FWC - Whiskey Outpost

Whiskey Outpost is a fort in the first Starship Troopers film, see Youtube clip

The FWC site has a list for Starship trooper bugs which is probably the most evil, and incorrect, list available with 5 independent flame-throwing gunships per 1000 points. You get 10 of those babies on the table and it's game over for the opposition

I reworked the list to change the gunships to grav infantry and created an expendable worker bug that creates a tunnel and then dies

For the scenario we had 1250 points of defenders and 2500 points of bugs

This is Steve's take on the scenario....

We elected to recreate the scene of the attack by the bugs on Rico & co in the outpost ….spoiler alert….The team Rico is in are sent to investigate a distress signal from an outpost but it turns out to be a trap and hordes of bugs attack them…surprise!

We played on a 3' by 3' board with the outpost accessible on all sides. The film seems to indicate 1 side was backed to a cliff face but aesthetically it looked good and we played on.

So first turn I used Guild Legio, mainly infantry and some support weapons. I'd made some assumptions about Alan's army that were in correct as it turns out but hey ho. I manned the ramparts and catered for massive tunnellers busting into the compound.

Alan deployed his first wave, opening a tunnel within move range of the walls, due to the tunnelling rules I have no opportunity fire and no defensive fire. Cue shed loads of bugs assaulting me. I got the benefit of the blast wall but attrition hurts eventually. I held off the first wave, took a casualty but felt I'd done OK.

Alan's second order on 11s... Alan took advantage, picked on the now weak point on the walls with another load of bugs, I took more casualties. And the gap was bigger.

Alan's 3rd order on 10s. Alan picks on another wall assaults it in the same manner, no opportunity or defensive fire. On top of that a load of dragonflies appear, grav infantry.My support troops are no longer supporting since they are suppressed due to being a loser in prior combats. I lose that wall too.

Alan on 9s for his 4th order. Alan's said same troop on the newly attacked wall no longer have opponents so pile into the compound and over run both my CO and HQ. Technically they have nowhere to go so despite the rules being vague the logical answer is they are eliminated. Ground bugs and flying ones plough on into the rear of my remaining troops.

At this stage Alan's going for his 5th order on 8s but I've no commanders other than an FAO and about 2 short of break point with bugs attacking the rear of my remaining troops so without even having had a command roll I called it a day and signed Alan's Book of Victories.

We both agreed that perhaps as a scenario it needed tweaking if it were to be fun for the defender too so discussed some options around the Bugs Army List.

Thanks to Steve for penning that.

I have to say that it's not much of a game when it's won in less than 1 turn (unless playing against Steve)

I then tweaked the Bugs list to drop the Warrior bugs' tunnelling ability. This meant that they could be shot at as they came out of the tunnel with opportunity and defensive fire

We then went onto play a  second scenario with Steve using his Kraytonian army

Once again Whiskey Outpost was rammed to the gills - this time with terrapins.

The first tunnel attack ended up with every ant being destroyed due to defensive fire. However the attack on the north wall fared better

Overrunning the north wall the ants looked like repeating the previous scenario

However the Krays rallied and clear the infestation

A second wave of warriors and flyers was sent against the north wall

Once again Whiskey Outpost is overwhelmed

And once again the Krays clear the walls

The fight see-sawed for several turns with the bugs getting to the wall but being beaten back by the Krays. Eventually the bugs retired  with barely a handful left. A rare victory for the Kraytonians

This scenario played better than the first as the defenders had a chance to drop the bugs before getting into hand-to-hand. The bugs have no ranged weapons so must attack and against a good fire zone will suffer.

I will probably bring this game along to the Blast-Tastic show in October if that's ok with Michael

The Toys
Guild Legio by Exodus Wars
Kraytonians by Dark Realm
Fort by Angel Barracks
Dragonflies by Playmobil
Ants from The Works (out of stock in Stroud, Worcester & Leicester)

There are more photos at photobucket

Muskets and Tomahawks at Exeter 2013

I took my my 15mm Muskets & Tomahawks participation game to Exeter for the Legionary 2013 show.

The scenario is an Indian raid on a British village.

The British have 2 Irregular Officers, 2 units of 6 Militia and 2 units of 6 Rangers and their objective is Defence. This means that no enemy can be within 4" of the two buildings in the centre of the table at the end of the game.

The Indians have 2 Sachem, and 4 units of 6 Indians with their objective being Raid. This requires the two buildings in the centre of the table to be burnt down.

We played two games during the day - the honours going to the Indians with one being a total victory and the other a marginal one. It keeps the carpenters in New Plymouth fully employed.

The photos are mix of the two games

The Militia fall back to New Plymouth

The fort at New Plymouth - the fort and it's garrison take no part in the game

15mm Blockhouse by 4Ground - this is a pre-production model

Mrs Miggins counts them all out and counts them all back

A close-up of the Russian house burning

New Plymouth burns

Highlights of the day - I met Nick from the M&T Forum who pointed out some rules I had missed. Three people bought the M&T rules as a result of playing and hopefully a few people will think about using 15mm figures for not only M&T but also for skirmishing in general.

Amusing story of the day - an old chap walked up to the table and we started talking. I asked him if he played this period. He replied that he had AWI armies. I then enquired as to what rules he used. He looked at me and said "Well ours of course". I was about to ask he meant when someone approached him and said "Excuse me Mr Barker, can I talk to you about DBA".

Icing on the cake - winning the Phil Barker Best Participation Game award

The buildings are from 4Ground. The figures are from Peter Pig's AWI range with the exception of the British Regulars in the fort who are by Essex. The cloth is by Gaveno Cavailia. The flashing LED light in the burning Russian cabin is from The Glow Company

The are more photos at photobucket

Bloody Run 1763 - a Muskets & Tomahawks AAR

The Battle of Bloody Run was fought during Pontiac's Rebellion on July 31, 1763. In an attempt to break Pontiac's siege of Fort Detroit, about 250 British troops attempted to make a surprise attack on Pontiac's encampment. Instead they were ambushed and forced to retreat back to Fort Detroit.

For a full account see Haughty Conquerors: Amherst and the Great Indian Uprising of 1763 by William Nester - from page 134 onwards.

This AAR is based on that battle. My previous post outlines the scenario. To recap the British have been ambushed by Pontiac's troops and must get at least a third of their force back to Fort Detroit.

The buildings are made by 4Ground. The figures are from Peter Pig's 15mm AWI range with head swaps for some of the Rangers. The river is from Homebase via Eric the Shed

The keen-eyed will notice two things. Firstly that I have used Highlanders for the British regulars instead of the 55th Regiment of Foot. This is because Peter Pig does not make any British troops for the FIW and Pontiac Wars (yet)

Secondly the photos are a mash-up from several test games and from Salute. I forgot to take my camera to Salute so photos from there were taken using my mobile phone - duh.

Onto the battle...

The Highlanders crossing the bridge

The British column gets ambushed en route to the Huron Village

The Highlanders form Firing Lines to repel Pontiac's troops and to scout the Southern section

Mrs Miggins with her sweetheart - side plot number 11 for the Indians

Moments before Mrs Miggins gets shot by a Highlander - note the hand of fate in the background

Vigilant Rangers in a ruined cabin - some of the new counters from 4Ground

Indians advance through the woods

The British start retiring to Fort Detroit

A View from Fort Detriot - Major Rogers, in the ploughed field on the right, is about to die

Fort Detroit with pre-production blockhouses from 4Ground - I only got them at Salute

Indians advance across Parent's Creek - the original name for Bloody Run

The Highlanders' last stand - the fight on the road

The Highlanders retire to the corral

The last moments of the Highlanders as the Indians swarm over them

The Result

The British managed to scout the Southern and both central sections before being overrun.

However all 3 officers had been killed, both Regular units had been destroyed and only 6 Rangers reached Fort Detroit alive. As this was less that a third of their force the British did not achieve their objective.

On the other hand the Indians killed over two thirds of the British force and did achieve their objective albeit suffering just under 50% casualties.

The British Regulars suffered from the terrain - the fields and buildings forcing them to stay on the road. However the units can taken considerable punishment as their morale is good.

The Rangers deployed on the road instead of in the buildings which was a mistake and took casualties that made them ineffective.

The terrain suits the Indians and provided they don't get into a fire fight with a Regular firing line can have lots of fun harassing the British as they retreat.

Giving the British the Scouting objective forces them to hold their ground as they try and scout the Southern section. Otherwise they would just run back to the fort.

At Salute this game appeared on the 4Ground stand. I spent the day chatting and playing the game with some very nice people. I may have even converted a few to playing M&T in 15mm

There are more photos at photobucket - click here

Bloody Run 1763 - a Muskets & Tomahawks scenario

This is a scenario for Muskets and Tomahawks based on the Battle of Bloody Run.

The Battle of Bloody Run was fought during Pontiac's Rebellion on July 31, 1763. In an attempt to break Pontiac's siege of Fort Detroit, about 250 British troops attempted to make a surprise attack on Pontiac's encampment. Instead they were ambushed and forced to retreat back to Fort Detroit.

For a full account see Haughty Conquerors: Amherst and the Great Indian Uprising of 1763 by William Nester - from page 134 onwards.

The Forces

British force 2 Regular officers 2 units of 10 Regular infantry 1 Irregular officer 2 units of 5 Rangers

Indian force 2 Sachem 5 units of 6 Warriors

Standard Traits apply to all units

Extra Traits, Talents and Sub-plots for Officers and Events are optional but may skew the scenario.

Ignore the Objective Deployment in the rules and use the deployment given below

Terrain

I played this on a 2 x 4 table using 15mm figures but keeping the 28mm ranges and movement

The table is split into 4 equal sections, South, South Central, North Central and North

All of the fields have wooden fences with the exception of the field by the river which has stone walls - the one east of  "B"

The river can only be crossed at the bridge

The fort and the entire Northern Section is only accessible by the British

British Deployment

The 2 Regular units deploy in column at A & B heading south. Unit A must be on the bridge.

The 2 Ranger units can deploy in the buildings or fields anywhere in the South Central section

British Objective - Scouting Mission

The British have to scout each section of the table. A section is scouted if there is at least 1 model in the section at the end of a turn. Note that the South section has a thin strip of land on the northern bank of the river.

The British leave the table by entering the fort. If at least 1/3 of the British, 11 figures, leave the table after scouting  all sections then they have completed their victory conditions

Indian Deployment

Indians deploy a unit at location 1,2,3 & 4. All Indian units must start more than 6 inches from a British unit but can be in Linie of Sight .

The 5th unit is kept off table at the start. Every time an American Indian card is played then roll 1 dice. If the number rolled is less than or equal to the Turn number then the 5th unit can appear anywhere on the east or west edges of the 2 Central sections. Therefore the 5th unit gets 4 chances per turn of appearing.

The Indians are NOT allowed in the Northern section of the table - if an Indian unit enters the Northern section it is immediately removed from play due to overwhelming musket and artillery fire from the fort

Indian Objective - Engagement

The Indians have to kill 2/3 of the enemy, 22 British figures, in order to complete their victory conditions.

The Card Pack

The pack comprises

2 British Regular cards
4 British Irregular cards
1 British Forward Boys card

4 American Indian cards
1 American Forward Boys card

On the 1st turn remove one of the American Indian cards before shuffling. This card will be the first card played and represents the initial ambush by Pontiac's force. On subsequent turns all cards are included in the shuffle.

Notes

I have played this several times and honours have gone to both sides. It can be a very tight game and a lot depends on how the initial ambush goes. The points are unequal but this hasn't affected play.

I would be interested to hear your comments

I will post an AAR of one of the games next.

Muskets and Tomahawks at Plymouth 2013

Every year the Berkeley Vale Wargames club head south to the Plymouth Association of Wargamers show - PAW - to take part in their Field of Glory competition. Because I could not be bothered to learn FOG V2 I decided to put on a 15mm Muskets & Tomahawks participation game instead.

I had picked up Muskets & Tomahawks (M&T) from Caliver Books at the Reading show in November together with some Indians and Militia from Peter Pig's AWI range.

The project was extremely quick from "initial purchase to first game" for me. I'd bought the figures in November and did the head swaps, Shaun from Dreamholme painted them up for Christmas while I got the terrain sorted. We had our first club game in early January.

The laser-cut buildings people 4Ground very kindly gave me their 15mm Russian log cabins and wooden fences to use in the game. These buildings are excellent – I assembled 3 of the cabins in just over an hour and because they are pre-painted then they are ready to play with straight away. They are currently producing some fantastic 25mm buildings for the FIW and I hear that they will be doing the same in 15mm shortly.

Mrs Miggins outside her cabin

The cabins can easily accommodate 6 people

The forces were all from Peter Pig's AWI range

New Plymouth Militia

Rogers Rangers

Abenaki War Party

Both forces were 200 points in M&T terms

The British had 2 Irregular Officers, 2 units of 5 Militia and 2 units of 6 Rangers and their objective was Defence. This meant that no enemy had to be within 4" of the two buildings in the centre of the table.

The Indians had 2 Sachem, and 4 units of 5 Indians and their objective was Raid, which required the two buildings in the centre of the table to be burnt down.

For the participations games I left out Officer Talents and in some games I also left so left out the side plots

Over the two days there were 7 games played with the overall honours going to the British. For me the highlight of the games was when Event 33: Weapons Cache was discovered by a unit of 3 Indians who then proceeded to take long range pot shots with their new found rifles at the fiancée of the Rangers Officer (Side Plot 11: Romance). Sadly the young lady is no longer with us.

I was pleased at how well M&T worked as a participation game. In every game the players had got a handle on the rules by the half way point of Turn 1.

I was delighted that the game was judged to be the Best Participation Game at the show as there were several other excellent participation games on offer. As I was running M&T on my own I didn't get a chance to try them out.

I must apologise for the green tinge to some of the photographs - I really should check my camera settings.

More photos can be found here at photobucket

There is an active M&T forum here

Chunyuhan - an RJW battle using Square Bashing

This is a fictitious battle set in the Russo-Japanse War fought using RFCM's Square Bashing 2012. There is a page on the Peter Pig website explaining the rules - here's the link

Square Bashing (SB) is played on a 4 foot wide by 3 foot deep area covered by a 6 inch square grid. Terrain pieces are 6 x 12 inches and cover 2 squares. Objectives are 6 inches square

In SB both sides chose 4 pieces of terrain from gentle hills, rough hills, rough ground and buildings. All terrain is then deployed by the defender with the attacker having a chance to move pieces. Two roads are placed - one along the defenders'  base line and the other across the table. The crossroads square becomes 1 of the 4 game objectives. There are 3 other objectives deployed by the defender - the grassy knoll (a small rough hill), a temple and a kaoliang field (woods)

We did the SB Quick Game which cuts out most of the pre-game activity and goes straight to the battle. The Quick Game excludes Assets but I wanted to try them out so added in Barrages and Hasty Defences

Amongst the new rules in SB is one that allows you to choose how High Command (the general) works. It can benefit either movement, fighting, morale or assets - the twist is that the chosen benefit can not be changed.

The quick game pits a standard army of 620 points attacking a 450 point army

The Japanese commanded by Rodge and Steve were the attackers with 1 High Command - fighting benefit 12 Regular Infantry Battalions 3 Reservist Battalions 3 Field guns 1 Light gun 1 HMG

The Russians commanded by Alan P and Mike defended with 1 High Command - morale benefit 6 Regular Infantry Battalions 5 Reservist Infantry Battalions 3 Field guns 3 HMG 2 Hasty Defences

The Japanese deployed - massing 6 Regular battalions on the right flank with the artillery in the centre and the remaining 9 battalions spread between the centre and the left. The Russians then deployed with the majority of their troops holding the right and centre and just a couple of battalions of reservists holding the left.
The Russian right and centre - the buildings are from Mura Miniatures 6mm Japanese range - very nice they are too and they work well with 10mm figures.
The Japanese started by capturing the grassy knoll on their left and moving the right flank up in front of the kaoliang field. In response the Russians occupied the field with 2 reserve battalions.

The Japanese then assaulted the 2 Russian Reservist battalions from the flank as well as from the front. Being assaulted in the flank as in most rules is not good and the Russians were pushed back losing 50% of their troops.
The photos show the aftermath of the Japanese assault on the kaoliang field. The left-hand one shows the 2 Russian battalions reduced to half-strength with 6 casualty markers - 4 of which are going to be used against them in their morale phase and as they are reservist an extra morale dice will be added against them.

The Russian reservists failed their morale test and were forced to retire from the hill. Along the centre and right troops were being  pulled from the line to bolster the collapsed left.

On Turn 3 the Japanese continued hammering the Russian left flank

The two reservist battalions disintegrated and the battalion holding the far left of the line received 4 casualties  losing 2 bases and having to retire. The Japanese stood poised to breakthrough to the  table edge or roll up the Russian line.

Sadly for the Russians the rest of their line was coming under mounting pressure.


Although the quick game does not include Assets we decided to use Point Barrage and Hasty Defences, The Point Barrage is off-table artillery that targets 3 squares in an L shape causing a D6 of hits to the square. Hasty Defence allows temporary cover in the form of the assaulter losing 2 dice and increasing saving rolls.

Armies are allocated a number of dice per asset - the Japanese Barrage is 12 dice, the Russian barrage is lower with 8. An army is allowed to roll for 1 asset each turn using up as many of their dice as they want.  To get the asset requires rolling a 6. The Japanese had rolled 4 dice each turn  from their Barrage allowance but only succeeded in rolling a 6 with the last of their 4 dice on Turn 3.

They dropped the barrage on the Russian right flank and then rolled for overshoot which resulted in the temple avoiding getting shelled.. The Russians on the hill and on the road behind weren't so lucky and took hits. The Japanese then assaulted the hill and the village forcing the Russians back again.

At this point the Russians conceded the game.

Tallying up the points gave the Japanese an unsurprising  Definite Victory. The points for holding an Objective can be quite variable - for the attacker it is 4D6 - the Row number, which counts the Defender's base row as 1 across to 6 for the attcker's base row.. Therefore the kaoliang field in row 4 was 4D6 - 4 so could be worth anywhere between 0 and 20 points to the attackers.

In the post-match analysis the defenders felt that it was too easy for the attackers to assault with little in the way of  defensive fire to halt them and that getting 3 dice to the defender's 2 dice in an assault was a big advantage

My view is that it was easy to attack and if the defender was in the open then it was probably easy to win. However if the defender was in good position with defences and supporting troops then it would be a different matter.

The defender has certainly not got an easy job in SB. From the placement of terrain and objectives through having units disappear via the depletion rolls to holding the line and making sure the flanks aren't turned will keep the defender busy.

From a game aspect it is fast and reasonably simple.  I don't feel that having a grid detracts from the game.  The High Command and Asset mechanisms work well. One area that players had issue with was Line of Sight but we might have been playing that wrong.

From the Russo-Japanese War aspect I am pleased with it. In my opinion it handles a divisional assault reasonably well. My only gripe is how to represent the Japanese use of  HMGs in attacks as they only have a range of 1 for firing and only count 1 in assault or for support

If the guys at Slimbridge are up for it then I am looking to run a campaign at the club

There is a lot more to SB 2012 than the original game - I'm keen to play more.

10mm RJW Solo game using Square Bashing 2012

RFCM and Peter Pig recently brought out a new version of their early 20th century rules - Square Bashing. As with the previous version the game is fought using a grid of squares with each square being 6 inches. The standard game is played on a 4 foot wide by 3 foot deep table giving a grid of 8 by 6 squares.

Peter Pig have a page explaining the rules on their site - here's the link

They have also produced a book of army lists covering not only WW1 and the Russian but also the Mexican  Revolution, the Boxer Rebellion, the Spanish American War, the Chaco War and the Russo-Japanese War.

Therefore I thought I would give Square Bashing (SB) a try out with my standard RJW solo scenario. The scenario misses out a lot of the rules such as assets and commander and only uses Moving, Assaults, Shooting and Morale

The scenario has had to be amended for SB because units are battalions rather than companies.

Firstly the depth of the table was increased from 2 feet  to 2.5 feet to give a playing area of 4 squares wide by 5 squares deep. This was to stop the attackers going straight into combat and to give the defenders somewhere to retreat to. I have tried to keep the same terrain of hills with a trench line and rough ground to slow the attackers down.

Secondly the forces were increased.- the Japanese now have 12 Battalions of Infantry attacking 4 battalions of Russian infantry backed up by 2 HMGs and 2 Field guns. In SB troops can be professional, average or reservist - all troops in the game are average. Each battalion has 4 bases

The battlefield from behind the Russian lines. - the orange pins mark the grid - I'm working on some more aesthetically pleasing markers.

The Russians have deployed  their artillery in the middle squares with a battalion of infantry in each trench square - the HMGs are in the 2 middle trench squares. In the distance the Japanese can be seen coming out of the Kaolin fields

A view from the Russian trenches

The Japanese army seen from an observation balloon

In SB infantry units move 2 squares but have to roll 4+ on a D6 to leave difficult terrain such as rough ground, hills and trenches

The initial Japanese advance saw most units get through the rough ground except on the Right wing where the 1st battalion passed through but the 2nd and 3rd failed to exit

It costs a square of movement to assault which is the main form of combat in SB. Therefore the Japanese were unable to assault on the first turn.

Shooting is carried out in the opponent's turn provided the unit has not been assaulted. Infantry and HMGs have a range of 1 square and artillery has a range of 4 squares with 6's being required for a hit. Hits can be saved but if they are not saved then the target suffers a 1/2 base loss per hit and the square gets a casualty marker which can generate a morale test. The Japanese unit in the middle square has take a hit and lost half a base.

On the next turn the Japanese assaulted. This costs a square of movement and if the assaulter is in bad terrain then an exit role is required. When using trenches the rules state that rough ground should be placed in front of them no doubt to represent barbed wire and no-mans land. However for this game I've only used the trenches.

Banzi! - the Japanese breakthrough - red dice are casualties, white dice are damaged HMGs or artillery and blue dice are "winning the fight" bonus dice.

Each assaulting unit gets 3 dice and each defending infantry unit gets 2 dice - which seems a bit weird but I'm sure there is a reason. Defending HMG get 5 dice. Extra dice are awarded for supporting troops in adjacent squares or if attacking from a flank square. When attacking trenches then the attackers loses 3 dice. Hits are caused on 5s and 6s but saving rolls are allowed.

The attacker wins if they inflict more hits otherwise the defender wins. The loser takes 3 more hits. If the defender loses then they have to retire back a square.




In the game the Russian left flank inflicted heavy casualties on the Japanese but right flank broke under the assault and the day was lost.

As this was a new set of rules for me I played this scenario 12 times to get a hang of it. In only 2 of the games did the Japanese break through and when they did they rolled up the Russian line. In the other 10 games  the assault failed and the Japanese retired back to the kaoliang fields. From my reading of the RJW that is about par for the course - 6 assaults to clear a trench line.

I used to play the original SB and thought they were ok. Although I have yet to play a full game with objectives and assets  I think the new version of Square Bashing is excellent - well done RFCM.

It's a toss up between Square Bashing and Future War Commander as to which set works best for the RJW - maybe I'll use both. I'm running an SB game at the club next week so it will be interesting to see how it works with other players

The figures were all from Pendraken and the trenches were from Dreamholme.