Skirmish Sangin (Club game)

Dave's fire team are the first 4 figures I am the tail end Charlie.

Well yesterday  at the club I took along Skirmish Sangin.Only 4 boards out of the 8 I have, The first 4 boards I built for the project so I probably used up all the best ideas on the boards!!! The guys did like the boards and now want to play "Stargrunt" on them or Northwest frontier or Western Desert ot Biblicals or Crusades or Riff war (that's my idea, just saying!) You get the idea make some terrain and the guys want to play on it!

Anyway we were playing the Recon Patrol scenario from the rule book but with one very slight (major) change. The Taliban could decide where to place the ambush. They selected a stretch of quite exposed road. Dave my (my ally and squad leader for this game) set his figures up first leaving my fire team in a slightly more exposed position. As we were a patrol being in buildings or behind walls was not really a viable option. But we hugged the walls and low enclosure walls as much as we were able given the limitations of the terrain.

 The Taliban able to spot and shoot first hit 2 of my guys. One by the door (a grenadier with L85a2, shotgun and Underslung grenade launcher) by the door. Luckily only a flesh wound, the armour mostly saving him. The other guy, not quits as lucky, a light wound but would be dead without armour.

 The mission had not changed at this stage so Dave had his fireteam flank and make the most use of cover he could. All the while I am under fire. Not all one sided and I do fire back.

 The guy by the door, now prone (knocked off his feet) tries to first aid himself and fails and crawls along the ground towards his comrades. My guy other guy (with LSW) that is also wounded and very exposed crawls into the area between a field and a low wall. Takes up position and covers the rest of the fire team. Shame I have no idea who will support him and dress his light wound.

 The Taliban maintain firing positions and Relfie gets one onto a roof who takes a severe wound the next combat phase. He lays there moaning and groaning for the majority of the game (the figure, not Relfie).

 My lightly wounded guy between the field and the wall exchanges fire with the Taliban, does well, until Ian opens up with a PSHK. The light machinegun does a lot of damage and the armour can only save so much health and he becomes critically wounded, unconscious and that changes the mission.

Our new mission is to rescue him.

 The lightly wounded (only a scratch) man by the door spends several turns crawling to a comrade, who is covering with a "Minimi". A quick first aid checkreveals he is just battered and bruised and groggy but otherwise OK to fight on.

Dave continues to flank.  No doubt arguing that killing the enemy will allow for an easier rescue. And if he succeeds it will.








Covering I send one man out to offer medical assistance. I try to avoid the lines of fire the enemy are using.

Against the far building you can just see an enemy "Dicker"

 Look there he is. All he is doing is poking a head around the corner and NOT firing. Dave my squad leader urges me to fire at him. But the rules of engagement are such that I cannot as I see no weapon and take no fire from him. In reality it could be a kid looking to see what is going on.

 So I move out of sight and climb the building. Ian with his PSHK manages to spot and shoot my assistant squad leader. With only a 5% chance of hitting he rolls 04 and hits! I now have 2 men out of the fight and 2 left to retrieve them.

 Crawling through the field ne closes on the wounded LSW.

 He gets close but Ian and Relfie are both trying to kill him and he takes a wound and falls unconscious out in the open( well the poppy field)

 I do get my grenadier up onto the roof and fist aid my assistant squad leader. The first aid roll is a success and they stay out of sight. I have 1 man left and still 2 to rescue!

By the time he gets into a position to start to rescue the first wounded a novice Taliban with a knife wounded himself drops from the roof and starts to crawl towards one of my wounded.

Dave, remember Dave who went flanking! has manoeuvred into position behind the Taliban who are firing at my wounded guys and manages to kill them all.

Conclusion: A much more closely balanced game than with my nephew.  Due to the errors made I by my reading of the rules we should call it a draw. Personally I think it is a marginal Taliban victory but the media would claim a major Taliban victory! Only 2 wounded Taliban survived but we had 3 wounded British. Most importantly we all learnt the rules and the guys could remember the chances of hitting and the cover deductions and bonuses. If we were to play the game a few more times I think we would have it down pat and not need to have me semi continuously look things up.  Everyone says they will happily play the game again so to my mind that is a win for all concerned.

Final thoughts. I would like to try the rules in a couple of different settings not just modern Afghanistan. I can see them working as early as the Vietnam conflict and the Arab Israeli wars and that be a little less contentious.

Thanks for reading today. Have a good day from Foggy Kent.
All the best Clint

skirmish Sangin, game 2

Building on the success of the first game. I planned something a little larger. OK I used the 2nd scenario in the book.

In this scenario the British Paratroops are defending themselves from an ambush and the Taliban are attacking. WE each had a total of eight figures.










The terrain was very tight and excellent for close quarter battles. The problem was that I could only attack the British from certain very fight and congested directions. I am sure they found it just as tight as the medieval archer firing through an arrow slit of a castle.

 The game started and while I did spot and shoot first I hit nothing! Absolutely nothing! But James return fire was pin point accurate every spot mad and every shot not only hitting but a lethal wound.

This photo shows the last attacker on the south side . Out gunned out flanked and out of luck! Which is not to say he did not hit a British NCO. He did, but the armour saved the lucky fellow and despite failing his morale check (Needing 95% +) he fumbled it rolling the dreaded 00% So while he was down on the floor in a festal position wishing he was back in good old blighty his oppo Managed to plug my Taliban at short range in the open and with no cover.

 The last Taliban (a novice with rifle skill 0f 35%) tried to run of the board and escape back to base for tea and cake.


















James mercilessly took aim with his Light Support Weapon (LSW) on the roof top and gunned him down.

The game was all over in a single turn !

I could have played it differently in hind sight. But on the day I did not and they were all killed out right. No wounded, no prisoners each shot a killing blow and his dice were just too good. Young people and dice, they are just too good.

We both enjoyed the game though despite my white wash! And in real life the media probably would not tell of it at all. Unlike our previous game where I did inflict one kill.

My conclusions are the same as last time. The game works well and the rules are fine and younger the player the more deadly they are with the dice!

2 losses out of two games, but no intention of putting any of it on eBay!

Skirmish Sangin Trial game.

I finally got around to playing "Skirmish Sangin" By Radio Dishdash Publications. I was originally put off by the hefty volume as I wanted an easy game to play. And at 170 pages I put off reading the rules. I do not enjoy reading rules, sorry I just don't!.

So My nephew played the British and I was the Taliban. The first scenario was the Taliban had been firing sniper rounds into the British FOB (Forward observation base) and a small patrol of 4 men (1 fire team) had come across the place the sniper had been firing from. So the Taliban had 3 figures against the British 4. Firstly I want to say that the rules did work well and were very instinctive and that we were using my 20mm Afghan setup. While we did overlap on to two boards we could have played on a single 2 foot by 2 foot area. Mostly ranges do not matter with modern rifles at this scale  but each rifle would have an effective range of 2.5 meters at that scale on the tabletop with sniper rifles and machine guns at least double that. So in a 2'x2' area range was not an issue.

 So I set up 2 spotters with Ak47s on the roof .

 The sniper I set up in some broken walls and ruins. So many people think snipers have to be up high. Yes they have got a good view up there, but it does compromise their ability to re-locate. Not being a trained sniper I do not know what the correct awnser is I suspect it changes with each battle and when it comes to war films who the director is. But what do I know.

 The 4 British paratroops started kneeling behind a low wall. 3 had L85a2 rifles (one with an undeslung grenade launcher) the fourth figure had a "Minime" 5.56mm LMG.

 When the British moved to outflank. See James may be my nephew but he is not daft (despite being related to me.

As they came over the low wall I was able to spot them and fired with my "Novice" Taliban. Now most (if not all) of the rolls are percentages and by the time I had spotted the enemy and fired the gun I was on a 06% chance to hit. Long story short I did not but did give my spotters position away!

James continues to out flank me. But like many young players I have noticed wanted to climb on the buildings. I think that comes from computer games and TV and at his age I would do the same.

I move my spotter to try to relocate and get out of sight.

My other spotter fires and actually hits a Para. But the Para flak vest stops the bullet, but does knock him down.

My sniper is rolling badly and can't hit anything. He is useless (at least when I have dice to roll!)

 I am continued to be out flanked as the Para who had been hit dusts himself off passes a morale check and gets into cover out of line of sight.

My Novice Taliban rolls 100 % critically failing and misfires the AK. (There is a chart for fumbles and this is not too bad!) It just means a whole Phase of inactivity if he wants to fire again. My other spotter fails to see the Brits on the roof and continues to fir at the one he had already hit, who is now in cover. He does not hit the guy in cover and it does give his position away.

I continue to get outflanked as James puts pressure on my front and moves the flank runners around behind me.

The novice repairs his gun and opens up and SUPRISINGLY hits the para on the roof top and with a lucky wound roll kills him out right! So 1 to me and none to James .

Then it all goes wrong. the sniper gets outflanks and fails to spot the guy who out flanked him he does get a shot at another Brit, but misses by a long way  and so no effect.

The Sargent who outflanked was able to shoot and downed the sniper very easily. The Taliban in these rules tend not to have armour and with James luck tend to die with a single hit.

James also is able to bring fire on the novice Taliban and he dies pretty swiftly as well and my other spotter being out numbered 3 to one dies in the next combat phase.

It was close but a win for the Brits (Taliban get more Victory points for killing Brits due to the press etc than the Brits do from killing the Taliban.) . But a clear British win none the less. The whole game lasted 1 and a half turns or about 2 hours of playtime as we were explain the rules and checking things. WE did not use any heavy weapons or vehicles just the starter scenario ad it was a good way to start.

Conclusion:

1. Spotting the enemy is very important.
2. Armour is a life saver. (literally)
3. Cover is very important as well. It makes you harder to spot. !
4. and harder to hit!
5. never trust a young player with dice.... they roll well you know.

Rules wise the rules were simple to play and understand and were quite instinctive. Of course we did a few things wrong, we always do when trying new rules. But if a 15 year old can grasp them and have fun they cannot me too hard and they are not.

I may put another game on tomorrow or Wednesday.

Thanks for reading and I am quite impressed with how the rules work in practice. And I think they would work well in other settings, Vietnam for example.

2 more Boards

Well it's raining heavens hard here at the moment so I am reluctant to walk across the "Somme" of the lawn and get to the shed. So here are the three boards ready to be painted. Luckily I bought some more pain yesterday so I should (I hope) be able to get the first coat on them today, this afternoon. After the monsoon!
In keeping with the other boards each board has 3 road entrances and while this does not give as many possibilities as 4 would is sufficient for a fairly random layout.

Thanks for popping by today, all the best Clint

Finished.

Yep I have managed to do everything I need for the Arab Revolt game for Broadside. Literally

just finished at 7:45 am this morning.  Nope, not a beach board if that is what you are thinking. This is just a simple sheet of hardboard painted to look like sky and sand. It seems clear at shows that when people take pictures of games they usually have to crop the picture very close or allow the background of the show (yes all those handsome wargames chaps with killer physiques) clutter the back ground of the shot. I cannot clam that this is my solution after all model railway chaps have quite often put back drops in place. Also there was a guy at Salute this year, (and last) doing a Martian Game who had done something similar. So this is just my quick and simple solution to the problem this year.

I am not claiming to be an artist, my last art lesson was while at school about 30 years back. But I hope this simple scene will help to blot out the back ground of the general look of the show clutter. And if the worse comes to the worse, I have spent very little time or money on it so not a huge loss.

The board is 2 foot by 4 foot and other than getting it the wrong way up there really is nothing to go wrong. I went for that size for three reasons. 1) it is a commercially available size, 2) each of the boards is 2 foot square so it should be able to act as a backdrop on at least 2 boards at once. And 3) it is a size both easy to transport and hold into position.

Only time will tell if this will work. So thanks for looking today and with luck see you in a couple of days.

All the best Clint

Trees finished.

Well as the Broadside Show is a single week away now I have been progressing my boards a little. But only a little. To that end I have based the trees up and painted the bases. A very simple process of painting the bases then sprinkling them with sand and then another coat of paint to seal then again. I placed them on my Salute yellow carrier bag while drying.


And once dry I placed a few on the board to see if they would look right. Given that I have eight boards and 50 trees I think a ratio of 6 trees to a board will be about right. That should be enough to make it clear that there are some and yet not too cluttered to hinder movement and get in the way. As I will leave the placement of the trees to other people in the club I have no idea how sensible they will be. But scattered palm trees will work best I think.

Later today I will need to go to B+Q and get my final piece for Broadside this year. And with luck I will get that piece finished as well. (Before the show, not all done today although I do expect to start it.)

Sorry there is not too much on the paint table at the moment as I am considering what I will need to buy at Broadside this year. I only have a few wants, needs and desires at present so not expecting to start anything really new just before the show as I am bound to get a few things that I did not KNOW I really needed and will therefore make my life complete (until I see something else that is.) So I think it will be a lazy week on the brushes for me.

All the Best, and take care.
Clint.

Building done

I find that when I get near the end of a terrain board everything comes together in a rush. Today is an example. I have painted up the building top go on the board. Yes It's a bit rough in places, but seriously who cares too much about that. Yeah alright I know I do! But it's not too rough and plenty good enough to pass.

Keeping it brief so I can get back on with things. In particular the last few figures for the game.

Hope to talk soon. All the best Clint

Sea of Sand.

Nope nothing to do with a rather good film of the same name. I am afraid it hardly looks impressive but it is the next vital stage .

The first shot shows the board drying and with a thick layer of sand covering it. The sand is attached with paint(water based ready mixed poster and acrylic) PVA (resin W aka white wood glue)  mixed with equal amounts of water. This is the mixture I add to a cheap filler either from pound land when I am luck or from Wilkinson's when Poundland has none in stock. It is 3 times more expensive than poundland, but needs must when the devil drives. So once the mix is the correct viscosity I liberally paint it on the board and then using a sieve sprinkle very generously "builders sand" over the top. Wait a couple of days and then tip the board  on it side and give it a couple of whacks to remove the excess sand and then it is ready to paint.

I am fairly sure you can't see too much difference in the boards. Yes it is the same one, but the second picture shows the board after the excess sand has been removed.

Workspace is limited at the moment so I am only working on 1 board at a time. This is because when I mix the final paint colour I want it to match as much as possible so I will paint them both in one go.

Additionally I have offered to put a game on for the Rejects. (A SCW is already in the planning. but this is another one) I plan to use these boards to run a WW1 Skirmish game. The observant of you will already have noticed the poll  top right. Please take a moment to read on and click the single choice on the poll.

Being WW1 Middle East I have three possible opponents to the Turks. The Rejects I have asked have all been very non committal about what they would prefer. No option will cost me more than any other at this stage and all options have both advantages and disadvatages.

Option 1 Turks Vs Arabs. This allows me to expand my Arab revolt Game. But the Arabs being an irregular force at this time are very limited in equipment and disciple as we understand it in wargames.

Option 2 British Vs Turks. WW1 British army in Palestine tend to be wearing sun hats (very like Pith Helmets) and sometimes in shorts as well. They would also be better disciplined and equipped. Possibly including Lewis Guns)

Option 3 Turks Vs Indians. The Indian army were also as part of the Empire aiding in the middle east to fight the Turks. (Hindu Regiments only as Muslins were regiments were fighting in East Africa). These Are well equipped comparied with the Arabs and very disciplined. But for game purposes they would not be as well equipped or as disciplined as the British, Although better then the Arabs.

So those are the three options. If the Rejects get back to me and say they want a particular option I will of course go with that. So just for fun which option would you prefer.

Have a good weekend and I should post again on Monday.

All the best Clint

Building Done.

Ok Not quite finished it still has filler and Paint to go yet, but at least it gives the overall look, size and shape so come Monday I should be able to crack on with the next stage.

As you can see I took my favourite tools of destruction. Two scalpels 2 steel rules and engineering square. I only used 1 scalpel though with a 10a blade for those that care about such things. Oh only me then. I set about the Grey Board. For those of you who don't know Grey board is the cardboard version of MDF! It's cheap and versatile and robust and comes in different thicknesses.

 Working from a scrap of 3mm mdf for the base. This was cut square and sanded to remove any tool marks. I used both a foot and camel mounted figure to gauge the building height and size and height of the windows. The Grey board I had was also 3mm thick so I decided to double up on the layers to give it a more thermally massive appearance.

 I started by cutting the front and back and getting them about how I wanted them. I then cut the sides making sure that they were all the same height. Yes I know common sense, but still worth stating.

 I then assembled the basic box like structure. Using plenty of Resin W (PVA white wood glue). I allowed it to dry overnight.

 You can see I left an area at the back. It's not too neat at this stage as filler and paint can work wonders where my patience and inaccuracy are lacking. So no biggie! Again checking the sizes at every stage as you don't want to get it wrong if you can help it. Totally common sense.

 In the Morning I added the rear section to make the building "L" shaped and the roof on the main section. I gave this plenty of time to dry..... Ok I took a break and watched the Curling!

After the curling I added the roof to the rear section. I deliberately put the roof level lower to make this parapet deeper. This was done as I wanted the building to look like it had had a second stage so it would look like it was made at a different time. And then allowed a second night of Drying.

 Tomorrow I will go to my first wargames show of the year so expect a loot post tomorrow evening. It's not that I have a very large shopping list at all. But there are a few things I do intend to purchase. Possibly a few things for 20mm Vietnam games, possibly a few Victorian/steam punk Items, maybe some scenery and maybe some rules, definitely a few pots of paint! But we shall see what takes my fancy on the day.

So until tomorrow night take care and have some fun, oh and enjoy any SUN while you can.

All the best Clint.

More 20mm Terrain Boards

 I am taking a few days out from painting and working on some terrain. These two boards will combine with my Afghanistan boards to make the game terrain for the 20mm Arab revolt.

Yes there are a few differences between Afghanistan and the Middle east, but really there are more similarities. So with a few modifications they will pass muster, no one will know and let's be honest most wargamers will not care.

The first stage was to recycle two older boards, so much better than making new ones. Firstly it's quicker, secondly cheaper and thirdly no worries about where to put them as you already know you have space.

The next stage is to quickly sketch out what you want and where you want it. As all the other Afghan boards have road/tracks on the centre of 3 edges I decided to keep that protocol to allow for modularity.

In Sketching the boards out it is good to start with a strong idea. And for these two boards I wanted them quite sparse to reflect the town edge.

 Wanting them sparse I have decided on just one building, with some walled enclosures. I had one piece of door mat left so that was positioned and included to help continuity of the boards and to make it look like they were built at the same time (fingers crossed).

One board would also have a small trench. This is a free standing piece so it can be removed or moved in other games. It would also have a couple of free standing hills for the same reasons.


 As you can see there can be issues with recycling boards is that they may need a little cleaning up, where things have been glued down previously. Also as you can see this one corner has a 5mm wide notch cut in it. Most likely I will ignore this and as long as it goes on an outside corner will not affect the game in any way. I could patch it though al lot will depend on how cold and wet it gets in the next few days. Which will impact on whether I can be bothered or not. I know I should and guilt may well make me patch it, but I am tempted to leave it. I'll let you know what I decide.

 The next stage is to lay out and glue down any dry stone walls. Dry stone walls are so easy to make at this scale. Simply cut chipboard into a thin strip all done by eye, but about 3mm wide. You can then simply break this with your fingers to the right height and length. Obviously make sure there are no large and obvious overhangs and simply glue down.

I have put walls at road edges which gives me an indication of where the roads need to go a little later. And that is this stage done. It really does not take very long I would guess it took less than 2 hours to get to this stage.


The next stage is to build the single building. I might make that tomorrow. At present I have no firm ideas of how I want the building to be, other than single story quite long and thin and of a style to fit in with the ones already made so I shall "wing it" as I make it.

That's it for today, with luck I will be able to share the "Casualty bonus round" figure I painted next time. But that does depend on If Curt can get them all on his blog for the painting challenge.

So with luck some painting next time and some terrain making again if the weather holds, before the weekend! All the best take care, Clint