Getting real? Wargaming the current war

I don't normally do solo wargaming. To me it always used to smack of desperation - "Billy No Mates" and all that. Even through lockdown I rarely bothered, unless it was something written with solo play as an option (like Zona Alfa).

I also don't tend to do games based on current events. I'm not pontificating here. Philosophically I don't really see a big difference in playing a game which involves thousands of my representative troops being killed in a mad charge against a Roman Legion, or fighting through the rubble of Stalingrad. However the last really "current" conflict I played was back in 1982 when me and some friends at Hartlepool Wargames Club (Hi Dave Lakey!) played out some "What if" games as the British Task Force headed for the South Atlantic, before the real shooting war began. I don't think we really expected it to turn into a real shooting war. When our games resulted in a couple of Royal Navy warships being sunk by missiles I don't think we thought it would ever happen. Subconsciously I think I shied off from then on. I played lots of "What if" Cold War goes hot stuff, but no actual "live" conflicts. 

Anyway I digress. Mark F has been sorting through a box of spare 1:3000 scale warships dating back to the 80s, and asked for some help identifying what was what. I dutifully dug out my old 1982 copy of Janes Fighting ships and my model collection, and started to try and match his blurry pics to what I had. (seriously m8 my eyesight is bad enough - take better pictures!). This got me to thinking about current events, particularly the loss of the Slava Class missile cruiser Moskva. Interest peaked I dug out my old rules (Shipwreck) and decided to see what happens. Shipwreck was published in 1999 and was written with the 80s and 90s era in mind. Moskva was straight out of that era, and the Ukrainian Neptune missiles are very similar to US Harpoon* missiles, so that would do for my little experiment.

Scenario 1 - Wide Awake

I set the scene as much as I can work from open source material. Moskva is cruising with no close escort, and is attacked by a pair of Neptune SSMs fired from a land based launcher. Targeting is assumed to be a passive shot - ie the Ukrainians know the general area the cruiser is operating in, but don't have a precise fix. How the Ukrainians have a firing solution is currently unclear but I suspect someone from Langley may have made a call. Anyway the action starts as the two missiles reach maximum possible detection range for the Moskva's radar. 

Undetected missiles in grey

Onboard Moskva the radar operators are awake and alert. They make a detection attempt on the two incoming missiles, and much to my surprise, good dice results mean both are detected and identified as hostile. Someone hits the klaxon and alarms blare! However there is not a lot the ship can do at the moment. The main anti aircraft system is the S300F (SA-N-6). This is an area defence system and at least in Shipwreck can't target the incoming sea skimming missiles. That will have to be the job for the point defence systems - Moskva has a pair of OSA-M (SA-N-4) launchers, a twin 130mm gun and three groups of AK-630 gatling Close In Weapons Systems (CIWS). Not all of these can bear of course, but they're all brought on line.   

detected - red!

The missiles are coming in fast and low. They're subsonic, but they will still cover the distance to the ship in less than 2 minutes.... 

The SA-N-4 shoots first as the missiles get to very short range . Two missiles streak out, but miss. Moskva launches Chaff, but this will be resolved later.

The guns go into action. The 130mm and the front CIWS group open up, but miss. The starboard side CIWS however gets lucky, killing one missile. One left.

The remaining missile suddenly veer away, distracted by the chaff cloud, and crashes into the sea. All on board cheer with relief! A warship has shown it can defeat an ASM attack, just as designed.

Scenario 2 - Asleep at the Wheel?

We don't know if Moskva was aware she was under attack, but the pictures that have emerged show her SA-N-4 system is still stowed, and the missile directors are arranged fore and aft, which strongly suggests she was not. Maybe she was in passive mode, just listening, which it has to be said seems strange for an AA cruiser in a warzone, but stranger things have happened.

In this case the missiles are not detected until they are on their final attack run - Shipwreck assumes either someone sees them at very short range, or the seeker heads are detected when they go active.  Either way this is bad news. This time all the defenses miss - bad dice and no warning. The chaff isn't launched in time....

Both missiles hit the Moskva. One strikes forward under the bow CIWS cluster. It disables the guns but does only light damage. The second hit is a different story, hitting amidships and causing crippling damage. All power is lost and a fire rages. 

Damage control fights bravely, but two turns later the fires spread and the ship has to be abandoned. It sinks shortly after that. 

Not sure what this proves, other than even 23 years after publication Shipwreck works as a set of rules. Also the slightly disconcerting thought that possibly I'm ok with "current" wars as long as my countrymen are not doing the dying, which is food for thought. Will I be doing more from this war - nope. I'm still uncomfortable with that. However now I have dug out the rules and models maybe I will give them a spin again in a fictitious Cold War gone Hot scenario.

* The R-360 Neptune is a Ukrainian developed weapon that is based on the Soviet Kh-35 anti ship missile. The Kh-35 bears a startling resemblance to the US designed Harpoon, to the point it is often referred to as Harpoonski 

Thanks

Battlegroup Northag BTR 60 "Bloody Tricky Resin???"

Box has arrived. Lock down slippers and vaguely interested cat

So I've spent a chunk of my hobby time over the last couple days assembling the models on my Soviet starter army for Battlegroup Northag from Plastic Soldier Company. The army arrived two days ago, so I've had some rather nice lunchtime sessions in the garden armed with a craft knife cleaning up the vehicles.

First thing that needs to said is that contrary to the name, these are NOT hard plastic. They're in a grey plastic \ resin which PSC are calling "Ultracast". To the uninitiated eye like mine this seems very similar to Warlord's new resin. This has some pro's and cons. For the gamer it is lightweight and holds detail quite well. Allegedly it takes paint without undercoat too, but I'm nothing if not a rebel so I'm going to undercoat mine - if only to keep Halfords in business in these hard times. Apparently it also resists chipping and paint rubbing off - the bane of any models in this scale. It sticks together with superglue - though in my case I must admit some bits took quite a time to cure. It is also a bit flexible. I know some people are worried about bendy barrels but mine seemed mostly ok and straightened out where needed with a quick hot water bath, and I suspect you will really have to try to actually snap one of these gun barrels. The other pro on this material is that it doesn't have the massive up front costs injection moulding carries with it, which I'm guessing is one of the reasons it is becoming more common.

Now the cons. I hated cleaning mould lines and flash on these models. My previous experience of similar - ie Warlord resin on Blood Red Skies models, was relatively pain free. They were mostly flash free, and where there was flash and mould lines these were on smooth and regular surfaces so could be carved off with a sharp Xacto. This stuff doesn't like scraping or filing - it just frays, so the best way to deal with it is to carve the flash away with a knife. The PSC BTR60 is a collection of bloody awkward shapes with mould lines in about the most inconvenient places - ie around the top of the wheels and around the turret at the mid point. It was made worse by there being rather a lot of flash between the wheels too on some of them - I got the impression PSC were rushing these through and QC may have taken second place to quantity. The turrets on the BTRs and BRDMs were equally frustrating due to the shape and position of the mould line -  ie half way down the conical turret sides. After cleaning 88 wheels and 12 turrets I was ready to stab someone - thankfully Social Distancing saved me. In fairness I have had the same problem with metal conical turrets but they seemed easier to fix.

The actual models seem reasonable. Proportions are good, detail is good, and parts fit is mostly excellent. There are a couple of models which have sink holes - I assume where the resin has contracted for some reason, but I would guess these will not be that obvious once painted (fingers crossed). The BTR 60 is a four part model - hull, turret and two sets of wheels (4 each). I wasn't sure if these were supposed to fit a certain way round - one slot on the hull is slightly different to the others and there was a corresponding tooth on the wheel frame, but they did fit either way around. In practice I didn't have enough of the corresponding wheels to be picky and once assembled I am unable to tell which had been assembled the "right" way anyway.

The T64s went together smoothly and are rather nice - again 4 parts, hull, turret and 2 track units, and the BRDMs were similarly straightforward.

Overall I am happy with them. I would much have preferred the hard plastic that PSC are famous for, but on the whole they are nice models. IF however I decide to do another Infantry Company, they will be in BMPs so I don't have to face those bloody wheels again. I have not looked at the infantry beyond a quick glance so I will deal with them later - I'm praying they are relatively flash free.

No pics as yet - everything is out in the garden drying off from the undercoat, but I will do a follow up post "soon" once the paint is on.

Cheers

Chechens (2)

Last post I bitched and moaned about my inadequacies when it came to the Empress Miniatures Chechens. One other issue which has nothing to do with me is there is no 28mm SA7 gunner available that fits the force - at least as far as I can find one. There are actually very few SA7 gunners out there as far as I can see - usually Mujahadeen in Dish Dash which really don't fit for my Chechens who are mainly in cold weather clothing.

I wanted a SA7 as a Faction option, so decided in a fit of rage to scratch build or convert one. The starting point is this Empress Miniatures RPG Gunner.

As you can see he has his RPG about ready and pointing below the horizon. What the pic doesn't show is the RPG is a separate piece with the left hand attached. Undeterred I binned the RPG and bent the left arm carefully up so that he now is pointing above the horizon rather than below. I then built a model SA7 out of plasticard and tubing \ rods. It's not a work of art but it looks about right. His left hand came from an old Wargames Factory Persian Archer, but again it seems to fit well enough.

Finally I hung a spare AK on his back. Seemed like a good idea. Here he is, painted and waiting for any passing helicopter to share the bad news with.

Chechens for Black Ops (1)

I'm still enjoying Ospreys Black Ops Rules which manage to do some interesting things simply.

Having just about finished my Russians I thought I would get some opposition for them, or at least some troops to use as an alternative. I decided on some Empress Miniatures Chechens  to use either as Chechens, or optionally as some generic mid \ East European militia. At worst they would be something different to the Taliban types out there, and being Militia you can get a fair few for your 50pts

The figures are very interesting - I think Empress got the range from another producer (Red Star???) and they in a different style to some of the other Empress ranges. Basically they are multi part with usually the gun separate (complete with a hand wrapped around the grip). This is not a bad idea as it allows some really dynamic poses, however there is a catch, and that catch is the weapons themselves, which are all painfully thin. Of course you can say this is just accurate scaling - and to an extent it is, but that doesn't help when the barrel of the MG snaps when you look at it. Probably the worse figure for this is the gunner running with PKM where the figure is holding the gun by the carrying handle (OK) but the handle itself is so thin as to be useless on a wargames table. There is a pic below but what it fails to show is that the hand with the handle  isnt actually attached to the gun except at the front of the handle - ie as in real life. This is a great pity because it makes the guy incredibly fragile. Worse, because the figures have the hands cast to the separate weapons you have to get an exact fit for this to look any good, and if you want to replace the gun with a more robust slightly upscale one you also need to get some new hands found or made. When it works it is very nice, but I'm having a lot of problems as a combination of the need for a close fit plus my ham fists.

That problem extends to painting too. I wanted to have that civilian \ militia vibe, which means everyone wearing different uniforms (oxymoron there) or civilian clothes. The problem is I an apparently incapable of doing this, so the production time is ludicrously low - in fact I'm actively looking for other stuff to paint rather than face them.

Which is a shame because these are very good figures. Anyway here is my first three, and as you can see, they are a little bland. Hopefully I can do something better with the next batch.

Team Yankee Game 2

Our first game went well enough - or rather about as well as the fairly restrictive scenario allowed, so we moved on to the second - the defence of Hill 214. This scenario pits a small US force defending a crossroads against a larger Soviet attack, and importantly this takes place at night. The Soviets have the option of attacking with an infantry heavy force or taking tanks supported by a single Company of Motor Rifles - given I only had enough infantry for the second option, it was an easy choice.

Here is the basic table layout. Victory conditions were simple - the Soviets had to capture the junction at the centre of the table, the US have to break the Soviets. The US were heavily outnumbered - 2:1 or greater, but they did have better kit, a minefield,  and could start one platoon in ambush.

Russian Deployment

Survivors from Scenario 1

In addition to a full T72 Company the Soviets also had the survivors from scenario 1 available, and these deployed on the opposite side of the US positions to the main attack.

Paul deployed his M1s covering two of the approaches to the wood, with his rear protected by a hastily laid minefield and his platoon of Mechanised Infantry in ambush somewhere.

Turn one started rather well for the Russians. They advanced at speed and managed to spot one of the M1 platoons. A ragged salvo of 125mm guns lit the night, and one hit the rear of an M1 which blew up spectacularly

Red "flash" markers indicate which tanks have shot - these are now visible at daylight ranges.

Burning M1

To add insult to injury the remaining M1 in the platoon failed a morale test and the crew promptly abandoned their tank!

On the other flank the two surviving T72s from scenario 1 tried to engage the remaining M1s but failed miserably - then quickly paid the price as both were killed in quick succession.

Back to the main attack. The T72s halted on encountering the minefield but the infantry worked around the edges and started to infiltrate into the woods to secure the objective.

At which point the Mech Platoon opened up with its Dragon ATGMs, instantly killing a T72 and putting quite a lot of hurt on the infantry. Return fire was ineffective mainly as the Yanks were dug in.

Holding the objective

(Paul is using sabot bases for his infantry until we decide if we want to rebase for Team Yankee)

The Soviet infantry try to assault the Mech position, but are beaten off by infantry fire supported by the M113s .50 cals

Meanwhile the remaining M1s swing around the wood to try and engage the T72s which turn to meet them

Again the superiority of the M1s is quickly proven, forcing the Soviet commander to commit more tanks to the flank.

Luckily for the Soviets the infantry battle in the woods swings in their favour - both Dragon missile teams are killled and a well aimed RPG hits and kills one of the M113s. Again the US morale fails, and the infantry start to withdraw, leaving the Soviets in possession of the objective and able to claim a victory

 So an interesting and quite tense game. Up to the US morale failures as the Soviet player I was not keen on my chances of victory, but luck was on my side. The night fighting rules worked well we thought, and on balance we think we're going to take up Team Yankee and expand our forces.

So two training missions down, one to go. This time it will be a Soviet counter attack in the face of both US armour AND air support - I expect it will be brutal :-)

Team Yankee Training Campaign scenario 1

So last night we played the first two scenarios from Team Yankee - Last Battle of tank 66 and Defence of Hill 214. These are the first two of three scenarios that form a mini campaign and are clearly designed to introduce the rules to two players. All are based on episodes in the book.

So without further ado here's what happened in Scenario 1

Scenario 1 is "The last Battle of Tank 66" and pits a single M1 Abrams against three T72s.

Here it is, commanded by my opponent "Big" Paul. Paul is looking unconvinced. He doesnt like FoW.

Paul had turn 1 and prompt;y showed off the merits of better training and fire control by hitting two T72s, but luckily only one was penetrated and exploded.

The remaining two then demonstrated the merits of good luck, advanced to close the range and hit the M1 twice. One bounced but the other did horrible things - Scenario 1 ended in a Soviet victory.

Not sure what we learned as we only had one turn of play - I suppose we had a grip on how tank fire works.

So one scenario down. Second one to follow........will Paul be convinced?

Team Yankee - Jury out

As Britney Spears said "oops I did it again". Yup I succumbed to another possible game and for all the right reasons - probably.

I'm talking about Battlefront (the Flames of War people) and their "Team Yankee" rules based around the book of the same name by Harold Coyle,

I always liked the book (Swordpoint is better). Battlefront have re-skinned the Flames of War rules to fit the modern period - or at least the mid 1980s when the book is set. In a moment of weakness I bought the rules, however as I already had some 10/12mm Soviets kicking around in a spares box I decided to just use them rather than the 15mm the rules are written for. More on that later.

I've not played them yet, so this is only an initial assessment based on a readthrough. I will be better placed after we play them tonight. The initial problem is that the rules are, as I said, a re-skinned or ported across version of Flames of War. That's a good thing, and a bad thing, depending on your perception of FoW. By re-skinning I mean the main core of the rules are there, but for some reason they have changed the names around a bit, so "Bunker Buster" now read "Brutal", however the wording is pretty much the same. This is not such a bad thing, as even a dyed in the wool FoW hater (like me) has to admit the main rules work very well as a turn up and play game, even if some of the details grate at my teeth. Whatever else, these are tried and tested systems that really deliver what they are aiming for, even if that objective is something I find unpalatable. Sadly this means a couple of more stupid and annoying rules from WW2 have also been ported across, so artillery is still deployed on table (really!) and vehicle crews possibly bailing out and remounting almost every turn, which is a ludicrous mental image that you can do away with by simply changing the phrase "Bail out" with something like "shocked" or "stunned". Possibly more of a worry is what is not there - ie no vehicle smoke dischargers, but the designers say they assume crews are doing all that so why micromanage - which is a fair point to a degree. I suppose if you like FoW you will like these, and if you don't, well there are others out there.

The rules book themselves are the usual sumptuously laid out photo and diagram laden fare we are used to - hardback as well, and include the now obligatory "how to paint" section, plus army lists for the two protagonists and a short campaign.

One change from FoW is the units are presented as unit cards which should contain all the stats you need - which should be quite useful, and I think the idea is the cards will be packaged in with the units.

There are a couple of problems here. Firstly the forces in the rulebook are very restricted - basically a cut down Soviet Motor Rifle of Tank Battalion vs a US Mech\Armour Combat Team. Battlefront seem to have restricted the organisations quite a bit to coincide with their model release schedule - so no BRDMs get mentioned even though they would be a common sight on the battlefield and appear in the books. In effect the US get only 6 vehicles - M1, M109, M901 , M113 M163 and M106, Sovs fair badly too - T72, BMP1 &2, SAU 122 and BM21. I'm not too keen on this approach, but the online community has already filled most of the gaps so its not too much of a problem, and I would imagine BF will expand with new force briefings as the models become available.

The campaign is a simple 3 scenario affair clearly designed to get players familiar with the rules, which is not a bad thing. As I said I will report back after playing.

So that's about it for now - hopefully next time I will have a better idea of how it plays plus some pics from the game. Cheers

Carry on up the Urals - or when is too big too big?

I'm still on my Black Ops fad, and with an eye on the imminent release of the Two Fat Lardies modern version of their excellent Chain of Command rules I have been thinking about other stuff to go with my "Modern" Russians (ok Modern-ish). I searched the net for some soft transport - always useful to have around on a table, but there didnt seem to be that much out there - plenty of options for AFVs but nothing after that. Then my mate John came to the rescue - sort of. He had some die cast Ural trucks he had bought for a now defunct project. They were 1:43 which is a bit big, but would I like one?

Yup!

So here it is (Cheers John)

My first problem is getting an idea just how big they are. Here are a couple of shots which show versions of the real thing. As you can see, the front wheel-arch and mudguards are about shoulder high. That's a BIG truck!

My donated die cast is clearly a bit too big! However mulling over the problem John suggested that if I lowered the suspension a bit maybe that would work ? And a project was born.

I dismantled the truck and went to work with a Dremel

I relocating the axles as far up as I could - about 8mm in this case. It looks a mess from underneath but is pretty much invisible from other angles. This has brought the whole model down to a much more reasonable height - though it still looks BIG it now looks a bit more in proportion with the figures, who can now see over the mudguards without using a ladder :-)

That done the next step is to repaint it. I wanted to keep the clear plastic windows, so I removed them and sprayed the now disassembled cab and chassis in a nice Russian green before reassembling.

I have to admit I like the look of the new Ural "Lowrider" and I think it will make a nice addition to our games.

Dirty Deeds Part 4 - epilogue

So just a quick final word on that Black Ops game. Lots of fun was had, and all at a very limited cost. The Russian figures were from The Assault Group (TAG) who do a very nice range of modern figures, with the opposition coming from Crooked Dice Games 7 TV range - actually their Evil Mastermind Minions range (because we didn't have anything else spare at the time - this has since been rectified!)

The warehouse was by TT Combat who do a range of very reasonably priced mdf buildings - and indeed a cargo ship that looks like it should be on a Black Ops table! The rest of the terrain was from Hartlepool Wargames Club's, with the containers from Paul's old AT43 collection and the vehicles from local ££ shops.

Black Ops looks like it could be a very nice game when you have a couple of hours free - both Paul & I think it is a winner and the "buy in" price is low, you can get a 50pt Special Forces team in a single blister of figures, so the rules and your initial starter force will leave you with plenty of change from a £20 note, with the rules costing £10.99 direct from Osprey (and plenty of places selling them cheaper) and a 4 man blister of Special Forces types costing about £6.50-£7.50 depending on which manufacturer  you favour.

Well worth a look

Dirty Deeds Somewhere in Central Europe............(part 3) Going Loud

Our Black Ops game has now reached the critical bit where the lead starts to fly. The Spetznaz have seven turns to secure two out of three objectives. They start off well enough, sending a scout forward under cover from some overwatching colleagues

The guards are not prepared to sit idly by. As this was a standard game with no stealth rules they were aware that enemy were in the area, so the gate guard sent two men to investigate. The Spetznaz were already in position, and a spray of SAW fire opened the engagement, causing suppression on both guards. It is worthwhile explaining briefly the suppression rules here, which work really well. Any shots can be declared as trying to suppress. Shooting then happens as normal with a small bonus on the to hit score, but hits do not cause damage. Instead any troops hit by suppressive fire have to choose when they next activate to either duck behind cover, retreat, both losing the current activation, or face the fire and continue as normal - if they choose to continue the suppression hits are converted to real hits and results are diced for. This worked really well.

On the other side the Russian Scout took a shot with his DMR at one of the guards who was crossing open ground, and he went down hit. Return fire from the two guards who had been guarding the warhead caused two hits on the shooter, but he ducked back into cover as the rest of his team moved up,

Then it went "Kinetic". In a ferocious couple of activations the four SMG armed STW guards were all killed by the Spetznaz, mostly the result of point blank AKSU74 fire as the Special Force troops took advantage of their superior training and equipment. There was a short period when a series of STW activations looked like it may steady the situation, but then the Russians regained the initiative and made it count, losing one KIA and one walking wounded in the process, but securing the office objective and causing 5 KIA to the guards.

That left a single guard hiding at far corner of the building, and the STW leader and two guards who were running to join the fight. Again the superior training and equipment of the Russians proved decisive. A combination of suppressive fire from SAWs and aimed DMR shots, aided by underslung grenade launchers was too much for the remaining guards, particularly after their leader decided to brave the suppression and rally his troops, but only succeeded in catching a bullet to the forehead.

The last guards bravely tried to hold on, but the sheer weight of fire being directed at them finally overcame them.

The Russians were back in possession of their lost warhead, and hopefully no-one would ever know. Such is the world of Black Ops

Next (and last) some thoughts on the rules