Buck's Blog – Page 18 – The Hobby Journal of a Wargamer

Combat Patrol (TM) at Cold Wars 2018

F: 215: Hold as Long as Possible (1)

Friday, 9:00 AM, 4 hrs, Players: 6
GM: Buck Surdu & HAWKS
Sponsor: None, Prize: None
Period: World War II, Scale: 28mm, Rules: Combat Patrol(TM): WWII. ItisthePhilippinesinearly1942. The Americans are retreating slowly toward Bataan. A platoon of infantry, along with a handful of Stuart tanks, must delay the Japanese as long as possible, and they make a stand around a small Filipino village. The Japanese attack with a combination of infantry and light tanks. Mayhem ensures. The streamlined mechanics of Combat Patrol(TM) allow players to fight the game, no the rules. Rules will be taught, so come and see what the Combat Patrol(TM) excitement is all about.

F: 199: Assault on Kollaa

Friday, 7:00 PM, 4 hrs, Players: 8
GM: David Cook & HAWKS
Sponsor: None, Prize: None
Period: World War II, Scale: 28mm, Rules: Combat Patrol w/ Winter War supplement

Finland, 1939. The Soviet 56th Rifle Division north of Lake Lagoda is ordered to push west and outflank the Mannerheim Line. Reeling from the attacks the Finns fall back to make their stand on the Kollaa River. Regiment JR-54 is tasked with holding at all costs. In this skirmish game, can the greatly outnumbered Finns hold back an onslaught of Russian forces or will superior Russian numbers be able to break through?

F: 391: Battle at Duivelskloof

Friday, 7:00 PM, 4 hrs, Players: 6
GM: David Wood & HAWKS
Sponsor: None, Prize: None
Period: Colonial, Scale: 25mm, Rules: Combat Patrol
Captain Hunt was killed on the raid on the Viljoen farm, and this lead to Lt. Harry “The Breaker” Morant taking out revenge on the Boers, and which lead to his execution.Will the captain be successful this time?

F: 394: The Rebs Come to Schlegel’s Ferry

Friday,7:00PM,3 hrs,Players:6 GM: Eric Schlegel & HAWKS

Sponsor: None, Prize: None
Period: American Civil War, Scale: 25mm, Rules: Combat Patrol July1864. An off shoot of Early’s raid on Washington has reached Harford County and the Rebs are looking for supplies and attempting to burn Union facilities. Local militia and a few Federal units are moving in to the area to stop them. Thisisthe2ndof5 linked scenarios involving the citizens of Schlegel’s Ferry.

F: 402: Combat Patrol TM – Star Wars

Friday,7:00PM,3 hrs,Players:8
GM: Gregory Priebe & HAWKS
Sponsor: None, Prize: None
Period: SciFi, Scale: 28mm, Rules: Combat Patrol TM
Come learn the ways of the Force or embrace the power of the Dark Side as players battle for the fate of the galaxy with the new Combat Patrol Star Wars supplement. Rules will be taught. Padawans under 14 are welcome with the participation of a playing adult.

S: 403: Combat Patrol TM – Star Wars

Saturday,9:00AM,3 hrs,Players:8
GM: Gregory Priebe & HAWKS
Sponsor: None, Prize: None
Period: SciFi, Scale: 28mm, Rules: Combat Patrol TM
Come learn the ways of the Force or embrace the power of the Dark Side as players battle for the fate of the galaxy with the new Combat Patrol Star Wars supplement. Rules will be taught. Padawans under 14 are welcome with the participation of a playing adult.

S: 201: Pay Day! A Cowboy Caper

Saturday, 1:00 PM, 4 hrs, Players: 6
GM: David Cook & HAWKS
Sponsor: None, Prize: None
Period: Western, Scale: 28mm, Rules: Combat Patrol w/ Wild West Supplement The railroad’s coming to Washout! And that means workers — and strongboxes filled with the monthly payroll. The Sackler Gang has called in their friends and plans to collect for themselves. But the railroad has gotten wind of things and has laid on extra guards. Choose your side for a gun-blazing battle of gold and glory!

S: 214: Hold as Long as Possible (2)

Saturday, 2:00 PM, 4 hrs, Players: 6
GM: Buck Surdu & HAWKS
Sponsor: None, Prize: None
Period: World War II, Scale: 28mm, Rules: Combat Patrol(TM): WWII

ItisthePhilippinesinearly1942. The Americans are retreating slowly toward Bataan. A platoon of infantry, along with a handful of Stuart tanks, must delay the Japanese as long as possible, and they make a stand around a small Filipino village. The Japanese attack with a combination of infantry and light tanks. Mayhem ensures. The streamlined mechanics of Combat Patrol(TM) allow players to fight the game, no the rules.

Philippines 1941 with Combat Patrol

Last weekend we played a series of games at War Horse Farm, Sam Fuson’s house and gaming clubhouse. I ran a Combat Patrol(TM): WWII game that was a play test of some elements of the games I will run in two weeks at the Cold Wars gaming convention. This scenario involved a Japanese attack in the Philippines in 1941. The Japanese had four squads of infantry a machine-gun team, and two light tanks. The Americans had three squads, two water-cooled machine guns, an antiquated anti-tank gun, and a Stuart M-3.

The handsome and charming game master (red shirt) surveying the battlefield

In this picture you can see the battlefield. The Japanese started at the stream, which was impassible to vehicles, but could be crossed at half speed by infantry. The Americans were deployed in some depth along the “trail.” In this game, perhaps counterintuitively to long-time games, the felt patches represented clearings or open ground. The rest of the terrain was jungle with just four inches of visibility. The Japanese objective was to get as many of their figures and vehicles as possible into the last three feet of the American side of the table. The Americans were supposed to stop them. The Japanese players decided that they would place their main effort on their left, because that represented the shortest distance from their starting line to the back three feet of the table.

Early in the game, a player measures the movement of the Japanese tank

Without first pushing infantry across the stream to make sure there was no Americans to stop them, the Japanese players advanced their tanks over the old stone bridge.

The view from the small anti-tank gun that air conditioned the Japanese tank coming down the trail

A hidden anti-tank gun opened fire, knocking out the Japanese tank with a single, well-placed shot. It is hard to find 28mm figures for early WWII. Most of my Americans are Pulp Figures. The gun and gun crew are old Pass of the North from my Moro collection. That’s why the gun crew is not wearing helmets.

A slightly wider shot of the anti-tank gun, burning Japanese tank, and the second tank coming over the bridge. From this picture you can see that the tank on the bridge could not be seen through the jungle (not felt) area.

While this was happening, the Japanese infantry splashed across the stream. The Americans had placed a single water-cooled machine-gun on the small hill overlooking the stream. It surprised the Japanese with a burst of fire, that killed the assistant gunner of the Japanese machine-gun team and forced the gunner to run for cover.

Japanese infantry swarm over the unsupported machine gun team.

The Japanese infantry recovered quickly and swarmed over the gun team. In this picture you can see that both the gunner and assistant gunner were stunned (black rubber bands), the machine-gun had jammed (white rubber band), and the Japanese were about ready for a bayonet charge to finish them off.

One squad tries to hold the American flank to enable the rest of the Americans to redeploy to stop the Japanese main effort

I gave a young kid on the American left an easy-to-understand mission: “hold until the last man.” This was the American left flank, not facing the Japanese main effort, but we needed to hold the Japanese in this area to enable the Americans to redeploy a squad to help stop the main Japanese advance. In true kid fashion, he interpreted “hold to the last man” as “fix bayonets and charge.” I give the Japanese a melee number that is slightly better than that of the Americans, so typically, you wouldn’t do this. But with significant kid luck, it worked. By the end of the game his two teams of four men each had defeated three Japanese teams of six men each, and he still had a few figures left. He was planning to circle in behind the advancing Japanese!

The second Japanese tank decided to try his luck getting across the bridge. The Japanese had done nothing to try to engage the anti-tank gun with fire to suppress it. As the tank came off the bridge, it came into view of the alert gun crew. In Combat Patrol(TM), there is no opportunity fore mechanic, per se. Instead, all figures have a Reaction attribute. To interrupt enemy movement, the player draws a card from the Action Deck and consults the hit randomizer section of the card to see if the number on the card is less than its Reaction number. In this case, the gun crew did react. Despite firing on a moving target, the gunners hit the lower hull with a penetrating hit that brewed up the last Japanese tank.

The Stuart situated astride the jungle path

In the meantime, the American Stuart never fired a shot. It was parked to fire on anyone who might try to advance down the trail, but the Japanese avoided it.

Two teams of Americans reposition from the left to the right to help blunt the main Japanese advance

Aided by Banzai yank on the left, the middle US squad repositioned.

The big fight of the game where Chris’ Japanese infantry pushed hard agains the Americans

The climactic fight occurred on American right, where the Japanese main effort ran into four teams of Americans. Two had been in that area since the beginning. The other squad (two teams) had begun in the center. So in the final couple of turns it was a big infantry fight, with lots of hand-to-hand combat, that determined the outcome of the game. The Japanese had a slight numerical advantage, but the Americans held their ground.

The vat of excellent fried chicken from a local store had arrived, so we called the game an American victory and dashed for the kitchen before the chicken was all gone.

Supporting Japanese infantry comes across the river too late to stop the Americans from blowing up the lead tank. I didn’t have the tanks painted in time for this game, but they are painted now and ready for Cold Wars.

Other than Chris, none of the player had ever played Combat Patrol(TM) before. In fact, few had played a miniatures game before. The first couple of turns were a bit slow, but after that, the game pretty well ran itself.

The Bear Yourselves Valiantly game in full swing

After lunch, Chris ran a play test of the game he will run in a few weeks for my Tabletop Wargaming class at a local community college. This is the Battle of Barnett, during the War of the Roses. One player had to leave early, so I jumped in and took over his command. It was a fun game!

Is Chris explaining the rules in Esperanto?

I had had three late nights in a row and was rapidly running out of steam, but as usual, a day at War Horse Farm was great fun.

Barrage 2017 was a great success

See pictures here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/142143895@N06/albums/72157668763280169/page1

Star Wars with Combat Patrol(TM): 28 December 2017

One of the guys in our club, Duncan, traditionally hosts a war-game sometime between Christmas and New Years Day at his house. This year we combined a viewing of the new Star Wars movie in the morning with a Star Wars game in the afternoon. For this game, we used the recently released Star Wars supplement for Combat Patrol(TM): WWII. The scenario, The Trap, involved a group of Rebels attacking the cargo bay of an Imperial ship. Stormtroopers counterattack from two sides and dealt he blast doors. Later in the scenario, the crew of the Phantom from the Rebels TV series reinforce the rebels and try to get them out of the bay. The Rebels are also assisted by Asoka Tano.

Initial Rebel dispostion in the center of the cargo bay.

We rebels were in the middle of the bay as sitting ducks when the Stormtroopers sprang their trap. The Stormtroopers were led by Darth Duncan (Vader).

A stunned Asoka Tano takes on a squad of Stormtroopers single-handedly.

One of the Rebel squads was pretty well decimated early in the game by advancing Stormtroopers. Asoka launchd herself at the Stormtroopers. After a few rounds of hand-to-hand combat, she defeated a squad.

Rebels trying to break out of the bay have left the cover of the cargo pallets.

To win, the Rebels had to get out of one of the two blast doors on opposite sides of the cargo bay. They picked one side and dashed for it. Unfortunately, that was the side led by Darth Duncan. Duncan unleashed the Sith power of “Rage.” This essentially launched his Stormtroopers in a banzai charge against the Rebels. While Darth Duncan’s Stormtroopers were pretty badly mangled in the attack, he tied up the Rebels and gave the other Stormtroopers a chance to close on our rear from the other blast door.

Who is the oblivious spaceman in the center of the table?!

Kanan has fallen during the Rage attack.

By the end of the game, most of our named heroes had been incapacitated except for Asoka, and most of our Rebels were also knocked out. It was a pretty convincing victory for the Imperial forces. Greg will be running this scenario at Barrage and Cold Wars.

Combat Patrol(TM) Cards for Warlord “Battle for Berlin” Set

Warlord has produced another starter set of figures and vehicles. These starter sets are very nice. For those of you who are interested in using these figures with Combat Patrol(TM): WWII, I have posted the unit record cards for free download on the Combat Patrol(TM): WWII web page.

Get them here: http://www.bucksurdu.com/Buck_Surdu/Combat_Patrol.html

Pre-printed Vehicle Cards for Combat Patrol(TM): WWII

Sally 4th Card Sets — The title cards from soon-to-be-released sets of vehicle cards for Combat Patrol(TM): WWII

For many months, Sally 4th has been selling sets of cards for many of the platoons whose orders of battle are posted for free on the Combat Patrol(TM) rules Web site (http://www.bucksurdu.com/Buck_Surdu/Combat_Patrol.html). These include U.S. Armored Infantry and German Panzergrenadiers. These are professionally printed cards with all the information already filled out and ready to play. While not strictly necessary, I find them extremely helpful in setting up scenarios. Deal out the cards, point the players at the figures, and start playing.

With help from Zeb Cook and Don Hogge, I have been working with Chris Abbey at Sally 4th to create sets of vehicle cards for all the vehicles listed in the rulebook. (The rulebook does not include every vehicle and variant, but most of the common ones.) The first five sets go to the printer in the next couple of days. These include a German set, a US set, a British set, a Japanese set, and a Russian set. From the center card in the above image, you can see all the sets planned. The first five will be available soon from Sally 4th.

You can get some for FREE!! In addition, if you post a battle report to an on-line forum, such as The Miniatures Page, The Wargames Website, or Lead Adventure Forum, or if you publish a battle report in magazines like Wargames, Soldiers, and Strategy, Miniature Wargames, or Wargames Illustrated, we will send you five cards from one of these sets for free. You just need to send us the URL to your battle report and your mailing address. Battle reports should be approximately 500 words and include at least two pictures.

Highclere Castle

IMGP2516 — Sam and Candy on the side of Highclere Castle

After our visit with Chris Abbey in Rippon, we headed back to Reading to turn in our rental car and head to Heathrow airport. On the way, we stopped at Highclere Castle, the site of the BBC series Downton Abbey. Tom and I were just along for the ride, since neither of us have seen the show. You are not allowed to take photographs inside the castle, but according to Sam and Candy, they recognized a lot of the rooms from the series.

IMGP2505 — Sam and Candy in the car park with Highclere in the background

IMGP2506 — Sam's first comment upon entering the car park was that it is much smaller than she imagined

Below are some views of the grounds around Highclere.

As we walked the grounds, Tom was wishing he had brought a frisbee. This was one of our few sunny days in England. For most of the trip it was dreary and rainy.

Sam enjoyed our trip to England. She said she liked the fact that “people don’t talk,” that it is cold, and that it is “old.” Sam is not too chatty in most cases, and she liked the fact that most folks we met were friendly enough but weren’t too chatty themselves. Candy, who likes to tell everyone she meets her whole life history and full vacation itinerary in the first five minutes she meets them, prefers chatty people. Sam said that she would like to live in England for a couple of years (not forever) and do more sight seeing. Tom seemed to enjoy aspects of the trip, but he didn’t like being outside the US. He was happy to visit, but by the end of the trip, he was ready to go home.

The Peak District, Day 2

IMGP2468 — Another walk through an area of the Peak District

As we set out from the Peak District toward Yorkshire, we stopped at an area that had been an old railroad right of way for a short hike. The viaduct in the left of the picture above and an old railway tunnel were the attractions here.

IMGP2469 — Sheep grazing on a distant hillside

We began by walking down a path through the woods that took us to a waterfall. We didn’t know about the waterfall when we started our walk, so this was a nice surprise.

IMGP2471 — The waterfall, which seems to have been augmented with some man-made features

IMGP2474 — Walking back from the waterfall

After returning to our starting point, we walked in the opposite direction to get down to the viaduct and also walk through the old railway tunnel.

IMGP2477 — The old Headstone railway tunnel

IMGP2481 — Sam and a view of the river from the viaduct

About noon we got on the road for Rippon in Yorkshire to spend the afternoon and evening with Chris and Ann Abbey.

IMGP2485 — Many of the trucks on the motorways were these extra tall ones. They are a meter taller than trucks we are accustomed to in the US.

The Peak District, Day 1

Our next day in England was spent in The Peak District, an area of high hills and picturesque vistas. We stayed in a nice bed and breakfast in Castleton and then headed out on a hike across nearby ridges to Mam Tor and around the area.

IMGP2427 — Starting our morning hike along a small country lane that began in front of our bed and breakfast

IMGP2441 — The walk began on level ground but very quickly became steep

IMGP2445 — Despite the dreary weather, the views remained impressive

IMGP2451 — Mam Tor, the site of an ancient hill fort that dominated the area until the construction of the nearby castle in approximately 1070

IMGP2453 — Candy finds a friend during our walk back down from Mam Tor

IMGP2456 — Our bed and breakfast, the Rambler's Rest

IMGP2464 — After the long walk through the damp and drizzle, we dried off and relaxed over a game of dominoes

A visit to Bovington Tank Museum

IMGP2426 — The entrance to the main hall of the Bovington Tank Museum

For me, a highlight of our family vacation in England was a visit to the tank museum in Bovington. Somewhat off the beaten path Bovington is the armor (armour) school for the British Army and the site of the largest collection of tanks I’ve ever seen — and most of them have been repaired to working order. We modified our agenda to make sure we were in Bovington on a weekday when they perform a tanks-in-action demonstration.

IMGP2247 — A model of DaVinci's tank in the queue to get into the exhibits

The museum is actually a series of buildings, but we only had time for the main building. We did not go over to the conservation building where they repair tanks to working order.

The displays begin with a depiction of life in the trenches in WWI. This helps motivate the need for the tank to help break the stalemate in the trenches. This section of the museum then depicts the development and evolution of early tanks into the early 1930s. There were several WWI tanks that you could walk into or where sections of armor were replaced by plexiglass windows to enable you to look inside.

IMGP2253 — Sam and Tom coming out of a trench

IMGP2260 — A British Mark IV or Mark V tank

This hall was very dark, so many of the pictures are a bit blurry.

IMGP2263 — An early tank with a cutout to allow people to look inside. They said that this tank is in running order. Many of the tanks had oil drip pans under them -- an indication of which were still able to run.

IMGP2289 — Tom and me in the Royal Tank Corps -- and my patient wife wondering how long she was going to have to pretend she was interested in tanks before we could leave

After viewing the WWI section, we went outside for the Tanks-in-Action demonstration. They drove four armored vehicles around a track, which included a hill. Each stopped in front of the audience so that the narrator could provide interesting information about each vehicle. The Tanks-in-Action demonstration naturally focused on British vehicles. The same type of demonstration in the US that focused on US vehicles would likely be criticized as jingoistic, because only in the US is it insensitive to highlight our accomplishments.

IMGP2304 — A Cold War era Ferret armored car. This was very fast and incredibly quiet. I had seen Scorpions and Scimitars before and even had a chance to climb around inside one with the crew, but I had never seen a Ferret before.

IMGP2316 — An FV-234 armored personnel carrier. This vehicle is strikingly similar in design to the US M-113. The FV-234 is still in service.

IMGP2323 — The Chieftain main battle tank. This Cold War era vehicle never fired a shot in anger and is no longer in active service.

After showing these three vehicles, they set up a mock battle involving these three fighting insurgents from Ruritania equipped with a Saladin reconnaissance vehicle. The Ferret conducted reconnaissance to find the Ruritanaians and called in artillery, complete with pyrotechnic devices that were a crowd pleaser. Then the Chieftain and FV-234 advanced. Volunteers from the audience de-bussed the FV-234 and assaulted the Saladin, winning the day. It is not considered insensitive in England for the British to root for themselves and to defeat the enemy.

IMGP2327 — The "Ruritanian" Saladin reconnaissance vehicle

After the tanks-in-action demonstration (and some pasties and cider) we went back into the main building to look at the displays. The hall depicting the evolution of the tank is breathtaking and includes a number of displays I have never seen in person, like the D-Day wading device on a Sherman tank.

A panoramic shot of the hall showing the evolution of tanks from WWI to nearly the present day

IMGP2330 — Another view of the history of the tank hall

Each vehicle on display has a nice plaque next to it that describes the tank and also where this particular example of the tank came from. Some of the vehicles had a very interesting story behind how they came to Bovigton.

There are over 300 tanks at Bovington. It is mind boggling. I couldn’t see everything and read everything if I had two full days there. I MUST go back when I am not pulling the family along.

The US Army made many bad choices over the years regarding the extensive collection of armored vehicles on display at Aberdeen Proving Ground. The collection is now scattered and no longer available to the public. Even in its heyday the APG collection was open to the elements and deteriorating. It was amazing to see such beautiful specimens at Bovington. Some are claimed to be the only known example in the world.

IMGP2371 — A Sherman Firefly along with obligatory derogatory comments about US tank design in WWII

IMGP2385 — German Tiger I in the "Tiger Hall," where they have one example of each Tiger variant except the Sturmtiger.

IMGP2399 — A US M-46 Patton tank. The M-46, 47, and 48 were all called "Patton"

IMGP2407 — Sam in front of a cutaway view showing the interior of a tank

This was a particularly interesting exhibit showing the interior of a tank. The kids were very surprised at how cramped it is inside a tank.

IMGP2418 — Another view of the history-of-the-tank hall

There were a number of simulators set up around the exhibit hall. There were ones for rifles, a Bren gun, and even a PIAT. Sadly the PIAT simulator was out of order, but in these next two pictures you see Sam and Tom firing a simulated Bren. Neither of them “qualified.” Both commented on how hard it is to aim the Bren with the site offset to the side because of the top-mounted magazine.

IMGP2421 — Sam firing a simulated Bren. If you look in the background of this picture you can begin to get a sense of scale for just how big the exhibit hall is.

IMGP2423 — Tom firing the Bren simulator

There are over 300 vehicles at Bovington. This does not include all there other items on display like anti-tank weapons, comparisons of barrel lengths, tank crew equipment, etc. While the story of the tank hall tells a story of the evolution of the tank, the largest hall is just filled with row after row of vehicles and other displays. It is amazing!

IMGP2390 — A view of the largest exhibit hall that I hope provides a sense of the sheer size of the collection.

Bovington was the only item on my must-see list for this trip to England. I am very glad we went. All the items on display are extremely well maintained. Every vehicle has informative plaques. Many still run. Everything is under cover. It is tremendous museum. I need to try to talk a couple of my gaming buddies into coming here in June next year for Tank Days, when many of the vehicles are driven around and members of the public get a chance to get into some of the vehicles and drive them. I have driven modern US armored vehicles, like the M-1 Abrams and M-2 Bradley, but I would love to drive one or two of the historic tanks.

IMGP2403 — A final view of the large exhibit hall

Despite starting the day at a QuikFit to replace the tire on our rental car, a harrowing drive through goat paths led by our GPS and dodging a farm tractor, and a need to depart Bovington early enough to arrive in the Peak District before dark, I had a great time at Bovington and NEED to return for another visit.