Sunday 29 November 2015

Game 35 - 'Miscellaneous' Ridge - 1982

We tried out Sabre Squadron at last.

Now, it's been a difficult set of rules to wrap our heads around, but a few things worked well.


  • Artillery is deadly if you stay still. Don't even try to hug cover - once you're zeroed in, you're getting hurt.
  • We complicated things a little by simulating a night attack which played havoc with ranges and visibility.
  • It's also easy to see how the system focuses on doctrinal difference to highlight flexibility between types of forces. Obviously, we'd see these differences more clearly in a NATO vs 'Pact game. 
  • Variations in morale and training makes a big difference - to finding cover and advancing under fire!
  • You can cover the movement of an attacking force quite effectively.

Have to say though that the rules are less than intuitive, and there's a lot of things in there that could maybe do with a few extra examples, though there is a decent modern game lurking between the pages. It just needs more practice at our end.

'Miscellaneous' Ridge is a little like Wireless Ridge from the Falklands, but with obvious differences :)



 Paras move off the start line toward the dug in Argentines.


A little flanking maneuvre on the British left.

Good thing too, as dug in MGs were taking their toll.
 Mr. MILAN hits the bunkers...

...which are well defended.

What's left of 2nd platoon moves to the flank cover.



 While sneaky 1st platoon tries to take the ridgeline from the north.

 ...with more cover from the MILAN.





  1st platoon actually gets badly mauled in the open by mortars, though remnants of 2nd platoon then rally and try again, finally engaging in hand to hand combat to throw the defenders out of the northernmost bunker.


...as third platoon finally get underway, using cover from the MILAN and MGs.


By now, 2nd platoon have made it into the trenches...and are working their way along, as 3rd platoon assault the southern bunker.



It was a tough game for the British, and the rules make you pay for every inch of (open) ground. The flanking action did draw the enemy away from the southern objective, and tactics and good defensive decisions tend to work here.  We need to try these again I think, then introduce some armour.

More to follow.

Saturday 28 November 2015

More X-Wing fun

Apparently there's a new star wars movie coming out! As those '3 which shall not be named' don't register, this would be the fourth one, right? :)

A quick game of classic x-wing on Friday with the 'phalanx', here are some pics.

Looks awesome - too bloody expensive in terms of points!


Mind the gap...fragile glass.


TIE swarm

 
 Asteroids really make things difficult - lots of careful flying required.


TIE cam.

Watch those A wings.

Up close & personal



TIEs take the brunt of the damage

As casualties mount, with many ships in close proximity...the developing situation can be summarised as something which rhymes with 'muster-tuck'...


Saturday 21 November 2015

Hey Airfix...you probably should have done this 40 years ago!

Here's an interesting aside. Airfix (well Modiphius Entertainment - who are well used to this sort of thing and seem to be getting licenses all over the place in true 'Mongoose' fashion) have finally jumped on the wargame/boardgame/cardgame bandwagon.

 http://www.modiphius.com/airfix.html
(Thanks to the 'Numbers, Wargames & Arsing About' Blog for this)





Of course, in the real world, the company's troubled past, combined with a general distancing from what took decades to really become an industry, would probably have meant that they would never really have entered the traditional wargame market with any real intent, until recent years. But, the fact that any British 'kid' in their 40s would have started here is testament to the staying power of these cheap plastic figures and the battles we used to have - without those pesky rules getting in the way.

I do somehow dream of an alternate reality where Airfix did this in 1977, then got the license for importing American style RPGs and hex'n'chit wargames, and the UK wargames market flourished, and they took control, and a certain fledgling Games Workshop went in a completely different direction, and...*SHOCK*...Warhammer never happened.

(No, I'm teasing...no really...I think).