Chris Stoesen has a Chain of Command/IABSM scenario bundle for sale

The excellent and talented Chris Stoesen is doing a bundle deal on his WW2 Eastern Front scenarios. Allow me to quote:

I put together a combo pack of all my East Front Chain of Command supplements. It totals out to over sixty scenarios. I priced it at $20. 

I hope this will generate some interest. More info on it can be found here.

I had health issues in the beginning of the year and need to raise some money to clear out some bills. Please forgive my begging.

The bundle is only available here.

Thanks for your patience with me.

I commend this to you, not only because it's in a deserving cause, but because the man writes damn good stuff and more scenarios are always good. Even if you don't game Eastern Front, they are good inspiration for your own designs.

May I also therefore recommend the following, should you not have copies:

• To Covet Glory - 96 pages of Kiss Me Hardy goodness in real life hard copy
• A whole bunch of scenarios for Sharp Practice and other rules in his Payhip store. I'm particularly fond of The French Coast, as, well, I have these beach boards....

Scenario writing for IABSM

As I'm running a game at the club on Monday, and most of the players have probably seen the one I ran at OML7, I guess I need to write another.

Time to dig out my fictional collection of units. I know I could research some historical units for the area of the Gothic Line, but the Hereward Fusileers (an infantry regiment), the Mercia Light Horse (Churchill NA75s), the Granta Yeomanry (Shermans), the 223rd Field Regiment of the RA, and those dashing chaps from 93 Squadron RAF have acquired themselves some history and backstory, as well as (once I'm done with the designs) a complete set of custom cards from Artscow (once I've figured out why Silverlight has stopped working on my browser!)

Ranged up against them as ever are their usual foes, the 741 Grenadier Battalion and their ragtag collection of armour support (sadly, Unteroffizer Jurgen Honisch is still waiting repairs on his beloved Tiger 1E after a lucky hit from a verdamnt Firefly in the defence of San Marco). 

Bloody Omaha the game

Spent most of Thursday on a train, in the London office or at a band rehearsal. I did manage to do the last of the casualty base work before I headed out to the station first thing, and a fair bit of the train journey reading through the Where The Hell Have You Been, Boys? IABSM2 supplement which contains Rich Clarke's original scenario, and the IABSM3 rules, just to check I hadn't missed anything.

It took a bit of work to convert the original to IABSM3, not least because it's a bit sketchy as written. It also took a bit of pestering Rich to find his research notes, which make interesting reading. There's a few places where the original game adds special rules, largely to make it even less pleasant for the Americans. In the light of IABSM3, it does appear that the rules as written cope with most of that, so I am, with one or two very minor exceptions, running it as per the rule book.

The other thing that amused me greatly was Rich's assertion that:

"This sounds like a lot of figures, but take it from me many, many men will be dead before they get onto the beach. We played it quite comfortably with one full US company worth of figures."

Mmm. Not so much with that last, unless your figures are individually based. At least, you probably can get by with about 150-200 figures, but if you want any chance AT ALL of figuring out which units are which on the cluttered, casualty-strewn beach by the time even wave 2, let alone wave 3, lands, you probably honest-to-God do need eighteen full assault boat sections, all clearly labelled. That's 486 miniatures, or (IIRC) 4 Battlefront UBX09 '29th Infantry Division Assault Company' boxes and two packs of extra Peter Pig BAR men. It JUST fits in a 9L Really Useful Box with four hobby tray inserts.

While we were relabelling everything on Tuesday, I found we were 2 mortar teams and 4 BAR teams short. The former is, I think, explained by there only being 4 mortar teams in a box (and you need a total of 18) and the latter, if memory serves, because I got stiffed on eBay with the last box, as it definitely contained castings I didn't recognise from the previous 3.

I think I may have found the last available box of UBX09 on eBay (props to Frome Model Centre for getting them to me on time) :D which leaves me a few figures to paint and base on Friday. Also the War World Gaming barbed wire bases arrived while I was in London, so those will need grassing tomorrow.

I'm curious, has anyone apart from the Lardies and me been mad enough to run this?

Preparing for OML4

Well, that was fun.

Definitely exercising the 'which of these units fight, again?'
bit of the rules!

An excellent evening with my partner in Dux Britanniarum crime, Andy Hawes, playtesting another scenario for the DB Compendium. Battle report will follow when I'm not having to be up at 6:30 tomorrow, but suffice it to say that once again Dux Brit rose to the challenge and presented a bunch of tactical situations we weren't expecting - I lost, and it was my own stupid fault and nothing to do with the scenario, either. :D

I also think that may be the first time I've ever used a Fear card from the Fate deck!

So - all set barring an early morning raid on the club scenery store (for Rich, not me!), and my eyes are sufficiently improved the plan is to drive down early evening Friday, so if anyone's aiming to be there, we'll be in the Northwick.

Heads up - new TFL pint size campaign.

http://toofatlardies.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=25&products_id=158

And I quote:

"Thirty pages long, "Old Hickory" contains an overview of US operations in Normandy and beyond from Operation Cobra to the German counter attack at Mortain, Operation Luttich.  It goes on to present a mini-campaign covering the defence of L'Abbaye Blanche, a key position to the North of Mortain where the US 30th Division stood firm against 2nd SS Das Reich, and Der Fuhrer regiment in particular."

Posted from gate 20 at Heathrow T3. I'll pick my copy up when I get to Seattle. 

New Chain of Command scenario series

For those of my readers who are interested in Chain of Command and somehow aren't following the blog, forum OR mailing list:
TFL

Building on the back of the At The Sharp End campaign supplement, Too Fat Lardies have just released the first in a series of "Pint Sized" campaigns, namely "29 Let's Go".

The basic premise behind the series appears to be one 32 page downloadable (and printable) PDF, which is a 50/50 mix of well-written and useful historical background to the campaign (with maps), and then a Sharp End-style 'ladder' campaign, with table layouts based on the maps. And all this for the price of a reasonable pint - £3.50. What's not to like? I mean, for the price of a pint, you get of the order of 5-8 evening's entertainment, just add scenery, figures and (optionally) an umpire.

This builds really well on Chain of Command and At The Sharp End, and while I haven't had chance to play any of the scenarios yet, I did get to give it a thorough read.

Chain of Command scenarios - coming soon

From those lovely chaps at TFL:

Sadly, all we have to go on is 'soon'. Is that better than 'Easter'? :D

(Just finished That Rehearsal. The one just before the dress rehearsal where you go 'Dear Lord, we suck SO much'. It'll be all right on the night. I hope.)

Battle Report - 30-Apr-2012

Skipping ahead while this is fresh in my mind :D I'll go back and catch up on the three outstanding reports later!

Last night AndyH and I convened at the club to playtest an Age of Arthur scenario for WAB. This was one Andy had designed and sent to me for critique, and we'd gone through several rounds of back and forth (see my posts on scenario design for some of the things I was thinking about while suggesting tuning - predominantly use of the board and terrain). The final map we designed is visible to the right - it's going to get a few tweaks from here still, and I may well post an 'evolution of a scenario' post later. As for the actual detailed rules of the scenario - you'll have to wait for those :D

The initial setup, looking down
the ridge line to the tower.

Advance apologies for the quality of some of the photos - the light was a bit low, and I wasn't allowing enough time for camera shake on the iPhone.

So for now - a battle report. Andy was the attacker with his Romano-British, and my Saxons' solitary unit of Duguth plus some bowmen had just lit a fire in the watchtower to warn the rest of my army of their approach!

Andy advanced, and I rolled for arrival of the rest of my army - pretty decent, in that half the units from the village off my table edge showed up. Next turn, his first unit of Milites made it to the tower, attacking up the slope, and his cavalry crossed the river and began to threaten my approaching reinforcements.

Andy's cavalry forge across the
river.

His attacking force was met by a hail of javelins and arrows, but managed to scare off the archers defending the hill top, and hauled their way up the slope.

Meanwhile my cavalry (from another village) showed up on Andy's left, and the left flank turned into a rather involved battle of manoeuvre between his cavalry and Milites, and my Gedrith and cavalry, which lasted most of the game. At the same time, Andy's (disloyal scum of a bunch of) Saxon allies turned up on the right flank and moved in to join the fray around the tower.

Eagle's eye view of the battle at
the watchtower

Back at the tower, the Milites were repulsed, but rallied, and the battle at the tower itself became something of a standoff. His Saxons (boo, hiss) routed my Geoguth, and proceeded to chase down my other unit of Duguth in the centre. The archers, who'd rallied in a wood almost on my baseline, decided this was too much, and fled.

"If you go down in the
woods today...."

In the last but one turn I managed to charge his cavalry on the left, after several rounds of cautious manoeuvring, and after two rounds of inconclusive melee, my Gedriht caught them in the rear, and destroyed them. End of battle, and... wow. I don't think I've ever had to think that hard in a WAB battle before - the terrain and scenario meant that line-up-and-smack-the-crap-out-of-each-other was never going to work.

The final result? A bloody standoff, in the best traditions of AoA battles. My thanks to Andy for being, as ever, a gracious and fun opponent, and for letting me critique his scenario and rip the original terrain layout to shreds!

Designing scenarios part 3 - execution

Onward, and last (cor! a post series that only lasted one more post than expected, and is finished! whatever next?), let's talk about what happens 'on the day', as it were.


The Table

There are two almost conflicting things to consider here, Number one - use all the table. If you can't, make it smaller so it looks like you are! There's really no point, especially in a crowded club environment, for example placing the objective in the middle of the table for Blue to defend and restricting the Red forces to entering along one edge, as that renders half the table, pretty much, pointless. I'm guilty of that in my Op: Squad scenarios - most of them would have fitted on a 4'x3' or almost a 4'x2' rather than the 4'x4' that they were laid out on. Equally, though, don't just start Red's forces at the far end of the table simply to use all the table space. If Blue are in defensive positions they don't want to, or the scenario won't let them, vacate, and don't have long range weapons, you're going to effectively waste several turns until the sides get into range.

Designing scenarios part 2 - the rôle of the umpire

Following on from part one, this section (perhaps inevitably) merits more thought than I expected when I started laying out the plans for this series (wow, was it really a month ago!). The extended digression in question is the matter of an umpire - should you have one, and what should his powers be?

I'll come right out and admit it - I spent a lot of my time between my teenage wargaming years and my recent rediscovery of the hobby as a GM for assorted roleplaying campaigns: predominantly D&D, but other systems (and complete lack of systems!) besides. I've done everything from lead a party through a pre-planned commercial scenario to tease them with a completely un-pre-planned whodunnit where there were several occasions on which they knew more about the plot than I did. As a result I'd like to think I know what I'm talking about about roleplaying games and GMing :D

Designing scenarios part 1 - preparation

Having knocked together a few scenarios for Operation: Squad, as well as had my thoughts provoked by an excellent piece from Bob Cordery on his Wargaming Miscellany blog, I've been thinking about the practicalities of scenario design (which you'd probably guessed from the title, right?), in particular, the things one needs to do to get it right.

I'd start by pointing out that this isn't about 'tournament' scenarios, but if you like 'mini-campaign' scenarios - it's not about figuring out something to amuse X-thousand point armies, but about giving the opposing generals a hopefully reasonably balanced tactical workout that they can, at the same time, enjoy and feel involved in. I'd also point out that far better people than me have designed scenarios for wargamers, and these are just my opinions.

This post will be divided into two parts: first up, preparation. (OK, let's be honest here. On my past form? at least two parts!)

The Plot


Basically, the first question you need to answer is 'why are the opposing forces here?' The standard tournament answer ("Because they ran into each other, duh!") generally Won't Do - armies don't, normally. One side or other will have an objective, which may or may not be known to the other side, and is usually on terrain of the other's choosing. Some of the more interesting, particularly smaller-scale, battles, focus around taking small strategic objectives like river crossings (Pegasus Bridge) or villages, or covering retreats (Quatre Bras). Sure, that objective sometimes is 'bring the opposing army to battle and crush them', but even then there's a story - look at Waterloo for an example.

Briefings


Make them fun. Go to a little bit of effort - they can just be verbal briefings, but you could prepare handouts.

Briefings should actually be in two parts: the mission, and, for want of a better word, the knowledge.

If you like, you can consider the mission briefing to be the victory conditions. It could for instance be an in-character communique from the commander's superior officer telling him what his goal is. For extra verisimilitude and immersion, take advantage of modern computers and printers, and use a suitable font as well. I've done at least one mission brief (which those of you going to Hammerhead will see at our club's participation game) with authentic German stamps and Himmler's signature!

The knowledge is the stuff that the commander should know as well as the mission brief - why he's where he is, what condition his forces are in, etc. This can also be used to set up and justify some of the rationale behind the scenario - for example, in one of my Op: Squad scenarios, the German squad (attached to a Flak unit) is transport-less because the Feldwebel of the overall detachment has driven off in the Opel Blitz to visit his (presumably French) girlfriend. It can also be used to set up personal aims for the commander (or commanders, if you're expecting multiple players a side). Above all, it can and probably should be entertaining, something that draws the player in.

On top of that? Maps. Always! Maps are cool: even if they're just sketches. Better yet if you can use one of the cheap or free graphics packages to pretty them up a bit. (For the Mac, OmniGraffle's really neat and not that pricey. For the PC, it's a complete no-brainer - just buy Campaign Cartographer and the Dungeon Designer add-on! (note for Mac users, this will run under CrossOver.)

If you want to see some really masterful attempts to impart knowledge, go grab a copy of Don Featherstone's Skirmish Wargaming, and read some of the two and three page pieces that precede each scenario - they are, to all intents and purposes, short stories. While there's probably considerably more information in those than is absolutely necessary, they do make for excellent plots for scenarios.

Balance

This is always a tricky one. The briefing is the primary place where you can tune game balance: number of units available, timings of arrivals, etc. For example, a lot of my Operation: Squad scenarios are designed for equal forces, but compensate for one side being in good defensive positions by requiring half of them to roll to wake up. If you're running with an umpire, it also allows you to add unknown numbers of reinforcements to either side at a later stage in the battle, if things are getting a little one-sided.

That, in itself, opens a whole can of worms, which I'll save for another post, namely the whole question of umpired vs not, and whether the scenario as you write it down should be set in stone thereafter.


Of which, more next time. Enjoy!

Book review: Charles S Grant, "Scenarios For Wargames"

As promised, the even more awesome Amazon find.

One of the books I never managed to pick up when I was younger, but have kept seen being mentioned since I came back to the hobby - Charles S Grant's "Scenarios for Wargames". The major problem with getting a hold of a copy of this book is every one you see on Amazon seems to start at around the £40 mark (think that's bad, try finding a copy of WAB Age of Arthur - there's one going on Amazon for over £100!!) - I assume because it's rare, and out of print, and not yet being reprinted by John Curry or Henry Hyde (just kidding, guys!). While there are a scant few books I'd be prepared to pay £40, let alone £100, for, we're not talking wargames books, we're talking things like copies of Apollo astronaut biographies signed by the subject (which I did, for Charlie Duke's).

Hence, you can imagine my considerable delight, and rather rapid 1-click purchase finger, when a copy of "Scenarios for Wargamers" turned up on Amazon for £20.

If you're at all familiar with the original or the new Table-Top Teasers (I thoroughly recommend the Battlegames magazine collection of the latter, by the way, just as soon as Atlantic Publishing get them up on their site), you should know what to expect from this book. 52 carefully, in fact meticulously, planned scenarios (one for every week of the year), designed for (in most cases) as generic a pair of forces as possible, well balanced, with clear instructions. Most, if not all, presume on the services of an umpire. In short, they're set at a point between tournament battles and mini-campaigns.

Most of the scenarios are double page spreads, and I guess my one beef is that it's quite a stiff-spined paperback, I suspect exacerbated in my case by it being ex-library (are ALL second-hand wargames books ex-library?) and covered in plastic film. For a book like this, where being able to refer to it constantly helps, I wonder if publishers should take a leaf out of some music publishers book (as it were) and add a stiff spiral binding.

That aside, it's inspirational. I spent a long time flicking through it and going 'ooo, I could use that with...' (fill in as appropriate), and, in a way, it's like "War Game Campaigns": it's a book to get you thinking as well as to use. It's also a good testament to the fact that proper scenarios need preparation, and that the preparation pays off in an increased enjoyment, because you're now not just fighting the army that turned up across the table, but for an objective. If you want the things a campaign gives you (the 'why' behind your battles), but don't have the time, the space or the players, then well-written, properly plotted scenarios are for you.

Of which more, later.

Operation: Squad scenarios 3

Last one of the current batch of Op: Squad scenarios - this one is another paratroop assault, this time an attempt to demolish a vital railway line. As before, it can be found on the Scenarios page.

I should note straight away that this is the scenario of the three that didn't get play tested, due to there not being enough players on the night. It can be fine-tuned by moving the relative positions of the para drop, the German entry point, and the railway line: if anyone gives it a go, I'm eager for feedback and tuning suggestions.

I should also note that these three scenarios can be played side by side: 3, 1, 2, west to east - the maps are designed to link up.

Operation: Squad scenarios 2

[No, there wasn't another incomplete post here earlier. You were hallucinating. Move along. Nothing to see, and besides, I have other series of posts to finish yet. Like this one.]

Next Operation: Squad scenario up is the second in the D-Day set - a paratroop landing. There are, I'm told, paratroop landing rules in the original Operation: WW2 rules, which I don't have. The set we played when we did this are not the same as the ones in the PDF - the latter are courtesy of Dan Phillips from our club, and would have been much better on the day!

As before, this can be found on the Scenarios page.

Operation: Squad scenarios

I'm in the process of tidying up the briefing notes, and providing maps for, the Operation: Squad scenarios I ran first thing in the New Year at the club.

They will appear on the new Scenarios page on this blog - feel free to make what use of them you like.

The first one up is the glider landing scenario. Note that this took us a couple of goes to get it close to balanced: feel free to tweak and tune it as you like. Nothing is set in stone - these are all just suggestions to try and produce something a little different to the usual Op: Squad encounter battle.