Sport, Black Crusade and Sod All Painting

Little in the way of any tangible progress so far this month.  Real life has been relatively busy, but the real cause of my lethargy is the June/July sports schedule!  The Tour has started, taking up any free afternoons I have.  The Tennis occupies any evenings.  the ODI cricket takes up the odd day.  Then there are weekend events like the F1 and MotoGP.  The Mrs has resigned herself to the constant accompaniment of crowd noise, commentator babble and me jumping up shouting "Coom on Andy!" Bless her.

The weather has precluded any outdoor activity this week (holiday tan has gone and it's back to the pasty white look again!) which meant I was able to get a little gaming in.  I've managed to fit in two sessions of Black Crusade, which we are really enjoying.  The characters the players are running have got to the stage where I can introduce some of the nastier enemies Black Crusade has to offer.  The next source book is due out sometime this month, so we're trying to complete the story arc we're on now before starting on the new material.

This guy saw a run out last week.  Nasty.
  

I'm still keen to have a proper stab at Force on Force, after getting a couple more source books for my birthday last month.  Last week, I tried some solo games using proxy figures, just to get a handle on the rules properly.  After you get your head round some of the abstract concepts (cover, line of sight etc.) the game flows very smoothly.  The problem I've found is that I can't seem to settle on a period or conflict to collect.  I'll leave this alone however until I get a couple other things finished first.

 

Next week, the main aim is to complete the first unit of Hoplites and, secondly, to get the first batch of Fallschirmjager figures done (although I doubt I'll get them based though.)  Add into the mix a quick Black Crusade session and I'll call that a good week!  We'll see how it goes...

Incoming!

Despite the fact I'm in my thirties, and financially independent, I still get some Christmas cards with cash in them! I think it's a kind of tradition on one side of my family! This year, the Xmas dough bought nice meal out, a couple bottles of wine and a few nerd supplies!

In keeping with my resolutions, I've picked up the Combined Army Starter Set and Skiavoros lieutenant for Infinity.  My Yu Cing miniatures still haven't arrived from eBay yet, so I'll be able to get started on these guys.

Ambush Valley is the Vietnam supplement for Force on Force.  There is lots of eye candy on show, hopefully the content is equally impressive!

Lastly, Peter Wilson's Europe's Tragedy is a (popular) history of the Thirty Yeas War.  It's had some great reviews and I'm really looking forward to reading this.

Incidentally, Maelstrom Games have a 17% discount event going on.  I think it ends in a couple days, so grab a bargain while you can.

Force on Force - Road to Baghdad

I thought I'd put up some thoughts on the new Force on Force - Road to Baghdad scenario book.  The first new Force on Force campaign books was released alongside the main rulebook and covers the American led invasion of Iraq in 2003.


Physically, Road to Baghdad (RtB) is similar to the Field of Glory companion books; good quality softback, lots of Osprey illustrations and some photographs of miniatures.


The book starts off with a brief summary of the invasion of Iraq, not very comprehensive, but coherent and reads quite well.


The guts of the book are the two large campaign series; the first covering the United States Marine Corps and the second the US Army.  I say campaigns, and they do all logically follow each other, but they are more a series of individual scenarios to play.  Throw in the campaign rules from the main book and you'll have a proper campaign readily playable.

Each scenario covers the forces involved and their various stats, objectives for each side and any special rules.  There are also some historical notes that cover the actual outcome of the real life.  The maps for each scenario are presented as pencil drawings on jotter paper - very quirky but it fits in well to the overall style of the book.  Lastly, there are three quick scenarios on Special Forces (Rangers, ODAs etc) involvement in Iraq.


My main issue with the book is that it contains mostly asymmetric scenarios; fixed US forces while, generally poorer quality, opposing forces receive random reinforcements throughout the game.  I'd have hoped, as the first book, for a bit more variation in the type of forces available - although I understand completely that this best reflects the historical accuracy of the game.


Another impact of this is the amount of miniatures you'll need for the majority of the scenarios.  The US forces will generally need 20-25 figures, plus any armour.  The Iraqi forces however, will need 30+ and in a variety of Iraqi army, fedayeen and republican guard figures.  Basically, you'll be forking out a lot more cash on the Iraqis than the US.


This is a very impressive product from Ambush Alley and provides plenty of opportunity for modelling and gaming.  Although I'm still looking forward to the upcoming Cold War Gone Hot (80s what if) and the Ambush Vally (Vietnam) books, this might get some use over the summer. . .  

Force on Force - Modern Wargaming Rules

Being a real sucker for a bargain, I recently picked up the new Force on Force: Modern Wargaming Rules from Ambush Alley Games.  This isn't the kind of game I'd normally look into, but two factors really pushed me to purchase it; firstly Chris M's excellent coverage of the game over at Small Scale Operations and, secondly, the fact that Amazon are offering it at more than 40% off the RRP!

This rulebook, Ambush Alley's first collaboration with Osprey Publishing, is an amalgam of two separate rulesets; the original Force on Force and the Ambush Alley rules, each originally dealing with regular and irregular warfare respectively. The two have been refined to a single ruleset, allowing you to fight with fully "modern" armed forces or with militia or insurgent forces, each with armour and air support.


In terms of production, the book is the same size and quality as Osprey's other rulebooks, Field of Glory and Field of Glory: Renaissance.  This means you get a fully bound, full cover hardback book, filled with illustrations from Ospreys military publications.  There are also plenty or real life photographs scattered throughout.

The rules are divided into manageable sections; the basics first (turn order, profiles, movement, combat etc) before moving onto more advanced rules (air support, armoured warfare, artillery.)  Appendixes cover various unit attributes (essentially special rules,) some sample forces and an elegant campaign system.  Finally, six sample scenarios round out the book.


Sample forces? Sample scenarios?  Yup, this is a scenario driven game, not a points driven system.  The authors are quite explicit that the game is designed to feature opposing players with different objectives and balanced forces.  There are three training scenarios and, again, the six full scenarios.  All of these feature varied forces and range from Vietnam, 1980s Europe, Israel and Iraq.  Osprey have announced the release schedule for four separate campaign books (the first of these, Road to Bagdad is already available) and the Ambush Alley forum has plenty of user generated scenarios available.

So what does all this mean in practise?  Well, Force on Force is not a "lets have a 500 point fight, kill everyone" game.  You'll need to plan ahead with your opponent as to what forces and terrain to use.  If you're not using a predesigned scenario (or if you are, but with different forces) a bit of give and take will be required for balancing the two forces.  This will take  a good bit of getting used to for a lot of players, but a bit of extra preparation can result in a more enjoyable game for both players.


So how do the rules themselves play out?  Firstly, you should pay attention to the fact that this is not a micromanagement game.  You won't be rolling a skill check every time you want someone to vault an obstacle or take cover. You also won't have to track lots of different weapon profiles or an individual's statistics.  Your troops are assumed, for instance, to know how to safely move across a battlefield and to understand the principles of occupying a defensive position.



Instead, Force on Force revolves around your individual squads, their orders and their ability to react to the enemy.  Your troops roll a type of die to reflect their "quality" and compare how successful their rolls are against their opponent's dice.  The core mechanic is your troops have to roll a 4+ on their dice to score a success at their chosen action (shooting, assault etc.)  For instance: a US army infantry squad may have an eight sided dice (D8) as their quality.  To score a hit in shooting, they would have to roll a 4+ on their dice at a 62% chance of success.  On the other hand, a poorly trained militia may have a D6 quality. Scoring a hit is still a 4+, the same number, but a much lower 50% chance of success.

Movement and actions are resolved by the initiative player picking a unit and announcing to the opponent what that unit's orders are.  If the opposing player has any of their units nearby, that unit may react to the first unit and attempt to fire first or move away.  Quality dice rolls are made and the winner gets to act first.


Troops also have a dice type for morale and forces have also modifiers for body armour, supply levels and their overall confidence.  Optional rules cover many other factors including combat stress, civilians and biological and chemical warfare!

I've greatly simplified the above examples, but they are fairly indicative of the style of play in Force on Force.  Both players will be involved equally, both moving and shooting.  You won't spend a lot of time (barely any outside armour units)  looking up tables and reference materials and once you understand the core mechanics, games flow very smoothly.


I do have a couple issues with both the book and the rules.  Firstly, there are some appaling typos in the rules (Campagin?) and a couple issues with the rules referring to terms they don't actually use or define (cautious movement?)  Secondly, using the rulebook as a reference guide to the game is a bit of a chore.  For instance, the index is almost too comprehensive (Fog of War has 22 entries, Supply Level 16)  However, as I mentioned earlier, once you've played a couple games this becomes less of a problem.


Overall though, this is an excellent book, with some original and inspired rules covering an uncommon wargaming subject.


I'd strongly recommend a look through the preview material at Ambush Alley games website and a trawl through Chris's Small Scale Operations blog.


I'd also be happy to answer any questions you guys have.