Ulster Wargames Society - A Black Sea incident circa 1991

Club meeting today and I participated in a naval game run by Jeremy M and others using Ship Wreck rules. 

The setting was 1991 with three naval squadrons each of three ships, of the Black Sea Fleet operating on said sea area under the overall Command of an Admiral (Charlie).

Each Squadron had a Commander and two other players commanding individual ships (to simplify matters no aircraft or submarines were available)

My ship (chosen randomly) was a Sovremenny Class Guided Missile Destroyer accompanied by another Sovremenny (Ian) and with our Commander (Ross) using an upgraded but vintage Nanuchta (I think) cruiser type. 

Note my knowledge of Soviet ship names/classes from period/game is ropey at best

Here is the information sheet for my craft (note showing damage and weapon system losses)

The rub for each squadron was that each ship additionally had a note to the effect that the crews loyalty was either pro-Moscow or pro-Kiev (Ukraine having just recently separated from Soviet Bloc) but no players was initially aware of where any other ships loyalties lay.

Overall scenario was that the Kuznetzov Aircraft Carrier had set sail from Sevastopol on a 'special mission' and it was then revealed via fleet wide radio transmission that the crew of the carrier had mutinied and orders were to intercept and return the vessel to Sevastopol or for those of a Muscovite proclivity to assist its escape from Black Sea via Bosphorus Straits.

Plotting board for operational area with note of my Ukrainian loyalty at top, table area was 4' x '4' (or a 'fight in a phone box' as Ross termed it). 

It should be noted that the three separate squadrons were set up on separate tables initially (although all part of same 4 x 4 operational area meaning no squadron had an exact location for the others until radar detection (Passive or active including some ship-borne helicopter activity) revealed locations. 

Once the location of Kuznetzov was revealed all squadrons would transfer to a single table for shenanigans to proceed in full

Once the message re the mutiny by Russian scum was revealed then searching began by each squadron and individual ships.

In our squadron I was lead ship followed by commander with Ians to rear (both he and I had scouting Ka-25 helos) but not knowing the loyalty of my squadron pals I broke formation early trying to put some nautical miles between us.

My ship leads the Squadron with helos being launched (Black chips denote radars set to passive, Red was for active), I then headed to 12 o'clock as they continued towards 2 o'clock but only for 2 turns before the big target appeared in close proximity to my 11 o'clock and all went to master table.

After a couple of turns of movement and radar detection the Kuznetzov was soon revealed to be in the company (ie it was using them as a screen) of several merchant ships or tankers from various nationalities (Turkish, Iranian, Indian and Italian).

This lead to all ships being transferred to the master table and as it turned out my ship was almost on top of the traitorous carrier !

It seemed no-one was wanting to declare their loyalty too soon (ie no shooting) but I decided to instantly raise my flag by shooting a warning shot across the bow of the carrier hoping to divert its course or stop its progress, this was of course ignored and then suddenly several ships in the vicinity launched missiles and blasted away with guns after seeing my action.

Indeed one fellow Ukrainian crew (Dave P) managed to send a missile my way (diverted by a target decoy) which thankfully missed.

The fleet Admiral sent out urgent and vehement messages (from Kiev) to all ships to stop all firing upon the carrier or indeed each other despite firing of a few salvoes of his own.

I dutifully did so only using my ordnance defensively but not so other traitorous crews and commanders with my squadron mates showing their Commie credentials by hurling waves of missiles and guns rounds at my ship. 

I soon took a ton of hits despite shooting down several SSMs and lost several weapon systems before damage was enough to send my heroic crew to the depths with their ship, Slava Ukraine !

Things then heated up for as players revealed (well mostly) their true colours with more exchanges of weaponry.

Several ships were hit with some damaged including critically whilst the Carrier and Merchants steamed south (before having to turn SSW toward straits).

Dave T (hero) did mange to impede the Kuznetzov forcing it to stop for one turn but at cost of his ship as pummeled by various traitors.

Fleet flagship (Charlie) was then set upon by his other Squadron mate (Mr B) whom he thought was Kiev friendly. 

As these exchanges of fire occurred time had to be called and with Ukrainian losses (3 of 4 ?) and Carriers progress (still well short of Straits but unlikely to be thwarted) it was declared a Russian success.

Just what the rest of world would think of this was a matter of much debate.

A lot of work put into setting up and running the game (10 players involved) and was good fun with an interesting scenario and period.

Rules being new to most of us Jeremy had a lot of queries to sort but it seemed to go well overall.

I found the sorting of available weapon systems and firing arcs, ammo usage the most confusing to comprehend initially. 

It is a D10 system with missiles firing first which can be intercepted or decoyed then guns/cannons open up in 6 possible sub-phases so a lot of shells can be fired depending on gun types, ranges and arcs. 

Not a lot of pics as not much to see initially and busy playing.

The initial maneuvering tables the wall being North for plotting purposes

Action has now transferred to master table (my ship beneath the waves at this stage) with Kuznetzov at bottom right hiding in cowardly fashion behind merchantmen

Also at club (usual proviso I know not what occurred)

A 6mm WW2 game set in Normandy 1944 with British vs Germans run by Mike and co (4 players ?)  using Combat HQ rules.

A 28mm Sharps Practice game run by Jeremy D set (I think) during America Revolution (again 4 players ?)

Ulster Wargames Society - Gross Jagersdorf with (you guessed it ) Field Of Battle 3 - and other games

Club meeting today and I put on a scenario based around action around Norknitten Woods during Battle of Gross Jagersdorf (converted from a Black Powder scenario) using, of course, FOB 3.

Usual suspects signed up for game with Dave T taking the attacking Prussians and Dave B the defending Russians.

As ever a cracking game ensued with Prussians concentrating their forces on Russian right flank.

Russians had great sequences of cards and good move rolls but continuously failed to take advantage when shooting or in close combat. 

They thereby suffered badly in early going despite managing to charge cavalry onto flank of infantry twice (Fusilier Bttn 40 had a charmed life !) and then outnumbering enemy in 3 of 4 combats and losing every single melee !!

The Prussian Grenadiers (4 units) were rather poor including failing to move several times and both sides Cavalry were pants.  

These set backs saw Russians bleed morale and they were soon tottering on the brink and giving Morale to Prussians, but they passed their first Army Morale and seemed to have a resurgence of fortunes winning several combats (including at least 2 when roll a D4 vs enemy D10+ !!) and managed to survive numerous Daring Deed rallying rolls.

This saw several Prussian units shattered but the cost in Russian units was crippling and the slaughter continued until a second Army Morale appeared and the Russians quit the field.

The Prussians had a mere 3 Morale left (both sides started with 30) but had been 'gifted' 23 by the enemy so a crushing win for Prussia despite Fredericks absence.

Prussian assault into woods in full swing

A Brigade of Garrison troops is heading to Prussian right to try to get their cavalry out of trouble

A heavy melee in the woods

Russians trying to redeploy (they had to set up first) to Prussian concentration

Prussians bringing reserves into play

Russian right being turned

Prussian Fusilier Bttn 40 visible just outside wood near center having survived 2 flank charges by cavalry

Overview of battlefield before Prussian cavalry arrived (on foreground left edge) 

Also at Club were several other games (another busy meeting and great to see) that I did not see much of and don't know how these ended.

Chris and co played a very nice game using Bolt Action 3 (I would have liked to have seen these in action) with Japs mounting a sea landing against US troops. Some eye catching terrain and kit

Paddy put on a 28mm Cold War game using I think 7 Days To The Rhine rules

Charlie and co had a 20mm game using Crossfire (again I would have liked to see this one as an old but super set) which seemed to be late war Allies versus Germans with several tanks

Pics from before any units deployed

A Distant Plain - a quick solo session

As a wee change from miniatures I had quick afternoon solo session with 'A Distant Plain' one of my favourite COIN series games, playing the Main scenario (I usually do the full scenario) which is 5 decks (rather than 6).

Game was concluded on 4th Propaganda card with a very narrow victory for Taliban beating Coalition by a mere 1VP with Warlords close by in third (-3 VP) and poor old Government well of pace in 4th (-12VP).

I generally struggle with Government faction and maybe need to use Bot for them in future (do find Bots bit ponderous to use) but still a fun game overall.

I do so enjoy the decisions and actions of COIN system combined with nice historical flavour even in sad sack solo mode.

Early stages with a lot more Taliban on board initially than I am used too

End situation with Taliban firmly established in Kabul and strong in their Pashtun heartlands, Coalition had just 'Surged' out of the country to beef up their VPs but still came up short.

Battle Group Northag game

Game today at Stephens and he selected BG Northag to use his 12mm kit with US and Soviets squaring off.

He made up two lists and I diced for side ending up with Ivans.

Am not a big fan of the Battle Group system (for various reasons) but it certainly gives a smooth playing fast paced game especially with this 'Modern' period (if you can still term in 1983 setting as such !?) set as the annoying ammo rules are gone and small arms fire a bit more streamlined with no direct fire on infantry only suppressive fire, but with any casualty caused meaning you lose a base (ie a unit) rather than just a figure.

System does not have a firm ground scale but is essentially a light low level but not quite skirmish style tactical game.

US had nice advantage of improved optics for their M60s and Abrams which proved very useful as did getting 5 x M60s dug in on table at start in Recon force compared to a lowly 2 x T64 for Soviets.

US get 4 x Abrams in Vanguard force whilst Ivans get a full company of 10 x T80 but that equated to 12 vs 9 which is maybe not a great ratio for Soviets.

Infantry forces were similar with both sides having some AA and AT assets and couple of special units.

Some nice differences in available multi-unit orders (not really in numbers as basic 9 US vs 8 Sov) as NATO types bit more flexible in some aspects with their Platoon orders as opposed to Soviets having Company orders.

I had 2 Timed Artillery Barrages and the Yanks had 1 but we both had 2 Counter Battery 'assets' so none of these actually fell, but a nice change from WW2 set is more limitation on where these can be plotted to fall (no more pounding a set up zone).

Shooting is fairly straight forward 1D6 and 2D6 system for hits and penetration (with save rolls for cover etc) respectively which is simple and works fine alongside a basic 1D6 morale test system.

The use of limited Orders and the Chit pull Morale system are very nice however we never pulled any special chits such as Helicopter Gunships today.

Probably my biggest issue with system is the 'Everything on the Table' methodology as there are no hidden units at all and therefore every unit that a line of sight can be drawn too is a viable target (no target priorities or similar either).

Targets do have to be Spotted every single time they are targeted no matter if fired on previously (I refer to this as the Hammer Films Misty Graveyard effect) but often this is automatic if target has fired and/or moved (improved optics come into play).

Whilst it good to get all your models on the table and not have to use maps or counters or similar, it is feels rather odd (and does not really suit period imho) that absolutely nothing can be hidden so a 2 man infantry team or FOO can be targeted from get go even if in buildings/cover/dug in and inert, even if they are a tad harder to spot than a vehicle. 

I did comment that it felt that we had access to contemporary drones over the battlefield with their spotting (if not attack) capabilities.

We both had mortar support and as per WW2 set the blast area is pretty large (20" diameter) so usually has several units in danger (although mostly from Pinning effect) and we both lost a couple of stands to these.

Overall system has bit more meat on its bones than 7 Days To The Rhine and Stephen prefers them to that system, I am not well enough versed in Cold War rule sets to offer an alternative so would play them warts and all and good to see the Cold War kit in action.

Only couple of pics of Stephens collection and terrain

Catch up on another disrupted gaming week and a blast from the distant past

No face to face game again this week (boo hoo) as wifey needing car for last minute dentist visit, and Stephen off to Warfare at weekend.

We had planned to try a Rapid Fire Reloaded scenario at Stephens based on action at Rauray during Op Epsom and hopefully we will at some point.

I had quick solo session with Fire In The Lake game using the 'medium' scenario which plays much quicker (only 3 decks) than usual full scenario I play. 

NVA start much stronger in this and US with many more boots on the ground but the sneaky VC came through victorious after a really powerful 'Tet Offensive' card play. 

Great game.

I also set up a solo test for latest (Sept ?) version of Valour and Fortitude rules with a basic 350 points encounter type game with French vs Prussians 1813

Only major difference I can discern from last version is that Rallying units hits is much harder (6 needed rather than old 4+), some other minor tweaks to unit abilities etc.

I consider V&F an alternative to Black Powder (feels very much like a variant) as only failing to activate Brigades on a 1 seemed better than 2D6 method in BP, but have to say so far in my outing there have been an awful lot of 1's and therefore inactive formations. 

But the 'event' cards are a nice addition (if a bit gamey) and the various systems for movement, shooting, melee and morale all work fine and are a tad less 'dicestatic' than BP. Fine as a quick play easy to balance (ie points) system although still well behind FOB in my own estimation. 

 

Also I came across some real vintage pics from my very early miniature wargaming days ie 1978/79.

Couple of (poorly lit as it was in our loft) early games with 6mm kit on an unpainted board with some unpainted terrain items. 

Believe this was during Christmas holidays 1978 when I was off school and Dad off work and think we used No 1 Wargames Command World War 2 rules.

Skip forward 6+ months and terrain has improved somewhat with a Hornby grass mat and more painted items of scenery (several old Bellona 'cut outs') 

Hard to tell but AFVs are mix of old GHQ and Heroics and Ros and all unbased ahh those were the heady days of yore.

I started gaming with Airfix 20mm around 1975 but cant find any pics (possibly some cave drawings someplace)