OMOG - One Man, One Gun

 

OMOG - One Man, One Gun

The rules

The OMOG - One Man, One Gun by the late Thor Sheil was actually the second (free) wargame-rules I ever read, and therefore a naturally continuation on these play-through blogg-posts.

The different OMOG-rules can be found for free on Thor Sheil's restored website with all the periodic rules and the supplements. I've chosen the OMOG - Advanced for 20th and 21st Century Soldiers for this game.

The scenario

I've placed this skirmish to the United Nations largest mission in both scale and operational scope during the Congo Crisis 1960-65, when UN troops 'peacekeeping' was more offensive 'peace enforcement'.

Situation:

This skirmish is finding place in fictional place of Lumbaya in the early January of 1963, when the UN during operation 'Grand Slam' are turning their attention to the remaining Katangese strongholds in Southern Katanga after after securing the Katangese capitol of Élisabethville.

Place:

Lumbaya is a very small village located 80km south west of Élisabethville, and are made into a stronghold by a small platoon of Katangese Gendarmes. The village is one of several strongholds in the area to trying to hold the UN off while trying to keep the self-proclaimed president Tshombe by power of the self-proclaimed Katanga state.

Forces:

• Katangese:
• 2 rifle-squads each of 10 soldiers, a LMG and and a bazooka/flame thrower. Each squad can operate as 2 fireteams independently. 
• 1 HMG-detachment of 3 soldiers
• 1 sniper
• HQ-section with platoon-leader and 2 medics
• After turn 12: A QRF consisting of 1 truck with a HMG and a section of 10 'veterans' armed with assault rifles, a LMG and a bazooka arrives from the next village. Only if Lumbaya is still held by Katangese forces. These rules don't include vehicles so the truck must stay stationary with it's HMG.
• UN:
• 1 Platoon of 3 rifle-squads each of 8 soldiers and a LMG. The squads can operate independently.
• 1 Light mortar-detachment of  2 soldiers and an observer
• 1 bazooka-detachment of 3 soldiers
• HQ-section with platoon-leader
• 1 Jeep with HMG and 2 soldiers. These rules do not include vehicles, so the Jeep must stay stationary with the HMG acting just like a static emplacement.

Mission:

• Katangese: To hold the strongpoint of Lumbaya. Can request QRF-support as mentioned in the force-section from turn 12 if still holding whole or part of the strongpoint.
• UN: To take and hold the strongpoint of Lumbya, preferably within 12 turns, and take control on as many Katangese gendarms located there as possible.

AAR

Turns:    14

Time:      2 hours   

Result:    UN withdrawal

Since these rules didn't include vehicles, I made the vehicles part of the scenery and acting as cover and static emplacement for HMGs.

The UN forces advanced on 3 axis, but this time much slower than previous game due to the movement-rules. Again the attack was halted when the UN came in contact with with the Katangese HMG on the rooftop covering the road to into Lumbaya. 

It took so lot of efforts to eliminate the the Katangese HMG, so by the time the UN troops could finally start advancing again, their own support-weapons was almost out of ammo. Without support-weapons to give effective suppressive fire, the attack came to a halt, almost at the same time as turn 12 and the appearance of the Katangese QRF. This meant that the UN forces was outnumbered and outgunned. Due to heavy losses the only reasonable thing to do was to withdraw.

Kantangese HMG covering the road towards Lumbaya, end effectively pin down the UN forces

UN mortar team was giving cover, but was running out of grenades

When it was finally time to start advancing again, the UN troops was critically low on ammo.....

....so when the Katangese QRF appeared, there was no other option than to withdraw for the UN

Pros

• It's simple and can be played with easily available and cheap army men or toy soldiers from a lot of different periods.
• Have rules for mortars and hand grenades not hitting their target and added hit-probability for firing at the same target not moved.
• Ammo rules limits available shoots for mortars, hand grenades, flamethrowers, bazookas and HMGs.
• Have rules for different skill-levels for units, but only in the hand-to-hand fighting section.
• Have own rules to cover many different periods from ancient to modern.

Cons

• The rules doesn't include any vehicles.
• It doesn't have any rules for using sniper rifles. 
• When throwing dice' for almost all the (other) shooting, I think it would have been easier to handle automatic weapons as well with dice instead of 'burst cones'-templates for automatic weapons. Besides the 'burst cones' assumes that these kind of weapon automatically hits, if you're not in a cover and can roll for a cover-save.

Conclusion

The movement is slightly slower in this game, and I think it will be best suited for smaller gaming spaces and scenarios. I also I think it will be even easier to play for (earlier) periods not including automatic weapons (and the use of burst cones). I'm more likely to play these rules again for another and earlier era. I really liked the ammo-rule. Not many other rules have them. 

I'm glad for all the contributions to this hobby from the late Thor Sheil, and I'm very glad to spend some time playing his games. If you haven't tried them your self yet, I recommend you to do. 

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