Blenneville or Bust

TwoFatLardies just released the latest Robert Avery masterwork, a fictitious campaign for Normandy in 1944. Get it here  in PDF for £9.50

It's going onto my ereader tonight!
In honour of this (and because I'm still waiting on my steel paper!) the next few posts will be some more Heroics & Ros WW2 stuff that I haven't detailed yet.

Dux Bellorum Arrives

My copy of Daniel Mersey's new Arthurian game for Osprey Publishing, "Dux Bellorum", just turned up today.
Primarily I bought this publication because I am very new to this period and I thought an Osprey publication would be useful for artwork and examples.  TooFatLardies's Dux Britanniarum appears to be a good set of rules, but most of the images are diagrams to explain the rules.  I felt that Dux Bellorum would be likely to have more pictures of models and artwork from Osprey books.

I am not disappointed.  There is a fair bit of "wargamer porn" in this book, and certainly it gives me a few ideas for schemes to paint by Britons and Saxons.
Have yet to explore the rules but I probably will at some point.  In his introduction Daniel talks about a focus on command and control, so it will be interesting to see what mechanisms are used.

Coming soon, more Heroics and Ros figures in detail.....

Quick Review : FoF Enduring Freedom

A while back I received my copy of the Enduring Freedom sourcebook for Force on Force by Ambush Alley.  This is Force-on-Force's book on Afghanistan from the commencement of hostilities in 2001 to the current day.  It is a lovely looking book, paperback with full colour pages.  Some comment has abounded regarding the cover art.  Earlier placeholder art was in my view better, but Osprey / Ambush Alley have obviously decided to go with this one in the final release.  It wouldn't have been my choice.

From my perspective this book is "more of the same" when compared with the earlier Iraq book (Road to Baghdad).  There are 20 scenarios in this book, most of them seem to trend towards the larger size of game (Full platoons with support on both sides), rather than the earlier small forces we saw in the initial Ambush Alley product.

The format of the book roughly follows the same approach taken in "Road to Baghdad".  An overview of the conflict is followed by explanations of the specific rule elements for Force-on-Force that apply to the current conflict in Afghanistan.

After that we have the 20 scenarios, followed by details of organisation and vehicles for the various ISAF and Afghan forces.  A quite nice part of this book is a guide to uniforms, painting and model selection for the conflict.  It desn't suit my predeliction for 6mm all that well, but it's nice to see in what is essentially a hooby book.

If you've been a follower of Ambush Alley Games and modern wargaming for a while, there may not be a whole heap for you in this book, apart from the scenarios.  I had a vague feeling of "samey-ness" leafing through the book, but to be honest I have not found the time to invest in a cover-to-cover in-depth read.

If you're interested in Afghanistan, it's obviously a must have.  If not, then I'd leave it.
Maybe it's because it's Australian focused, but I think the older Operation Uruzghan book that AA Games issued before the Osprey partnership was a better book, with scenarios more suited to what I'd like to game in the Afghan conflict.

Force on Force Arrives...Early!

My colleague who sits next to me just came back from the mail area with two packages.
Inside was this:

The books look very nice and are more compact than the A4 printouts I had of the original rules.
More details after I get a chance to have a flick through over lunch.
But for now.....Back to Work!!!

Christmas Loot

For Christmas I received some money from relatives, and that has been spent on some more 6mm - more bulletins once the figures arrive.  I've already mentioned my paints Vallejo paints as well.

 

I also had some money from my wife, so I immediately set about giving it to TooFatLardies.

 

I picked up:

• Bag the Hun - WW2 Aerial Combat (expanded to Post War in various Specials)
• Sharp Practice - Napoleonic Skirmish (large number of scenarios and expansions available)
• Kiss Me Hardy - Napoleonic Naval Rules (hopefully get my Wizkids Pirates back out)

Plus I picked up a number of Specials, which amongst a whole heap of other stuff contained:

• Summer 2004 : Up your Cara al Sol - Spanish Civil War and A Bunch of Limey Gangsters - Commandos for IABSM
• Christmas 2005 : To Die for a Tie - Korean War for IABSM
• Summer 2006 : What's for Afters - Pegasus Bridge scenarios, and Grabbing Mussolini's Baubles - InterWar conflicts for IABSM

Force-on-Force Primer Available

The guys over at Ambush Alley have released the Force-on-Force Primer - a series of 6 scenarios for Force-on-Force that you can play interlinked as a campaign, by Piers Brand.

The scenarios are all generic and have examples of how they could be played both for WW2 and the modern era.

And it's all for the princely sum of......FREE!!

Get yours today at: http://ambushalleygames.com/fofprimer.html 

Ambush Alley ceases AA & FoF Sales

Ambush Alley has just ceased the on-line sale of their Force on Force and Ambush Alley rules, and related material.  This was a condition of the new Osprey deal, which will see both of these published by Osprey (as a single tome) next year.
At the moment from the AA website, all you can pick up is Ambush Z and the Tomorrow War pre-release.

Before they shut up shop on all things AA/FoF, I picked up a copy of each of the scenario packs they'd published to date:

• Three Block War
• Art of War
• Indian Country
• Hawks and Wolves

I have to say these have some great scenarios, and they've got me hooked again.

I just have to find the time to get back behind a paint brush again.  I still haven't finished that section/squad of Main Force VC, and all that's needed to get them over the line is some black paint and a drybrush of gunmetal on their weapons!

This week for sure!!!

Tomorrow's War is out and about

The early release pdf version of Ambush Alley's Sci-Fi Rules have just been released :
http://www.ambushalleygames.com/TW.html
You can get it now in the pdf format, or wait until next year for the all-singing, all-dancing Osprey version.
At US$20 packaged with a printer-friendly copy of Force-on-Force, I think this is a pretty good deal, as FoF retails for that much by itself.
Maybe a certain brother of mine might be interested in the PF FoF if I pick up the bundle.....

The Dreaded Lurgy

I've been completely out of action for the last week (complete with overnight hospital stay) with a vomitting bug of some sort.

Hopefully back on my feet and back to work tomorrow...

Just before the bug struck, TFL released their Charlie Don't Surf rules, so I had to pick those up along with the Surf's Up scenario and campaign pack.

Lots of content in these rules, and a foreshadowing of what's coming in the revised 3rd Edition of I Ain't Been Shot Mum later this year. Of course, being me, I just spent money buying scenario packs for the 2nd edition didn't I? Hopefully the differences will be easy enough to convert across...

Flying Lead

I've been a bit behind on my Meeples and Miniatures podcast listening, so I've put the last few on my ipod as I walked the dog this week.
Last night it was Episode 62 wherein Flying Lead from Ganesha Games was discussed.

I must say I was quite interested. I've never played any of the "Songs of" games, although I've been aware of their existence. The promise of a complete game within an hour or a campaign within an evening is very tempting for my tight schedule. Also I've been looking for something light and simple to lure others to their unsuspecting doom of getting hooked on historical wargaming.

And at $8.53 for the rules, it's very tempting...
Plus it would lead Eltnot to once again accuse me of a lack of focus!!!

I'd definitely recommend listening to the podcast and the opinions therein.

So what do you think? Have you played any of the "Song of" rules? Are they a good solution for a quick, fun night's gaming?
Let me know in the comments.

EDIT:
I just went and bought it.  It's Friday and it cost $8.80.  What more can I say...?

A Little Light Reading

As part of the deal for getting the hallway finished, I took advantage of the ongoing strength of the AU$ vs the pound and picked up some of the fine Too Fat Lardies publications.
Here's what I have waiting for me AFTER the hallway is finished:

Gotterdamerung - Army lists for Late World War 2 in Europe for IABSM
Shadow of the Rising Sun - Army lists for World War 2 in the Pacific for IABSM
Through the Mud and the Blood - Large scale skirmish for World War 1
Triumphant Standards - the InterWar period with Mud and Blood (free with Mud and Blood and covers the fictional 1938 English Civil War amongst other things)



I also picked up the 2009 Christmas and Summer Specials. Included is the picture is my copy of Ambush Valley that I finally got around to binding at the same time.



Through the week I'll be binding some other PDFs that I have. Unfortunately my copy of Force-on-Force will have to wait as it's sealed up in the bedroom with the renovations.

When the Navy Walked Preview

ArmChairGeneral has released the free preview of his forthcoming Victorian Science Fiction Rules - "When the Navy Walked on Rorke's Drift".
Go check them out!

Maelstrom Order Arrives

My order from Maelstrom just turned up in the mail.

It was sent on Thursday just before Easter and arrived here (via our mail section) on Wed Morning. That's impressive!
The tin of Quickshade got dinted, but it was securely taped up and there haven't been any leaks.
Lunchtime should see a quick perusal of the CWC rules.
Looking forward to getting it all home tonight.

Final Christmas Loot

My in-laws gave me the gift that keeps giving - cash!

I have been able to get a copy of Ambush Valley, which I've printed but haven't had time to read it yet.
Looks very good though.



I've also renewed my Special Operators Group membership with Ambush Alley Games, and I have three diecast UH-1Cs coming from Flying Mule to provide some air-mobility or dustoff for my Vietnam games.



Thanks Garry and Kathy!
It's going to be a BIG year!

I Ain’t Been Shot Mum! – a preplay review

As always; many forces are conspiring to prevent me from gaming or blogging.  However a friend of mine asked me what I thought of IABSM, as he has a copy of Sharp Practice.  I sat down and put together some thoughts on what I think from reading the rules.  Obviously these opinions may change when I get it to the table…….

 

Preliminary Notes

The first conclusion I've come to is that I think these rules are going to be more for my own solo gaming enjoyment. I cannot imagine them getting used in the competitive environment of club or tournament gaming. They require the players to come to a gentlemanly agreement on a number of points, and my personal experience is that many gamers can be anything but "gentlemanly". I can see play in a club scenario with a referee, but you'll need to have a thick hide to deal with the whinging when things don't go people's way.

Those with a fixed-move, IGOUGO background may struggle to come to grips with how to manoeuvre. The thing is that with more play, people will adapt themselves to more realistic manoeuvres on the table, and end up with less requirement for a referee, but it remains to be seen whether your average IGOUGO gamer would stick with it through the learning curve. My personal belief is that IABSM appears to provide a good representation of the friction of battle and the decisions of a company commander.

How does it work?

Units start the game represented as oval card blinds on the table. These can move or spot. Players may also have a number of additional blinds that represent small recce parties. Once spotted these disappear, but until then they can be used to spot enemy units. Players get to move their blinds when their "blinds move" card (one per player) comes up. Spotted units are put down on the table in place of the blind.
The turn ends when the Tea Break card arrives.

Once on the table, the platoon cards are inserted into the deck, and the platoon can move and shoot when its card comes up. Each section of the platoon is given a number of initiative dice based on the quality of the unit (SS and Paras have more dice than Volksturm). These dice are used to move, spot or shoot. Dice can be reserved when the platoon's card comes up to be used before the Tea Break arrives as an interruption. As a result, ambushes are very well catered for (unlike a certain popular WW2 ruleset....).

Combat involves shooting dice being rolled and totalled and compared against a table. The result on the table gives a number of casualties in the target unit and also whether there is any pinned or suppressed. Casualties are separately diced for to determine whether they are dead, wounded, or a near miss.
Close combat involves what (at first glance) appears to be a complex set of modifiers. This is one area where I am not sure how exactly it will work on the table.

As well as the platoon cards, there are also Big Men on the table. These officers and NCOs (not every officer or NCO is a Big Man) have their own cards in the deck and can be used to activate nearby units or take actions when their card comes up.

 

Final Thoughts

Experienced IABSM players will probably throw their hands up in the air at the above descriptions, but all I’m trying to capture is what I’ve gotten out of my couple of flicks through the rules.

 

Friction appears to work really well via the use of blinds for movement of units until they are spotted. The card-driven mechanic and dice roll movement further enhances the uncertainty that the commander has to deal with. When pushing your troops forward, you will need to set realistic objectives. As the M&M podcast suggests, this game is no race for the bridge where the player that goes first will always win.

 

It should be noted that at the end of the rules, a guide is given to three rough scenarios to play through to learn the rules, introducing the infantry first, and then slowly moving to include artillery and armour.  The rules also cover sections on Aircraft and Anti-Aircraft, and a section on refereeing and solo gaming.

What am I doing with them?

I'm going to be using these rules for 6mm gaming at the moment because that's my chosen scale for anything greater than a platoon or two. In addition, with B'Maso! I think they have a really role to taking in replacing AK47 (for my 6mm) which I haven't been happy with.

For a couple of platoons or less, I'm going to be using 15mm and Ambush Alley Game's Force-on-Force or Ambush Alley (depending on the scenario and the force composition. These are a great looking set of rules that they've deliberately targeted at World War 2 and Moderns from the start.  More on them soon….

Other Gaming Directions
Napoleonics have never appealed to me previously. I think large blocks of men manoeuvring has been dead boring. Also I don't think I understand the period and its challenges well enough. However, the concept of Sharpe Practice being more of a skirmished sized game does sound interesting, particularly with the chance to recreate characters like Flashman and Sharpe. It's definitely on my list now, but I need to complete what I'm trying to do with WW2 and Moderns before I push on to anything else.

I'm also trying to resist getting into colonials (which have always held a great attraction for me).  I've always intended to use either the Sword and the Flame (which I would need to purchase) or the Space:1889 Soldier’s Companion (which I have already) for this. The benefit of Soldiers Companion is that it's a quite good set of colonial rules that also has sections to cater for Victorian sci-fi elements like martians, steam tanks and airships.  Plus the only outlay is on figures!

TooFatLardies

Well...still haven't gotten around to playing any of the TooFatLardies stuff that I received a little while back.

I have been reading and re-reading when time allows and I'm very keen to replay some of my AK-47 Republic games using I Ain't Been Shot Mum with the B'Maso! expansion.

In the interim, go and check out this article by Big Rich on the TooFatLardie Blog.
The Lardies' rules set out to do a lot of things that I want to see in a game.
The concept of friction and the uncertain nature of battle are what I want to see reflected on my table.

This is something that is also reflected in another of my favourite games; Ambush Alley. Whilst AA uses a more traditional approach to movement, the mechanism for "turns" is switched up to an interruption mechanism, and the Fog of War mechanism also injects friction and uncertainty into the game.

Gamers do a lot of reading to research what they are playing.
I'd just rather be looking at historical accounts to help guide my decisions on the table, rather than on spending hours researching the current thoughts on the "Ultimate Unbeatable Army List".

As always, your mileage may vary.......

Day of the Ranger Teaser

The guys at Ambush Alley have release a teaser scenario for the up-coming "Day of the Ranger" expansion.
Looks interesting, and as they state on the page, the scenario teases with mentions of things like "Khat Chewers". DotR is the expansion to assist in gaming scenarios based on the conflict in Somalia in 1993, in particular Operation Gothic Serpent (the operation that "Black Hawk Down") was based on. They're promising info on the impact of stimulants (hence the Khat reference)helicopters, technicals and a lot more. Plus 10 new scenarios!
Hooah!

15mm Modern Plans

I'm determined to ensure that I keep posting on this blog and not let it drop.
With work and house guests, my plans for 6mm "warlord level battles" have not progressed any further. Rather than delay until further 6mm developments, I thought I'd comment on some of my plans for 15mm.

I'd like to bring to your attention the Ambush Alley rules. This game is one I plan to do with the 15mm I had been collecting to do AK-47 with originally.

I have a whole swag of the Cannon Fodder 15mm African Clan Militia that should work nicely as insurgents. The only problem with these is that they are currently based for AK47! It shouldn't be too hard to split them off their bases though.

I also have some Irregular modern US in helmets, and a variety of QRF 15mm modern (and post war) figures and vehicles as well which should work well for the Regulars in the game.

I've read quite a lot of positive reviews and feedback around the web, so I'm keen to give it a try.
You can download a trial of the Ambush Alley rules from the website, which I think is a great idea. They currently have a deal for US$25 for their core rules and the vehicle expansion (Motor Pool) if you find it to your liking.