Showing posts with label Donald Featherstone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Donald Featherstone. Show all posts

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...

Friday, December 2, 2022

Close Wars

Close Wars

The rules

Close Wars by Donald Featherstone. Free wargame rules for army men


I wanted to try some really oldschool wargaming, and I think Donald Featherstone is considered to be one of the inventors of simple rules for wargaming with toy soldiers. On the excellent blog of 'The Man of Tinblog' I found a blogpost with a copy of Donald Featherstone's Close Wars. These rule are very simple and aren't exactly made for this size or modern battles, but I wanted to have a go at a 'classic' and see if it was playable with the scenario I've used in my recent games.

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. Since these rules doesn't support vehicles, the QRF enters the village at foot.
  • 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. Since these rules do not include vehicles, the Jeep stayed stationary with the HMG at the deployment-area acting a 1 unit, but due to short firing ranges never come close enough to enter combat.
  • Since these rules doesn't include any heavy weapons, I just rolled a dice for any weapons and let all of them have the same range.
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.
Close Wars by Donald Featherstone. Free wargame rules for army men


AAR

Time:    1 hour and 40 minutes
Turns:   18 (!)
Result:  UN defeat

Due to the short weapon ranges and not including any heavy weapons for support, this was a rush for the UN forces to get to a cover close enough for the their short weapon range:

Close Wars by Donald Featherstone. Free wargame rules for army men

The UN forces made initially some successful hits in the Katangese line of defence, and used the opportunity to try to brake into their defensive positions...

Close Wars by Donald Featherstone. Free wargame rules for army men

...and managed. But from this point on the Katangese Gendarmerie fought real well, and the UN didn't make any further advancement into the village.

Close Wars by Donald Featherstone. Free wargame rules for army men

This was the situation for so long time and so many turns, that the Katangese QRF arrived in turn 12:

Close Wars by Donald Featherstone. Free wargame rules for army men

This was finally what made the UN advancement come to an definite halt, and those few UN soldiers left who managed to enter the village was either killed or taken as prisoner of war after heroic street fighting. But they didn't give up very easy.

Close Wars by Donald Featherstone. Free wargame rules for army men
Impetus Bonus!!


Pros

  • Impetus Bonus gives a +1 for surprising when emerging from cover and achieved an ambush
  • It's simple and can be played with easily available and cheap army men or toy soldiers from a lot of different periods.
  • Retreating forces (due to a moral check) have to dice to see if the're routing or can go back to battle.
  • Really fast playing

Cons

  • It's just too simple and doesn't divide weapons into groups by their damage potential.
  • It doesn't include any vehicles.
  • The turn sequence seems unclear. I played it I Go, You Go.
  • What really happens to  wounded; hits that makes a save also seems unclear. I let them just fight on.

Conclusion

Due to lack of rules for different weapons with longer range and higher damage-potential, this was a very uncomplicated, interesting, intense and very fast playing game. With the limited weapon-ranges this is truly 'Close Wars'. As mentioned, I don't think these rules are made for modern battles or this scale, but I'm surprised how extremely well they worked for such after all. I would consider to play this in a smaller scale than I did (with my 54mm soldiers). Perhaps 20mm would be more suitable? And perhaps a period and units without a lot of hevy weapons. If you have only time for a quickie, consider this game.

Please follow this blog for some few more AAR on free wargame-rules to come...

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