Completely FUBARed

I've bought many modern skirmish rules over the years, and of course downloaded a lot of free stuff from the internet.

That said, I'd probably downloaded the FUBAR rules before, without actually paying them much attention.

Having now read this 'one pager', I see a lot of things that are exciting for a set of skirmish rules; things that make more sense than force on force, or don't have the 'slowing' effects of arc of fire.

There's a wonderful activation system based on troop quality, which also neatly allows for loss of unit effectiveness based on inherent training and quality. There are 6mm, sci-fi and even medieval variants.

Some relevant links here:

www.fubarwargames.wordpress.com/downloads/

www.6mmfubar.blogspot.co.uk/


We'll be trying these rules soon...some WWII action I think.

Game 20 - Wombat 52, May 1968

And now for something completely different.

I've tried a few sets of Vietnam rules over the years, but this scenario was mainly a playtest for the 'TAC' series 'Arc of Fire' rules.

These are mostly traditional in terms of tables and mods, though the 'TAC' roll which sorts the competent troops from the less so, helps adjudicate most of the action and is a little different to what we're used to.

Playing cards call initiative, and I couldn't help myself comparing with the smoother feel of 'Force on Force', although there the rules need a bit of work to make them intuitive. I think running this scenario again with FoF would be a nice idea and would show up some of the differences between the two styles of rules and gameplay.

There's a chopper crew down and advisors to the ARVN 30th battalion are the closest units to hand.

 Improvised armour in the form of the venerable M113.

 ...as the downed crew, plus wounded, try to make it from a rapidly approaching VC Main Force.

 'Huey Down' near the river.

 Civilians, co-ordinated through the cardplay (and actually quite dangerous), began to prevent the US getting a clear line of spotting and fire - conflicting with their rules of engagement.

VC fire pins 2nd squad in the rice paddy, and starts inflicting casualties.

 ...while the VC remain in an eminently defensible position.

High rolls on the d10 wound dice are never good. Two morale checks and a kill.

 The machine guns on the M113 however, help to restore balance to the US advance.

 Despite encroaching cells of VC.

 Is it too late for them to intercept the helicopter crew?

 A very definite 'yes'. A turn of the card allows the crew to get the jump on the chasing VC and they make it through the jungle to the HQ element of the US platoon.

A nice scenario, though I'd like to try something similar with different sets of modern rules. Arc of Fire is nice but perhaps lacks some of the subtleties that we see in FoF (eventually, when you get your head around it that is). More to follow - and perhaps some 'Charlie Company'.

Game 19 - (not) Fontenoy

The call of Maurice is never far away. With discussion as to a suitable scenario, we resorted to the Fontenoy 1745 scenario in the rulebook, though using the 1690s figures that we have available.

We opted to use the National Characteristic cards ('a la baionette', 'steady lads' etc.), and the standard 4+ to hit (rather than 5+ which we had used previously due to presence of pikes and the prevalence of matchlocks over flintlocks).

This certainly put a different spin on the gameplay.

Again, a fine and exciting game, with twists and turns and periods where, due to command attention (cards) being focused elsewhere, troops might sit without moving, or flanks might be held simply by the imposing presence of elite cavalry.

Each game is a new experience with these rules, yet, each game also offers a unique insight into battlefield management in the horse and musket era. You simply can't do everything that you want to do and half of your time is spent 'fighting fires' which threaten the flank or weaken your centre, while you try to gain victory.

There are times when it pays to do nothing, other than simply roll for musket fire in the centre, while you sneakily gather resource and cards to enable a flank attack with your cavalry, even while your opponent (who may be stronger on the opposing flank) has to focus on your breakthroughs and thus leave more powerful forces sitting doing nothing. This is the stuff of period battlefield accounts.

Very intuitive, fast flowing and seems to echo (as much as gameplay can) our perception of the period.

The Allied right flank. A mass of French elite cavalry waits to do some damage.

Allied cavalry's early maneuvering is halted through some marshy ground which wasn't on the damned map.

The Allied assault on the centre.

...as flanks are refused in order to keep an eye on French cavalry.

On the allied left however, English infantry is making headway, as weakened French cavalry is stalled by musket fire.

French cavalry goes in on the Allied right, routing the Dutch Guards, and forcing defensive measures.

View from the Allied left...mid game

...and the Allied right

 A refused flank however,

 ...is countered by headway on the Allied left, where a cavalry breakthrough and rout of French infantry has changed the face of the battle.

Mounting pressure and severe effects on morale with bad dice rolls after losing units, forces the French to withdraw and gives the allies a victory.


A fast flowing, tense and evocative game in less than 3 hours. You have to love these rules.

What a piece of junk! (or...Han Solo was right)

 With Friday nights fast becoming 'X-Wing Evenings', it's time for another 'buying expensive licensedTM pre-paintedTM miniatures and playing with glossy rules style-ee' post.

Now here, we see the introduction of the tramp freighter otherwise known as the Millenium Falcon. Crappy defence but lots of 360 degree attacks.


There seem to be two options.

Part the first...The Direct Approach (also known as suicide)

a) Fly straight at the enemy TIE fighters

b) ...while the X-Wings do the same (see the 'speed blurs' for the TIES in this pic - I meant to do that of course)

c) Get swarmed and die

d) sit beside the coffee in the 'graveyard of ships)

Part the second...the Feint (also known as the 'Han Solo Death Star Chicken sh1t Gamble')

Now the key here is to do what Han Solo did...


 a) Sort of pretend to get involved

b) Fly away..far away and say things like...'I'm not getting involved in your pesky (and particularly well financed...have I mentioned this before?) rebellion. Fly around the periphery a lot and take the odd long range shot.

Slight issue here is that the X-Wings get badly shot up and your fellow player goes ballistic (sorry Steve)

c) Then return as the all conquering hero to mop up, when there's a single X-Wing left and you have so many shields and hits that you are the equivalent of an M1 Abrams...

See? Exactly what Han Solo did during the Death Star attack. Let everybody else kill themselves and then just turn up out of nowhere and say 'you're all clear kid. Let's blow this thing so we can all go home!' (Did he really say that? Isn't that kind of...never mind...)

What good are snub fighters going to be against that?

A little late to the party I know, but last night’s game with the ‘Friday Night Phalanx’ was the now famous ‘X-Wing’.

An excellent game as it turned out, with a thorough and yet elegant system, which is easy to pick up and runs the gamut from calculated tactical play - where you are trying to second guess your opponent(s) - right through to more random unplanned events, which keeps things exciting.

Real bonuses include :

(1)    Components – painted, highly detailed, and assembled to present information and incorporate all tactical information on the stand or card.

(2)    It’s the original trilogy.

(3)    Beautifully integrated dice mechanics and card mechanisms which give a real feel for how we imagine starship combat would be and how we remember Star Wars and Empire in our heads.

(4)    It’s the original trilogy.

(5)    It evokes a real sense of the movies. We were constantly quoting lines from the films (stay on target) as X-Wings swooped in for the kill or TIE fighters massed to swarm an unsuspecting (but apparently well funded) rebel ship. Oh yes, and only Steve can do an accurate TIE fighter ‘screech’.

(6)    Have I mentioned it’s the original trilogy?

• Movement mechanics operate off templates, the more complex of which can ‘distress’ ship/pilot and dictate recovery.
• Dice/combat gives varying results, resulting in ‘ooohs’ and ‘aaahs’ as unexpected critical hits do untold damage to …attack plans!
• Everything looks really good, and despite scale or range compensation vs model size, it’s not something that gets in the way as it might say with wargame rules. In fact, I didn’t even think about the scaling until well after the game.

We actually were able to play two games in a 3.5 hour window, which is excellent for 4 players.

Pics are a little intense as my hand was shaking with excitement ;) …

 Game 1: SCREEEEEEEEE!

 

The TIEs take on two X-Wings. It won't be an easy fight; the TIEs have no shields and are basically a bloke in a vac suit with an engine strapped to him (oh yes, and solar panels for some reason).

 A black hole appears...and it's full of crisps (potato chips for our American viewers).

 The action begins. X-Wings are robust, with shields, so if they can take down some TIE Fighters quickly, they can take the initiative.

In the end however, after taking out one X-Wing, the remaining TIEs are able to swarm the lone rebel.

Game 2: 4 TIEs and one TIE Advanced vs an A, X and Y wing.

The pesky A wing gets busy right away, darting around like a colonial Viper (oops, wrong intellectual property)

The Advanced and his wingman take on the tank like Y-Wing, with its 5 hits. (It's Shermans vs Tiger)

With the X-Wing gone in a freak strike, the rebels have to rely on the robust Y and the agile A

 ...but the Y can only take so much punishment...

 ...before all attention turns to the A. 'Here they come.'

 Bad dice rolls for the A Wing, as its hopes of at least taking out the Advanced are dashed, and it succumbs to numbers.

 

 ***

 

A lot more to come of this one then with some larger games and potentially a campaign of sorts with rebels trying to destroy imperial prototypes, Imperials trying to find the rebel base and…ahem…an apparently ragtag band of so called ‘rebels’ (who appear to be quite well funded I might add) using hit and run tactics and deceit to provoke unwarranted attacks against the just, yet wholly misunderstood, Imperial authority in the galaxy.

All we are trying to do is end this destructive conflict...and bring order to the galaxy.

Where’s that damned planet killer? We should get a name for it…You know? The big, grey, dangerous, death globe star thing…That’s it! We should call it, the ‘Dangerous Globe’!