Rules of Engagement Part III - The Last Platoon returning to Lumbaya

The last time the UN forces tried to take and hold the Katangese Strongpoint of Lumbaya as a part of the larger 'Grand Slam' operation, they were eventually outnumbered and had to retreat. The UN Company Commander desperately orders his 3rd and last platoon to perform a new attack on the Katangese Gendarmerie in Lumbaya immediately, before the Katangese forces have time to get reinforcements. After the last clash with the UN forces, the Katangese Gendarmerie are reduced and regrouped to:

Katangese:

• 1 rifle-squad of 10 soldiers, with a LMG and a bazooka. The squad can operate as 2 fireteams independently.
• 1 fireteam of 5 soldiers with a flamethrower.
• 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' with a LMG and a bazooka arrives from the next village. Only if Lumbaya is still held by Katangese force

The UN still have their support weapons intact and sends in another rifle platoon supported by a couple of medics due to the heavy losses in their last offensive:

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
• 2 medics
• 1 Jeep with HMG and 2 soldiers.

The ratio is still not quite 3:1 in the attackers favor yet, merely 2:1, but the attacking side has more heavy firepower than the defending side.

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:    2 hours and 10 minutes

Turns:   11

Result:  UN victory 

In this offensive against Lumbaya the UN forces are the only side left with heavy support weapons, and they are not afraid of using using them...

...to cover the UN advance. Sneaking thorough dense vegetation will give the UN squads a +1 ambush bonus when emerging from from their cover.

The Katangese Gendarmerie tries to slow and stop the UN offensive, but they don't hit accurate enough to have any crucial effect. 

The UN squads cover for each other and advance by 'fire and maneuver'. The squads giving covering fire also receives fire, but they manage to hold.

The fire and maneuver and covering fire from the support weapons is a successful combo and the first squads soon reaches the outskirts of the village.

The Katangese Gendarmerie desperately tries to slow them down, but don't get any efficient hits.

The UN forces effectively manage to thin the Katangese defense lines and soon all the Katangese units are halved, but these brave defenders still rolls for such a good morale that they all hold their positions...

...until their defense totally collapse in the next turn (turn 8)...

...and the UN units starts entering the Village of Lumbaya. 

Soon the few remaining Katangese troops in Lumbaya are surrounded and have to capitulate.

The third offensive against the Katangese Strongpoint in Lumbaya was a success for the UN forces as they had minimal losses.

Conclusion 

I've already written what I consider as pros and cons with these rules in earlier reviews. I think the necessary tweaking made them really playable and to me they almost appears as a 'skirmish battle simulation' as I tried to take considerations to when it's easier or harder to hit different targets under different conditions, and benefits of different covers. I'm defiantly going to play games with these rules again as they contains the elements I like in such a small wargame (which can be played with readily available toy soldiers and army men). - And I hope you will try them out too. And if you do, feel free to share your experiences and point of views. If you wanna have a go, you can find the rules on this link.

I have lived with this setup and scenario for such a long time time, that I felt it was about to become a permanent setup. It's time to move on to other scenarios, games and aspects of military modelling, but before I clear this scenario away from the gaming table, I will try them for one final game...

Rules of Engagement Part II - The second battle for Lumbaya

The last play-test of my own home-brewed house rules did not go so well and smooth as I hoped for. Was this test representative for how the rules would work? There was only one thing to do, and that was to use them for another game to see. I sent my miniatures back to Lumbaya again since I hadn't put the setup away yet and have a replay. The outcome was pretty much the same; long playing time and low casualties rates. No new battle report for that game as it just turned out to be a replay of the last.

The rules needed some adjustments to make them more playable in a reasonable amount of time. First I adjusted the D6-value to score hits from 4+ on short ranges and 5+ on long ranges, to 3+ on short ranges and 4+ on long ranges. There are so many other factors that have influence on the hit-probability within these rules anyway. 

Secondly I adjusted the probability from 33% to 50% that unsaved hits would cause a 'kill', even thou I vaguely remember that I've read somewhere that during WWII about only 1/3 of hits were lethal. Besides, a saved hit is still a hit, so I suppose the 'kill probability' for hits are still closer to 33%.

Thirdly I increased the 'hypothetical' Rate of Fire, damage potential and the hit probability on heavy weapons by adding another D6 for firing LMGs, HMGs and Mortars as these kind of weapons simply does more damage.

The (updated) rules

Link: Rules of Engagement for Wargaming with Miniatures

The test

Now the rules needed to be tested again, so I went for the same, familiar by many now, game, setup and scenario as for the other earlier games in this 'series'. I repeat it here again if you haven't read my earlier reviews 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:

• 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' 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:    2 hours and 20 minutes 

Turns:   11

Result:  UN withdrawal 

Early in the UN offensive the Katangese support team came under heavy suppressive fire, and got pinned for several turns. The sniper was very effective though

This made way for an UN advance, but the advancing UN squads met suppressive fire and got pinned for several turns before they could reach sufficient cover. 

Meanwhile the Katangese medics did an heroic effort to try to get the crew back in action, but in the end the UN forces finally managed to eliminate the Katangese support weapons and their sniper by a direct hit.

...- but too late. The UN squads had  suffered several casualties after being pinned without sufficient covers for so many turns, that they had to withdraw by the rules and by sense. The Katangese Gendarmerie managed to hold their strongpoint for now.

Pros

• The adjustments as described in the start of this post gave a slightly higher rate of casualties in relation to fire, and really made these rules more playable in a reasonable amount of time.

Cons

• These rules really differs between defending and attacking forces regarding hit-probability; It gives units in fortified and defensive positions, and therefore don't have to move around in the line of fire, a huge advantage over advancing units, which have to use movement and cover to better their odds.

Conclusion 

With almost 2 equally sized forces in this game these rules gave the fortified defenders such a big advantage over the attackers that the attackers almost didn't have a chance. Really just as in the real life with the 3:1 rule of combat; Traditionally it is accepted that a defending force has a 3:1 advantage over an attacker. In other words, a defending force can hold off three times its own number of attacker.

Therefor I think it would be reasonable to try these rules again with a smaller defending unit against a larger attacking force. Ideally 3:1 proportion. Since the defending Katangese forces also had several casualties in this game and also lost their HMG and sniper, they are so reduced and weakened that I would like to see whats happen if they meets another full strength UN platoon again.

So I let the UN Company Commander throw in his last platoon in a desperate attempt to take and hold the Katangese Strongpoint of Lumbaya...

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...

Plastic Command Rules

As I wrote in my previous post, I really appreciate all you readers and your comments. Especially those which points me into new rules or aspects of wargaming.

After writing a review on Nick Grant's Wargame in a Bag (2), J.P. Medved suggested on the Facebook-group Army Men Homepage another free ruleset; the Plastic Command Rules, which can be requested on the Plastic Command Homepage. The rules are made by J.P. Medved him self. I signed up and downloaded the rules and wanted to try them out. 

I think it would be fair to play them with the same scenario as I've done with all 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: 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. 

• 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:    1 hour and 45 minutes

Turns:   9

Result:  UN defeat

The UN offensive against the Katangese forces in Lumbaya did not have a successful start as the Katangese rooftop HMG immediate got a direct hit on the UN Jeep and eliminated it and the HMG. In the next turn the Katangese forces managed to eliminate an entire UN rifle squad as well.

Lacking an entire squad and necessary support-weapons, the UN had to improvise by using a bazooka-team in the support role for not to loose the initiative in their offensive.

The Bazooka team did well as close support and managed to score a hit in the Katangese defense line. Luckily for the Katangese Gendarmes, they had medics nearby, which managed to help some of the casualties (with good dice rolling). 

At this point the Katangese forces managed to make the UN advancement come to a halt and the forces were exchanging fire.

But when an UN mortar-grenade punched a brief hole in the Katangese defense-line, the UN troops had  to utilize it and make a run for it before the Katangese Gendarmes could fill it up again with their reserves.

But they were not quick enough to exploit the hole in the defenses, as the Katangese reserves arrived just in time to fight back and took out almost an entire rifle squad. The remaining UN-soldier failed his morale test and was hurring back to his own lines.

By this time the UN did not have the necessary forces left to continue their offensive against Lumbaya, and the Platoon-leader ordered a retreat for those very few left.

After giving his orders the UN Platoon-leader was taken out before he managed to leave the line of fire himself

The UN offensive against Lumbaya had taken a toll on the Katangese Gendarmerie, but they managed to hold their position. for now. Probably the UN will return to finish the job.

Pros

• It's free to download on the Plastic Command homepage or on this link.
• It can be played with any toy soldiers and inexpensive army men.
• The rules have very generous firing ranges. Maybe too generous considering that the suggested play area is 4'x6'. This may cause less movement and more static fire exchange. Remember to load your table with different kind of covers. You troops will need them.
• The rules have an own section how to build (equally strong) armies.
• The rules have an own section for urban fighting in buildings.
• It have rules for medics and how and for long to treat casualties.
• It has rules for airborne troops and where they arrive at the gaming area.
• Own rules for planes and helicopters if you want to add such to your game.
• Rules for how to cross and lay minefields.

Cons

• Despite a wide weapon range, the rules just list 'MG' and do not separate between LMGs and HMGs. HMGs just makes more damage than a LMG.
• The rules doesn't make it harder to hit the targets on langer ranges than shorter. And units not moving do not gain any benefits for having time to aim.
• There is no Owerwatch rules to interrupt enemy actions.
• The penetration and save rules makes it theoretically possible to blow up a truck with a single pistol or rifle shot.
• There seems to be contradictory information concerning snipers. In the unit section sniper units are given a shoot value of 4+ but in the weapon section it always hits on a 2+. I played as the latter.
• If the roll of a "1" is always considered a failure, why does a roll of a "1" give vehicles a save?

Conclusion

I'm glad J.P. Medved shared his rules, and I'm happy to play it. Thanks!! I had a good time and a narrative game. I also must say that these rules includes a lots of the different elements I've considered as 'pros' in earlier reviewed free wargame-rules for toy soldiers and army men. It's worth taking a closer look at them and have a game.

It looks like there have to be another revisit to Lumbaya....

Stay tuned!