Skirmishes on Greenland

First of all a disclaimer; The heading must not be mistaken and has nothing to do with President Trump's recent (strategic) interests in the territory belonging to another NATO allied. I actually planned and started to work on this scenario a very long time ago and long before 'Greeland' made headlines in the news.

This wargame however is based on WW2. While Denmark was occupied by Germany in 1940, the Danish territory of Greenland wasn't. But Greenland was important for both the Allies and Germany due to it's location and the possibilities to predict the weather in the Northern Atlantic and Arctic waters, which again was crucial information for warfare, convoys etc. in those areas. To guarantee Greenland's important position it became an American protectorate to secure the Allies this important information and at the same time fends off any Germans trying the same.

Due to this Germany illegally established several temporary weather-stations along the Greenland coast to radio back and support German forces with weather forecasts for the North Atlantic and Arctic waters. To counter them the U.S. established 'The Greenland Patrol' and deployed the U.S. Coast Guard to patrol the Greenland coast and possibly fight any German resistance. For long range patrolling and fighting ashore there were also established a complete new unit of local Danes, Norwegians and Inuits called 'The North-East Greenland Sledge Patrol', which operated dog-sleds and used U.S. equipment. They were involved in several small skirmishes with German units operating secret weather-stations. This unit was later developed into the post-war Sirius Patrol.

These are a series of periodic drawings made by a USCG serviceman which I used as inspiration for my setup:

The Rules

The fact that small units of Danes, Norwegians and Inuits in The North-East Greenland Sledge Patrol was involved in several small skirmishes with small German units operating secret weather-stations intrigued me to create a small skirmish and semi-fictional wargame to play outside in the snow (which I usually tries to do around this time of the year if weather permits).

I already have some Airfix 40mm-ish knock-offs I've used for outdoor wargames earlier. The Germans can be used as is, and I think the Americans can double up as U.S. equipped Danish/ Norwegian Dog-sledge patrols.

The rules for this game is one of my absolute favorites for small skirmish infantry wargames; 1BC (One Brain Cell Toy Soldier Rules by Pete Kautz. Last year I also made them fit a single page for ease of use and faster reference.

Preparing the game 

To play this wargame I needed a 40mm-ish scale weather-station, dogs and dog-sleights to set the scene. The weather-station was hastily improvised from an upscaled (from 00) lineside hut and a vertical tank I 3D-printed:

The dogs and dog-sleights and dogs were also re-scaled and 3D-printed for this scenario:

Then everything was given a quick coat of paint. The hut also got an overspray of 'snow spray' for Christmas decorations:

The Scenario

Late January 1945 a long range reconnaissance patrol from The North-East Greenland Sledge Patrol consisting of 4 members was patrolling the Eastern coast of Greenland. They will fight in teams of two (like they did in real life) and all are armed with rifles. Due to their dog sleighs with high maneuverability under these challenging conditions I let them move double distances while using their sleighs. I planned to give them a +1 for shooting as being experienced hunters and great shooters and have another +1 in melee for being 'elite'. Without spoiling to much of the game, they didn't actually need the +1 for shooting:

When the Sledge patrol observed a hut not marked on their map, they decided to approach it to check it out.

What they did not know at the time was that the hut was the secret weather-station Edelweiss III, which were the base of a unit of 5 armed German 'meteorologists'. The Germans will also fight in teams of 2, except for one guard on duty who will fight individually. All the Germans are also armed with rifles only:

The Game 

Turn 1

When the members from the 2 dog-sleight teams approach the hut... 

...they're observed by the German guard outside and above the hut who open fire on them and alert his 'Kameraden' in the hut:

He is not a good shoot and misses. The both Danish/Norwegian dog-sleight teams exploit the chance and hurries towards the hut to seek cover behind some large snow drifts:

The 2 first Germans exit the cabin and run into cover...

...and opens fire upon the Dog Sleight team closest to them. Both missed:

The 2 last Germans exit the cabin and seeks cover behind the corner of the hut (as else they would be in open range for the other Dog Sleight team):

They open fire upon the other Dog Sleight team but misses:

Turn 2

In the next turn the German sentry opens fire on the Dog Sleight team again, and misses again. The Dog Sleight soldiers opens fire... 

... and stuns one of the Germans who exited the hut first. The other Dog Sleight team advances closer to the hut and seek cover behind another snow drift:

Turn 3

The German sentry opens fire against those advancing Dog Sleight soldier, but misses:

The Dog Sleight soldiers uses the opportunity to rush into the German position and open fire...

...and daze both the German soldiers who exited the hut first:

The second team of Germans returns fire:

And permanently take out one of the Dog Sleight soldiers:

The other Dog Sleight team moves into a better position and open fire upon that annoying German sentry:

-And takes him out:

Turn 4

After taking out the German sentry the Dog Sleight team moves into another position and fall that other German team from behind...

... and opens fire...

...and kill them both:

That last soldier from the other Dog Sleight team approaches the (now) stunned German soldiers to seize control and take them prisoner:

Turn 5

For the German soldiers it would be reasonable to surrender at this point as they were surrounded by Dog Sleight soldiers. They must have been fanatics or something as they opened fire on their attacker as soon as they got on their feet again. The other Dog Sleight team saw what was about to happen and rushed into a better position and opened fire on the Germans:

The Germans hit the Dog Sleight soldier they open fire upon, then one of them was killed and the other dazed by the other Dog Sleight team:

Turn 6

The remaining Dog Sleight team took control on that last stunned German soldier and took him prisoner of war:

As I wrote earlier I planned to give the Dog Sleight soldiers a +1 for shooting as they were hunters and experienced marksmen. When I started to roll dice for them I found out that they didn't actually need that +1 for shooting as they were mostly rolling 5's and 6's anyway. As always when using the 1 BC (One Brain-Cell) Toy Soldier Rules this was a great game. Due to small and few units (to keep it to the prototype) it was also a very fast played skirmish wargame in only 6 turns taking some 30 minutes. -Which was long enough considering the outside temperature. 

Thanks for reading! 

The Bots are Coming!

Like other wargaming blogs this blog also suddenly experienced a 'tsunami' of 'mysterious visitors' this September. All this sudden hits are presumably not 'real visitors' or human readers, but more likely 'Web Crawlers', 'Search Spiders' or 'AI Chatbots'. What they exactly was, what their mission was, where they actually came from and why, I don't know for sure. Let's assume it was 'AI chatbots' they were probably searching wargaming blogs to pick up more knowledge of the subject and learn more about wargaming? -And to perhaps also to learn to wargame?? 

This made me think if this 'phenomenon' could be transferred to a wargame, or to a scenario for a wargame? -The Bots are Coming! 

Preparing the game

To be able to transfer this to a skirmish wargame I needed to materialize some 'intelligent' bots into some kind of 'battle-machines'. The answer gave it self, and I searched Thingeverse for some free files that could be resized and 3D-printed to 54mm. It's skinny, but due to the period for my scenario it's probably an early model (T600 or pre T600):

Then they were given a very simple and basic paint job, and a couple of coats of 'blackwash':

The Rules

The Terminators cant't time-travle with weapons, so for this game they are unarmed and they'll only fight hand-to-hand. I think the free FUBAR wargame rules can be amended for a battle between a superior force in close combat VS. a larger seasoned force with ranged combat capacities. 

The Scenario

After several unsuccessfully attempts to assassinate Sarah Connor and preventing her to give birth to the future resistance leader John Connor, the AI defense network Skynet simultaneously tries to assassinate Sarah Connor's father before she's even born, and so to prevent the future birth of her and her son.

Before Sarah Connor was born in 1965, her father was a soldier and fought in an unnamed war. Skynet is therefore sending Terminators back in time to search different conflicts and battlefields in the early 60ies where they have recorded plausible 'Connors'.

In Eastern Congo, 1961 Sergeant Connor is leading a reinforced UN squad which has been ordered to hold a key junction near the village of Kalemie to keep Katangese rebels from moving supplies. The peacekeepers expect rebels — but instead, three T-600s step out of the jungle and advance relentlessly toward the crossing. -What are they, where do they come from and why are they here???

Forces:

• Terminators:
• 3 early and unarmed models of T-600 Terminators which activites independently.
• A Terminator automatically incapacitate a single human opponent per action in close combat.
• Terminators are fast, so I'll let them move 12" instead of 6".
• Terminators ignore moral checks and pinning.
• I will let the Terminators fight as 'Elite' and 'Heavy Tank'. They can be harmed by HMGs (.50 cal.) and RPGs. On early Terminators only their front was heavy armored, so these will have to roll for a save (2+) from small arms if hit from behind.
• Hit effects:
• 1-2: -2 to next activation only
• 3-4: Can only move half speed rest of the game
• 5: immobilized for rest of the game
• 6: Terminator destroyed

• UN :

All UN forces will fight as 'Seasoned' in this game. Their M1 rifles are semi automatic so I'll let them have 2FP on ranges less than 12".

• A squad of 8 soldiers armed with 1 SMG, 6 M1 rifles and 1 LMG are manning the UN-Check Point.
• A Bazooka unit with 3 soldiers armed with 1 bazooka (with armor piercing rockets), 1 SMG and  M1 rifle provides back up support.
• A Jeep with a crew of 3 armed with a .50 cal. HMG provides supporting cover for the Check Point. Luckily they trying out the new Multi Purpose ammunition from Norway.

Mission:

• Terminators: To eliminate the UN unit in search for 'Connor'.
• UN: To pacify the Terminators.

The Game

Time:    55 minutes 

Turns:   9

Result:  This point is a 'spoiler alert', isn't it? It's a win for the Sgt. Connor and his men, but I'm not sure it's a victory for humanity having a battlefield with future artificial killer technology scattered around. One of the 'bots' are even still on.

There are not Katangan Rebels who exits the Jungle and approaches the UN-Check Point outside Kalemie...

The Traffic Sentry shouts them to stop as they're approaching the Check Point. He has not seen 'things' like these before:

The Terminators are ignoring him and keep advancing. Following the Rules of Engagement he warns them that he will open fire if they don't stop:

The Terminators keeps advancing, and the Traffic Sentry gives them a final warning and shoots a warning shoot:

The warning shoot did not scare the terminators off or made them come to a halt. The Sentry aims carefully and fires against the closest Terminator. He can see that he hit, but with no effect at all:

The closest Terminator rushes towards the Traffic Sentry and lethally strike him. The 2 other Terminators changes course and advance towards the Cover Sentry and Search Team. Both the Cover Sentry and the Search Team open fires upon the advancing machines, and score several hits on them with no effect. Not even from their high rate fire LMG:

Sgt. Connor orders his men to retreat:

The UN Jeep covering the Check Point opens fire with it's 0.50 cal HMG, and hits the Terminator which killed the Traffic Sentry:

The UN HMG hits the Terminator with so many successfully shots, that the Terminator stumble backwards, looses balance and fall upon the Czech Hedgehog behind him. The Czech Hedgehog impales the Terminator, and the Terminator becomes immobilized for the rest of the game:

Sgt. Connor's squad are retreating, but the LMG Team falls behind. The UN-Jeep rushes forward and opens fire on the pursuing Terminators: 

Even if the Terminators are hit by several shots of the HMG it doesn't stop them, only slowing them down:

Soon the 2 Terminators catch up with the slow LMG team of Sgt. Connor's squad, and immediately takes out 2 of them:

Even if the UN HMG scores several hits on the Terminators, it doesn't stop them from taking out the last member of the LMG team:

While the Terminators starts advancing towards the Jeep and the threat it's HMG represents, they don't notice the Bazooka team sneaking up from behind:

When ready the Bazooka team aims carefully and fires an armor piercing rocket and hit one of the Terminators from behind, where it's weakest point is:

It was a lethal hit:

The last Terminator turned around and took aim to ram the Bazooka team...

...which made a daring move; They knew that they didn't have time to reload so they started to run towards the Terminator at the same time the Terminator approached them and beat the Bazooka gunner to death. The team leader and loader made to run past him. They immediately turned around and shot the Terminator in the back:

Another success by the 2 remaining members of the Bazooka team! The Terminator was finally Terminated:

Sgt. Connor didn't know he was the target for this mechanical 'kill team', and the androids did not know if they've targeted the right 'Connor'. 

Sgt. Connor gathered his men around the last Terminator impaled at the Czech Hedgehog struggling to get free, but...

... no official reports were given what happened next...

Conclusion

Ironically I used the AI bot ChatGPT to partially create this scenario and figure out a rifle-squad chance vs. a T-600 Terminator. 

I have a soft spot for the free FUBAR wargaming rules, and used the expertise in the FUBAR FB-group to check my suggested stats for the Terminators.

I really do recommend the FUBAR wargaming rules, and signing up to their FB-group. If you haven't tried these rules out, yet, I really recommend you to do.

Blog PostScript

My youngest son is autistic and is not interested in tabletop wargaming. He's very interesting in gaming characters though. While preparing for this game he came with some of his lates acquisitions and played following his own rules. -which I off course let him. In his game the robot (Metal Sonic) was the winner and the Terminators seemed chanceless.