Enough?

Well this is my "Finished" Taliban force. When I say "Finished" I do of course mean finished enough for the Afghanistan game at Broadside. I shall try to keep adding more and more until I move onto another project. If I am honest I still have more undercoated waiting to go, but only a couple of weapons teams (an 81mm mortar and another 12.7mm hmg). But it is enough for the moment. The picture has all the ARMED Taliban. Dickers and civilians are not included. Maybe I'll do them another day.

So what is in this 20mm war band? Well I'm glad you asked.

•  2 Toyota style Pick-ups with12.7mm HMGs
•  1 Motor cycle with RPG and LMG crew
•  1 12.7mm HMG.
•  1 50mm mortar
•  1 AA missile
•  1 I am not sure of, Left hand side near the back. But it looks meatie
•  2 with scoped sniper rifles
•  8 with RPGs
•  8 with LMGs (7.62mm PKM)
•  3 with radios and AKs either leaders or spotters for off table mortars
•  5 leader types with binoculars
•  35 Assorted small arms mostly AKs but a few with bolt action Rifles.

So more than 60 all told which should give enough (more than enough) opposition to the Coalition.

That's the post for today. I'll blog again on Sunday. All the best Clint

 

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Moon Boards



All 6 boards

I have been finishing the moon boards for Andy at Ainsty Castings. It has taken far longer than I anticipated. But as he'll pick them up in 6and a half weeks I will have them completely finished. All I have to do really is paint the edges and seal them. I Know that will take some time but we are talking hours and not days. Each board is 2 foot on a side battened 6mm MDF bases. Kindly note that you can see the floor so it's not me doing B+W photos this time although you would be forgiven if you thought so. Having never visited the moon I went with greys as a colour scheme as they are what it looked like when I last saw the pictures of the moon landings. I did for a while over-think the issue and wonder what colour the moon was, but a quick reality check soon bought me round to the right way of thinking.

Anyway now these are done I have no excuse not to start the Afghan boards. So they will get started tomorrow. It sounds silly to express the thought that I have been putting them off but I suspect I have at some level of consciousness. Or maybe I am over thinking it.

Other news: Broadside continues to creep towards us. I have this morning contacted Ambush Alley Games and supplied my "Shipping Address" for some "Con support". As mentioned before I have no real idea what this will consist of, but even if just pamphlets it's still worth having as a hand out to anyone at the show and might create a point of discussion with anyone passing by. SO it's all good. 

On Monday (After I posted) another trader asked for an invite to the show. Unfortunately as it stands we are on our limit for space. However if anyone drops out we can accommodate them. Additionally we are still waiting for written confirmation from one games club, He's a friend of mine (from university way back in the distant past) so I am granting him some latitude. The other option is that our sponsors "Pen and Sword" who were planning to run 3 games at the show might only be able to manage 2 (they are struggling to arrange the third game). SO we are looking at re-jigging the layout if we need to. In an Ideal world we'd have as many traders and games as we could. Personally I'd put traders ahead of games, but do realise that games are also good as they can help support the traders by showcasing what can be done. I know I have seen a game at a show and thought I'd like to do that and then went looking for a trader who had some of the desired "Shinies!"

I have been reading "Call sign Hades" an account of the Lieutenant in the Royal Irish Regiment and his experiences in Sangin. So far it has been very informative and I have learnt a lot about the conflict from one mans very personal point of view. Some of which I will no doubt bring to the table.

As Rainham club have three meetings before Broadside I have proposed that next time we do some more Force on Force, to embed the rules in our heads. This time I'll introduce IEDs and air strikes and give the Talibs more fire power Given that we have 3 meets left the second game should be something very different so we don't get stale. The Final meet (3rd June) I have invited Fran  http://theangrylurker.blogspot.co.uk/ and Ray (http://onelover-ray.blogspot.co.uk/) from Posties Rejects to pop down for a Pre Broadside game. Should anyone else want to come as well let me know and we can probably make it happen.
And finally I have started work on our propose "Zombie Campaign" at the Rainham club. I was wondering where I should set it, England or the States. Fictional or a real city I did even consider "Liberty City" from GTA as I have all the maps and loads of place and character names. but have settled on a setting now. It may be possible IF (and it is a big IF) I get the concept right to get a few people in the Blogosphere to play remotely. But more of this another time. That's today's Post. Thanks for reading. Take care next post on Friday.

No Mans Land (WW! Zombie Game)



German Frontline Trench

The situation was that there had been lots of screaming an shouting and gun fire the night before last in the German trench. The following day it had gone quiet. Some movement and abstract sounds had been hear but the Germans were not returning fire to the British Trench. In the Afternoon the Germans bombarded the trench with their own artillery. A trench raid was organised for that night to find out what was going on and if the troops in that section of the line had rebelled against the Germans.
The Scenario had three objectives that needed to be recovered and brought back to British trench line. The objectives were scattered to create a need to move about the battlefield and an action was required to pick them up, which would mean they would be stationary for at least one action.
Using the 7ombie TV rules I created 8 characters and one each was selected randomly by each player. Neither the Sergent nor the corporal were selected meaning the raid would be lead by a lance corporal (Patrick one of the younger members). Tim (Patricks Dad) had the only medic, all the other players had privates with various levels of combat abilities. Ian had the best rifle marksman, Relfie the best brawler, Kev had a pistol to supplement his rifle and Frasier the most agile. They all had a rifle and a bayonet.

Kev, Ian and Relfie sprint

Pat split the squad and gave each team one of the three objectives. Kev, Ian and Relfie had an objective the furthest from their start line, inches from the other side of the board. They set of fast double moving as much as possible. Kev take an action and shoots the Zombie that is shambling towards then from the trench they have just left. He plugs it and it kisses dirt. Not a head shot though so it's still in the game.at being the highest ranking character also had an extra figure and they also sprinted through the front line to the centre of the board. They managed to retrieve a strange gas canister. The Extra was put in charge of carrying it.



Patrick with an extra reach the centre objective

Meanwhile Frasier and Tim were being more cautious. Having the closest objective but close to several spawning points They reached the trench edge and were driven back with Tim taking a wound. They withdrew out of zombie attack range while Tim used the first aid pack and hes medic skill. It took him a couple of attempts but managed it in the end. By this time however sufficient Zombies had arrived to make their initial plan un-workable. The Zombie Tank appears, but never ever gets to attack the fast moving Brits



Frasier and Tim approach their objective.

Relfie and Kev stand in the open and keep firing at the zombies trying to come at their rear. While they don't close the back door completely they do manage to drop enough Zeds to allow Ian to scamper into the far trench and pick up a bloodstained journal. Bringing on More Zombies each turn I spawned some close to Ian. Unfortunately he managed to get out of the trench before they could close on him (Curses)

Patrick runs to meet up with Relfie and Kev.

With the canister Patrick orders his extra to carry it as they try to meet up with Kev, Ian and Relfie. They were struggling with ammo reloads (rolling lots of 1's). But despite this they continued to drop Zombies and even managed one or two head shots. Overall they did manage to hold the zombies back  sufficiently to allow a regrouping action.



The squad joins up (except Frasier and Tim)

Having joined up (except Tim and Fraser) they quickly formulated a shoot and scoot policy to keep them moving out of the attack radius of the zombies. They had two of the three objectives but still had to get back to their own lines (off their starting edge.) The zombies do try to close in, and do make the players pick their targets carefully. At this stage only one of the downed Zeds has managed to stand up again (No not the one Kev shot first, that one did stand up eventually but not with anyone close enough to make it interesting.



Tim In trouble

Meanwhile Tim and Frasier have problems of their own. Frasier moves away and leaves Tim to keep the zombies away. Tim gets another wound but disengages and in a heroic surge dives back into the trench and reaches the objective. He picks it up, But then being so far away from friendlies and surrounded by Zeds fails his morale check and is forced to flee the board without the objective. No doubt gibbering when he gets back to his own fronline. He may face a court marshal for cowardice in the face of the enemy, or he may get sectioned if he gibbers about undead Germans enough. Harsh.

Still plenty of zeds near the 3rd objective

Shoot and Scoot policy in action


The fire and move tactics work in drawing the zombies towards the main squad. When they get close enough to form a gap Kev charges past them towards the last objective. I am not sure if it was his intention to drag some zombies away from the main group or a desperate attempt to get all three objectives. Whichever it was it was very daring, I'll have to have words with him!


Approaching the last ternch

Frasier moves up the edge of the board towards the rest of the squad (minus Kev of course) keeping the wire between himself and the undead.Moving into a position to help out should they need it.

Kev does get swamped by 4 zombies but I only manage to get one wound on him and next action he's through them all and has a clear run onto the objective now the Zeds have been dragged to the other end of the battlefield.

Where's Kev Gone?

The Rest take the opportunity and Relfie jumps into a trench full of zeds with Ian promising to back him up. We are all surprised when he does. The first zed shot finally stands up (Tim is now helping me play the zombies as I have about 45 zeds on the board, much to my relief as he manages to stand a few up. Ian then Persuades Patrick to jump into the trench to be ablative armour on Ian's behalf.
The squad continues to fight along the trench now that they have realised that Relfie isn't a great shot but is an excellent brawler and able to drop two zeds a turn. A real powerhouse he pushes through. The others all do their bit but Relfie just keeps the front zombies stunned and they move on like some kind of convoy.
Kev's special abilities are based around his morale and he's not to bothered with being all alone. yes he does fail a couple of morale checks but with his skills and good re rolls is unaffected. He does get mobbed by a group of zombies at the final objective but bad dice rolls mean I fail to hit him so he scoops it up and dashes away.


Frasier lends a hand

Everyone else scrambles out of the trench and in the final turn manage to get off the table edge. So the Goodies won. (Boo Hiss) .

Lessons leaned/conclusion. Firstly the players seemed to enjoy it. And so they should, they won and beat me not that I'm bitter. I will get revenge though you have been warned.

The rules are really simple and easy to adapt which means that for the most part we can remember them and just get on with the game. Which is what we want after all and not tediously having to look things up all the time.

Initiative worked better in the "Car-park" game as it was less predictable as to who would go next and thus made the game more interesting as it was harder to know if the living could always stay just out of contact. This meant the Shoot and Scoot tactics worked really well. This a more random initiative it would be harder to manipulate the moves to your advantage.


Kev at the last objective

The second ting about having so many zombies would be that they zombies need more than one initiative setting. By this I mean a proportion of the zeds having a different mark on their base (say red and green) and different initiative counters so they would be activated at different times. Making a far less predictable game. I think I shall do this by grass tufts or no tufts.

Thanks to Relfie for some of the Photos. I faded the colours to reflect the era the game was set in. also because it gave a unified effect as all the figures and terrain were so different. I hope it has not detracted too much from the game. Personally I think it works, but it only works if you think so as well.



Action in the last trench

Lastly I know this is pic heavy, I have tried to keep it in order, but I may have some sequencing wrong between my and Relfies Photos, again I hope you'll forgive that.

Anyway that's what we did at the club yesterday. I have proposed a Zombie campaign and will be working towards that after Broadside. I shall start typing back ground for it from now though so feel free to shoot ideas at me.

All the best, take care and thanks for reading.
Cheers Clint.

Fighting through

Kev gets Mobbed

Nearly there





Last turn with players gone and zombies milling about












For Shelldrake

This is the figure I wish to use in your Play by blog game Shelldrake.

Stats are already posted in your comments but also repeated below.. If you want a back story let me know and I'll add it to your comments. All the best Clint.

Cheyenne Devonda Noble.. Friends call her "Von" or "Vonda" or Vonnie" But NEVER CHeyenne

Attribute:
GUNS: 7 (30pts)
Fists: 8 (21pts)
Guts: 11 (18pts)
TOTAL 69pts

Skills:
Medic (10pts)
Run for your life (10pts)
Mixed Martial Arts (10pts)
Zombie Stomper (20pts)

Total 50 pts.

Gear: Blades x2 (2pts)
First Aid Kit (15pts)
Pistol (3pts)
Body armour (20pts)
Grenade (10pts)

PID checks

PID checks (Personel Identification checks) must be carried out in order to comply with the ROE (Rules of Engagement). It is a simple rule which can stop the coalition from unleashing a massive amount of firpower on figures which may or may not be combatants. In game terms this is a straght-forward troop quality check by the troops who wish to decern if the figures are armed or not. In Ambush Alley the basic mechanic is 4+ sucseeds. SO the taliban player should put some civilian type figures down on the table and until they pass a PID check OR these "civilians" open fire.

Assuming the Coalition troops pass the PID check then the "Civilians" would be revealed as either what they are or as Taliban. Thefore in the top two pictures they are potentially the same unit. WHich could be very very bad if the Taliban can set up and catch the coalition in the open.

Here is a Taliban light mortar. A two man crew with a 50mm light mortar. Easy to set up pop a few rounds with and then scurry away. They also have 80mm mortars in the Taliban arsenal as well as recoiless rifles which fir in both direct and indirect modes. But My players need not worry about that too much at the moment as I have yet to buy any of those.

I have nearly finished the moon boards for Andy at Ainsty Castings. I have no excuse for not finishing them by Monday. This will allow me to crack on with the Afghanistan boards. For me the real issue is motivation but it is also lack of space. It really is cramped if I need to work on more than one terrain project at a time. I would quite literally be tripping over things.
That's it for today, as I need to sort out the WW1 Zombie game for tomorrow. All the best Clint

Technically Speaking

Given that in the last game the Taliban were out-gunned I painted up another technical. It had a couple of "bullet holes" aka casting bubbles across the bonnet so I thought I would enhance then and give the vehicle a shattered wind screen. Sometimes it's just easier than trying to patch a model up. The two guys in the back are not fixed in place. I was unsure if the 12.7mm HMG should face forward or backwards this way both options are covered and the third option of being a civilian vehicle is also available. Instinctively I do put the gun facing forward, as did Kev in the game where he controlled it. Having looked at a few pictures from "technicals" from around the world seem to be evenly split between forward and read firing weapons. (I have even seen one that was "Designed" to fire from one side only. My guessing is that they use whatever works. Back to talking about the firepower difference, if we look at the difference between a British WW2 Battalion and a Modern Company, the modern company is about 40 times larger in terms of firepower or so I was reading last night. To me that's a massive disparity.I have just about finished the Taliban now. 8 more on the painting table all RPGs and LMGs. As I think that they might be the things I run out of especially if they break down into weapons teams. The advantage of weapons teams is that they get more firepower with a dedicated assistant to the gunner or grenadier. The disadvantage is that they are vulnerable in terms of morale. After all if it's just you and one other and the 'other' takes a wound there is more chance that you'll be next. I did send off for a couple more Afghan items last night but only a small order and nothing vital.  Just a few figures which may not get used even if I do get them painted in time... Another load of goats for example. Finally here is yet another vehicle. A donkey and a cart. Just a piece of slow moving terrain to block roads and generally get in the way. No I have not sent for more, one should be enough.

Well that's today's news. I'll post again on Saturday. Till then take care and happy Blogging! Cheers Clint

Getting there

Once again hallow! Only one new pic today, everything is about half done on the paining table so nothing finished enough for a new pic except these. Just a few mor Taliban with AKs. I'll try to get some more finished today so there'll be something more substantial to show on Thursday.

Mind you I have been busy today, up the shed at 6am working on the last moon board. All the construction is done, and it is being sealed as we speak. Once it is dry I should be able to paint them in a day and then just tape the edges to avoid splinters and they are all done. Been a long time in coming but the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.

As soon as the moon boards are out of the way I shall start the Afghan boards. I took a few moments at work last night to finalise (in my mind) the plans. There will be 4 boards each 2 foot square. I will put a "T"-Junction track/road on each one. This will give me quite a variety of layout sand allow the vehicles to travel about without making it an obvious grid. One of the "T" Junctions will actually be a "V" shape just to break up the straight lines which should reduce some of the firing arcs. IF I have time I shall also make 2 very narrow "Canal" boards. about 6 inches wide and 2 foot long. My reading indicates that there are a number of contested bridges in the Sangin area (Green 12 and Green 78 although I am sure the locals call them different things). These can be used to either edge the battle boards or to separate them. They are low priority at this time though so may not get done at all.

Ok I have put it off for as long as I dare. Zombie WW1 game. I can almost hear you cheering that finally I get to the interesting bit. As mentioned in the comments yesterday it will be a mish-mash with pieces coming in from several game sources so It won't be as pretty as I would hope. If I get inspired to run it a few more times I'll repaint the terrain. At the moment all the trenches are desert, they were made for a Galipoli game long before WW1 become a popular period to wargame and sat in boxes up the shed un used for about 10 years. So if we do more WW1 Zombies then I'll paint them in black and grey to give it a night times and Black and white cine film feel.

Figures will be my monochrome zombies (inspired by he Left 4 Dead computer game. Mostly Wargames Factory. I have a few unmade so I might have a go at making a "Wire Zombie" Not sure how just yet, but it will come together no doubt. If I do yes I will post pics. The Brits are a cobbled together collection of Renegade, Foundry, woodbine and Great war miniatures. Basically whatever I could buy cheap on that famous online auction site.

Rules will be 7ombie TV by Crooked Dice. I re-read them last night and found that in the car park game I ran at Christmas I got the rules wrong. This time they should be more mobile and thus more threatening.

As mentioned Yesterday I will base it around a Trench raid rather than a pitched battle and as the Brits are early war figures they do lack Lewis guns etc. Not sure you would ever take a Lewis on a trench raid bit cumbersome if you ask me. So no Tanks, Planes, Artillery or Machine guns, just your basic foot slogger with a SMLE a bayonet and some pluck. Reading through the rules there are several co-star archetypes that can fit so I can create some variation in the pregen characters but I won't push it too far. I don't think I'll have any characters with scavenger skills after all walking round a trench with a lawn mower does not feel right to me. What I shall most likely do is drop a few extra bits of kit to different characters to try to balance it a bit more.

I won't go too deeply into background and who manufactured the Dreaded ZED-GAS (probably the French it sound like a French idea to use on their own troops who refuse to attack.... but this is only speculation.). As at this stage it's a one off game I'll see how it goes before I spend too much effort on it.

I'll try to remember the camera and spare batteries

Thanks for reading, I'll post again on Thursday and with luck I may have more new troops to show.

All the best Clint

Zombie WW1

Just a quick post (proper post tomorrow) Just found out we might have 2 new people coming to Rainham wargames club on Sunday. We wanted an active game to get them involved. So I was talking to Kev and we have hit on the plan of using 7ombie TV rules for a zombie game... everyone loves zombie games after all*.
The Pic shows my modular trench system, at the Skirmish show a few years back (3  years ago I think). Anyway I'll get the players to do a trench raid on a section of the line that the Brits think has rebelled against the Germans for some reason as they do hit their own line with the big guns. So a squad is sent to investigate. I know the players will already know it's a zombie game. But it should be slightly different. I may add more detail in my usual blog tomorrow.

*Disclaimer: Ok not everyone loves zombie games but I do so that's settled.

Double ups

 As you can see from this series of pictures I have pulled my finger out and got on with it. What we have in these pics is a series of double ups of figures. Given the irregular non uniform state of the Taliban even minor differences can easily mark out similar figure poses into distinctly different individuals.  The two guys on the far right for example are painted exactly the same but with one being just that shade lighter.  Even placed next to each other on the table top (perhaps not with my photography skills) they look sufficiently different that no one will really notice or care that much. All these twelve figures are from my usual source (MJ FIGURES), and as they only make a limited selection of packs I think when they are all scattered around the table no one (other than me perhaps) will worry about doubles. Yes it is nice to have variety especially in a skirmish game where you can mostly get away with fewer figures. It is however not essential In the past when there were fewer manufactures whole battalions of figures might be in a single pose. For Napoleonic armies this did not look too bad but for ancients it just looked wrong. Every man holding a spear in the same way quite possibly in mid thrust all synchronised and in time with each other. How things have changed. Personally I like skirmish games and I like a variety of figures. I don't really mind a variety of manufacturers as long as the figures are all of a certain quality. And I do find it dull to paint the same figure time and time again, it seems more like repetitive work than a hobby and that may well have been the reason for my previous apathy. In summery I don't mind repeat figures but I do like variety.

Another reason for the banishment of Apathy might well be the postman (Alan yes even postal workers have names and my usual postie is called Alan.) On Saturday morning he delivered 2 parcels. A book which I'll talk about at a later date as I have only just started it, and some shiny metal friends. For less than £20 (Including postage) I have got all the Brits I think I'll need. I am not ready to paint them yet, still working through some Taliban bits and pieces. All I bought was 2 eight man squads with the right weapons which should be enough Brits for Broadside. 16 men does not seem a lot, but it should be sufficient given the firepower a squad can kick out.

BROADSIDE NEWS: Apart from Mark leaving a trader of the floor plan and him now having to find a place to squeeze them in. He'll manage and I won't blab about which trader it is. But the real news is that Miniature wargames not only has our advert this month but we also get a mention in the front of the Mag. They are talking about our "Make and Take" table for youngsters (in age not young at hear... Boo Hiss!) where Armourfast will donate some model tanks for the kids to build and play with. Yeah I know I wish I was a youngster as well. Anyway a Big thanks to Tracey at Armourfast and lets see if we can encourage a few youngsters to put the mobile phone down for 5 mins and do something creative.There will also be an associated games table for them and a simple set of rules.

I have not as yet managed to sort the club shirts out. I did speak to a supplier (Ok a market trader) but he can't get what I want. I could get them on line, but the tee shirts I want are about £9 each, before printing so I may have to look at alternatives.

My art supplier can't get me any more grey board either. Actually he can get 2mm think but as I am looking for 4mm thick it still counts as a no for me at this time. However I have found some suppliers on line so I shall just have to pay through the nose for delivery and probably make a minimum order as well. I don't really mind as I know If I have the materials I will find a use for them.

That's today's offering. Thanks for Reading and I'll blog again on Tuesday. Take care and have a good Sunday afternoon. Cheers Clint

Post script: The date on the Broadside poster top of this blog is last years poster. I will change it to this years poster later today. So if it reads 2011 forgive me. BUT if it says 2012 then you missed my obvious mistake.

APATHY

Slowly ploughing through the Taliban figures. It is slow but I am getting there. These are still MJ figures 8 in all finished, varnished and put away. I know I have another batch on the painting table as I type this but I am struggling to summon the enthusiasm. It will probably come in a few hours, no doubt when I have to get ready for work. But at present APATHY reigns. Still this lot don't look too shabby well they are meant to be a little shabby being Afghan freedom fighters. Things may change when the postman arrives as I am expecting a couple more toys. and that may well tip the balance and build some enthusiasm. Lets hope so.

I'll keep it short today and hope for a better report on Saturday. We all have off days and this is mine.

Still enough whinging for now. All the Best Clint

Taliban Goats!

 Okay I'll put my hands up. I saw the listing on Britannia miniature for a goat-herder and goats and could not resist. I knew I'd come up with a use for it later and then I found the second picture and It all made sense. I  have 5 goats in all but forgot to photograph it. Other than "flavour" on the battle field goat herd can also do a few other things. If flooded across a road at the wrong time they might slow vehicles down. They might be cover behind which the more sneaky locals might advance un-noticed (or flee). There are no doubt other uses for them, but they are mostly "flavour!" By Flavour of course I don't mean tasty things to eat.  True world wide more goats are eaten for food than sheep or cattle (not as many as pigs though) they are not destined for the British Army Catering Corp. Well they are not intended to be but you know how some players are.
Have a look at the tufts, I usually use "Army Painter" tufts, but found this guy on eBay who was making his own and a bit cheaper. To me they look just as good. They are not as 2sticky" on the base as Army Painter and he only does 2 colours. (green and dried grass) they also come in more regular clumps which I have broken down into smaller ones. Overall I am very impressed and will probably get some more.
The third picture was a private contractor who came with the MJ figures Camera crew (shown previously) not sure what I can use him for in scenarios but I will find a use. Coming in the news reporters pack he's obviously intended as their security but as they will be covering the Afghan war from a British Soldiers eye view he might be redundant in this game setting.
Well that's the Broadside game covered, but I have also been working up the shed on the last of the moon-scape boards for Andy Lyon. Nothing to show at the moment as it's all drying out and will probably take another day or two. This will be the last of the boards and then the next stage is to paint them all the same shades of black and then progressively lighter greys.

I needed a break from painting 20mm Taliban, so I bashed out a few modern corpses. These are 28mm by Frontline Wargaming (http://www.frontlinewargaming.co.uk/). Nothing special in the paint job. I just wanted a change from Afghanistan 20mm.

Well that's it for today. Time to makes some lunch and then maybe back to the paint table before I head out to work. All the best thanks for reading/following all the best Clint

Learning the rules. (again)

Dicker scouting

Still scouting

 Our game on Sunday started with our usual chaos. I turned to Kev and said "Have you got a scenario planned?" He said "No" stroked his beard and said "We could do one from the book!" to which I said "We don't have the right stuff! I know we'll each take some troops and just fight an encounter and see if we can remember the rules." We had played Force on Force a few time before so we had a rough idea, but only rough. Me and Ian were to be the British, I gave Ian the choice between Regular or Royal Marines. He chose Marines I am not surprised but I would have preferred regular army as they get a DMR while the RM get an extra LSW. Don't know if Ian realised there was much of a difference between a Designated Marksman Rifleman (DMR) or a L86A2 LSW and knowing that it would take a while to explain I went with his choice of extra fire-power as opposed to a marksman. In a way I was glad as it meant I did not have to have a quick read about Designated Marksmen. Kev and Relfie (took some Taliban troops a basic squad of 8 each with an RPG and LMG, each split into 2 fire teams of 4 men. They also had a couple of motorbikes a technical with a HMG and a separate HMG weapons team on foot. Looking back they should have had a little more stuff as I was not aware just how much lead a Marine fire team can fire in one turn. My mistake and with luck I can learn from it. 


Fire team Charlie One One (Kev in background)

The first turn was all about the Taliban getting into position. They started with initiative and managed to retain it every subsequent turn. No matter what either me or Ian rolled we just could not get initiate. EVER. We did however use this to our advantage by staying still and reacting to their movements and firing. I drew first blood and wounded two of El Relfie's Talibs as they moved into position to fire at Charlie One One. Relfie won the reaction but failed to cause any significant harm to my boys. My return fire put two of his face down in the dirt. They were then "Caveman casevaced" away by the locals. The tussle across the board was mostly a game of hide and seek with Ian's Marines hiding in the crops or against a compound wall completely oat of sight of Kev's Talibs. SO Kev advanced into a strong position behind a wall and bought the technical up and put it on overwatch. Several bloke jumped out the back of the Toyota and made their way to the roof of a building so they could fire down on the Marines hiding in the crop field. Unfortunately Ian was able to react to this rooftop plan and let loose with all he had. The result 4 casualties and more "Caveman CASEVAC" rolls for Kev. Ian tried to "pop smoke" for his other fire team and failed so decided not to walk in front of the technicals HMG. His second attempt to "POP smoke" did work though and he risked it. The combination of cover from the compound, body armour and smoke nullified Kev's overwatch fire and Ian opened up. A GPMG, SA80, another SA80 with underslung grenade launcher and a L108A1 Saw. He did hit the technical and managed to suppress it for the rest of the turn, but as this was the end of the turn it was not superessed for long.


Fire team charlie 0ne Two

Meanwhile back on my side of the board Charlie


El Relfies advance

One One moved up, as did Charlie One Two. Relfie had his HMG set up covering the road and had cut my force in two. His Motorbike crew had dismounted and merged with his weakened unit who had gotten round the corner out of my line of sight. SO as I was saying I moved up and used the building mass to protect my troops (yes okay I hid from the heavy machine gun. very sensible, but not all that heroic.) seeing the situation the Talibs all advanced and with no line of sight I could shoot at nothing. When I did circle Charlie One One back round the way they had come the Heavy GM that was on overwatch let rip. Yeah I bottled it when I tried to unite my troops and took a casualty and ducked back the way I came. I was very lucky as it turned out my medic discovered it was just a flesh wound and declare him fit for duty. Although El Relfie did not know it he pretty much had me pinned down and I was considering calling for air support. I saved the tax payers a few quid by not doing so in the end by a piece of luck. The Talibs were closing in and had moved up to a close assault range I then had to admit that I had not read those rules last night and got jeered at. (Justifiably) Keeping in cover I was able to stay out of sight for the most part except for a dash across an archway.But I won the reaction and moved before the Talibs could fire. Then Kev in a moment of pure Captain Mannering command acumen left his walled overwatch position and tried to flank Ian's troops. he moved his troops across an open stretch of land in sight of Charlie One Two, I won reaction and the whole weight of the fire team with my GPMG, Saw and undeslung grenade launcher fired at the exposed taliban. The dice god failed me and I missed with the lot. And they slipped from view behind the compound walls. Curses.

hmg fields of fire.



El Relfies troops in position.

The technical was getting a battering from Ian and he managed to immobilise it and force the crew to bail out. They remounted in the next turn but for a turn they were no threat. So he sent his men onto the compounds roof and fired down point blank into Kev's Talibs who had eluded me. One round of fire and they were all down and out. El Relfie then moved up real close and got on top of the building closest both Charlie One Two and Ian's marines that had emerged from the crops now the technical was less of a threat. And then the dice gods played another trick and two fireteams of Marines were able to target the guys on the roof. We both fired and only the man with an RPG was left standing, but was forced to pull back. His other unit then tried to initiate some close assault moves (I had taken a few moments to read the first part of the rules for it by then...while they were brewing the tea.) He failed to enter hand to hand as the a whole Marine squad opened up at point blank. Result Dead Talibans and smiling Marines.
This is about where we left it as Kev and Relfie were not really in a position to carry on and Ian had to go home. I would like to thank Kev for supplying all the figures and buildings and Relfie for taking the pics as I'd left my camera at home DOH! Thanks guys it really is appreciated.

This was quite a good refresher for Broadside (2 months away gulp) and worked well to re acquaint us with the rules including some w had not used before. I was surprised that the game lasted as long as it did but that is perhaps my fault for not having a scenario and forces worked out before hand. Yes I did make a few rule errors, but it was mostly around remembering exactly when rule exceptions apply. But generally t worked well AT least for the Brits). I'll try to structure the game better next time.

Other news: I have been to a Hall meeting this morning and seen the plans that the local council have drawn up to improve the hall. Over all very impressed, it should not impact us greatly as a wargames club but it does involve updating our kitchen  loos and car park. Don't get me wrong it's not perfect, but overall feel it is a step forward.

Thanks for reading and next post Wednesday.