Battle of Kersplat Basin

Alex and I finally managed to get together for a game this afternoon. As previously mentioned, we would be taking our wargaming talents to Krapistan for a battle using AK-47 Republic. 

The scenario's forces were paired down from the original but the objectives and special rules would remain. To recap, the government backed forces came in from one side and the fundamentalists from Al Kebab would come from the opposite side, both seeking hidden fuel caches. Hidden markets were placed along the center line, and only after seizing and searching the cache would it be known if it was fuel or or if it was folly. 

The local government-backed warlord, Dagarwal Baaqi, had two clans (Abdul and Khan) with tanks and trucks and a BTR-mounted unit of government regulars led by Turan Aabdar.

Abu Kebab al Kebabi and his crazed followers had four units at their disposal: the elite black-clad Bashi Bazouks, the hell on wheels Martyr-Cycles along with battle groups Hamal and Samaka. 

On the north end of the basin, Clan Khan, led by Dagarwal Baaqi, and battle group Hamal moved towards the road from opposite sides in a (rather slow) race to secure caches (below). 

In the center, the Martyr-Cycles moved towards an abandoned village in the middle of the table.

The Krapistani government troops lumbered towards a palm grove in the center of the table seeking black oil. 

On the southern edge of the basin, it appeared battle group Samaka and clan Abdul would collide near another abandoned roadside village. Abu Kebab led his Bashi Bazouks to reinforce battle group Samaka. 

The followers of Abu Kebab must have forgotten their morning coffee because they inched at a snails pace through the game with abysmal die rolls for movement (usually 1s and 2s). 

Some rather ineffective fire took place between the tank of clan Khan and the BMP and technical of battle group Hamal. During the exchange of fire, Al Kebabi fighters searched a cache and discovered a functioning truck loaded with oil! 

The Martyr-Cycles raced into the abandoned village but seemed to get lost and took several turns to secure the suspected cache only to discover it was a dummy. 

Just south of the Martyr-Cycles, Krapistani regulars had good fortune securing an oil cache and loading it onto a BTR. 

The Al Kebab followers seemed to get distracted in the villages, as both the Bashi Bazouks and battle group Samaka could barely muster enough movement to begin searching the southern village. The BMP exchanged inaccurate salvos with the T-55 of clan Abdul who inched closer to a suspected cache on the roadside. 

Things started to heat up a bit (literally) when a 100mm tank round from clan Khan slammed into Al Kebab technical of battle group Hamal, leaving the Toyota in flames. A brief firefight between the two factions resulted in battle group Hamal suffering their theirs failed morale roll and they skedaddled off the battlefield and left the oil-laden truck for clan Khan to claim. 

The Martyr-Cycles burned rubber and wheeled out of the village empty handed, skulking around some rocks to see if they could interdict clan Khan and their oil booty. 

A long range firefight erupted between the 14.5mm KPTV heavy machine guns of the Krapistani BTRs, a technical of clan Samaka and a BRDM from the Bashi Bazouks. The regulars managed to brew up the Toyota and the BRDM, leaving most of the Bashi Bazouks pinned from the collateral fire.

Battle group Samaka finally managed to search the village only to find that there was no oil present. Meanwhile, clan Abdul discovered an oil cache attached along the roadside outside of the village. 

At this point, the game clock ended. Dagarwal Baaqi's forces had secured four fuel caches for the government while the hapless followers of Al Kebab struck out in their pursuit of oil. Adding insult to injury, Al Kebab also lost battle group Hamal. We didn't need to count up the victory points to see that this was a stinging defeat for Al Kebab. 

Of course, nothing ever happens the way it should in Krapistan and the oil reserves likely won't find their way back to the Krapistani government. More likely Dagarwal Baaqi will keep some for himself and sell the rest back to Al Kebab to keep their barbecue grills well fueled. 

Both Alex and I had a blast, the AK-47 Republic rules are super simple and fast moving. Definitely more beer and pretzels than simulation but that's exactly what we wanted. The scenario was an interesting one and it led to fewer casualties as the primary objective was to secure fuel caches and not the destruction of the enemy or the capture of villages. I have to point out that my victory was more due to Alex's incredibly poor dice rolling than anything else. He rolled 1s and 2s for movement and shooting throughout the game. Had his luck with the dice been remotely close to average, it likely would have been a much different outcome.

It's been a while and getting old...

It has been a few weeks since I last posted here. Hobby took a bit of a back seat while I have been taking care of the home-front as one of my dogs had some surgery and required an extended recovery. It was  looking a bit bleak for her although things seem to be trending in the right direction for my little fur-covered family member.

After a few weeks from painting, I decided to ease back into things by tackling some of the 10mm Azincourt English longbowmen. I figured these would be easy enough to speed paint and get back into the flow of things. Painting seemed a bit disjointed but I ultimately got back into a rhythm of things and transitioned back into resumption of my 6mm Solferino project; I had four battalions of French infantry partially started and am nearing completion of these.

While painting all of the above, I am beginning to come to grips with something that has been happening for the past year or so...my eyesight is deteriorating. Some days and some times, I can see as sharp as ever and others not so much...I am more painting by assumption and intuition as to where things should be. I will probably never paint to the same quality as the past. I will have to accept that. Hopefully I can continue to chip away at my lead pile as there are many more projects I want to tackle sooner rather than later.

Anyway, enough of the depressing stuff...I hope to post some eye candy soon as I finish up these 1859 French infantry. I have also ordered some scenery (I have also come to the conclusion that I need more scatter terrain to block line of sight for various rules) and also some 15mm modern vehicles for Krapistan and some 10mm SCW and fantasy stuff.

Musings on the Spanish American War and Pre-Dreadnoughts-

Pre-dreadnought naval warfare has always intrigued me. Anachronistic rams, armaments comprised of numerous gun sizes, poor fire control, rumble home hulls, etc. 

One of my first blog posts back in 2009 was about my Spanish American War collection from War Times Journal. Six years later, I showed off my 1/3000 Navwar fleets for the Balkans War between Greece and Turkey.

My preferred ruleset for this period is When Dreadnoughts Rules the Seas by Brian Dewitt. Many years ago, Brian showed me the rules by gaming the Battle of Lemnos with my own fleets. 

I have unopened 1/3000 fleets from Navwar for the Chinese, Russian and Japanese fleets, comprehensive enough to refight the various scenarios for the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese Wars. 

I still have yet to paint up those Chinese, Russian and Japanese fleets, however I recently picked up the Osprey Campaign on Manila Bay which rekindled my interest in gaming the naval aspects of the Spanish American War. 

Reviewing the Navwar catalog I was disappointed to see that there were only a few ships from the SAW in their expansive listings. My original fleets for the SAW were from War Times Journal back when they cast their models in metal. I doubt I have very many of them around. 

Pursuing the Spanish American fleets in 1/2400 provides more options: Panzerschiffe and Tumbling Dice offer fairly complete ranges and Viking Forge also offers some of the ship options. Ultimately, I decided to order Spanish and American fleets for Santiago and Manila Bay from Tumbling Dice. I don't mind going slightly larger from 1/3000 to 1/2400 for the Spanish American War, alot of the ships were smaller cruisers and gunboats and that would be very fiddly at 1/3000. I look forward to their arrival. 

15mm Afghanistan Comparison and Opinions

For those that are interested in wargaming post-WW2 Afghanistan in 15mm there are/were a few options:

Flashpoint:  As far as I know, this lesser known manufacturer offers a single pack of figures that includes AKs, RPDs and RPGs. The sculpts are very nice and most are advancing and firing. From what I recall, they are all in pakul wool caps as opposed to turbans. 

Flytrap: I don't think they are still being produced and I am not sure why because they were very nice. Equipped in with AKs, RPDs (?), Enfields and RPGs and dressed in a nice mix of apparel including pakuls, turbans, fringed clothing, etc. very nice, realistic poses. They also used to offer civilians (village elders, etc). A shame they aren't more available. 

Irregular: Solid if a bit dated range. Poses are a little stiff. There are some nice HMGs too. 

Old Glory/Command Decision: Slightly two-dimensional sculpts with shallow sculpting details. I don't dislike them. Lots of AKs for their rank and file. They offer an infantry pack (AKs) and a support pack that includes RPGs (nice), mortars (nice) and commanders pointing (also nice). Old Glory also offer crew for heavy weapons and "riders" for tanks or the backs of pickups. 

Khurasan: I like this range quite a bit. Dynamic poses, nice mix of weapons. Offer some interesting sculpts for characters. Very nice. My Krapistan regulars are also from Khurasan (Syrian regulars from Yom Kippur range).

Eureka: A newcomer to the genre, these are very nice sculpts and include snipers. Excellent sculpting. I recently purchased some but haven't painted any.

Old Glory UK: offer a baggage train on mules (I own but haven't paintedl, fighters with AKs and RPGs on dirt bikes (my Martyr-Cycles) and heavy weapons and command figures. These fellas are bigger and bulkier than the other ranges with the exception of CP Miniatures. 

Checkpoint/ CP Miniatures: Nice, cartoonish sculpts. I think the sculptor is "Wiff Waff" and sculpted the first Eureka range before they were replaced with the current range. These guys are big and bulky! They mix well with OG UK stuff and not much else. My Bashi Bazouks figures are CP with some OG UK. 

How do these different manufacturers mix with each other? Overall, pretty good. I mix Flashpoint, FlyTrap, Irregular, OG, and Khurasan without issue. I plan to mix Eureka in with the above once I get some painted. CP and OG UK are best to keep away from the rest although once painted, on separate bases they are fine. Here are some pictures of some of these ranges. I will try to add more pictures to this post if I can. 

Left to Right: Flashpoint, FlyTrap, Khurasan, Irregular, Eureka

Left to right: Eureka, Flaspoint, Old Glory, Irregular 

 

Hunting for Black Gold in the Kersplat Basin

It's been a while since I visited Krapistan, my fictional 3rd world paradise used for my AK-47 Republic games. I decided it's been too long and for the next time we get together, I invited Alex to join me in writing another chapter for lovably dysfunctional Krapistan. Not sure when we will game this one, but here are the scenario details:

We last saw the fundamentalist Al Kebab movement doing battle with the government-backed Nawab in Kaput province. Al Kebab was bloodied but victorious. 

Due to global conflict and blockades, fuel has been getting scarce and valuable in Krapistan. Rumors of fuel caches hidden throughout the Kersplat Basin by the previous regime have reached both the central Krapistani government and also Al Kebab. Abu Kebab sees the fuel as vital to sustain the warmachines of his movement and also the grills to ensure his skewers of meat are properly cooked.

The Krapistani government has sent some regulars under Turan Aabdar to assist the local warlord Dagarwal Baaqi's Kersplatti militia in an effort to secure the rumored fuel caches before Al Kebab's black-clad followers find it first. The residents of Kersplat have heard whispers that Turan Aabdar is a vegetarian and are blasphemous to the ears of Abu Kebab.

The scenario will feature a table with rough road running along the center of the basin (game table), several abandoned villages and palm groves are scattered along the road. Rugged mountains and hills are placed near the edges of the table. Six random tokens will then be placed within six inches of the road, roughly half of these will be fuel caches and the other half are dummies. Once a unit comes in contact with a marker, it takes the remainder of the turn to "search and secure". If a unit can remove a cache back to their edge of the table, they receive 30 victory points, mere possession as the end of the game is 10 points per cache. Caches can be driven off the table in vehicles. Each side has one "spy" that allows them to view the true nature of a marker before the beginning of the game.

Because I am lazy, the orders of battle will be eerily similar to the previous battle of Mirhadan even though this battle is being fought in an entirely different province!

Al Kebab

Bashi Bazouks (hardened militia): BRDM, 5 infantry, 1 RPG, 1 HMG

Martyr Cycles (clan militia, move as trucks): 3 mounted infantry, 2 mounted RPGs

Battlegroup Hamal (clan militia): BMP, truck, 5 infantry, 1 commander (Abu Kebab), 2 RPG

Battlegroup Samaka (clan militia): BMP, truck, 5 infantry, 1 mortar, 1 HMG, 1 RPG

Battlegroup Farkah (clan militia): 6 infantry, 1 RPG

Dagarwal Baaqi

Krapistani Regulars: (regulars) 7 infantry, 1 RPG, 2 BTRs

Clan Khan (militia): tank, truck, 6 infantry, 1 mortar, 1 RPG

Clana Abdul (militia): tank, truck, 6 infantry, 1 mortar, 1 RPG

Clan Babak (militia): 8 infantry, 2 RPG, 1 commander (Dagarwal Baaqi)

Big Battle Ravenfeast: Hastings

At the last minute, Alex and I decided to get together for some gaming. It was my turn to host the game and I hadn't done much preparation so I figured a game of LittleWarsTV's Big Battle Ravenfeast would be ideal.

I painted up the Norman, Saxon and Viking armies but never had a chance to game with them so this would be an ideal opportunity with some quick-play rules like Ravenfeast. My scenery isn't perfect for the 1066 campaign scenarios but it's good enough for this outing. I opted to go with the Battle of Hastings, I would command the Anglo-Saxon army and Alex would lead the Normans.

Ravenfeast, and the Big Battle variant, are fairly simple and straightforward: IGO/UGO with the usual sections comprising a turn (rally, movement, missiles, melee, morale, etc.). A player succeeds when they roll equal or lower than a stat line for their unit.

Harold Godwinson (lower right corner) with 3 units of huscarls and 9 units of Wessex fyrd. Harold would command the right flank.

Harold's brothers Leofwyn and Gyrth (center row) would hold the left flank with 2 bases of archers and 5 bases of veteran fyrd (I decided to use my Viking bondi as select fyrd to aid in visual recognition).

I deployed the archers on the extreme left followed by the veteran fyrd to their right. Leofwyn and Gyrth were deployed along the line to stiffen the fyrd. Harold and his huscarls formed the center and a deep formation of Wessex fyrd were on the far right flank.

Bishop Odo (bottom) with 3 units of Norman infantry and 3 units of Norman cavalry would command the left for the Normans.

William (bottom) with 2 bases of crossbowmen, 3 bases of Norman infantry and 3 bases of Norman cavalry.

Eustace would command the reserve with 3 bases of Flemish infantry, 2 bases of archers and 2 units of cavalry.

Norman deployment.

The Norman cavalry charged home and slammed into the flanks and center of the Anglo-Saxon line. William's foot started in shieldwall and moved slowly towards the line of contact.

The Norman missile troops managed to kill off the Anglo-Saxon archers during the initial exchange of arrows. 

The Anglo-Saxon left was in danger of getting flanked so I began to move fyrd from the second line to extend and secure the flank.

The Anglo-Saxons had a lot of inferior fighters in the fyrd but the combination of being in shieldwall on the hill made it hard for the Normans to inflict casualties (Alex and I forgetting to apply the cavalry's "mighty" modifier in the first few turns also contributed to Anglo Saxon durability). Alex ordered his infantry to move forward into the maelstrom.

The battleline saw significant losses (red caps) for William. Leofwyn suffered a casualty but he is "tough" and can take 2 hits before falling. The shieldwall was a tough nut to crack...

As the battle wore on, casualties began to mount. The integrity of the shieldwall was broken and parts of Harold's line could no longer count on the save modifier they initially benefitted from. Smaller, isolated battles took place along the line. A few "Deaths Worthy of a Song" and the death of Odo caused morale checks along the line and failed rallies caused more carnage.

Both armies suffered enough casualties that army morale tests were triggered and units on both sides panicked (yellow caps). Some did not recover.

All that remained of both armies. Both armies reached their break point and since phases within a turn are simultaneous, we agreed that night had arrived and both armies were exhausted. A bloody draw.

The fight between William and Leofwyn on the left flank.

I think the battle lasted about two hours and it was a most enjoyable game, Alex and I had fun and we are both interested in fighting the other scenarios. We did some things wrong and we forgot some rules (Alex remembered to use the "feigned flight" only once). It was good to get the armies on the tabletop on a rainy Saturday afternoon and roll some dice.

Thoughts on wargaming the Korean War...

While I am in the midst of painting up Austrians for the 1859 war, I began thinking of the Korean War. Last year I painted up a reinforced infantry company and my preferred ruleset for 20th century company-level combat is Five Core Company Command. As mentioned previously, the rules give good games but are a bit generic by design. 

I had previously brainstormed ideas for using the rules for French Indo-China and I decided to make a post for thoughts on Korea. 

From my understanding, the Chinese phase involved the communist forces using night operations to infiltrate with light infantry undetected in an effort to get combat on close quarters to mitigate allied advantages in artillery and air support. Wave attacks would try to threaten flanks and isolate enemy units. The terrain featured alot of hills and broken ground limiting mobility for vehicles. 

So how can I attempt to replicate this feel on the tabletop with Five Core Company Command? 

• Night Fights: increase the likelihood of scurry or firefight turn types. Perhaps have units default to "hidden" somehow?
• Fighting Light & Human Waves: Give Chinese forces fewer support weapons but perhaps more specialist attachments. And additional infantry sections to Chinese reserves. 
• Shock & Awe: Allied/American forces get a finite number of  air/artillery support cards they can use to try and call in additional off-board firepower. 
• Knife Fight: Provide Chinese player the ability to redeploy a finite number of infantry sections a certain number of inches closer to enemy units. Once redeployed, the units will be hidden. This will represent Chinese infiltration. 

I still need to paint up my American forces for this project (which I don't anticipate will happen until after my 1859 project concludes) but as I continue to brainstorm I will add thoughts and ideas to this post in updates. Feel free to provide ideas in the comments section.