Periscope up, prepare to surface!

Blowing main ballast tanks here to come up for air and recharge batteries! The COVID/Brexit morass just doesn't go away.

Anyway, reason number one for posting just now is the above nice video from Diagonal Move about my Ramadi game. Good enough for any occasion.

Reason number two is that I am old enough and ugly enough to recognise my own faults, including being too quick to reach a judgment. I'm not yet at the point of revisiting Battlegroup NORTHAG, although I certainly will, but just to say that I have just finished reading Red Effect by Harvey Black. A book I had initially cast aside after 30 pages. 

My initial thoughts were that the characters were typical cardboard and the story moved at the pace of something very slow. I have given it a second go and have to say that, by the end, I was very much taken with the his approach and the technical detail.

It reminded me of both Red Thrust by Steven Zaloga and First Clash by Kenneth Macksey. Both of these books are professional military analyses. Ken's book was, of course, produced as training material for the Canadian Army. Both of these books have some cardboard in them but the technical detail is excellent. I'd put Harvey's book in the same league but with it actually being a lot more exciting on the action elements. I'll be asking for the next two volumes in the trilogy for my birthday.

Time to dive, dive, dive! Hopefully will surface again before Christmas.

The Battle for Ramadi Unbagging

A nice unbagging video for Ramadi. I understand this is not the same as debagging which shows just how times have changed!

Reasons to be cheerful!

Reason 1: A short but sweet review of the Ramadi game by ToBG (watch at 08.25). I'm nervous about reviews of this game so it is nice to start with an enthusiastic one!

Reason 2: I was recently watching a Lindybeige You Tube video about memoirs, true or false. Mr Beige was as entertaining as usual but in this one he mentions a book: "From the city, from the plough" by Alexander Baron. A fictionalised version of the story of the 5th Wiltshires in Normandy but, essentially, a memoir. This was written in 1948 and sold a million copies. I had never heard of it even after reading continuously about the war for sixty years (OK so I mean from the mid-1960s when I learnt to read!).

5th Wiltshires were part of 43rd Wessex Division, brigaded with the 4th Somerset Light Infantry. Ring any bells? Well Sydney Jary's 18 Platoon were in the Somersets. The periods covered by the two books overlap in Normandy.

I say this with absolutely no hesitation, Baron's book is the very best book I have ever read about British infantry. The language is lyrical, almost poetic. The story is brutal. Watch Mr Beige's video linked above and hunt down a copy. You will not be disappointed!

Reason 3: I have been looking for a 20mm Hummer with a GPK turret. You would think this would be easy but it is not. I dropped a note to Peter at Butlers Printed Models and suggested it would be good to have one of these. He said he would put it on their to do list. He emailed last week to say that it is now ready!

So I have a parcel to collect tomorrow with one grenade launcher and two 50 cal versions. Really good value for £5.50 each. I think I may be cheeky and ask for some more turret options!

Ramadi launched!

Ramadi: Phew! The game is now available after a tense few weeks of final revisions. Well done to Mark Walker (publisher), Ilya Kudriashov (art) and Art Bennett (development) for some fantastic work on this game. You can find the soft version on Wargames Vault for $10 (bargain!). The hard copy is only $26 from Tiny Battles. There is also a BGG page.

What next? Good question. My head is spinning a bit but I do have a few things lined up between now and Christmas.

• The Battle of Waterberg: A Steve Kling design which I am really pleased to be play testing over the next few weeks. This is the 1904 battle between the Germans in SW Africa and the Herero Tribe. It looks fascinating.
• Steel, Steel, Steel!: More work on this. I have purchased War by Numbers by Christopher Lawrence which, on the basis of a quick skim, seems to suggest that the original Avalon Hill CRT was pretty accurate. However, it does contain analysis of Germans and Soviet attack success rates at Kursk which will assist greatly with the next iteration of Steel.
• Desert Hammer: I have been getting into Nordic Weasel's Hammer series (Squad Hammer, Trench Hammer, October Hammer, Winter Hammer etc.). This was inspired by One Hour Wargames and is an intriguing tool kit. Desert Hammer is my version in which I raid the research I did for Desert Eagle and turn it into a workable game.

Anything else? I'm hoping to paint some Stukas (if it kills me). These have been hanging around for ages and I want to get them finished. I also played Hill 70 mentioned by Tim Gow recently. A really interesting narrative online game. For anyone that is involved in leadership training and development of any sort, this little game is a great indicator of your personal leadership style. Very telling. I'm pleased to say that I captured Hill 70 first time round. I might have a go at one of these myself.

Ramadi....nearly there!

Very cool cover artwork. More details on the TB page here. Brilliant artwork by Ilya as per these examples....

Hopefully it will go down OK with players!

I've got a Vassal module and I know how to use it!

I'm currently working with a developer on the Ramadi game. He has come up with a Vassal module in the space of a few hours so is a bit of an expert. He did it more quickly than I could load Java and Vassal from scratch. Nevertheless, all done. Now ready for my first Vassal game. Very cool.

BTW the cups are the ISIS resource pools for IEDs, fighters and assets. I'm just trying to see if I get genuinely random selections from them.

Hopefully I will be back to normal by end July.

The fear starts........

here!

Having fixed my PC I'm now back in action. My first priority is the project related to the map above.

This time last year I worked as developer on Operation Icarus, the Tiny Battles game of the potential German invasion of Iceland during WW2. I found that a very difficult introduction to the world of real wargames. The game was very complicated and much work was needed to make it playable by people other than the designer. As publication approached I became extremely worried that, despite all of the tweaking and re-writing, the game would flounder. All it needs is some smart people to point out some obvious but overlooked faults for a game to crash and burn. Luckily that didn't happen and Tiny Battles shifted a good quantity of games. Phew!

This time round it is my own game on the Battle for Ramadi 2015. If anything, this is making me even more nervous. Luckily I have the support of the brilliant Mark Walker (Tiny Battles and Flying PIG Games) and Ilya Kudriashov, artist extraordinaire. The above is Ilya's first go at converting my map art to a proper map and it is looking great.

Updates will be posted on the Tiny Battles Facebook page. Fingers crossed it will be alright on the night.

Desert Eagle progress...

scenario!

Well, I have put up a new page for Desert Eagle (DE) and posted a revised version of the NSA army list. This is still a work in progress.

I'm now working on the first scenario. This will pit the NSA against ISIS in a (fictional) attempt to rescue NSA prisoners from ISIS following the al-Bakamal disaster. In this scenario, based on Scenario B: Defending the Indefensible from Lion Rampant, the NSA return with Jordanian Special Forces (Counter Terrorism Battalion 71) to get their men back.

I am really excited about this. You will now see some massive improvisation from me so I can get this thing play tested. Highly likely to involve a lot of cardboard!

New Syrian Army....

first Desert Eagle faction!

It has been really busy recently with work and summer child care activities. In my spare time (having fixed the fence, the washing line, front door etc etc), I have been pottering with Desert Eagle. 

NSA troops May 2016

Following my last post, I figured that I needed to work out troop types and special rules using some real world examples. I'm not sure why I started with the New Syrian Army (NSA), possibly because they are current news, also perhaps because they are small and self-contained as well as being quite a good model for other factions. I have had a go at an initial army list for the NSA, you can find it here. 

I have to report something very strange. I'm 58 this year and have been studying this sort of thing for what feels like forever. I used to read Rand reports on the Vietnam war when I was a teenager. Researching the NSA brought everything back and I suddenly realised it's like 1968 all over again. Or is that 1975 and the CIA intervention in Angola? Currently I'm overcome by a very weird feeling of deja vu all over again. Bay of Pigs anyone? If Donald Trump wins how long before he gets assassinated?

Anyway, I've gone over the top on the army list, I found myself becoming more and more interested in the subject and what happened in the NSA's recent unsuccessful battle. I think there is a fundamental problem trying to design something that is currently happening in real life, its quite difficult because all the parts are moving. Nevertheless, a start has been made so lets see what happens!

Desert Eagle.....

will it fly?

I'm beginning to think the answer is yes. That's YES!

Up-armoured HMMWV, this one from MoI Emergency Response Unit

I'm grateful to Le Duc for his recent after action report of Dragon Rampant. I have now obtained a copy of this from Amazon and I'm very glad I did. 

Before it arrived I had reached some conclusions about units and vehicles that I think will solve the issues I was having defining them. DR has opened my eyes to some further opportunities for defining units as well as new areas such as the use of the DR leadership characteristics and spells (alright not quite spells but summoning up a drone strike is quite spooky!). From my point of view DR opens up wider horizons than LR, which was properly focussed on historical models. Its great so if you haven't got a copy, get one now!

Today's thoughts are around units:

Team: 6 SPs (DR influence!), six men with small arms, LMG and AT weapon. These can be elite Special Forces, Counter-terror troops, Police SWAT teams or terrorist cell, foreign fighters or Iranian Qods Force commandos. Don't forget Presidential body guards or Spetznaz. Special rules apply such as Fleet Footed, Invisible, Evade, Skirmish amongst others.

Squad: 12 SPs, up to 12 men with full range of small arms, LMG and AT weapons. Variable characteristics such as Army, Police Commandos (Emergency Response Units), Militia (tribal or PMF), Army of Adversity etc. Big range of capabilities and potential upgrades.  

Iranian ZSU 23-2

Weapons team: 6 SPs, around 6 men with specialist weapons. These include HMG (.50 cal or Dushka), recoilless rifle (106mm or SPG9), AA gun (ZSU23-2), sniper and support. I'm thinking about some rules around "news gatherers" and potentially IED controllers or S-VEST teams. I see that DR has exploding rats, nuff said.

ISF special forces 2015

Vehicles: These are separate units and, like creatures in DR, have their own SP. Currently these look like:

• Light vehicles: 6 SPs, may be transports, technicals or VB-IEDs. May be ugraded with armour or weapons.
• Medium vehicles: 12 SPs, trucks, IED resistant vehicles of all types, APCs or large VB-IEDs. Options for upgrading.
• Heavy vehicles: Tanks, upgrades for professional crew etc. There will be limited definitions here since the usual reaction from anyone in the real world is "WTF...its a tank!" even if it isn't. 

Lots more to do on this but it is looking very promising.

What's in a name?

...quite a lot actually!

Russians in Syria attempting to defeat a VB-IED

I have started calling this project Desert Eagle. To be certain that it still gives due regard to the original Lion Rampant, which I think is only polite, the full nomenclature is now: 

Desert Eagle: A modern warfare implementation of Lion Rampant

Other nomenclature issues requiring beer and deep thought have been raised by the Duc. The key one is "toughness" what is it and what should we call it? In the rules it is used to assess the degree to which the target unit can resist the effects of combat. So, how many hits convert into casualties.

Some of you may find this discussion a little near the edge of acceptability but we live in an age where we can see much of what is happening on the ground (like it or not) and it makes sense to try to interpret it. The photo above is a still from a newsreel showing Russian troops with a technical attempting to destroy a VB-IED coming fast in their direction. The VB-IED was successfully destroyed but not early enough to prevent the indicated soldier being killed in the blast. The story is here.

These troops demonstrated great courage (and confidence in their abilities) but were vulnerable to the effects of the enemy weapon. These are the concepts that I am trying to get across in Desert Eagle but am currently failing to adequately describe. 

Lets start with "toughness". This was used in the Eagles Rampant adaptation in WI to replace the medieval characteristic "armour". This indicates the level of protection of troops defending themselves from shooting. In the original Lion Rampant this is about arrows and the defensive effects of body armour ranging from none to full plate. In the case of Desert Eagle, this is about body armour which ranges from none to (again!) plate carriers. It also includes ballistic helmets and additional armour on vehicles. This is for protection against bullets and bombs (IEDs). But it is also about tactical issues such as dispersal and use of terrain. In fact with VB-IEDs it is also about throwing up earth berms to keep them at a distance.        

VB-IED going off

I have therefore done some more research about terminology and what we might call survivability. Wikipedia gives us this:

In the military environment, survivability is defined as the ability to remain mission capable after a single engagement. Engineers working in survivability are often responsible for improving four main system elements:

• Detectability - the inability to avoid being aurally and visually detected as well as detected by radar (by an observer).

• Susceptibility - the inability to avoid being hit (by a weapon).

• Vulnerability - the inability to withstand the hit.

• Recoverability - longer-term post-hit effects, damage control, and firefighting, capability restoration, or (in extremis) escape and evacuation.

The European Survivability Workshop introduced the concept of "Mission Survivability" whilst retaining the three core areas above, either pertaining to the "survivability" of a platform through a complete mission, or the "survivability" of the mission itself (i.e. probability of mission success). 

My vote therefore is to replace armour/toughness with Vulnerability for Desert Eagle.

ISF troops approaching Fallujah (AFP/Getty)

The other issue is the courage rating. How many hits can you take before running away? This in LR is a reaction test to casualties or other criteria, such as loss of a leader. I think that in DE it might have wider application. In the example above, would your troops have stood and contested a VB-IED? Other video shows that apparently rag-tag ISF units are not only alert to VB-IEDs but identify them early and seek to engage them. We see individuals running towards them and shouldering rifles and RPGs to lay down defensive fire.

Le Duc has come up with the concept of Willingness to Fight, or WTF! In the case of potential reasons for testing morale, a WTF test might well be very appropriate. I'm therefore going to use WTF in place of courage, representing the ability of troops to withstand threats other than simple reactions to casualties.  

Desert Eagle...

lookin' good so far!

I have had some nice feedback from Duc and Norm on the first (incomplete) draft. 

AFP Photo: "Elite" troops on the edge of Fallujah with an S60 57mm AA gun(?)

I'm not blowing my own trombone here but I think it is really useful to review feedback and understand the issues. Points from Duc:

Really liked what I saw in Dragoon Rampant, and my hankerin' for a decent modern ruleset made me sit up and take notice when I saw this. Good points re. unit behaviour and the contrast between high and low quality units - and there's no reason why the rules can't work.

With the activation rules in a setting such as Blackhawk Down, we could easily see small units being able to fend off gathering masses...who may not activate so easily. Really good potential here - can't wait to give them a try.

I always hate the 'toughness' term (I think it reminds me of Warhammer LOL) and as it represents ability to hug cover in this instance, have always tried to find a better descriptor - but nothing is jumping to mind...'staying power' just don't cut it. Maybe 'Courage Under Fire (CUF)' for courage.

Love the man down option for CASEVAC. I can these working beautifully for Vietnam - and effectively undermining what the commander would like to do.

Great work - thanks for sharing.

Toughness is difficult to define and name. I see it as a combination of body armour/personal protection equipment and tactics. Good kit and good tactics minimise casualties (which is what we are looking at). Courage or resilience is what the courage test measures. It may be better to refer to toughness as protection or defence. I'll have a think.

The CASEVAC thing is interesting because it is a direct battlefield reaction rather than a casualty evacuation scenario like Blackhawk Down. To my mind, taking casualties will actually immobilise a standard western unit.  

AFP: Photo: An ISF team advancing

Here's a view from Norm:   

Jay - a good start. My initial question before starting reading was wondering how individual items such as HMG or inherent LMG could be handled, but your categories look good ...... Even a sniper, which surprised me. I bought Lion Rampant a few weeks ago and love the artwork, it instantly gave me a nostalgia trip of the sort of imagery used in my childhood Ladybird books like Richard III. 

The sniper thing is really interesting. The US Marine scout sniper motto is "Kill one, terrorise a thousand" (Sun Tzu). I see snipers not as pinpoint killers of key personnel (although they do do this) but as an area denial weapon. I remember watching a fascinating programme about Marines in Iraq occupying the highest building in a town and shooting anyone who looked like they were going to plant an IED. Ignoring possible legal issues, this prevented the enemy operating in the area. A different effect from suppressive fire from an HMG, for example, more a psychological impact. Reminds me of the Sarajevo sniper problem.

I think that Lion Rampant is probably the most revolutionary set of rules I have ever seen. It reminds me of DBA to that extent. But DBA stuff always seemed to be DBA whereas LR can morph into different ages and arenas. I'm excited about undertaking the next stage of this. Maybe I can leave work early tomorrow!

Desert Eagle Rampant...

you what?

I wasn't sure what I should call my current work in progress. As the original conversion of Lion Rampant to Napoleonics in WI was entitled Eagle Rampant, my modern version is entitled Desert Eagle Rampant (DER). I'm afraid that Operation Breaking Terrorism Rampant doesn't feel quite right but Desert Eagle flows from Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Hey ho!

Moody shot of ISF approaching Fallujah

The proposition here is that Lion Rampant, a medieval semi-skirmish game, can be converted into a modern era squad level combat game. That may be quite a stretch. However, I think the LR engine is excellent. I felt very happy with the modifications that produced Dragoon Rampant. If I had any spare time I would be playing that tonight!  

The initial DER work is going really well so I thought I would post the rules as they are developing and invite some comments. Here they are. Unless I have to step in as leader of the Labour Party, I'll post the interesting bits (unit details) at the weekend.

Ramadi...

the final stages

Popular Mobilisation units in action north of Baghdad May 28, 2015.
AFP PHOTO / MOHAMMED SAWAF 

I have just put the finishing touches to the outstanding components of the Battle for Ramadi game. This includes the really important operations board (without which the game can't be played!), VP and casualty tracks and track markers. You can find them here. 

The critical target of the Ramadi operation

My next adventure will be the Battle of Fallujah (Op. Breaking Terrorism). I have previously said that, unlike Ramadi, there seemed to be little information about the action. Having reviewed various sources I'm now fairly certain that there is enough material to develop a follow-up to the Ramadi game. It may end up a little different as the operational circumstances are different and there are significantly greater forces engaged.

However, I have a couple of jobs to do first. With Ramadi I plan to play test a full game and record it in photos for this blog. This may take a little while to do but will be important as it will "fix" the rules in place before I look at Fallujah. The other thing I have in mind following reviewing a lot of footage of the current fighting is a further Lion Rampant version dealing with modern small unit/asymmetrical warfare. It might be quite good!

The Battle for Ramadi...

Game components now up (mainly!)

For me this has been a long project (six months at least) so I'm very pleased to be getting to the point where I can release it into the wild at least in a very draft form. 

Here is the new page with the key components of the game. I still have to finalise the operations board where the action takes place and the victory point/casualty tracks. A very demanding work week has put these back a little to the weekend but they will be there by Sunday. Feedback welcome, as usual!

Journey's end?

Not quite!

My solo simulation dealing with the Battle for Ramadi in December 2015 has taken me nearly six months to get to playtest status. Longer than it has taken the Iraqi Security Forces to repeat the Ramadi operation in Fallujah. Nevertheless I am just about there and am looking forward to actually playing it through from start to finish.

Game reference map

The background and rules booklet is complete, even if not finalised. Playtest counters and map are also in the bag.

Play test map and counters, not yet deployed

My to do list now includes only the victory point and casualty tracks and the operations board where most of the action takes place. I'm aiming to do those this week.

For those of you not too sure what I am banging on about, here is the game outline:

In this simulation the player acts as commander of ISF forces tasked with taking key objectives within Ramadi city centre. ISF forces are represented as units on a map of the city which has a hex grid superimposed on it to regulate the positioning and movement of ISF units. ISIS forces do not appear on the map. The game system reflects their activities by opposing the combat operations conducted by ISF units.

The ISF player has ten turns to achieve their goals. In each turn the ISF player plans and executes a number of operations designed to extend their control over the city and move their forces closer to the six key objectives (Justice Compound, Government Centre, Hospital, Grand Mosque, Stadium and Ramadi East station). Occupying each objective scores 5 victory points for ISF.

The outcome of each operation is based on the ISF forces and assets committed to battle and a randomised response from ISIS. Each operation results in either a win for ISF, with occupation of territory but the potential for incurring casualties, or a win for ISIS resulting in the accumulation of victory points for ISIS. If ISF incurs casualties the pace of their operations will be degraded. Other outcomes of operations will also result in victory points for either side (e.g. civilian losses or the capture of ISIS leaders).

At the end of turn 10 the ISF player tallies their victory points and determines whether they have won. The ISF player must score more victory points than the ISIS player and must occupy the Government Complex.

I feel more comfortable dealing with historical subjects than current events. However, over Christmas I was very struck by the immediacy of the fighting and its importance in the unfolding situation in the middle east. This was the first successful ISF offensive against ISIS. The key point for me is not necessarily how successful this is as a simulation but rather the learning that comes from simply engaging with it. 

Enough naval gazing, I'll get a page set up for this later in the week. Feedback and comments are, as usual, very welcome.

Real world motivation....

whats next?

With the current fighting in Fallujah and consequential significant problems for civilians my thoughts are drawn back to the Middle East. Here is a snapshot from the Daily Mail on line (sorry, the story is fine but the Mail is just total crap otherwise!).

Action now required to sort out my Ramadi game....

Test print of counters, nice but far too big!

Better......

These are modified counters from ISIS Crisis by Tom Mouat and will do fine for play testing. The state of my notes leaves something to be desired so I may have a bit of a headache tomorrow after trying to figure them out.

Aaaaargh!

Its the year end again.....

A quiet time on the blog during February but only because I have been hard at work elsewhere. The year end is a time of special torture for me, and many others. I hope to resurface sometime in late April.

Developments

When I have had a few minutes I have been hard at work on my special project. This is a Firestorm type game on the battle for Ramadi in Iraq over this last Christmas. Pretty much a real time bit of design work. I'm really happy with the way it is shaping up but, as I'm taking a really novel approach, I'm having to do a lot of thinking (don't laugh!).

I was slightly disappointed to find that my local print shop no longer opens on a Saturday so I was unable to print out a play test map in A3. It now looks like this......

I have promised myself that I will plough on with this until it is finished. It will be a worthwhile job and it has meant that I have learnt much about what is going on in the world. That can't be a bad thing.

I am picking up disturbances in the force which indicate a reviving interest in WW1. This therefore means that I am feeling a need to push on with:

• Tannenberg
• A simple strategic game of the first month of WW1
• The whole of the western front in August and September on a 13 by 9 hex grid

One of the motivating factors being Ring of Steel by Alexander Watson, WW1 from the Central Powers' perspective, which is currently occupying my train journeys.

News

We have some very nice news....

• Tricorne: Compass Games now have Tricorne up for pre-order. This is the latest Richard Borg CnC game which this time looks at the AWI. It has 12 scenarios which can no doubt be expanded. It uses blocks rather than miniatures, although I'm not bothered about this. The only thing that does bother me is the e on the end of what I would spell tricorn. Hey ho.

• Billy Bones Studio: This guy makes paper soldiers. He had some great sets for the ECW including Scots troops and scenery, see the example above. His website is now being reconstructed and, I understand, his sets of paper soldiers will be made available free as he is moving on to other paper soldier projects. Good news as I and others had been concerned that he had just shut up shop.

• Battle for Arnhem: One of my favourite subjects. This is a very small pnp game by Jim Bourke which is available free on BGG. Check it out, its nice!

• Zvezda I-16: I have been wanting one of these for ages. Now here it is. I wonder what I could this for.....

Secret project news......

Stuff is occurring!

Yes, I have made some progress and here is a clue.

I have wheeled out M44 again to help with the design process. I have invested a lot of time on research because I'm having to learn a lot of new stuff. It is a real battle but much of the information is conjectural. This makes it difficult in some ways but it is also hard for anyone to tell me I've got it wrong.

The game system is a very modified Firestorm variant using hexes rather than areas and packing in lots of new things. It is also a solo game and will therefore need careful balancing to make it a challenge to win. 

There is an obvious clue in the map so no prizes for guessing where it is! I understand half term is mid February this year so I may have half a chance of publishing a play test version by the end of the month. Fingers crossed!