10mm RJW Solo game using Future War Commander

Last month I did an RJW solo game using Battles for Empire (BFE). Last week I played the same game using Contemptible Little Armies 2nd Edition (CLA). Last night I did the same scenario using Future War Commander (FWC).

FWC is a set of sci-fi from Specialist Military Publishing who also publish Blitzkrieg Commander for WW2 and Cold War Commander for modern warfare. All 3 sets are based on Games Workshop's Warmaster rules.

I imagine there are a few raised eyebrows at using a set of Sci-Fi rules to refight a battle from the early 20th century. However FWC is a very flexible if abstract set of rules so basically regard the two forces as very-very-low-tech armies.

I must admit I am a very big fan of FWC and will consider using for most periods involving firearms. I have used it previously for French vs Austrians in 1859. Our local club also runs an annual FWC Bootcamp

The scenario is played out on a 2 foot terrain tile with 3 Japanese Battalions assaulting a single entrenched Russian battalion. The Russians also have 2 HMGs and 2 Field guns on a low ridge behind the trench-line so that they can provide overhead fire support until the Japanese get too close

For those not familiar with FWC the key to the game is the Command Value of a Command unit. The Command Value (CV) is usually in the range 7 to 10 with 7 being bad and 10 being good

Command units give order to troops under them by rolling their CV or less on 2D6. If they roll their CV then the troops carry out the orders otherwise that's it for that turn. A Command Unit can continue issuing order in the same turn as long as it passes it's CV - once it fails then that Command unit has to wait until next turn. CVs are modified by -1 for each extra order given to a unit and by the distance from the Command unit to the troops being ordered

There are only 2 orders in this game - move or shoot

Troops have several statistics, movement, attack, assault, hits & save - all measurements are in cm

Attack is for ranged weapons and is shown as number of dice / range so 3/30 is 3D6 upto 30cm ,Assault is the number of dice used in Close Combat ,Hits is the number of hits a unit can take and Save is the score required to negate hits

Ranged Attacks can be ordered or can be carried out as opportunity or initiative fire. Opportunity fire takes place in an opponent's turn and can be used against any unit that moves or shoots, Initiative fire takes place at the start of your turn if enemy troops are within Initiative range - usually 20cm - basically it is a free order. A unit can also move with initiative. However if a unit opportunity fires or fires or moves in the Initiative phase then it is a -1 to the CV roll.

If a unit shoots then it rolls it's Attack dice and requires 4,5 or 6 to hit - this is modified by -1 for soft cover and -2 for trenches.

If there are any hits then the unit hit can roll to save each one - usually 6. If the number of unsaved hits equals or exceeds the unit's Hit value then it is destroyed otherwise the unit is marked as having that number of hits and has to roll a dice for each unsaved hit to see if it is Suppressed - this is the same number as required to hit. Suppressed means that a unit can't do anything until the end of it's turn.

Simples!

The Russian stats are...

Quantity	Troops	Arm	Move	Attack	Assault	Hits	Save	Points	Cost
1	CO (CV8)	cmd	60	3/30		6	6	90	90
1	HQ (CV8)	cmd	60	3/30		6	6	60	60
12	Infantry Unit (Regulars)	inf	10	2/30	4	4	6	20	240
2	Support Unit (MG, Maxim)	inf	10	3/60	2	4	6	55	110
2	Support Unit (IG, 76mm)	inf	10	3/80	2	4	6	70	140

This gives a force of 640 points. The Russians have a Rigid Tactical Doctrine which reduces their Command & Initiative Range to 15cm but if all units are given the same order then it is  +1 to the CV. They are also classed as Stubborn which means that they drop a Suppression dice and won't retreat.

The Russians split their force into a Left wing under the CO and a Right Wing under the HQ with a gun & HMG supporting each wing.

The Japanese stats are ...

Quantity	Troops	Arm	Move	Attack	Assault	Hits	Save	Points	Cost
1	CO (CV9)	cmd	60	3/30		6	6	130	130
2	HQ (CV9)	cmd	40	2/30		4	6	100	200
36	Infantry Unit (Regulars)	inf	10	3/30	4	4	6	30	1080

This gives a force of 1410 points. The Japanese have Normal Tactical Doctrine which gives them a Command & Initiative Range of 20cm. They are also classed as Assault Troops which means they must use initiative to assault the enemy and there is no command penalty for assaulting.

The CO took the 1st Battalion in the centre with the HQs taking 2nd Battalion on the Left and 3rd Battalion on the Right.

On with the game -  Turn 1 saw the Russians open up with their HMGs and Field guns killing 1 base from 3rd Btn and suppressing a base from 2nd Btn. This must have spurred on 3rd Btn because they rolled 4 orders ending up just in front of the Russian trenches and getting opportunity fire from the Russians. 1st and 2nd Battalions failed to move (ie rolled more than 9)

In Turn 2 the Russians fail to do anything because a) they had opportunity fired in Turn 1 and therefore could not do Initiative fire and then failed their command roll. The Japanese 3rd Btn had to initiative assault which involves moving the attackers one base at a time - the target base and any unsuppressed bases within 10cm and having line-of-sight can do defensive fire. Therefore each attacker was subject to 3 bases each having 3 dice (2+1 for half range). 3rd Btn lost 6 bases without getting into contact

In the normal Japanese move 2nd  Btn no doubt inspired by 3rd Btn advanced rapidly towards the Russian trenches. The Russians don't opportunity fire so that they can fire in the Initiative phase. 1st Btn again fails to move.

Turn 3 starts with both Russian wings doing Initiative fire on the 2nd & 3rd Btns. 3rd Btn gets off without any casualties. 2nd  Btn gets a few hits. The Russian Right Wing then roll 3 successive shoot orders against 2nd Btn which kills 4 bases and suppresses 3 more. The Russian Left wing fails to roll it's CV

The Japanese 2nd & 3rd Btns have to initiative assault again with all unsuppressed units which leaves 3rd Btn with no bases and 2nd with only 3 bases.

Finally the 1st Btn decides to move forward and advances on a broad front against the Russians.

Opportunity fire by the Russians kills 2 bases and suppresses 5 more. 1st Btn then charges in and manages to kill 1 Russian unit in close combat. However 1st Btn gets another 4 base killed.

Game over for the Japanese with 26 bases lost to 1 Russian base. The Japanese army would have broken with loss of the 18th base.

Well I didn't see that one coming. I had expected the Japanese to do a little better than they did. However an uncoordinated attack by all 3 Japanese battalions is only going to have one result. Little damage was done to the attackers in the advance - failed CV rolls slowing them down more than Russian firepower. The killer was the compulsory assault in the Initiative phase when the attackers have to go in one by one and defenders can fire several times over.

I would probably replace the Japanese Assault Troop classification with Elite which costs the same but only has the no command penalty for assaulting although the former is more in line with a "man should die as a shattered jewel rather than live as an intact tile".

Nevertheless another interesting game - sorry if I've gone on at length about FWC. My gripes about FWC would be clutter with the various markers ie hits, suppression, opportunity fire etc , the brutal assault rules (yes I know you should only assault if the enemy are suppressed) and the failed command rolls.

Well I've played the same scenario using 3 different rules - I'll have to have a think about which one is the most suitable.

Other photos of the game can be viewed here  photobucket.com/rjw111028

10mm RJW Solo game using Contemptible Little Armies

A few weeks ago I did an RJW solo game using Battles for Empire. I've now played the same game using Contemptible Little Armies 2nd Edition (CLA).

The scenario is played out on a 2 foot terrain tile with 3 Japanese Battalions assaulting a single entrenched Russian battalion. The Russians also have 2 HMGs and 2 Field guns on a low ridge behind the trench-line so that they can provide overhead fire support until the Japanese get too close

I've never played CLA before - it looks like a very simple set of rules - however I may have misread some of the rules so bear with me. I did send a couple of queries to the CLA yahoo group but did not get any replies as my posting required approval from the moderator (and I obviously didn't get it)

CLA uses individual figure basing with units of 8-18. My battalions are split into 4 companies each of 3 bases of 4 figures. Therefore I had the choice of either keep it the same and have units of 12 figures or use 1 CLA figures = 1 Base. I went for the individual figures option although I will also try the 1 CLA figures = 1 Base at some point.

CLA uses a You-move-a-unit-I-Move-A-Unit sequence followed by 3 fire phases; HMGs, Artillery & Small Arms then Melee and finally Morale. Units that move can not fire.

The ground that the Japanese have to cross is mainly open with a couple of small areas of difficult going that provides cover. Movement, in inches, is either 2 dice in good going or 1 dice in difficult.

Firing in each phase is simultaneous. To Kill requires a 4 or more on a d6 modified by -1 for over half range and soft cover, -2 for trenches

HMGs have a range of 40 inches and roll 6 dice, Artillery have a range of 80 inches and roll 1 dice and if it is a hit then roll a dice for every figure within 2 inches killing over 5+ with no modifiers, rifles have a range of 12 inches and roll 1 dice per figure.

Morale, in the context of the RJW ie no tanks, flamethrowers or gas, is based on 1 morale test per every 2 casualties received in a turn. If troops are ferocious (Japanese) or stubborn (Russians) then 1 morale test can be ignored.

A morale test involves rolling equal or under your morale value. However as both sides had a morale of 5 then only a 6 was a failure.

As the Russians are sitting in trenches they leave all of the movement to the Japanese. The Japanese have moved up through Kaoliang fields and are ready to assault.

As an aside the Kaoliang fields are made from 17mm Coir matting available on ebay. It is sold in multiples of 1 metre by 5cm  at £1.79 per unit post free. Not cheap if you want to carpet your living room but a bargain for edges of Kaoliang fields. The seller asked me if I realised that I was only buying a 5cm strip - I told him I was a wargamer.

As with the first game there isn't much of an AAR - the Japanese boldly advance and the Russians shoot them down.

These rules are very bloody - in the first turn a company of the 1st Battalion lost 8 figures whilst turn 2 and 3 saw Japanese companies disappearing under a hail of MG, Artillery and Rifle fire.

By Turn 4 on the Japanese side only 2 companies of the 12 companies managed to reach the Russian trenches, one was wiped out in the melee and the other had lost 2/3rds of it's strength at the end of the turn. Of the 48 figures in each Battalion the 1st had lost 45, the 2nd 37 and the 3rd 21. The Russians had lost 3 figures out of 48

This game was quite a bit different from the Battles For Empire where all of the Japanese had not only reached the trenches but pushed the Russians out. CLA would have required at least another 3 battalions to be thrown into the attack and even then success would not have been certain.

There were several areas of CLA that I didn't use - off-table artillery and the attacker requiring a plan that involves 1st and 2nd waves plus reserves.

To be honest when I first read these rules I wasn't keen on them for three reasons.

Firstly the book layout makes it challenging to find bits of the rules -  thank you to the kind person who put a QRS on the yahoo group I would not have used them without it.

Secondly the conversion from 1 figure to 4 figures on a base didn't work well as I had to keep track of overall casualties  and those caused this turn

Thirdly they didn't seem to have much period flavour given the simplistic nature of the rules.

Having played them then the first and second reasons still stands but flavour is in the eye of the beholder and I actually felt a certain amount of helplessness as the Japanese attack floundered and then disintegrated in front of the Russian trenches.

I think they do have a good feel for the period and I will certainly try them again with the 1 figure = 1 base conversion.

Other photos of the game can be viewed here photobucket.com/rjw111025

10mm RJW Solo game using Battles for Empire

I'm currently painting forces for the Russo-Japanese War 1904-905 using Pendraken's 10mm ranges. As well their RJW range I've also used figures from the 1877 Russo-Turkish War, the RCW & WW1 and the 1879-1884 South American Pacific War.

I'm basing 4 infantry figures to a 30x15mm stand with 3 stands being a company and 12 stands being a battalion.

At present I have 4 battalions of Japanese infantry and 1 Russian battalion with a couple of Maxim MG (removed from their carriages) and 2 Putilov 76mm Artillery pieces.

I've been looking at shed loads of rules to see if any take my fancy. I've whittled it down to 3 sets which meet my criteria – simple, flexible and fun – Battles for Empire, Contemptible Little Armies and Future War Commander

I thought I would try all 3 sets using the same scenario – a Japanese assault on Russian trenches – to see which worked best.

First up is Chris Leach's Battles for Empire covering British Imperial Warfare 1870-1902 and therefore spot on for the RJW. I've used BFE for the Sudan and the Spanish American War and it works really well – certainly the best set of Colonial Rules I've played. Chris Salander had put up an RJW variant on the BFE yahoo group so I used that as well

As the forces were quite small I used a 2 foot terrain tile with a low ridge at one end occupied by the Russian artillery and Maxims with 4 companies of East Siberian infantry in trenches at the base of the ridge. This allowed the artillery and mgs to provide overhead fire support. I've not read any accounts of Maxims being deployed in the trenches other than at Port Arthur and even then they tended to be in the forts.

At the other end of the board were 3 battalions of Japanese just emerged from a field of kaoliang and in between a couple of pieces of rough ground.

BFE's game turn is Roll for initiative, winners decides who moves 1st or 2nd, once both sides have moved then comes simultaneous artillery shooting then simultaneous small arms shooting and finally close combat. Morale is combined with movement in a similar fashion to Fire & Fury

The first 3 turns were taken up with the Japanese advancing – initially by battalion (a group move) and then due to Russian artillery and MG fire by company as units became disordered or shaken and had to break off from the group.

I was surprised that the Japanese got to the trenches with very few casualties – they only lost 1 company – however they then stalled for 2 or 3 turns in front of them before charging in. I allowed the Japanese to do fanatic charges which helped them greatly – +1 to the dice. The close combat again lasted for 2 or 3 turns until the right-hand Russian company broke under a 2 company assault leaving the Japanese to roll up the trench line.

At the end the Russians had lost 2 companies plus the artillery and MG on the right flank – half their force – whilst the Japanese lost 4 companies out of 12.

I was expecting more Japanese companies to stop way before the trench line – Admittedly the Russians did have bad shooting and combat dice. However in Human Bullets by Sakurai in several instances the Japanese get really close to the Russian lines before getting pinned down by firepower and then eventually taking the position

The rules worked well and I'm tempted to say these are the ones for me but I'll try CLA & FWC.

My only dislike was the number of markers used – disordered ,shaken and casualty markers do leave a lot of clutter – especially as I aiming to have at least 3 times more troops on the board

Other photos of the game can be viewed here photobucket.com/rjw110924

Welcome to Two Marshals - my blog about wargaming the careers of Marshals François Achille Bazaine and Philippe Pétain which covers the period 1831 to 1945.


The title is from Philip Guedalla's book of the same name which is an excellent read


Bazaine's career cover the Conquest of Algeria, the Carlist & Crimean Wars, the Italian War of Independence,   Maximilian's Adventure in Mexico and the Franco-Prussian War


Petain's career covers both World Wars. 


I do game other periods - Future War Commander in 6mm, Field of Glory in 15mm and anything else that takes my fancy