Projects Over Christmas

With the Christmas holidays fast approaching it's time to think about some special projects. First, because I've got relatives coming, my sacred "room" has been designated a bedroom, which kind of precludes any wargaming activity. My shelves have been "tidied" and the miniatures stored away. As an alternative I'm considering a more simulated approach by looking into the possibility of using cardboard counters or top-down unit views on a gameboard. I've a few ideas involving using the top-downs on some of the paper gaming sites, combined with the use of terrain tiles, overlayed by a perspex cover to keep everything in place.

Second up is to complete my trawl of all the rulesets and army lists for completeness. I'm still actively developing the Future Wars rules with a new "universe" close to my heart concerning the series of wonderful books produced back in 1978-80 describing the evolution of the Terran Federation, written by Stuart Cowley, and illustrated with loads of visually stunning artwork.

"Classic" Traveller Setting: The Spinward Marches

I've been inspired by some battle reports I've seen on the web dealing with military simulations set in one of my favourite roleplaying settings from the 1980s - the Traveller RPG universe which deals with the "Classic" period in the Spinward Marches. I've created army lists and rules modifications to recreate this in my Future Wars Wargaming Rules in the files section. These accompany my Space Marines adaptation with a similar in depth treatment of the various factions and military forces. I've restricted it for now to planetary assault task force lists which cover the marine contingents of the Imperium, Zhodani Consulate, Sword Worlds etc. I've had a lot of fun developing these and a few are still WIP such as how psionics should work. I've played a couple of minor skirmishes to see how the new rules play out - no issues so far and it delivers a nice atmospheric feel which appeals to my 80s nostalgia trip. Hope to get a full battle report of a larger scale action posted this weekend.

World War I & II Variants

I've been doing a bit of research to back up a few ideas I have on the go regarding alternative histories set during the inter-war period.

1. British Civil War - I've been quite intrigued by the development of the "A Very British Civil War" wargame genre over the last year or so. This got my interest first and I've developed some army lists for the factions which I've placed in the WWII Rules in the Files Section. The conflict is set in 1938. I've designed a nice little scenario which I'm going to play out this month.

2. War Plan Red - inspired by the article in Miniature Wargames which outlines a conflict between the USA and British Empire over Canada. I watched the documentary on Youtube and was hooked to the idea. I'm developing some lists which detail the early war in 1935 and then the wider conflict set later in 1936-37. The later armies include some WWII AFVs developed earlier such as the A13 and M3 Stuart.

3. WWII set in the 1930s - to cover the Axis powers, UK, US, French and Soviets. Loads of early tanks to play with.

4. WWI extended by 10 years. This postulates an extension of the conflict past 1918 up to 1928 with all the possible technological advances this would entail. Bit of a nightmarish WH40K future history.

5. WWII extended beyond 1945 combined with a technological revolution - power armour, dreadnought walkers etc. These pet projects should keep me occupied for a bit!

Scottish Wargaming Armies

As I'm a Scot with a keen interest in both my own national aswell as military history in general, I thought I'd combine this into the creation of a list of Scottish armies throughout history during the periods when we were still an independent nation. Commencing with a Caledonian Army that can fight at Mons Graupius through the Dark Ages and Medieval periods into the Renaissance, covering Covenanters, mercenaries in the Thirty Years War and Montrose Royalists. All interesting stuff and I now need to start playing out some of my creations.

Battle of Leuctra 371 BC

I played a simulation of this classical battle between the Thebans and Spartans this afternoon. I chose the same historical deployments with 12 units per side. The battle commenced much as the original did with the cavalry clash and advance of the Theban left, however, the Spartan horse didn't scatter as they did historically and put up a holding resistance which bought time and allowed the entire phalanx line of both armies to eventually clash. It was looking good for the Spartan alliance until the deadlock suddenly broke on the strong Theban left with the destruction of the Spartan units and a spate of fortunate rolls from the Boetian allied phalanxes on the Theban right. As the Thebans turned to roll-up the remaining Spartan allies these conceded defeat and fled the field. A real hard fighting contest which went closer than the historical battle but with much the same outcome. The phalanx cohesion rule worked very well and made for rapid and bloody unit contests which seemed very in tune with phalanx warfare. I think I should have given the Spartans an advantage here to account for their superb drill and modify this to the second base loss resulting in the cohesion loss. An excellent game with lots of period drama.

Fantasy Adaptation based on the AMW Medieval Rules

As mentioned in an earlier message I was involved in a project to develop a credible Fantasy variant. My background basis was a long running Chivalry & Sorcery campaign I used to be involved in back in the 1980s. The world of Archaeron was the background to my lists and rules design. Basically a feudal model so the Medieval AMW rules were used combining some Dark Age and fantasy features. I've now completed the rules and designed all the lists for the nations occupying the known world. The major innovations were the introduction of leaders to represent heroic personalities and magic users, spell casting and the impact of magic on the battlefield. I've had a lot of fun developing these. I now want to do some thorough play-testing particularly to see how the overlays for leaders and magic work. Probably will need to do some more tweaking.

Updates to the Variant Rules Versions and a Couple of Projects

Recently I've been quite intensely involved in going through all my variant rulesets updating, streamlining and making them more consistent. The Modern rules have had the largest makeover. I've also extracted some basic conventions and published these for AMW. So everything is now updated in the folders. This left me with a couple of pet projects. I greatly expanded my Future Wars army lists to incorporate more star nations from my favorite Sci Fi universe. This is based on the FGU Space Opera / Space Marines future history. I included some more special rules and included a race of cyborgs - the Andrayadan Collective complete with Walkers and Malignants - these I copied from Dark Realms.

My second project was to develop a credible Fantasy variant. I used to play and sometimes GM a long running Chivalry & Sorcery campaign. I really liked the world imagined by Ed Simbalist, the co-author. This is Archaeron, with the designed setting of Arden, a feudal Kingdom modeled on medieval England. This was quite a "hard" fantasy environment in that it was very much based on a Medieval setting with fantasy touches. This made an adaptation of the Medieval Rules an easy transition. I've now drafted the majority of the rules and I'm working through each of the nations described by Mr Simbalist. One rather radical departure was to introduce leaders and personalities. These are single base units that can add abilities to fighting units or fight on their own. By getting more involved in the battle they increase the risk to their base. If they work out I might extend this to other rules-ets - the Dark Age version might be a promising venture recreating some heroic action. I'm quite excited about this variant and am looking forward to play-test it over the next couple of weeks. I'll put them in the files section soon. One down side is that I've neglected my road test of the 19th Century rules. I've a Franco-Prussian war scenario all setup and ready to go but haven't got round to it yet. Well - rest of the year to go.

French Indian War

I've just completed a fine FIW game this evening. It was fought by a British force under Major General Woods against a determined French General, De Bois. Both sides were a mix of regulars, provincials and native troops. The British boasted a couple of artillery units and a single unit of Light Horse. Both of these elements had high impact giving the British greater firepower and mobility. Initially it was going quite well for the French who advanced confidently to the river which bisected the game board. The British were arrayed to perform a pincer on the flanks with a holding force in the centre. As the British deployed into line the French were already delivering volleys from their regulars and some harassing fire from the Huron units. This began to wane as the British artillery managed to cause serious damage on the more exposed units and superior regular firepower ripped through the loosely arrayed skirmishers. The decisive break came on the British right flank where the Light Cavalry managed to move round behind some units of Canadian militia subsequently charging them in the rear and routing a unit. This was quickly followed by another which fell to regular musketry. The left flank resistance then crumbled with concerted fire from a mix of regulars, Highlanders and Rangers. This left the strong French centre but the situation looked increasingly hopeless for De Bois as the British flanks started to move in and the artillery focused on this sector. Game over and the French withdrew back through the woods to re-group and fight another day. Another enjoyable game using my 18th modified version of the Napoleonic rules. I liked the mix of unit types and it was interesting to see how these fared against each other.

ACW Game: Hangman's Creek

I just completed an enjoyable ACW game based on the Black Powder scenario included in that rulebook.The forces were quite large composed of three brigades on each side. The CSA had 10 infantry and 2 artillery units, the Union 11 infantry, 2 artillery and a unit of cavalry.  didn't use any variations to morale which in hindsight was a bit of a mistake as the CSA generally benefits from more veteran units. As the aggressor in this scenario this started to have serious consequences as their infantry faltered in the face of steady Union musketry.The Rebel attack started to slow early on and with more Union troops deployed in favorable positions the rebels found it hard to move forward or consolidate any local advantages.The game played out for several more moves but the CSA line started to implode in the centre and with fresh union troops arriving the rebel General conceded.

Flanders 1914

I've just completed an action packed encounter between a couple of companies of British and German advance guards. Fought over a densely packed table covered with loads of terrain both forces strove to achieve their objectives. I used the Command Rules again and these gave me a lot of variations which made play less predictable. The British slowly gained an advantage and despite a couple of platoons of scheduled reserves, the Germans had to concede. Here is a fuller account of this engagement.

The rules used were my WWI Period Adaptations of the WWII Ruleset in Introduction. As always they worked really well. I decided to go down an organisation level making platoon the scenario unit size. This gave more of the feel of a large skirmish type game. I must admit that I feel no real limitations as to whatever level you want to play the game at. Once I've designed the scenario and set the scale I'm usually in the way of thinking for the level being represented. I gave both Commands an average rating. This was to provide a bit of activity on the unit activation front which certainly produced some interesting nuances without dominating the game-play. There were a couple of instances of forced retreats and advances which disrupted both commanders strategies. As mentioned the map was well covered with gentle hills, extensive woodland and fields. The two objectives which both sides needed to secure to win the contest were a Chateau to the north of the board and a small village to the south east. The British had a superior force initially of two companies of four platoons each and these deployed along the southern table edge. The Germans held a company in reserve and this was scheduled to appear by turn 4. Both sides had 3 HMG sections to bolster their firepower. These proved useful once setup in fixed positions on hills or covering the infantry advance corridors. The Germans initially did quite well. They secured the chateau and at the same time made a foreceful flank move towards the village. The British had more units to the left flank and seemed poised to perform a sweeping flanking move, however, the British commander responded to this German threat by pulling some of his left flank across to the other to bolster and secure the village. British forces were successfully pinning the Germans on the left flank and the combat on the right intensified with a British push of the remaining German units from the village precincts and back towards the chateau. Despite the entry of a couple of German reserve platoons the writing was on the wall. In the remaining two turns the German battle line disintegrated while the British applied sustained pressure along the entire front. Eventually the chateau was occupied and Major Mallory could reward his lieutenants with a fine vintage from the wine cellar.

Crimean War Game

I recently completed an enjoyable game set in the Crimea. It was based on the
"Crimea a River" game presented in the Black Powder rulebook and involved a
British assault on a heavily defended Russian position composed on two redoubts,
bristling with four artillery units.

I played a similar game a couple of years ago so the game lineup and objectives

were similar but played rather differently although the outcome was the same - a

British victory - this time perhaps not as decisive.

The British advanced boldly across the river and onto the hills where the

Russians waited in their redoubts supported by columns of infantry and a strong

cavalry reserve.

The British concentrated their efforts on the eastern redoubt and this proved a

wise move where their superior firepower ravaged the Russian defenders at long

range despite some savage artillery fire.

A mass cavalry charge in the centre by the Light and Heavy Brigade broke the

Russian defenders and with their cavalry split on both wings managed to divide

the Russian forces into two zones. The stronger right flank took the redoubt and

disabled the cannons. The other redoubt was impotent due to the restricted angle

of fire imposed by the fixed position so the British were left to demolish the

Russian units piecemeal on that flank. The Russians did put up a courageous

counter attack on the left wing but the British forces were too strong and so

the Russian Prince conceded.

A great game packed with period touches and dashing gallantry. I love using the

British army - Guards, Highlanders, Riflemen, Hussars and Dragoons - makes quite

a spectacle and a real joy to play. The Russians did have some special rules in

their favour - their superior artillery was a potent force and stubborn infantry

a neat feature, however, British firepower superiority - both range and "to hit"

rolls, combined with their drill rule gave them quite an edge.

Freeman's Farm Re-fight: AWI Rules Period Adaptation

I played an enjoyable re-enactment of Freeman's Farm (American War of
Independence) inspired by the scenario presented in the Black Powder Rules,
which I recently purchased.

It called for quite a number of units and a crowded table of terrain which gave
it a good visual appeal. The American Forces under Benedict Arnold put up a
stout fight and managed to blunt several of the British advances but the overall
assault on the two farmhouses were achieved once the reserve brigade of Von
Breymann moved into action.

The American line managed to secure some local victories and caused severe
losses to the advancing British so despite being a British win this came at a
hefty cost for Burgoyne.

One feature of the game was that there were a number of special rules in play
which gave quite a bit of period colour. Each unit type seemed to have some
strength or weakness which could be important in the fighting resolution: both
shooting and hand to hand e.g. American riflemen being able to pick off officers,
enforcing a morale test on any unit receiving casualties from rifle
fire even if there was no base removed. These are all in my Army Lists at the
back of each period adaptation ruleset in the Folders Sections.

I'm looking forward to the release of the Nineteenth Century Rules later this
month to give some of the European conflicts or the Crimea another go.