PICTURES OF SOME TEST GAMES

This is one of about 7 Play test games we did, (I really need to take more Photo's on my phone!).  In the end we couldn't get Force on Force to work in a Platoon Armoured warfare style, so we are adapting FOW to a modern ruleset specifically for this. 

So here are a few snaps of me and colonel Miller trying to work through Force on Force with some significant stalling points. 

Pair of Chieftains Hidden in Overwatch, with a FV432 top left hiding behind the Building where the OiC is "holed up"

It's fair to say that the Chieftains did nothing/ little until late in the day with two of them covering the left flank hiding in a copse. But the Milan Teams hiding in the ruined buildings really made a mess of my BMP force, equally the FV432's were a pain putting out GPMG fire on my dismounted Motor Rifle Infantry who took casualties by the bucket load. The 155mm Artillery strike called in on the Soviet advance was devastating and crippled an entire platoon of BMP's.

In the end the Soviets pushed across with the T-72's but almost all were crippled, with main guns KO'd, movement crippled or immobilised or with little Firepower left. The BMP's were a bloody death trap with almost every single one brewing up when it was hit. 

The T72's with their Heavy machine guns and the BTR's with their Machine guns managed to silence 4 out 6 FV432's before the "Crazy Mad British Infantry" decided to move forward into a Jumping off position and then conduct an Infantry Bayonet Assault against the surviving Tanks with 2 Chieftains performing a left hook.

Exactly as Corporal Jones had said "They certainly don't like it up 'em" and the British Troops swarmed all over the crippled Tanks put them out of action gunning the Crews down, and drop grenades inside any opening and shredding the interior's and setting fire to the tanks before rapidly retiring.

I lost :-

2 x BTR70's
8 x BMP's Destroyed (1 crippled)
1/2 x Infantry Company ( 50 Dead - 28 fine)
2 x T-72's Destroyed (2 crippled and 2 immobilised)

Chris lost :-

4 x FV432's Destroyed (2 x Completely Fine)
1 x MILAN PLATOON Destroyed (12 Dead)
1/2 x Infantry Platoon (12 Dead - 14 fine)
1 x Chieftain Destroyed ( 1x Immobilised, 2 x Completely fine)

The net result a marginal BAOR victory, a blood bath but with the British holding on by their finger nails and the Soviets delayed, but decided merely to throw another Company to assault the position again an hour late. Such is the life of a poor harassed NATO Commander, Germany will belong to Mother- Russia!

The Stat's from the game seem to stack up with the Quality vs Quantity debate, and pretty accurately show the projected casualties approx 3 to 1 for WARPAC vs NATO. 

WINDS OF CHANGE:-

I'm now convinced after to talking to Piers and a few others online and doing some play testing that Force on Force is not a good ruleset for Battlegroup / Combat team/ Company level engagements. The final things that tipped the balance was the fact that 4 players have said if it was based on Flames of War or a modification they would be happier because they don't want to learn another ruleset. 

So I have started to write my own modification of the rules. The points lists remain extant. 

• Based on FOW v3 with modifications for Range (infinite range on anything GPMG and above because lets be honest a 6 x 4 board in 15mm is point blank).
• Extra special rules such as Fire Control Computers (negats the +1 for over 16" away).
• New HQ Rules - NATO Unbroken chain of Command killing a CO is less of an ENDEX.
• New Small Arms Rules.
• New Artillery Mechanics.
• New Observer Rules to represent more sophisticated radio command nets.
• New Vehicle and ATGM stats. 

A very rough "Work in progress rules" has been circulated to get some feed back as I will begin playtesting this week.

I have 3 more players :-

1. A Polish Army (possibly Polish Guards Army), falls nicely into the Campaign structure.
2. A USMC Force (Tanks, AAV7 & Infantry + AH-1 Cobra) I intend as per SACEURS Signal to land the USMC Force in Denmark and they can drive South towards HAMBURG. 
3. A US Army Player using older Equipment from Vietnam Era with a few additions, I will probably say he is a National Guard formation about to flown Home after taking part in REFORGER and place him firmly in CENTAG.

TERRAIN AND MARKERS

One more Terrain piece nearly done...Need to base it on Fibreboard and then flock it... I was tempted to spray it metallic, wash it and dust it in ochre weathering powder.

I am after some realistic Artillery strike markers most are ridiculously comic in nature, and don't capture how they work... I essentially want in 15mm maybe cast in Resin or plastic that I can paint and use to show artillery strikes, Air-strikes/missile strikes or cannon strafing runs.

 Like this, I wonder if I could make this? I would need between 8 and 12 of them, any idea's anyone?

RUSTY'S CORNER

Again Colonel Rusty continues to crank out the beautiful miniatures which are rapidly becoming his trademark. He did say these are temporary Bases. Obviously this is an Observer Helicopter hence OH-58 KIOWA. Lovely stuff...

10. FINAL SHOT OF WHISKEY

This has got to be a drill, this is not real. This is not Real. What the hell is going on. Lieutenant Alson's mind raced as he followed his Squadron Commander racing forward high above CENTAG to Intercept the Su-25’s 70 miles east of them.

He was panicked, he knew the MIG-29’s were there somewhere behind him, the other two F-15 of their flight had broken to cover their attack on the Floggers.  The Air-controller just seconds earlier had calmly reported the loss of his two squadron mates. He was in a state a flux, they were RED flag veterans damn fine fighter jocks most certainly better than him.  Now they were gone, they may have ejected but he knew the chances were slim. 4 men lost in the blink of an eye.  This cannot be real.....

“TALLY Bogey’s Confirmed Bandits - Eyeball Floggers” called the Squadron Commander

“WHISKEY You are Weapons Free” replied the AWACS Controller.

They streaked towards the formation of Su-25’s, his Commander Called “FOX-TWO” and Alson simultaneously fired an AIM Sidewinder at the rightmost target as per the flight SOP’s working his targets from outside-in as his commander worked from the opposite side of the formation. Two of the formation exploded as the formation split, he stayed glued to his flight leader, his WSO watching the rear calling the split of the Enemy formation.  “Splash Two” called the Boss mechanically.

“WHISKEY – Green South” called the AWACS  controller“ROGER - Deathstar” replied the Commander tonelessly.

“WHISKEY – Gadget Confirmed Fulcrum inbound Strength  4 – Entering FURBALL – RETROGRADE”

“NEGAT - COMMITTED”  replied the Squadron Leader evenly  “ROGER WHISKEY – Good luck sir”

His flight commander swung into a right roll and downward spiral, calling “FOX TWO” and seconds late “SPLASH ONE”. 

Alson’s WSO mere seconds later called “FULCRUM ON OUR SIX, BREAK RIGHT!”, the buzzer in the cockpit started it’s warning from Radar lock, he broke from his Leader in a tight right turn, performing a High G barrel roll hoping to roll out behind the MIG as he continued to follow him in the turn . As he rolled over he looked back and right and immediate saw his Leader mid-way through executing a Vector Roll, on a crossing MIG.  He flicked to AIM-9 and anticipating the moment he would roll out and have a perfect shot, the Fulcrum continued in a steady bank. The Fulcrum pilot was stunned to find the F-15 roll out behind him in mere seconds and 180 degrees through his own turn.  

Alson heard “FOX – TWO” and he knew the Boss had completed his Vector Roll successfully. He waited for a good tone, and watched as the MIG-29 panicked increased to max speed and dove, the sudden output spike on the engines gave an instant IR lock and he fired simultaneously calling “FOX-TWO” on the radio net, he didn’t watch the missile, he dived left and pulled up.  His Boss called “SPLASH ONE” a second later,  damn he was chalking up a score. His own WSO screamed ”3 O’clock high!!!”, and he saw the flash of Tracer fire stitching close to his aircraft. Shit, he had lost track of him during his manoeuvring.  The sound of tearing and punching  metal, rattling along the fuselage and the sudden vibration in the airframe confirmed to him his aircraft had been hit.

He banked right and saw the thin film of fuel in vapour trail, leaking out of the right wing.  

“Shit, were damaged and losing fuel” Said Davies his WSO,“Disengage, we need to disengage”

“ROGER” replied Alson as he dived away from the fight whilst rolling vertically over “Watch our six”

“WHISKEY LEAD this is WHISKEY TWO, were hit bad, losing Fuel ”

“ROGER WHISKEY TWO – Will cover you head South RTB HOMEPLATE” replied his Squadron Commander before switching channel and transmitting “DEATHSTAR This is WHISKEY- BUGGING OUT”

“ROGER WHISKEY – GOOD WORK WE COUNT 5 KILLS” Replied the Air-controller mechanically.

As the two aircraft made for home they formed up, and headed south while another flight of F-15’s flew Escort 100 miles astern of them to nurse them home fending off other Soviet Aircraft to allow them to get clear.  One Aircraft damaged and two lost, it was not a good day. They never even saw the pair of MIG-27 approaching from low-level which punched up from tree top level ahead of the Fighter Screen and well behind NATO lines. The unsuspecting F-15 Pilots jumped when they heard the Warning alarms in the ears seconds before the Soviet missiles struck them. They didn't have time to register their fate, or even acknowledge the AWACS warning shouted to just seconds too late.

My Motor Rifle Company is almost finished. 

Question of the Week, any takers what the two Vehicles behind the BTR-70's are?

As you can see I now have 3 Platoons of BMP's and a single HQ BMP plus the two BTR-70's acting as Recce (will get some BDRM's eventually). I am working through the Infantry currently, as well as doing my WWII British Para's (a full painting desk is happy painting Desk!).

So I can finally run this Battlegroup

The next addition will be a 122mm gun Battery based on QRF's 122mm 2S1.

Using this Platoon Structure:-

I will only buy one firing Platoon of 3 Artillery pieces, with an MLTB and three ural trucks. 

More to follow this week, and hopefully some updates from some of the other Force Commanders! 

BIRTHDAY BOY..

Having a December Birthday is a bit of a downer, as you go 11 months with nothing and everything comes in December, plus as a Kid I used to get annoyed with people saying "This is for Christmas and Birthday!" Cheap B*stards...Makes me sound ungrateful but when you have brothers and sisters you tend to get a bit Bitter and twisted about it.. C'est la vie.

Anyway another birthday has come, and the wife has given me some wanted bits and pieces for this Blog (happy times!).

1st the REVELL 1/100 A-10.... Mixed opinion on this one, it's a reasonable model, paint job is reasonable, detail is appalling. Apparently the A10 was a 2 Seater? After researching there are 2 of these two seaters that were ever built, one blew up in a crash in the desert during testing, the Second one is outside EDWARDS AFB as a Trophy.

So as you can see I cut the second Pilot/WSO out and modelled over him. The paint job was awful on the pilot so I re-did it, as were the Bombs and Weapons, painted the engines / Turbines/ exhausts. I actually varnished it, Pinwashed it, then Dullcoated it and finally put on some Weathering powders.

Secondly I've received some nice HO scale terrain and some 4Ground terrain for other projects and terrain for this game.

Another Air Dropped Delivery to the Frontline

The second large Club order has arrived, and Colonel Rusty should be receiving some Canuck Reinforces as well..

This is a Guards Force for Colonel Kristianski, made up of BMP's Infantry, and a 3 Platoons of 3 T80's (Holy ****)....


This is Colonel Markarov's Soviet Airborne VDV Force.

Yup, thats 4 Hind D's with Infantry and a Small platoon of BMD's.


This is the other British Mech Force the Royal Welch, under Colonel James.

The Lynx looks lovely, and should look stunning on the battlefield.

Just for comparison, look at the Lynx in comparison to the HIND.  The HIND is a flying Monster...

I also Received my own reinforcements to the Motor Rifle Company, so I will be able to field 2000 points plus.


SPECIAL FORCES :-


We also received the Special Forces Models which will be used within the Campaign for fluffy reasons, or the previously discussed Critical Actions. The models delivered were:-

SAS - M16/w 203 with nice Beanie hats on (very 80's looking!).
GREEN BERETS - Mix of M16 Commando armed Troops with Field Caps.
DELTA / NAVY SEALS - Mix of more Modern with NVG's and weapon sights.

Reviews and pictures to follow, there will be alot more going on in this blog in the upcoming weeks and will be more model and force centric with the Fluff background being toned down. As future plot lines will be determined by the outcomes of battles rather than my imagination.

A big Thank you 

I would like to say thank you to everyone who has been supporting this blog and also nominating me for a Liebster Award, it is very humbling to have others within the community applaud my efforts.

An Apology

I also have to apologise to all the Cold War Fans, as I have slipped slightly back to WWII to complete some terrain projects for our Flames of War Fraternity, of which I am a member (and no FOW is not a swear word, it's a Wargame in a Historical Setting, not a Historical Wargame, so if you don't like it, well that's your choice). Anyway, I have always had a soft spot for Arnhem as my Grandfather took part in the operation (By which I mean he crashed in a Glider and was captured within hours of landing - occupational hazard when you are landing 60miles in the middle of enemy territory!). So I am working on an Oosterbeek and Arnhem boards including the Legendary Bridge.

I have also been overhauling our terrain, and so the Blog has slipped a bit. I thought I would post this for interest and to prove I'm not being Lazy...

GAMMON BOMBS TO THE FORE!

I might use these as Proxies for more modern buildings in the Cold War Campaign.  

COLD WAR CAMPAIGN NEWS

The intention is now to begin the Cold War Campaign on the 2nd February 2013 (One day out and 27 years from the Fluff start....details).

There is currently some people at my club debating that we use Flames of War Modified ruleset, I have ruled this out as it doesn't model modern weapons very well. So we are sticking with Force on Force, inspite of it being more infantry centric, I do think once you get to grips with it, it's a very good ruleset. If however it doesn't work as well  as intended, I may *repeat may* consider in 12 months or so using my lists with a modified FOW (tropic Lightning Rules) which would require me to write ranges and FP values for hundreds of Weapons (a considerable volume of work from a balance perspective!).  But for now we will use force on force rules. 

9. Against the odds

The Young Canadian Signaller ran across the field towards the HQ, in 4” snow and with his webbing and rifle he made clumsy but steady progress. As he got to within 50 yards of the HQ position he was started shouting “SIR! SIR!”.  The RSM was the 1^st out of the temporary Command dugout, with a look of fury on his face and his hand on his Pistol holster, he bellowed “STAND STILL!”. The Soldier white as the snow about him, lurched to a rapid halt but 8 yards away from the RSM, the Sergeant Major himself calmly removed his pistol and levelled it at the Soldier.

“State the Codeword” said the RSM, the soldier scrunched up his memory and was trying to remember the Password “BANFF, sir”. 

“DROP YOUR WEAPON DOWN ON THE GROUND NOW!” the RSM Screamed at the top of his lungs.

“Sir...Sir...I’m sorry I know it was yesterdays” The Soldier stammered.

“SILENCE! PROVOST! ARREST THIS MAN” 

The Provost ran over,  Weapon at his shoulder aimed at the terrified Soldier just in front of the RSM. “YES SIR!” replied the Provost and his Corporal.

The Soldier whimpered “Sir, there is a message for the......” “SHUT UP” shouted the Provost.

The RSM turned “What kind of a Soldier doesn't know the Daily changing Codeword? We have fifth columnists all over the place attacking us, killing HQ units and assassinating our Command and Control elements and you run around like a headless chicken screaming your head-off!”.  

  

“Si-Sir-Sir....” the soldier’s incoherent babble was interrupted by Captain McWade’s appearance.

“Ah Lewis why are you here?” asked McWade evenly.

“Sir, the-the, TAC-HQ, it was hit” replied the Soldier tentatively “The brigadier was there sir, his helicopter was destroyed and he’s....dead sir....”

The silence lasted 10 seconds, before the RSM realising the precarious position of morale 

and the soldiers deep seated unease he needed to settle all the nerves before this panicked the troops. “Right Lad, stand up straight, you are not under arrest. We are in the military son, no one man matters more than another that’s why we have a chain of command. If the Brigadier dies, then the Chief of Staff takes over, if he falls, the next most Senior Officer takes over.  There is always someone else in the chain of command never forget that, even if it means a 100 Privates lead by a Corporal. So don’t panic, stay calm, don’t breath a word of this to anyone else, it undermines morale and reminds them of losses. Clear?”

“Yes Sir” replied the Soldier Sheepishly.

“And if I ever catch you not knowing the Codeword again, I will put a bullet in you myself. Now get back to the Signal section...” replied the RSM in a threatening tone.

As the soldier moved away back to the signal section at top speed, McWade turned around and looked at the RSM “Just when you think things cannot get any worse” He said flippantly,

The RSM face turned to Thunder and he quietly said “Sir, you speak like that in front of the Troops and I’ll stick a bullet in you too. Morale is on a knife edge, everything you say and even things you don’t will be pulled apart by the troops. So you’d better sort those smart ass comments out. We have a Million tons of Armour and a 1million troops coming our way and they want to annihilate us”.

“Point taken” replied McWade respectfully, even though he outranked Sergeant Major Wilson, no one crossed Wilson as he was one of the toughest men in the Brigade and he had the ear of both the Colonel and the brigadier. The RSM satisfied his point was made, nodded slightly, holstered his pistol and replied “It better be. Right, I’m off to inform Colonel Lynn that he is now in Command of the Brigade” said the RSM marching towards the Command Dugout to find the Chief of Staff and let him know the good news.

CMBG - Update

In light of this new Canadian Chapter - Some more lovely looking Canadian Forces from Colonel Rusty... What do you all think? I really like them, the use of decals and weathering has been done in a particularly nice way.

HUMOUR 

Saw this..........enough said.

NUMBERS OF PLAYERS ARE EXPANDING

A quick update and revision of the various Commanders and forces involved in this Cold War Campaign.

NATO FORCES

Colonel Bob James - 2nd Battalion Royal Welch (Mechanised)
Oberst Pieter Fischer - 171 Pz GREN Abteilung
Major Mike Edwards - OiC A Squadron 2nd RTR - 7th Armoured Brigade
Colonel Chris Tempest - CO 11th ACR
Major Johanson - CO Combat Aviation Brigade (7th Bat - 17th Cavalry)(AH-64, OH-58)  
Major Chris Miller REME - OiC Maintenance Depot 1st Armoured Division
Colonel C "Rusty" Lynn - Chief of Staff 1st Canadian Mechanised Brigade Group.
NATO Special Operations Forces - Commander *Classified*

WARPAC FORCES

General Baldovich - 8th Guards Division

Colonel Kristianski - Commander 12th Guards Tank Regiment

Colonel Aledski - 345 Independant Guards Airborne Regiment 
Major Mishka Eduardovich - OiC A Company 201 Motor-Rifle Regiment
Colonel Arkady Makarov - VDV Air-Assault Brigade
Spetznaz  Corps - Unknown Commander

The Canadian Mechanised Brigade

This is beginning to expand under Colonel Rusty's plans here is a quick picture of his 15mm Planned force which he has in-being or on it's way and he is currently painting.  It is a very large force allowing him to chop and change his Battlegroup to Mission Specific Groupings.

The Panzer Grenadier Battalion

This is beginning to expand under Oberst Fischers plans here is a quick picture of his 15mm Planned force which he has in-being or on it's way and he is currently painting and modelling

The British Force 

One Battlegroup is done by me, and another is on the way with the Major Millers Support Section also being kitted out.