Ambassador, you are spoiling us....

or you must need the box for something!

A slight bit of R&R today with just enough time to catch up with my Zvezda backlog. Well, not all of it but at least the vehicular element.

Spot the new guys.......

Nice new Matilda I and II by Zvezda to join my A&A Miniatures Matilda II. Quite a good match. Arras era heavy tank platoon.

Another A13 for the  cruiser tank platoon. Again, for Arras. A Crusader hiding at the back and pretending to be a cruiser.

A good job I got some Ferrero Rocher for my other half at Xmas. Especially since I have also acquired 2 KV1, 1 KV2 and a new Tiger I. All of these for my Plan B rules.

Tank park nicely installed. 
  

Hey, there's room for more. Quick, pass the credit card!

Personal self-satisfaction announcement 

Well, I don't make many of these so I must be due one about now! This weekend, after a year of on-off staggering around the countryside trying to get fit I have passed a personal milestone. I have successfully run two 5ks, one yesterday and one today. Due to a major bit of uncertainty about plans I did not manage to do the Sport Relief 3 mile run today, although I had assumed I would not be ready for it just yet.

The satisfaction lies in the fact that I am nearing 58, have had a serious back operation and developed diabetes type 2. I'll now celebrate with four pints of Stella and a nice curry. The best thing is that I enjoyed both runs, I had got my pace right, breathing spot on and my brain in the right sort of neutral (which doesn't happen often). I'm therefore very chuffed. Will I give up wargaming and take up sport? Not bloody likely. However, I think the exercise should be just the ticket to keep an old bastard on the road to Moscow for a good few years yet. Hurrah! 

Free game and ....

New Weasel stuff 

I keep wanting to do the old joke about the difference between weasels and stoats, luckily for everyone I just can't bring myself to write it down! Hobby time very strictly limited at present but I am keeping myself up to date on a few things which are worthwhile sharing more widely.

Waterloo Squares

A neat little print and play game on a 10 by 10 square grid by Eddy Sterckx covering the whole of the battle of Waterloo. Uses a card system for command and combat. Very nice. Its free and available from BGG here. This was designed for the 2015-16 BGG wargame PnP competition. More information about this year's competition and the games is here.

The Weasel stuff

First up up is a beta set of 19th century rules covering Waterloo to Mons (that sounds like a book I've got). They are described as:

From Shako to Coal-scuttle is aimed at a game with 8-12 units of infantry or cavalry, each 4 stands strong, supported by a few artillery batteries. It should be playable with any figures you already own, whether you are gaming 1815 or 1915.

Its a beta version so unfinished and, as a result, you can get them on a pay what you want basis from here. 

Second up is a really very cool tool for the new Five Men at Kursk rules. It randomly generates missions, forces and even the map. All you need to do is enter some details about the year and combatants etc and there you go. By the way, when I say really very cool I mean absolutely brilliant in case you thought I was being halfhearted about it. Check it out here.

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.....

Spring has sprung....

at least in wargames terms!

Well, the evenings are lighter, the daffodils are out and we have some great blossom starting to appear. It is also half term, or so I'm told, and I'm in charge of the children for the next few days.

I am just about to dust off the special project and crack on with it if I get the time this week. I am also looking forward to some new stuff........

Fields of Battle Volume 1: Great Northern War

I have mentioned this one before, it has eight individual battles from the GNW. It is just out, in the US at least. I have yet to track down a UK supplier. $50 according to the publisher's website. I'm not sure what that will translate into over here.

Rapid Fire Normandy

I bought the Rapid Fire Normandy Battlegroups book a while ago. This gives small units (200 and 400 points) for representative Allied and German units in Normandy. A very nice little book. Rapid Fire have now brought out Normandy Battlegames. This gives you 13 historical scenarios to play with the battlegroups pus new battle groups for US and British airborne formations. Very nice for £16 from Rapid Fire.

Team Yankee rules

These are just out. I saw a copy in the Ian Allen book shop in Birmingham last week and was very impressed. In particular, by the fact that they cost only £15. Very nicely done. Even for a non-FoW person like me,they seem to be calling to me! Hey ho.

Last but not least, GMT has just announced Absolute War, a new take on the Great Patriotic War by Carl Paradis, this time it's simple and has area movement. The full Russian campaign in less than 4 hours! No Retreat for no brainers! I'll be watching this one very closely. 

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!

Five Men at Kursk...

Looking very good indeed!

I have commented here before about my interest in the FiveCore family of games from Nordic Weasel, otherwise known as Ivan Sorensen. The latest game in development is Five Men at Kursk. This is, effectively, a second edition of their very first game which was Five Men in Normandy, the precursor of FiveCore Skirmish. Ivan has very kindly let me have a copy of the emerging draft of this game. I have to say that I am quite excited by this so I thought it would be nice to do a brief overview of the rules and include some pictures of the rules in action from Just Jack's very excellent blogs (BlackhawkHet and Cuba Libre!).

Just Jack's latest FiveCore game from his blog Cuba Libre!

Although I didn't get the original Five Men in Normandy, I have invested quite widely in the system:

FiveCore Skirmish Gaming Evolved: A good 20th century skirmish game for 5-10 soldiers a side on a small table (2 foot square). I'm mainly interested in this for modern skirmish games, I have my eye on the Oddzial Osmy 15mm Russian Green Men. I suppose the other rule set that comes close to this is Black Ops, which I have also got. There is an expanded second edition which is also worth getting as it includes vehicle rules etc. It comes with campaign rules and rules for character skills.

FiveCore Company Command: The next one up from the skirmish game with section/squad bases and vehicles covering 1939 and onwards. 5-12 units a side on a 2 to 3 foot square table. I'm looking at using these adapted for hexes for my modern Africa gaming.

FiveCore Brigade Commander: The big one. While the skirmish and company level games can be played easily with 15 or 20mm troops, this one needs 10mm or less. Same foot print (2 or 3 foot square table) and around 10-12 units a side. Not quite a brigade but certainly a battalion a side. I'm as excited about the prospects for using this rule set as I am about Lion Rampant, and that's saying something!

There is a whole lot of other stuff available (and pretty cheap too) and you can easily find out about it from the Nordic Weasel page on Wargames Vault.

FiveCore is based on some core principles (five of them actually!):

• The true mark of a superior force is command and control.
• Soldiers will react to things in their field of vision without being instructed to do so.
• A commander is never able to do everything they want.
• Conversely, the commander can always do something.
• If in doubt, roll a D6 and look for a 1 or a 6.

These all ring true to me. The rules are also almost interchangeable between game levels, skirmish, company, brigade. You can add or subtract as you feel necessary. The various optional and add on rules make this a really modular gaming enterprise.

The other thing is that the games all have a common engine. One d6 is rolled at the start of a players turn:

• 1. Scurry turn: Al your troops can move
• 2-5. Standard turn: A limited number of units/troops can move or fire
• 3. Firefight turn: All your units/troops can fire.

In combat, units/troops roll kill dice which cause casualties and/or shock dice which cause a morale impact. The number and mix depend on unit type and target. These two very simple approaches (which remind me of the Ganesha "Songs of...." rules) are very effective. 

Another photo from Cuba Libre!

The common game engine makes it hang together really well and allows you to scale up or down using the same troops. Play a squad game one day and then zoom out to cover a platoon or company game.

In some recent optional FiveCore rules, Ivan indicated that he was looking to change and further develop the core mechanisms. This is in response to feedback about the all or nothing nature of the basic engine, as well as the general lack of differentiation of troop types (a soldier is a soldier as Ivan says).

In Five Men at Kursk Ivan is implementing a major change. A number of dice are thrown at the start of a turn based on the side's cohesion (command and control). In a similar way to the previous engine, 1s mean scurry, 6s mean fire and 2-5s mean engage (fire/move). The player allocates dice to individual figures which then act accordingly. In addition, we have some clear differentiation of leaders and grunts and also characteristics (skills) for individual soldiers. 

There will also be campaign rules, nation specific rules, solo rules and a whole lot more. The downside is that the rule book is 37 pages at this stage and is likely to end up being very chunky. This is not one of my top features in a set of rules. Having said that, you don't have to use it all. I think this is going very much in the right direction and I will certainly be investing in the final version.   

Another Just Jack visualisation!

You can see from the pictures from the Just Jack blogs above how one man has interpreted and implemented the FiveCore system. His games are very rich and move from continent to continent and skirmish to brigade within a cohesive story. If Carlsberg made a gaming system (and I could interpret it like Jack can) then it would be FiveCore. Nuff said.

Airfix Battles..............

Time to pre-order!

Oh yes, more exciting news. Airfix Battles is now available for pre-order with a very nice bonus set of stuff. 

Here is the full skinny......

"We're delighted to announce the opening of the pre-order campaign for one of our most eagerly awaited titles the Airfix Battles Introductory Set, allowing you to get first in line and secure your order for the game, including a pre-order bonus worth £10 for orders placed before May 1st! Sign up now to receive your pre-order bonus, exclusively on Modiphius.net.

Shipping in May this is a fast and fun introductory wargame playable with all your existing AIRFIX figures and vehicles. AIRFIX Battles comes with everything you need to play exciting World War Two battles straight out of the box including die cut cardboard counters for tanks, infantry and guns in case you don't have any figures to hand.

AIRFIX Battles lets you plan your army using the Force Deck. Draw the cards or select the ones you need to build an exciting army to challenge your friends. Set up the battle using step by step instructions in the Mission book and you're ready to play. Each player has a hand of Command Cards to move and fight their forces or bring in artillery support. You'll never know what your opponent is going to do next!

SPECIAL OFFER: A pre-order now gets budding commanders a bonus campaign in PDF: Airfix Battles: Operation Cobra, plus the 24 card Reinforcement Pack 1 consisting extra British units and tanks like the German King Tiger and Sherman Calliope rocket launcher tank! Pre-Order Airfix Battles for delivery in May here.

Game Design by Nick Fallon, Alan Paull & Chris Birch
Players: 1-4
Ages: 10+
Playing Time: 30-60mins

Contents:
2 x Double-sided A2(420mm x 594mm) Maps
Over 100 cardboard counters of tanks, infantry, objectives and terrain!
1 x 16 page Mission Book
1 x 32 page Rule Book including rules for solo play up to 4 players
1 x 54 Card Force Deck
1 x 54 Card Command Deck
10 x Six-Sided Dice"

And the price is a mere £24.99. Woot!