Wednesday, February 8, 2023

A simplified set of rules for Modern Wargames

One of the nice things with writing this blog are all you people who reads it, and sometimes comments on my posts. Especially appreciated  are comments which points me into new rules or aspects of wargaming.

After writing a review on Donald Featherstone's 'Close Wars', John Yorio from the excellent blogg '54mm or Fight' suggested another Donald Featherstone's rules; 'War Games or Battles with Models Soldiers' as an alternative for simple rules in a more modern setting with heavier weapons. This was also encouraged by Mark from the excellent 'Man of Tin blog'. Links to both of these inspiring blogs are found in the bar to the right and below in the link-sections (and if you haven't been there yet, pay them a visit). John even provided me of a copy of the 3 short pages of Donald Feathersone's rules.  So I decided I had to try them out. Wow! What a society!!

War Games or Battles with Model Soldiers by Donald Featherstone


I think it would be fair to play them with the same scenario as I've done with the other reviews of free wargame rules for army men and toy soldiers, and a scenario some of you will be familiar by now. I repeat the scenario here if it's your first time here and you haven't read it yet:

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' with force.

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 if rules include vehicles or skilled troops: A QRF consisting of 1 truck with a HMG and a section of 10 'veterans' with a LMG and a bazooka arrives from the next village. Only if Lumbaya is still held by Katangese forces.
War Games or Battles with Model Soldiers by Donald Featherstone


  • 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.War Games or Battles with Model Soldiers by Donald Featherstone


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.
War Games or Battles with Model Soldiers by Donald Featherstone

AAR

Time:    1 hour and 30 minutes
Turns:   11
Result:  UN victory



War Games or Battles with Model Soldiers by Donald Featherstone
The UN platoon made their advance towards Lumbaya, supported by both a Mortar team and a vehicle-mounted HMG.
War Games or Battles with Model Soldiers by Donald Featherstone
Very early in the campaign the UN mortar made two successfully hits andt eliminated the Katangese HMG and support-base. This made the UN advancement much easier and quicker...
War Games or Battles with Model Soldiers by Donald Featherstone
... and gave the UN the needed initiative in the battle.
War Games or Battles with Model Soldiers by Donald Featherstone
When getting closer to the village the UN forces met more resistance and heavier fire, and their jeep and HMG were eventually taken out by a Katangese LMG, but not before...
War Games or Battles with Model Soldiers by Donald Featherstone
...the UN support weapons made to tear up the Katangese line of defense completely...
War Games or Battles with Model Soldiers by Donald Featherstone
...and the Katangese reserves didn't even make it to their defense line before they were under heavy fire and taken out by another successful UN-mortar grenade.
War Games or Battles with Model Soldiers by Donald Featherstone
In turn 8 the first UN squads were entering the village. The Katangese had only one team and surprise left for the entering UN-troops, a 'secret weapon'. 
War Games or Battles with Model Soldiers by Donald Featherstone
...Until it malfunctioned in the next turn (because you just don't miss with a weapon like this), and another UN squad came to the rescue. By this time there were only 2 unarmed Katangese medics left in the village, and an UN success with minimal losses (just a jeep and 4 plastic grunts).

Pros

  • It's simple and can be played with easily available and cheap army men or toy soldiers from a lot of different (modern-) periods.
  • Fast playing.

Cons

  • These rules are really simple. Perhaps too simple. In only 3 small pages there are minimal information which may lead to misinterpretations.
  • Even if the rules were short they were contradictory on the rifle ranges. One place it was written that the rifle range was 12", and on another thet you had to deduct '3' from your dice if firing rifles on ranges between 12"-24". I went for the long range alternative as I think the firing range for infantry weapons are a little too short.
  • There were no clear turn sequence, so I decided to play is at 'I go, You go'.
  • Even if it contains rules for a lots of special weapons, it doesn't have any rules for sniper rifles. It didn't matter much in my game anyway, because my 'sniper' (which I treated as a infantry man with long range) was only rolling '1's every time.
  • In this game you don't roll a dice (or more) for each weapon. Infantry units fire 1 D6 for each volley of 5 men. - and deduct numbers from your dice depending on the range. The units under fire makes a roll for a save thou. So some calculation is needed when not operating 5-men teams or teams divisible by 5. It also makes it very difficult for smaller units to hit anything at all.

Conclusion

As the last time I played a game by Donald Featherstone, I had a good time. The game is easy and fast playing. I think it would work even better in a smaller scale such as 1:72 or similar. This game also shows that heavier weapons cause more damage and casualties, and that was exactly what I missed with Donald Featherstone's Close Wars. Thanks to John for the suggestion and the rules and Mark for the encouragement.

When writing this it seems like there has to be at least one more revisit to Lumbaya during 'Grand Slam'. Sign up on this blog if you haven't done so already, and stay tuned...

7 comments:

  1. I love the look and scenarios of your games. Will you ever do the Simba revolt/ There would be room for plenty of wild conversions there. Some of my Simbas were made from American Indians, as well as pirates, Zulus etc. I had an assortment of paratroopers in berets for the Belgians and a mix of figures for the white mercenaries. I also had government black troops (very skitty when faced with witch doctors) in their plastic lining helmets.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks!
    I consider to include Simbas, Kasai tribes and Mercenaries to future games if I can find any suitable miniatures for them. Figures are not very available in Norway, and the shipping-costs are rather high when ordering online. I do have some indians that might be converted.

    Recently a Norwegian documentary focusing on the Norwegian UN-pilots in this conflict was released. It states that Kasai tribes didn't exactly treat their POWs by the Geneva Convention, as they were likely to be put in the 'Pot' instead.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ...besides, it seems like there have to be at least one more game with the same scenario and setup from 'Lumbaya', before I can move on to other scenarios and setups...

      Delete
  3. I really enjoyed reading of your game and seeing your set up. It is visually appealing. I am working towards using the same rules for a 1940 Seelowe based game with home guard defending a village against German paratroopers. It will be played in 54mm .
    Alan Tradgardland

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Alan!
      That sounds like a really interesting combination of scenario, scale and rules. I hope you post a battle report on your blog as I'm really curious on your experiences and I'm really looking forward to read it. Really interesting combination of forces. Are you making them 'elite' vs 'rookies'?

      Delete
  4. this was a delight! fun to read, and the figures are really great! thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Brianne! There will be come some few more posts on the same setup and scenario, but with different rules.

      Delete

You may also be interested in: