of units from the game deck.  Each player had three or four units, vehicles, and/or main characters.  This kept the game moving and ensured that no one had to wait too long before they could activate again.  I think the game was a big success.  We had one player fail his player morale and leave.  One other player didn’t get into the game until late, because we had altered the board from the map to make the table fit in the room we had at the convention, creating a bottleneck on a key bridge.

Greg Priebe ran a very successful GASLIGHT zombie game set in the American Revolution.

I ran three LSNC: Napoleonic Wars games.  They all went well.  I ran some “stock” convention scenarios, so I could concentrate on the rules.  All of the games filled, so I think there is interest in rules that offer something new for the period.  Hopefully these rules offer something new.

With Napoleonic Wars, there are a lot of “experts” who have preconceived notions and generally cannot be pleased.  It’s hard to create, but easy to critique.  I was worried about a couple of the folks who played in the games, because they kept trying to map LSNC onto other rules instead of taking them on their own right.  With the plethora of rules out there, I suppose this is inevitable, but it can be frustrating.

Every time I run the game, I find one or two needed tweaks.  They are getting smaller and fewer, so I’m getting pretty confident.  I’m still not completely happy with the successful roll to stand die for artillery.  Also, I have a few lingered doubts about the skirmish fight.

Tank built this abstracted train for a Blood and Swash cowboy fight.  The cars also have removable roofs, so there were times when people were running across them.  This was a tremendous game.

Finally, I ran a tavern fight using Blood and Swash.  These are always fun.  Because they are simple rules and straight-forward games, they make a great way to finish the convention on Sunday mornings.

As usual, the convention was a time to renew acquaintances and play with toys for a weekend.  I had an enjoyable time.

Harford Community College (Harford County, MD) ran their annual gaming day today.  Attendance was a bit light and spread across cards, computer games, and role-playing.  The HAWKs decided to support the even by running five miniatures games.  Tank and Eric Schlegel ran naval games: Uncharted Seas, Fire as She Bears, and WWII Naval (not sure of the rules).

I helped Chris run a Look, Sarge, No Charts: WWII game.  One of the HAWKs, Greg Priebe, teaches distance learning history courses at HCC.  He offered extra credit to his students who played in one of the historical games and wrote a short paper about it.  Two of them joined the game.  One of them seemed to have a really good time and may show up at a future HAWKs night.  Two other long-time gamers played in the WWII game as well.

I ran a reprise of my “Tripod Down” game from Cold Wars.  At Cold Wars it was a convincing Earthling victory.  Today, it was a convincing Martian victory.

The scenario focuses on a Martian rescue mission to retrieve the crew of a destroyed Martian tripod.

I had planned to stay a little longer, but I wasn’t feeling well.  I had double hernia surgery last Monday and still wasn’t feeling 100%.  I couldn’t wait to get home and stretch out on the couch for the rest of the evening.

In the end we may have acquired four new HAWKs as a result of supporting the event.  Even if that is not true, I think those of us who supported the even had a good time.