Rules of Engagement Part I - Work in Progress

Last year (and a couple of times this year as well), I've played several different rules for wargaming I've found online for free which could be used with ordinary toy soldiers and army men. The complete series of reviews can be found on this blog. I played the same setup and scenario each time, which made it easier to see the different rules pros and cons. All the different rules had different advantages and some disadvantages. I wanted to see if it was possible to take most of the elements I consider as 'the best' from the different rules and collect them into one ruleset, and see if it was possible to get it all on one page as well since I'm a fan of one page rules. It became clear with so many great rules; there was not place enough on the paper for including all their best elements together on only one page.

Don't get me wrong; I really enjoyed playing all these different rules found online for free (and had a good time doing it as well), and I'm definitely going to play them over again for different scenarios and periods. At the same time I wanted to see if it was possible to develop my own 'home brewed' house rules based on my experience playing these games made by others. Therefore my rules are heavily influenced by great rules such as FUBAR, 1 BC Toy Soldier rules, Fighting Plastic, OMOG, Close Wars, Wargame in a bag and Plastic Command by Craig Cartmel, Pete Kautz, Corey Butler, Thor Sheil, Donald Featherstone, Nick Grant and J.P. Medved respectively. Thanks for your inspiration! The result of  these inspirational games was my own draft for home brewed, onepage rules for army men and toy soldiers.

Developing these home brewed rules was a process so long, so to describe it all in one blogpost would have made it far too long to read in one piece. Instead I've made it into a series of 4 blogposts with a short description and a Battle Report in each which will follow here shortly. It would be tempting to do like George Lucas and start with Episode 4 and the most interesting part right away, but as these rules are playable in all stages I'll show the different stages of the development of them. And IF following Lucas' example; the prequels would not be so interesting...

From my own service abroad I remember we got a single page card with the Rules of Engagement for the mission/conflict. Since my own homebrewed rules for miniature battles also are just a single page, I decided to simply name these Rules of Engagement for Wargaming with Miniatures.

Link: Draft - Rules for Army Men Wargaming

The test

Where the initial rules playable? They needed to be tested. They say that no plan survive the first contact with the enemy, so to test these rules I decided to try them out on the same, familiar by many now, setup and scenario as I did for the other games I've got the inspiration from. 

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:

• 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: 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.

  

  
  

  
  

  • 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.

  

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

Time:    5 hours and 30 minutes (!)

Turns:   23 (!)

Result:  UN withdrawal

The UN started their offensive by placing the Katangese supportbase under heavy fire, which managed to suppress the HMG for a turn...

...but the Katangese sniper managed to hit the UN machine-gunner in the same turn, and he had to be replaced by the UN platoon-leader.

The Katangese forces managed to successfully pin down several units in the UN advancement for several turns with suppressive fire...

..which really slowed the UN offensive down...

When slowly approaching the village, there came to fierce fire-fighting in the outskirts...

And the UN forces was about to make a breakthrough, but by turn 12 the Katangese QRF entered the village, just in time to change the tide of battle.

The UN forces decided to make another push for it, as they were close and about to break through the Katangese defense-lines. The UN Bazooka-team managed to strike a direct hit and took out the Katangese HMG and pickup. Would they make it after all?

In these rules the Katangese QRF are played as an 'elite unit', and their appearance made the UN offensive come to a definite halt. 

The UN forces closest to the village met the Katangese QRF first, and were charged into a hand to hand combat, in which they had no chance with this elite unit.

The other UN units got pinned in their positions outside the village...

...which also made it difficult to retreat without leaving any brothers in arms behind...

The UN support-weapons were eventually used to cover the retreat, while the UN troops in the battlefield were striving to get back to their own lines...

...due to enemy fire they were struggling to withdraw from the battle, and only a few of them managed at the end.

The Katangese Forces made to hold Lumbaya, and this was a clear victory. For now. The UN engagement in Congo was to last for many years and there would be more clashes to come.

Pros

• Being 'own' rules based upon the best of a lots of other rules, so sure there should only be pros in this section, or...? -Well, being own rules makes you remember them easier, as you have used a lot of time tweaking about them, so you don't use so much time for reference check in the rules while playing. 

Cons

• I wouldn't exaggerate and claim that these were fast playing rules...
  On the contrary. But perhaps that is a pro for some? 
• I feel it was low casualty rates from shooting, and perhaps that's why the game took so long? On the other side this makes it easier to slow down, suppress and pin units for several turns, which again are as in real combat; slowing down, halt and interrupt enemy actions, forcing the other side to abort, step down or retreat with minimal own losses. Regarding armour-savings; I remember from my own service we always asked 'if we had to wear helmets' during different exercises as we preferred to use our berets or field caps instead. Now it's clear why wearing helmets have it's benefits, even in a wargame.

Conclusion

Even though it took some time to develop this draft and a pretty long time to play them, I had a good time all the time working on and playing this. Even if I took all the parts I considered as pros from different rules I couldn't fit them all into one page and the result was defiantly not a 'perfect ruleset', but it's still playable though if you wanna have a go. 

Despite of this I hope you will read through my rules and feel free to give me a feedback in the comment-section. If some of you also consider to try out a game with these rules, you're more than welcome to share your experiences. I'm curious to see if they coincide with mine.

As this was only a 'test play' of my draft for a homebrewed houserules for wargaming with Army Men, I think It's still needs some more tweaking and adjustments to fit my demands for such a wargame. It seems like there will have to be a return to, and a second battle for Lumbaya (again).

To be continued...

Fighting Plastic

 

Fighting Plastic

The rules

The Figting Plastic rules by Corey Butler were hosted by the late Thor Sheil on his Army Men website, where I first saw them. I found them again on his restored webpages. Here is an direct link to rules. I've also seen another similar version of this game on the web earlier called 'Burning plastic' by Mitch Nexon, but the link to it seems to be inactive now. Maybe some of you have it? If so, Please share it in the comment-section below.

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: 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.
• 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.

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:       13

Time:        2 hours

Result:      UN forces defeated when entering the village of Lumbaya at the same time as the arrival of the Katangese QRF.

All ranges are longer in 'Fighting Plastic' than in the previous rules I've reviewed so far. Therefore I needed a slightly other tactic than I've used in earlier games. It was still an UN-attack on 3 axis though, but now the UN Jeep with the HMG provided best support behind cover on the left side of the gaming-table. It managed to take out the crew to the Katangese roftop-HMG at the same time as it was taken out it self. The UN Mortar got a direct hit and finished it off:

Direct hit!
The Katangese HMG is now beyond repair and use.

When the threat with that Kantangese HMG was eliminated, the UN-attack could go on. The Katangese forces only got a couple of direct hits, desimating the UN-forces, but was not able to hold back.

But the Katangese hit back with a direct Bazooka-hit and taking out a half squad.

The UN mortar team gave good support for the advancing forces:

Seems like this building has been targeted with several Mortar-grenades.

Nice addition to the rules that medics can get casualties into combat again. -At a roll of 7, so it didn't help these guys though

The UN Forces finally reached the Village of Lumbaya and was entering it, when they was pinned down by a hidden sniper.

 The sniper just halted the attack for one turn, but that was enough to reaching turn 12 and the arrival of the Katangese QRF from the next village.

The QRF just rushed in as fast and far as possible, and opened fire with it's HMG, hitting almost all the entering UN forces. Only one soldiers was left for the infantry, which took him out in the same turn.

Pros

• It's simple and can be played with easily available and cheap army men or toy soldiers.
• Even thou not including rules for wounded, the rules includes medics who can convert casualties into healthy again by a roll of dice.
• Indirect weapons get a -1 on every first attack on a (fixed) target.
• Have rules for grenades not hitting their targets and will hit something else instead.
• Have own rules for paras jumping into the gaming board whether they hit their Landing Zone or not.
• Rules include different skill-levels for the fighting forces. It doesn't apply for whole units, only for single heroes. I added one at each side, and they stayed alive and led their squads until the final stages of the battle.
• The rules are short. Just 2 sides, and it has easy reference boards/tables making shooting fast.
• I liked the long ranges for the weapons, thus there are a con as well when it doesn't differ between short-, medium- or long range within. It's just easier to hit a closer target than a target far away.

Cons

• The rules doesn't include any melee or hand-to-hand fighting.
• Since every shoot is rolled with 2 dice (D6) and some automatic weapons have up to 10 shoots every turn, at the same time as the rule recommend 30 - 40 soldiers on each side, I think there will be a lot of dice-rolling. I would actually consider to play this game with D12 dice or using a dice-app accepting separately D6-rolls in pairs.

Conclusion

These rules are very in the spirit of the rules made by Thor Sheil, and they naturally belongs in the wargame-section on his website. This was a very easy, fun and playable game, and it kept the excitement until the very end. Looking up references in the rules was easy and quick. It should have had som hand-to-hand combat, but again these rules encourage modifications and house rules as long as they're labeled as such.

Please follow this blog for even more AARs on free wargame-rules to come...

Prelude to battle

The beginning

I've been into a lot of different modelling hobbies for a while, but tabletop wargaming was not one of them, until quite recently. Actually it was my very good, and late friend Morten who first gave me the idea and gave it a spark. Unfortunately we didn't get to game together...

Knowing about nothing about this hobby, I turned to the internet in my search for information and wargaming-rules. I was actually put off a little when I saw the complexity, thick books and price on some of the games and miniatures, but I also found some easier ones which could be downloaded and printed for free and played with ordinary affordable army men. 

Since I was new to this and didn't know if this was something for me, I didn't want to spend a lot of money or time reading thick rule-books. Therefore I decided to test-play some of the free rules I found on the internet, to see if I liked it, and what kind of rules I preferred. Fast, very simple, D6-mechanics, 1:1, skirmish, playable and fun rules seemed to be the thing for me. The very first game I ever played was Pete Kautz' '1 Brain Cell Wargame', just using what I had to hand in the household, nothing fancy:

This is where it all started with my very first game; unpainted army men, Momin's house from my kids' old toys, folding ruler, tape-measure, books and magazines making up the terrain and scenery

Where to find them

After I while I found many different free rules on the internet that I could play with easily available and cheap Army men. My favorite sources for free wargame rules are:

• The late Thor Sheil's Army men homepage where there are sections for wargaming and a lot of Thor's own rules.
• Free Wargamesrules Wiki
• Miniature Wargaming
• FUBAR wargames

Actually I found more rules on these pages that I'll have ever time to play them all. While trying to obtain even more information and others experience with some of these rules, I was searching the internet again for some battle-reports, AARs, playthroughs and feedbacks on them, but didn't actually find so many. Does anyone play them at all, or is it just seldom that wargamers post AARs on such rules??  Please share your experience in the comments. 

Therefore I plan to play some of  those free, fast, simple, skirmish, playable and fun rules I find most apealing and post a short AAR on them here in this blog, and perhaps someone might find it helpful. To easier to compare the different rulesets with each other, I think it's fair to play them with the same scenario.

The scenario

Unlike the free wargame rules, I did not find as many free and ready skirmish wargame scenarios to base my coming games upon. Some of the rulesets them selves often contain some very easy 'scenarioes' and winning-conditions, but they're just too basic. Therefore I got inspired by one of  The United Nations largest mission in both scale and operational scope during the Congo Crisis 1960-65 (United Nations Operation in the Congo (ONUC)) ,when UN troops 'peacekeeping' was more offensive 'peace enforcement' with use of force and had several clashes with the breakaway state of Katanga.

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 is made into a stronghold by a small and imrovised platoon of Katangese Gendarmes. The village is one of several strongholds in the area trying to hold the UN off while trying to keep the self-proclaimed president Tshombe by power of the self-proclaimed Katanga state.

The road to the fictional village of Lumbaya

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



TheKatangese Gerdarmerie



• After turn 12 if the rules include vehicles or skilled troops: A QRF consisting of 1 truck with a HMG and a section of 10 'veterans' with assault guns, a LMG and a bazooka arrives from the next village. Only if Lumbaya is still held by Katangese forces though.



The QRF

• 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. If rules do not include vehicles, the Jeep must stay stationary with the HMG at the deployment-zone. 
  
  
  

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.

Let the Game(s) begin!

In Memoriam Morten Melsnes